Saturday 13 April 2013

Those who can't do... teach

Sculpting Tutorial Session


Yes,I know that's a slightly misleading title as I can sculpt...!


I have been approached to run a sculpting day at Wargames Workshop in Milton Keynes, which I am more than happy to do.  



The Session


The session will include tips on sculpting in general, conversions, anatomy, drapery... basically enough to start you off in the world of miniature sculpture!  There will be some theory work involved but the majority of time on the day will be spent 'hands on'.

I see the early part of the session dealing with general sculpting tips: tools; putty choice; technique - both in theory and practical terms.  The latter part of the session will cover more specific issues for each of the participants (as identified through the earlier part or agreed upon prior to the session).


I should add the following disclaimer... This session will not make you a top level sculptor overnight!  Like pretty much all of the other aspects of the Tabletop Wargaming hobby, sculpting takes time to become good at and years to master.  However, I will be aiming to help everyone who does take part to improve and to take some new knowledge away with them.


Participants


The initial aim is to sign up 6-8 people in order to set this up, although the optimum number of participants would be between 10-15.  No previous knowledge of miniature sculpting is needed, although it would be helpful to get the most out of the session.

At this stage there is no firm date for this nor a cost decided for the day, although it is likely to be at some point over the summer (with a cost of ~£10-20 which should (hopefully!!) include some of the materials/tools required - greenstuff, wire, sculpting tools) - this will be decided if enough people are interested and can commit to taking part.  

Obviously, the more people who take part, the more 'successful' the session can be deemed to be (and the better the chance it would have of being repeated in the future!).


Book your place...


If you are interested in learning a bit about miniature sculpting whether you've tried it before or a complete novice, please let me know if you would like to participate and we can get this organised.  

You can contact me via the email link on my website, and feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.


Thanks for reading!


Stuart

Monday 11 February 2013

Back Again...

First blog post for a loooonnnnnng time!

I had intended to maintain this blog on at least a monthly basis: putting up pictures of my new miniatures; short stories; background information for my miniatures; general musings on wargaming in general.

Unfortunately I let that slip, largely as a result of suffering from Depression (with a capital 'D', as in clinically depressed and not just feeling a little bit under the weather).  I have had a history of Depression for a while and it can be an uphill struggle sometimes.  I have been following the path of least resistance and just doing things that other people want instead of being a little bit selfish and demanding to do things that might make me feel happier.

Much of my recent issue can be traced back to problems with our internet provider; we had a running battle over a period of roughly five months for them to fix (or at least improve our service) - that's not to say that was the only cause as there were other factors involved, but this was a significant proportion of the problem.  This left me (most days at least) feeling extremely angry.  That anger dissipated over time and l was left with the empty feeling of melancholy.

During the last six months or so, I have found it extremely difficult to maintain my focus on sculpting and wargaming in general.  I dislike much of what I produced in this time as I don't feel they matched up to the images I can see in my head - there was a kind of disconnect between my imagination and my hands that I couldn't resolve.  In short I was not doing well.  It was at this time that I decided not to bother looking at modelling forums anymore either; it just wasn't/isn't worth the anger and heartache of having your work (or other people's) trashed for being different, whilst the nth Space Marine conversion (often poorly executed) is drooled over by gushing 'fanboi's.

I think in part the problem lay in that I had stopped producing miniatures 'for me'  and was then into the realms of sculpting things that I thought other people would like.  I am now getting over this (a small amount at least) by starting to make bits for me that are unlikely to ever be cast up.

I appreciate the support I have had from various quarters and I am looking to repay that support by going onwards and upwards to create more and better sculpts in the future.  I would be grateful for any/all advice or strategies anyone has for dealing with Depression whilst being a creative person.

TL;DR
I was a away for a while, now I'm back

Thanks for reading


Stuart