I'm used to this. But it doesn't get easier... at all! Let me explain.
I'm a photographer by day, photographing mostly cars for magazines and adverts. I'm used to going through creative ruts, struggling with doubts over my work and ideas. This process is easily summarised as;
- I am awesome
- This is tricky
- This is rubbish
- I am rubbish
- This might be alright
- This is awesome
- I am awesome
Horrible process and one that I can mostly deal with, snap out of and circumnavigate. Occasionally though, maybe due to nutrition, sleep, peers doing jaw dropping work, or a combination of all three, it's hard to drag yourself out of the rut. When this happens to that extent I have recently just removed the blockage and concentrated on other things. Luckily I have a lot of projects and ideas and a few hobbies that I can indulge or lose myself in and I use the inspiration and energy they create to bounce back refreshed. It's not procrastination, more an energetic attention venturi (oooh, I like that!) and it does work. Good nutrition and sleep also does wonders, but where's the fun in that.
This is what happened with the Tomb Blades.
The models weren't out back when I painted that first squad and they quickly became something of a core that I wanted to build my army round, they were so cool. Once I got the Kill Team mostly painted I ordered two boxes for a total of six Tomb Blades from our friends at Alchesmists Workshop.
I wanted to magnetise all the weapon options (again, something that wasn't in the hobby all those years ago) and also just adjust their stance. You see I didn't really like the 'nearly tipping out of the front of the blade' look that they have as standard.
Step One
There's very little that actually needed to be changed to have a sleeker speedier looking version, turning the engines round so they faced backwards and mounting the weapons up front!
Much cooler in my opinion! Drilled a hole where the new stem would mount and set about doing the rest. Damn they're fiddly once you have to do six!
But they went together really well once I'd done a few and with just the few tweaks I definitely thought they looked better than standard and I excitedly planned an afternoon to get the chrome paint on. The paint needs a very good smooth finish to go on well and I unfortunately put it on a little heavy. They turned out ok, but I knew I had to do my best to add the colours and details really well to bring them out.
The chrome dries very quickly but it's a little delicate to the touch until it's lacquered. The little kebab stands helped with handling them
I still thought they were cool models so hoped that adding the blue and some black would bring the models together.
The Immortal sitting on my painting desk as inspiration, trying to find the right balance for the 'Blade
Meh. Wasn't really working. I started blacking out some details and still wasn't really working. The colour scheme is so simple in my head it was just difficult to translate to the miniature. It was getting me a little fed up. The whole army was in jeopardy; these were supposed to be the core of the force and if I couldn't get these looking right it would all be for nothing. In my head anyway.
I tried a few different looks but did not want to sacrifice any of the look that I'd envisioned. So I took them off the table for a while. Turned my attention to my favourite model in the Necron army.
I suppose it's lucky that there's a model this gorgeous to distract me while I finish off the Shadow War Kill Team.
Next time, though, we'll talk about the journey back to being thoroughly excited about painting them again, and it was all down to these guys!
Destroyers and a Scythe! Find out why I have 8000 grit sand paper on the scythe in the next post. Until then, have a great week, and let me know what you're all working on. Would love to see all your progress too.
Chris!