Templars Sanguine WIP

  Here he is, the first of the Templars Sanguine in the new livery.  Highlights and washes applied.  I think it's better than my first attempts, by a long shot.  I attribute a lot of this to the How to Paint video...

  Anyhow, a 360degree view follows.  Still debating on the black or the red Templar icon decal for the left pauldrons...

For the Rest of the Pics... hit the "Read More" thingy ...  10 photo's in all.

Tried and Failed

Stock Photo, not mine...

  “It is better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all.”
(or... “Thank the emperor for simple green!”)

  That may not be the full, or even correct quote, but for my purposes, it works perfectly.

  It’s the truth.  I have had a part of the honored imperium set, the fallen aquilla, on my desk for a long time.  I have been working on it, adding a highlight here, a shade there, for a couple of months.  I got it to the point I thought it was done. 

  Then I saw the one that the Warhammer Lady did on her blog...  Yep, that was it for my model.  I just pulled it out of the simple green tub that I use to strip models.  I learned a big lesson here.  It’s not that hers is something I am going to copy or anything like that.  It’s that mine was bad, and no amount of “tweaking” it was going to fix it.  Now, my statue from that set (shown here in this post) is a model I really like and think came out great.  But the aquilla never really worked for me, and instead of stripping it and starting over, I tried to fix it half a hundred times.

  Sometimes it just makes sense to start over.  I am doing a whole new set of tactical marines because I changed the “fluff” of my chapter.  I have redone the scheme on my drop pod and several vehicles to fit the new chapter, why did I hesitate so long on the aquilla? 

  I'll tell you.  A mistaken belief that it was salvageable.  That’s why.  I thought I could save it.  That is an attitude I have to learn to leave behind.  I’m not saying that every time you paint a fig you should be so self-critical that you immediately plop into the stripper vat.  But I learned that I need to be a little more at ease with the thought of tossing something into the vat that deserves a fresh new start.  It is not defeat, it is learning and growth.  That’s all.  I didn’t want to start over because I feared I was giving up on my painting skills.  Nah, I’m just learning that I can do better and I need to embrace that and quit trying to save the dead patient.

  “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer...”

More on the aquilla later!  Wish me luck!

Review: Let's Paint Black Templars

  Call me crazy, if you like, but I like painting tutorial videos.  I seem to be able to pick up something from every one I watch, no matter how bad they might be.  This 2 DVD set from AGProductions is not bad, in fact it's the best I have seen to date, save for the GW "How to Paint..." DVD.

  The DVD I bought was, oddly enough, Let's Paint Black Templars.  I wondered when I clicked "buy it now" how the producer could possible spend 4 hours (2 DVDs) on BTs.  I mean, really, slap on the black, pick out some white and metallics and bammo, you're done.

  Not so fast.  Christopher Davidson starts off with the very basics, how to build the marine in a way that makes it crazy easier to paint.  I had always left the bolter off the fig, but Christopher has a way better take on how to do things, and the one Marine I have painted so far shows the effect of this improvement.  (No, I'm not going to divulge all his tips in the review, buy one of his videos for that :)

  Christopher then goes on to talk about all the normal stuff, but he uses an approach you don't normally see on youtube vids, and I think it works darn well.  Especially his take on edging, which I have never seen done anywhere before and is great for someone like me (old, with brush control issues :).

  Just for those alone, the $15 price tag is justified, but wait... there's more.  Seriously, at $15 these are some of the least expensive DVDs I have seen and you get 4-ish hours of instruction.  The production value of the DVDs is great.  The steps he uses are clear and in focus, most of the time.  Every now and then he may drift the area being painted out of the camera, but he corrects it right away.  You're not going to find yourself annoyed by this, but it happens once or twice.  He has a very moderated voice that does not grate on your nerves over the duration of the video.  His words are well thought out and it does not seem scripted at all.

  And best of all??  There is NO FREAKING BACKGROUND MUSIC.  DVD producers take note, background music SUX!  I don't care how much you really love that loop from your favorite (crappy) band, hearing it loop 500 times while you tell me how to paint is FREAKING LAME.  STOP IT.  For the love of god, at least turn it down.  Some videos I own (see this review, not mentioning names) have music so annoyingly loud that you cannot hear the speaker, and it's not like it's good music either.  It's crappy loops, you see them on YouTube all the time.  Why people?  WHY????

  If the DVD has any weak spots, it's the menu/navigation again.  I know what a pain it is to author DVDs with menus that work in every machine and computer, so I don't harp on this too much.  I have 6 computers here and 2 different DVD players that I use frequently, and as usual, the menus work great with the mouse and keyboards on the computers, but less so on the dedicated DVD players.

  All in all, this video gets an A grade, or 90 out of 100 on the DVD coolness scale.  It is not for general use painting, it is very Black Templar specific, but the techniques are usable anywhere.  Production and sound quality are GREAT.  Content is top-notch.  Alongside the Hot Lead DVD's and the GW How To Paint Citadel Miniatures, this video stands up very well.  Kudos to the author!!

Ciao for now...