Darren Latham - Lord of Blights Masterclass - Part 01: Preparation and Planning.
Darren Latham of Games Workshop and 'Eavy Metal fame started to teach a step-by-step course on painting a display quality miniature through the media of YouTube.
I decided to take part around the start of January a little under a month behind the video uploads. I fancied a little change of pace and thought it would be nice to paint something outside my normal comfort zone and to brush up on some actual painting techniques.
Even though I have years of hobby and painting experience behind me, I decided to try to switch off that auto-pilot and follow the video series letting Mr Latham guide me through every step as if I was coming to this for the first time.
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This part of the series is about the proper preparation of the miniature, mounting the pieces in sub-assemblies to make painting easier and finally planning out the colour scheme and the thoughts and processes of planning a display miniature.
So having decided to take part a little behind everyone else I was able to read the colour selection for a few videos ahead. Then when I popped out to my local Warhammer store I picked up a selection of paints I didn't already have in my collection. Among them some of the new Contrast Paints, so this was going to be new experience too later on.
After following the video I had a fully prepped and mounted miniature ready to begin, just a black prime needed to move onto the next step. Even this stage is a bit of a departure to me. I don't really paint in sub-assemblies. I find it a little odd and uncomfortable and much prefer a solidly built miniature to work on. But this is what Mr Latham instructed, so shall it be...
Full disclosure here. At the time of writing this I have already worked my way through to part 5 of the series and part 6 has just recently been released. I'm going to write each up as separate posts mainly so I can discuss any thoughts I had or problems with the specific part (oh and there were some problems!)
I'll schedule each part to post at different intervals over the next few days.
So until then, take care.
that's a fantastic idea ! I fully now ow the autopilot feels, it has its merits, gets stuff done and can be pretty soothing and rewarding by achieveing goals but every once in a while I find a good challenge helps refresh and make the autopilot even more efficient, I try changing colours or scales but trying something more ambitious has always been frightening because of the time sink I must admit, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with !
ReplyDeleteWell you won't have long to wait, I scheduled 4 other posts to go up at 12 hour increments to give them a bit of breathing space, but still to get them up.
DeleteYeah the autopilot is great when painting an army or unit, kind of like muscle memory. I think this was a pretty good idea to do now I've been through several parts. I was literally getting angry at myself because there are some fundamental skills we learn right from the beginning of the hobby and I was really struggling with them.
I think that's the danger when you get into a comfortable routine and stick to that comfort zone of painting. Then like any other skill, painting techniques you've learned deteriorate through lack of use.
I'm going to make an effort to start brushing up.. (oh dear, pun unintended) on painting techniques I've taken for granted and push my self to try some new things. I've always wanted to have a go at NMM, but always been a little perturbed by it.
I get what you mean with autopilot, but I guess age, maybe change of range (moved from Vallejo to Scalecolor) or merely the fact I'm a complete idiot, I find myself struggling with every miniature as it was my 1st.
ReplyDeleteDunno why but can't retain neither the process nor the color recipes from a piece to the next one.
It might be just I'm playful by nature and find amusing trying out stuff.
Depending on your thoughts thru the process I shall try it myself.
Cheers.
I like to experiment and change things up. I skip from paint range to paint range. I have the Scalecolor paints to try out fully yet. I've used them for a couple of projects, but I haven't really invested time into using the range on its own.
DeleteI've had problems in the past retaining processes etc. I started to keep a hobby notebook and try to update it with ideas and colour recipes when I'm working. I'm not 100% in the habit of updating it, but it's been a lifesaver for some things like my Nurgle army where I wrote down all the colours/steps used.
And regarding my thoughts on this series. Well it will become aparent in later posts I had a few difficulties. But I'm doing this to challenge myself and to break out of my routine. So even if I didn't like it (spoiler: I do like it) I was going to push through just for the practice.
I sometimes use subassemblies, but only if that part is something that is going to be clearly getting in the way - bloodthirster wings or somesuch.
ReplyDeleteInteresting reading through these posts. I have two styles of painting, so get to stretch out. That was a deliberate choice to mix things up between the historical stuff, which can reward clean production line painting and the messier more fantasy based type. Couldn't say which I enjoy more though.
I've painted the odd miniature here and there where I've had to leave the head, weapon or cloak detached because it would be difficult to work around.
DeleteBut actually constructing something and mounting it in multiple pieces (especially for a single figure) is something really new to me.
It does make you really have to think about the shading and highlighting for when the piece is finally attached.