The state of the hobby?

[Jeff]

"I agree with you that 'backslapping comments' (woow, great work, etc.) are nice but not helping in the learning process. Maybe here at PF we should indeed be giving more constructive feedback. It is telling that even the 'Brutal Honesty' part of PF hardly criticises anymore. Maybe we should try to add a bit of criticism; it can be done in a nice way, and will be helpful. I really hope this helps the forums to survive, as I learned a lot from it.

Cheers,
Adrian"


I have been here long enough to remember when it literaly split this place in half. That other half forming Timelines Forum. As has been stated it takes tactful and considerate language to do it right. Always start with what the person did right before telling them what they should change or do differently. Using that one simple rule can really save a new persons feelings. Now that being said there are times when say someone who is considered a master posts here. If I see nothing that needs to be changed. I see no harm in saying how much I like a piece.

By the way the Brutal Honesty fourm came about becuse of the fact that people wanted a more honest assement of their work. So Jordy started that board.

 

[tonydawe]

Jamie Stokes' "small scale pieces" featured in the last edition of Naked Modeller Monthly (NMM).

Bonus free hand-held magnifying glass with every edition I got mine, but I still couldn't see them.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming birthday edition feature profile on Mark "Stumpy" Stothard - The Greatest Average Modeller in the World.

I'm looking forward to reading about your early struggles to make it as a hard-working but clumsy and unbalanced Latin Dance instructor on a cruise ship in the North Sea during the 1980's - so many fractures and law suits.

Then came your "lost years" during the early 90's when you shaved your head, gave away all your worldly possessions and "walked the earth" seeking enlightenment. After almost two weeks of this, you got frost bite on your toes and had them all removed. You spent the rest of the decade in a chicken de-sexing factory on the outskirts of Dubbo, where you eventually re-acquired the skill of walking upright.

Cruelly branded "stumpy" by your mates, you limped off to the central coast of New South Wales where you briefly started and then closed your spectacularly unsuccessful "sheep beautification salon". Although the charges were eventually dropped, the stigma remained long after the medication ran out. Throughout all these trials, re-trials, occasional triumphs and unmitigated disasters, Mark perfected the art of being an average figure modeller.

Blessed with no extraordinary artistic talent and an unwillingness to leave his comfort zone (except to nick down to the hardware store to breathe deeply in the glue section), Mark perfected the science of "averageness", by blending his innate "she'll be right mate" attitude with a colossal level of laziness. In this respect he has become a truly exceptional and inspiring global presence. A master average modeller, and a proud recipient of numerous beige medals for mediocrity at Euro Militaire, he has become the greatest average modeller in the history of our hobby.

Mark can no longer dance the rumba and his tango requires a safety harness. He may have a lifelong restraining order against him approaching and buying drinks for good-looking sheep (or indeed any single and attractive barnyard animals) but when it comes to average figure modelling, he's the best in the world.

 

[DEL]

 

[Adrian Cowdry]

Oh poor Jamie Stokes and well done with gaining those beige awards.

Oh the wit....most amusing.

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Hobby (noun) activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure

State (noun) The particular condition that someone or something is in at a specific time

My two shekels worth (coming late to the party) is that we are looking at diversification and segmentation (more choice) and increasing technical proficiency.(painting techniques)

There does seem to be a lot of similarity within areas. The Warhammer stuff has a distinct / common look, as do the 1/6 scale posable figures (quite realistic)

I think we have hit a plateau phase, with the hobby being between the smaller scale table top armies and figures with death by dice roll, and the larger figures we normally see here.
A different arena is the figures that grace armour and vehicle dioramas, the occasional aircraft from 1/48 to 1/72, and those miniscule figures shorter than a grain of rice manning the decks on 1/350 and 1/700 scale ships........

Like all technologies, mass production has lowered the cost of, and made more attainable, high quality brushes, airbrushes, paints, kits, accessories, sculpting mediums,tools and communication options (When I wandered on to PF, smart phones were only read about in the technology speculation part of the sunday paper as an Op-Ed. That changed quickly over the space of a few years)

Digital sculpting (that is, computer aided, not with your fingers) is taking off, however the limits are how much 3-d printing can do, and avoid the dreaded 180 000 000 slices of layer cake effect. I think some clever cookie is working out a way of having a blank block of resin, and have a milling head move in 3-d to remove the unwanted bits. I think appreciation and understanding of the limitations of the casting technique will limit how much detail can be crammed into a figure though. Lets face it, it may be super space marine with super mega incredible detail, example being the Big scary bang gun , detailed with open ejection port and the next round being chambered, with included detail on primer cap and the serial number of the round on the base, but if all that detail is less than 1/2 mm tall, and in the breech, guess what......... there's a limit to what can be painted.

So thats the technical stuff out of the way......

I started with Vallejo, gained some confidence, tried different brands, and will be tackling oils over acrylics in the future. Currently trying out Jo Sonja (nice stuff!!) but still delving into the stocks of GW paints, Andrea and Vallejo. Sharing my efforts, looking at what others are doing, seeing the sbs, all helped me improve. The only thing limiting my bench time is work hours, and house duties.....

Like a lot of other clubs and social gatherings, all are battling against the 'always on' digital age we live in. The digital convenience helped me connect to other figure painters from around the world, however, there seems to be more demands to answer emails, cell/ mobile phones, and peer into screens and tablets, uploading digital images from my digital camera........so we advance, yet there is a price to pay......

Speaking of prices to pay.......the Winter edition of Naked Modeler Monthly should be released soon, winter is a hard time when your brushes freeze (along with any other bits of equipment), with all new high power magnifier glass, an monograph on nipple colour around the world, plus (perhaps) a fascinating dissertation on the challenges of mediocrity as a high point while chicken sexing.......If lucky, the spring edition will include a truly gripping article of using 2 part epoxy resin glues while relaxing in a balmy 48 degrees celsius Western Australia spring, and precautions against glue drips and spills......yes folks, the Naked Modeler Monthly has answers to all those questions you've never really wanted to think about......

And to iterate the answer, the hobby is changing, there s a price to be paid for all this digital communication, and more change is coming......

Cheers

Jamie