So... where to start?
Being an 'artist' has its ups and downs. You'd like to be able to get stuff done but your muse comes and goes and finding motivation can be tough. There are also times when you get the terrifying statement "you're an artist... can you do...?" thrown towards you. It is apparent that just because I can sculpt and paint tiny people, I can paint portraits, build stage backdrops, hew sculptures from stone... etc... which of course I would give (and have given) a go at but it isn't my speciality and leads to mixed results. At the moment, I have a number of small commissions on the go. One I have had for almost a year and I have just lost my mojo for (fortunately no money has changed hands)... I have also misplaced the sculpts I was working on because I packed a lot of stuff away when I went to the Falklands and haven't found everything yet. Another I forgot about but found languishing in a bag and am now getting sorted:
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It is a driver for a radio controlled car that needs a coat of paint. There was no rush on this one but I must admit to feeling a bit guilty when I found it in my work bag. I get to choose the colours and just paint it up.
I then had a request to paint black bits on a Celtic Knot for a wedding next weekend... so this is now done:
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It's about 60mm diameter and will look much better than a solid chrome piece, when fitted to the kilt it is destined for.
In addition to this, I have my secret project, which I will reveal in a few weeks and have just been approached to make a cake topper for a wedding cake.
The trouble is... I take on these projects with all intention of getting them finished quickly and up to a good quality... and then my muse buggers off and I am left with no flair or motivation to get things finished! Then you just feel guilty... and that makes things worse.
I certainly couldn't do this sort of thing for a living. It would have to be on my terms and it would also have to be on subjects that I enjoyed working on.
Anyway... back to other things and I have now got as far as I need to on my first badger rider, 'Chuck':
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I still need to finish the lance head but I will sort out the whole unit's lances at the same time so that I can focus on getting them all the same. The base also needs to be finished but I will tick along with that, using waste putty from the other sculpting I am working on at the time.
I have also been thinking about other elite units and my thoughts turned to Bullgryn. Now at £28.50 for three, getting some from GW would have been overly expensive and to be honest, I fancied having a go at something different anyway so I ordered some Dreadball Orx from EBay and now have five miniatures to convert. While I was waiting for them to arrive, I thought I'd mock a few ideas up on Microsoft Paint... here's one of my ideas:
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They look the part but will be slightly smaller than the newest version of Ogryn; however, with a slightly taller base, they are the perfect height for the old second edition Ogryn so I am not overly concerned about the difference.
As I have mentioned, I plan on casting up some vehicles at some point, using plaster. Part of the preparation is to assemble a casting kit and I am now one step closetr as a result of finding some cheap Lego 'proxy' bricks in a shop. 2 boxes of 500 bricks came to £5.98 so I was very happy with that. Now I have the ability to build a moulding box... I just have to wait for two large bases to arrive and my casting kit will be complete:
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I guess I'll need some talc too... and to build what I want to cast of course!
Finally... I have got to get my uniform up to scratch because I am going to a wedding next week and in a few weeks will be going to an award presentation... so it will have to be very immaculate.
... and that is it for this week. My plan is to finish the secret project this week, continue with the badger riders and get some paint on the driver. Hopefully, my motivation will stick around long enough to achieve this. Who knows?
See you from the inside of a particularly robust turtle shell!
2 comments:
Thanks for the welcome. An erratic motivation is something I think a lot of us struggle with, so I totally sympathise!
It is good to have you aboard :)
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