I suppose the thing about experiments is that you have to enter into them knowing that something might go wrong. Fans of schadenfreude, read on...
I imagine that my first error was buying some Battleforge halflings. Don't get me wrong; the figures have a very cute old school feel to them, right down to the finger prints in the casts and the lack of almost any definition in the faces... No, seriously, they're sort of ok if you really hanker after some fantasy quarter-pints. Trouble is, they just do not suit my painting style. You might think that sounds rather like a tradesman blaming his tools when actually he's one (a tool, I mean), but bear with me.
You see, I like a good clean sculpt. Pretty much I think GW are impossible to beat on anything other than a rare occasion. But I'm always cheering on the 'little guy' and buying here and there from other manufacturers. The Battleforge produce some... how can I put this... very folksy sculpts. And I have a casual, painterly approach to slapping on the acrylic that (if I'm very honest) does rely to some extend on the model doing a fair percentage of the work. This is especially the case in the early stages when I'm laying down the foundations for my more artsy flourishes.
I've had a few similar issues working with Foundry miniatures too, which makes me wonder if metal is not really the best material for me - there's no doubt that I'm far happier working with plastic and resin (even with GW minis). I'd be happy never to buy metal again actually. Anyway... the pictures show my attempt at beginning a speed sketch approach. It didn't work. I quit early.
So what have we learned today?
1. Buy plastic and resin
2. Buy GW 99% of the time, otherwise accept unhappiness is likely*
3. My experiments tend to fail
4. Don't bother listening to self criticism about taking ages to paint anything - slow and distracted is my modus operandi
*I mean for my Marienbugers really, it's humans, dwarfs, halflings and the like GW are unbeatable on for price and consistency (there's the odd good single figure out there by others, obviously). Plenty of tempting monsters out there from other manufacturers... So actually I'll add...
5. Remember, monsters make Davey a happy boy.
You're not the only one who has dark thoughts of the 'never again' variety around metal models, hoo no sir. I would be quite happy never to work with pewter ever again.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I even struggle to do anything other than good-enough work with the old GW metals. Plastics and resins are so much better for developing a range of different painting styles, and they're actually enjoyable to work with.
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