Bison's Tales of Hobby Crafting

[Bison]

Hobbyist Log - Discovered long-term storage and paints do not always go well. Assessing the damage but two paints down due to drying. Critically the Nuln Oil dried out. Metal and black hair shading suffered a minor set back. The lighting situation at the hobby table is also not good. Sure the light provides adequate output for a nightlight but little in the way of sufficient painting illumination.



Note to self: Research how monks following the fall of Rome managed to paint by candlelight with a very high degree of success.

[Undercovergeek]

‘If you’re going to use all our gold leaf up painting your fancy books you’d better do it right or well cut your hands off’

[mcguire]

Pro tip: never have better lighting on the table than you did in the studio.

Or was it the other way around? It's so dark in here I can't read my notes.

P.s. give your compressor a pet for me.

[Bison]

The hobby space is in a horrific display of disarray. I sat to paint last evening and was terrorized by the disorder. And like vampire fearing the approach of dawn, I let out an audible gasp as I quickly turned out the light and headed to the safe confines of my recliner. I fear if I am ever to start the painting the armies of Rohan and Mordor, the room must be cleaned. I will provide proof of the sad state of affairs at a later time. 

[Bison]

I kind of wussed out on my horses - morgul knights I did black which was the base coat anyway and highlighted with grey

The elves I left corax white and shaded with contrast apothecary white

I might end up having to do some zenithal highlighting on the minis. I used to mix a darker grey to use as primer but did not this time. The grey was much easier to paint colors over than black. I like black in principle and the effect it creates for shadowing. However, you do end up with darker tones overall especially if you are using colors like red. There are ways around it but a light grey zenithal will help brighten the colors and leave shadows. It's been awhile applying some of these techniques and my first test reaper miniature suffered through my relearning and bad lighting.

[bob48]

I was never able to master the technique of shading up from a dark undercoat 

Maybe I use the wrong term there - highlighting up is perhaps more accurate.

[Undercovergeek]

All made easy now - pssssssht black

Pssssht white from a 45 degree angle from above

[Bison]

All made easy now - pssssssht black

Pssssht white from a 45 degree angle from above

This. However, I need to do a serious reorganization before I setup the paint book and behind that process. Fortunately, the highlight should go quicker certainly on the Orcs and it just depends on how much I want to second coat a primer layer. Small miniatures with fine details makes me not want to do much more before I start base coating and layering.

[Bison]

The situation regarding the crafting table had reached critical mass. The clutter of creativity simply became too much. My table space is limited and more and more paint bottles, water cups, wet pallet, bottle shaker,  portable airbrush booth, and so many other tools and painting concoctions were building up. It is a firm believe of mine that the state of the space in which you work reflects the state of one's mind. A cluttered space is an indicator of a cluttered mind. In the end, the creative work stops and cannot begin again until the table is put back in order.

I share my mess as a cautionary tale...

[Bison]

I have long lived with the reality of a small crafting space when it comes to painting, assembling and cleaning models, and other projects. For projects of larger size I work in the garage. Why do I not just move my operations into the garage? Primarily it's due to the hot and dusty nature of the space. I am not inclined to deal with the garages own environmental challenges. And as you can see, I have enough of a mess to address without having to add cleaning dust build up off of my work space.

Anyway back to the current disaster. This photo demonstrates not only the current situation regarding the cluttered space but perhaps much more importantly how I have painted miniatures for many, many years. A small desk lamp and a magnified lens have been my principle enabling tools other than the necessary brush and paint. The net result is a constant push and pull of adjusting the lamp to provide enough light on the miniature and fenagling the lens into a position where I can weld the brush and paint the details when necessary. To add to this sad tale is the position of the wet pallet and my white porcelain plate necessary to mix the paints. They all vie for same space.

[Bison]

Now I had known the lighting situation was a dreadful as the mess of creativity on the table for some time. My little desk lamp tries to live up to the task. But in the end, the light is warm which causes misrepresentation of color, casts odd shadows, and it's hot like the ninth plane of hell hot. I have burnt my painting hand on more than one occasion. It also causes the paint on my porcelain pallet and miniatures to dry much quicker than they otherwise would. But we artists adapt and accept our fate. We create under the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

But I chose another route. I no longer needed to be bound and held hostage to a 20 year old desk lamp. I am a free man with the fortunate blessing being able to make decisions to escape the confines of the past into a new and glorious future. For you see, I had been saving my nickels, pennies, and dimes until the right moment. The moment I knew would come where I would spend that loose change on a new lamp! A lamp that clamps on the side of the table with a swinging arm. A lamp that has a built in magnified lens. It would be a glorious beginning on the path to the future. A future that someday when enough pennies and dimes are save will result in a overhead lamp as well!

And so my friends, I undertook a great project. A cleaning project of such attention to detail and focus; it caused my spouse to question why I do not pay as much attention to the chore of cleaning the toilet. The table is back in order with proud new addition. A painting lamp I had only dreamed of possessing over the years.

[Bison]

The cleanliness! The order! The amazing light shining down on my crafting table. It truly is a new day on the journey. And so it is that this miniature is the last miniature to be painted under the old regime. She will stand as testament to the past in future games of Dungeons and Dragons.

Now this miniature was a nightmare to paint beyond just the lighting and clutter. You see it is a Reaper miniature sculpt. I have painted many of them over the years. They are affordable with a nice range of heroes and monsters. But they do come with multiple issues. The castings are never, ever clean. We all expect mold lines but the fine details of the sculpture use to cast the mold are lost many times due to the resin not properly forming. So it was with this poor elven thief. I believe she is intended to have a mask cover the lower portion of the face but I am not sure. The was an indication on one cheek but not the other. I think there was supposed to be a fur liner on the bottom of her chest armor. However, it was just a bumpy mess with that did not line up with the leather pieces. So I did what I always do. Make up features for the sake of ease. Anyway, she took too long to paint as I fought through the physical mess and the rust not painting in a couple of years. But it was good to knock the rust off a bit and put paint to a model. It is after all part of the fun and joy. So it is that she will join a cast of heroes and join in an adventure at some point.

Life is good.

[bbmike]

Now I had known the lighting situation was a dreadful as the mess of creativity on the table for some time. My little desk lamp tries to live up to the task. But in the end, the light is warm which causes misrepresentation of color, casts odd shadows, and it's hot like the ninth plane of hell hot. I have burnt my painting hand on more than one occasion. It also causes the paint on my porcelain pallet and miniatures to dry much quicker than they otherwise would. But we artists adapt and accept our fate. We create under the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

But I chose another route. I no longer needed to be bound and held hostage to a 20 year old desk lamp. I am a free man with the fortunate blessing being able to make decisions to escape the confines of the past into a new and glorious future. For you see, I had been saving my nickels, pennies, and dimes until the right moment. The moment I knew would come where I would spend that loose change on a new lamp! A lamp that clamps on the side of the table with a swinging arm. A lamp that has a built in magnified lens. It would be a glorious beginning on the path to the future. A future that someday when enough pennies and dimes are save will result in a overhead lamp as well!

And so my friends, I undertook a great project. A cleaning project of such attention to detail and focus; it caused my spouse to question why I do not pay as much attention to the chore of cleaning the toilet. The table is back in order with proud new addition. A painting lamp I had only dreamed of possessing over the years.

Nice setup! 

[Bison]

Thanks Mike. I am very happy with it. The light is so dramatically different. The coloring on the elven miniature is so different under the bright, daylight light lamp compared to the orangish hue of the desk lamp light.

[thecommandtent]

Always nice to have a clean hobby spot. Looks like a nice setup