Twitch Instincts

I have come to hate video production, it takes what joy I got out of painting and sucks it away with checking camera angles, fighting the auto focus and not being able to paint at a leisurely pace that unwinds the brain. I also can't do Twitch. I generally do fine until someone actually joins the stream and starts to talk to me. In an instant what was a pleasurable meditative state becomes remarkably stressful, and I am very much not here for it. So with all that said, I think I'm done with painting entire projects on video. It is not fun and if I am going to do any more videos they will be very small technique demonstrations, which when pre-planned, are much easier to shoot and edit.
Rant done, now on to what I've been doing with myself lately.

The recent plague situation has theoretically meant more time indoors and at home to paint. Despite this, the actual malaise caused by living in these times, combined with the fact that I am working just as hard at my day job from home, means that my mental capacity for such work is greatly diminished. Never the less, I primed a load of miniatures for this upcoming period of isolation. What is most remarkable about it is that I'm coming to the tail end of my last major army projects, meaning I can move on to a variety of eclectic and smaller projects, rather than endlessly batching out the same rank and file.

To start with, Shadowspear. This project was a slog, combined with a bunch of demons I got from a dual purchase. I'm genuinely glad to see the back of it and I hope never to paint another marine for several years. I bought the box mostly for the updated Chaos models and the Ultramarines were a nice bonus. With that done I think I have more than enough miniatures to throw down for a 40k game, I hope to move on to a variety of other publishers for more varied material in future.

As for the miniatures themselves, I really do like the updated Chaos models, they are scaled up nicely to match with the new Primaris and their poses are pretty good. I especially like the new Obliterators, which give them a chunky, more menacing look. This look better reflect how well they perform on the table.

On the Ultramarines side of things, I kinda dig the new tacticool infiltrator marines, Picatinny rails on the Boltguns and all. That being said, I am still very much over painting them. I also had quite a hard time with the camo cloaks. Trying to combine a disruptive pattern uniform with shading and highlighting is frequently the bane of my existence, and I'm not looking forward to attempting it on some more contemporary figure that I have coming down the project pipeline.

With the trad fare out of the way I've also taken some time to paint a variety of smaller projects, mostly from my regular opponent goblinpaladin. These were really fun, and great opportunities to try out a variety of different techniques.

The first two were some freebies that I got for picking up some old Pal Ratha minis for Goblin's fantasy army projects. In the end I wasn't to revolutionary with how I painted them, and they turned out as just another relaxing project between armies. That being said, I'm really happy with how the Elven maiden's cloak turned out. My usual deal of starting with a high highlight basecoat and glazing in the mid tones and the shades worked very well.

These minis were more of Goblin's spares from another order, and I gotta say, props to the smaller manufacturers for creativity when the major manufacturers aren't aiming for that. These are mostly figures of noble bearing from a sci-fi civilians range. I'm very happy how all of them turned out, though as usual the noblewoman's blue-gray ceremonial armour was an utter pain to get right.

These two are from Ex-Manus a local sculptor that comes around to Cancon every year.  I like supporting the local guys, so I usually pick up a couple every time I see him. I also have a 'Totally Not Kora Elemental Bender' figure currently sitting in simple green, so I'll get around to her later. I admit, the sculpts aren't the most crisp, but I certainly love the charm and imagination that goes into the characters.

I've also been working on my scale models and display painting. To start with a variety of small practice vehicles, mostly as an excuse to practice my enamal techniques. All of which have turned out pretty well, especially the use of oil paints for soft shades and highlights. I've also finished up the Huntress from Nocturna. She is going to be entered into ScaleACT assuming that it does not become another casualty of the 'Rona.

I've also had to do a couple of fairly substantial projects in the lead up to isolation, all because I was expecting to play in a tourney in Wintercon this year, thus I had to prepare a shitload of 15mm US GIs for Chain of Command. All of which showcase my low effort batch painting in its finest, complete with using enamels to shade. But now that Wintercon is dead for now, they have fallen off the priority stack, especially since the AT guns I need to finish will have to be an order away to the UK.

Also, more Battletech. Just some more 3D printed mechs and vehicles so I can fill out an Alpha Strike company. I wasn't aiming too high for paint quality, but they will do, and will certainly look decent when massed on the table top.

Also, another project wrapped up for good. I was finally able to source the paints I needed to finish my PanO, so I did. This is another project that I won't expand on for some time, especially since they will require some fairly intense airbrush work.

After looking back through Instagram, it occurs to me that I have knocked over plenty of projects which I haven't really written about. Perhaps I shall go back and write about some of them, especially since my desire to do video work has dropped to almost nothing and I would like to practice my writing.

I think that will do for now. Until next time.