[unofficial weekender] Everything is art. Or is it?

[sundancer 44643xp 1]

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First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

https://www.ontabletop.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourselves-new-member-thread/

https://www.ontabletop.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil. This includes no philosophy, no home computer culture wars.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is The Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

If you fancy to see some nice WIP pictures go to the WAYPN thread https://www.ontabletop.com/forums/topic/what-are-you-painting-now-2025-edition/

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Question of the week:

• With the passing of John Blanche it would be easy to ask “what’s your favourite art/memory/story about JB?”. But since that is being done everywhere I propose you put in here names of people from the industry that have shaped your hobby life. Be that painters, writers, makers or some old store owner how’s been doing it since forever.

And now back to the show.

[sundancer 44643xp 3]

Pledge: mixing up some “Marine Juice” and start painting them ‘nids! [1] Ingredients are ordered and on their way.

Answer: Hard nut for me this is because in my early hobby days I didn’t really care much for “who done what” as long as I like it. In more recent years I got to realise that it’s mainly the “old guard” from Games Workshop of the 1990s that pulled me in. Today it’s the quirky little things like Space Gits and me being me: I never can remember names. So “I AM SORRY” to all the creators out there who’s names I constantly forget..

Music: something soft to start the day:

[1]

[zoidpinhead 12974xp 2]

Firstly, Happy Friday everyone.

Pledge:  Get through the current unit for the SCC and then finish the characters.  Then there will only be one unit left!

Good question.  I suppose I have to give props to “The Don”, Donald Featherstone for introducing the concept of formalised wargaming through one of his books that I got at the school library.  I do find art very inspiring and love the work of Frank Frazetta, particularly a piece of his used as a front cover on White Dwarf 57, Adrian Smith and Angus McBride.  As for miniature sculptors I fell for the Grenadier Fantasy Warriors ranges when they first appeared and Mark Copplestone who sculpted some of them has been a sculptor whose work appears across my collection.  As well as being great to look at they are brilliant to paint which should always be a consideration for miniature sculptors.

[grantinvanman 10374xp 1]

Happy Friday – it’s 11e pre-order night from the Canadian online shops for those who live over here. I imagine the scalpers will bot their way to sold out though.

Pledge: actually do something. The last week has been a rut for me, and all I did was build my Nurgle Lord on Manticore for Old World.

[jeffersonpowers 661xp 1]

Pledge: finish all the Crisis Protocol stuff I just bought before getting distracted by something else.

One of my favorite games industry artists was William O’Connor. He came to my attention doing artwork for the Deadlands and Legend of the 5 Rings trading card games. He had a simple, graphic style that was well suited to a format where the artwork rarely appears larger than 2 inches wide.

Most of his card game work was pre-internet (or at least pre-useful internet), but here’s a later piece of his — I’m not sure what it’s from, but it looks interesting.

Music: see how many actors from Aliens you can spot in this.

 

[grantinvanman 10374xp 2]

Ordered my 11e Armageddon box tonight, 15% off. Hopefully I can swap the Marines with someone for the Orks.

And tomorrow is an exciting day as I get to pick up “Bob”, a 2025 FXBB – with multiple mods done to it.

[pagan8th 15295xp 3]

Pledge is just keep writing for my supers RPG and maybe paint some minis for the next session.

I don’t really have art influences in wargaming, although I did like the art of Warmachine/Hordes Mk 2 and Mk3.

Gaming in general it would be Larry Elmore and Clive Caldwell.

[grantinvanman 10374xp 1]

@pagan8th Elmore! Classic Dragon/AD&D art; same with Caldwell.

Dave Sutherland was Gen 1, they were Gen 2 art. So many good memories from seeing that “D” signature, before Elmore/Caldwell elevated the art style.

👍

[danlee 22914xp 2]

This week’s pledge is to paint my competition entry, along with the other elemental models from Heroes 3.

 

• With the passing of John Blanche it would be easy to ask “what’s your favourite art/memory/story about JB?”. But since that is being done everywhere I propose you put in here names of people from the industry that have shaped your hobby life. Be that painters, writers, makers or some old store owner how’s been doing it since forever. – Most recently it’s Louise(?) from Rogue Hobbies. Her videos have encouraged me to try some different painting styles in recent years. I put a question mark after her name because I’m rubbish with remembering people’s names, and it’s not immediately obvious looking at her youtube channel. That’s also why I can’t name anybody from earlier. I might appreciate something but I wouldn’t look at the author/creator, or if I did I then forget.

[limburger 22502xp 2]

Elmore is definitely awesome as well as anyone who did the covers for D&D books/expansions and the Dragon/Dungeon magazines in those early days.

One name that hasn’t been mentioned : Boris Vallejo
That’s all the names I remember, because even when artists are named I rarely remember them. I don’t care who made it as long as it is pretty and tries to tell an interesting story.

Blanche was an acquired taste, but that art style of his and other artists responsible for Warhammer art in general was what helped sell the games and books. The front cover of the Realms of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness & Lost and the Damned) books (the originals) were great. I was so happy when I got that second one in what must have been years after its release.

SixmoreVodka deserves a mention as a company that revels in art for their products. Almost can’t wait to have the Orken books in my hands.

Got to mention Kult:Divinity Lost and pretty much the entire Free League Publishing range of RPG material. I’d be damned if I know who the artists responsible are, but the theming and art is so good.

I miss the cheesy sword&sorcery style art. So much of modern art in gaming and media gets curated and made ‘safe’ for consumption by the generic public as companies and artists alike are too afraid to offend anyone (which is why Kult got a sanitized cover that was not available outside of the kickstarter).

I’m slowly getting back on-line while limiting my time to hobby related bits to stop me from spiralling into darkness. I’ve deleted as many social media accounts and channels as possible. Keeping the ones that are immediately useful and removing ones that stopped me from doing actual hobby.

Anyways … I caved in and preordered the new 40k box, because of Orkses and a Landspeeder is the one thing I remember wanting back in 1st edition. I doubt I will use the rules as written by GW (expect the new codexes to undo what little sanity those have).

[zoidpinhead 12974xp 1]

Welcome back @limburger  Lovely to see you here again.  A break from SM is often a good idea as is trimming down on the noise and distraction.  I’m glad we made the cut here at OTT.

SixmoreVodka deserves a mention

You are absolutely right.   That is a project that is all about the visuals leading development, literal ‘art direction’ in the manner of Blanche in the early Rogue Trader days and early chaos  releases you mentioned.   Gerry mentioned them in the XLBS and they deserve a  lot more attention than they get.

Have fun with your 40k Orkses when they arrive.

[limburger 22502xp 1]

It’s not just that it’s art … it’s that they really are passionate about the work itself and the delivery.
And they are trying to do something radically different.

And yeah … it’s good to be back.
I’ve been much better now that I’ve had some time to think and realise that there’s more to life than being online.

I know some folk may despise ‘AI’, but it’s become part of my daily life now (I haven’t touched a single line of code …. all written by Claude and curated by me). It’s been more fun than you can imagine from my point of view.

Currently testing OpenClaw ( https://openclaw.ai/ ) on my local machines, because a personal assistant is the hot new thing (I’m calling her Holly 😀 ). The fact that it can run local and private is perfect. No big tech or odd foreigners listening in.

Anyways … yeah, Orkses are cool.
Need to dig into my stash as there’s more hiding in there too.
I did order some bits from Mantic as well as a mystery Konflikt ’47 box from Warlord, because they were too tempting to avoid.

[sundancer 44643xp 1]

Monday. What a flocking night. Went to bed 10pm, fell asleep almost instantly. Woke up every 2 hours for no reason.

I’m cooked for today. Hope your week started better.

[grantinvanman 10374xp 0]

@sundancer those kind of nights suck.

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day, installed some accessories on my ‘25 Bob; solved a coming issue with a luggage rack issue (designed for 7” mounting holes, Bob has 13” – solution? Drill hole at 7” and plug the existing at 13” with something TBD). I genuinely enjoy wrenching on stuff, it’s visceral and satisfying.

[sundancer 44643xp 1]

those kind of nights suck.

And it takes days to recover. :S

I genuinely enjoy wrenching on stuff, it’s visceral and satisfying.

Same. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been a happier person had I not chosen IT as a career path but an modern mechanic.

Too late for that now I feel.

Tuesday. It’s raining. Coffee.

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