ReaperCon 2019 -- Classes I Would Take

[Keianna]

12 hours ago, Cyradis said:

 

Idea!!! 

 

Uhh... would instructors be willing to do poster sessions? You do amazing step by steps with your thought process on the forums already; making a poster out of that would be quite straightforward from there. Kuro has done similar, like when he did the SENMM space marine. Gather a bunch of you (willing) master brushsmiths in an area with all your pictures on boards, or whatever you deem as "useful but not good for a class setting", and let people roam and ask questions for a set amount of time. 

 

**just brainstorming** 

 

I am now envisioning a minis science fair type exhibition. Which is kind of awesome. 

 

Assuming that by 'poster' you mean a large 2D informational display. 

[Cyradis]

3 hours ago, Doug Sundseth said:

I wasn't actually clear whether @Cyradis meant "One who posts" or "That which is posted" in talking about "posters".

 

Whoops. I mean that people presenting in the session have a poster board or big printed poster, with a how-to on a favorite piece they did with lots of pictures on said poster. They stand at their poster and get questioned; they should have "the elevator schpeal" ready. It allows folks to kinda pick and choose short bursts of learning by wandering around and chatting. It would not be unlike a whole class presenting their high school science fair projects, but the instructors have the posters instead of students. 

 

4 hours ago, Corporea said:

(having school flashbacks of trying to finish posters in time... ) Maybe? I know Rhonda is good about printing out pictures.  She has a whole stash of them.  maybe we could do pictures and lay them out on a table? Pass them around?

 

Vertical layout means people can walk around the posters, or gather around a favorite. Sorry for bad flashbacks 

 

Anywhoooo... just a thought. 

[Cyradis]

Actually, Guindyloo and Buglips also have a setup going for it with their jointly painted figures series. 

[Al Capwn]

7 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

It would not be unlike a whole class presenting their high school science fair projects, but the instructors have the posters instead of students.

 

Does this mean I get to make a baking soda + vinegar volcano?!

[Cyradis]

5 minutes ago, Al Capwn said:

 

Does this mean I get to make a baking soda + vinegar volcano?!

 

Only if it is a mini version on a diorama of painted stuff, you do a demo, and have a step-by-step guide on doing it on a poster 

[kristof65]

6 minutes ago, Al Capwn said:

 

Does this mean I get to make a baking soda + vinegar volcano?!

Only if you paint a munch of Reaper villagers to stand on the side of the volcano

 

[Keianna]

1 hour ago, Al Capwn said:

 

Does this mean I get to make a baking soda + vinegar volcano?!

 

Actually, you can do cool things with water, baking soda and superglue. 

[OneBoot]

It is something to consider, but transporting a full poster, while possible, would be a bit problematic for those that fly.

 

Actually, Artist Ally is already kind of set up like this, with the artists having various examples of their work at the front of their station, and generally more than happy to answer questions and explain how they got such and such result. Heck, I had my half-done class demo minis there and had fun explaining them to interested folks slowly cruising down the line of tables as I was working on them. I do understand what you're suggesting, though, and it is more structured, and I certainly won't complain if anyone decides to do it! :) 

 

Perhaps a sign nearby indicating the Artist Ally location, with an invitation to come and look and ask questions, would be useful? Newcomers (and even some who have attended before) may not know what that area is, or what the purpose of it is, and signage could help with that. :)

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[Cyradis]

Typically for academic posters, they're printed on a large sheet and rolled up for transit, then tacked to a board at the event. It lets you transport them in tubes, so they don't get squashed. It would take a carry-on unless you were clever, though. Or there could be a printing set-up in Texas. You are right, @OneBoot - it is more stuff to manage, and that is a nuisance. Definite downside. 

 

I think the benefit of this over just examples of the work at tables is that this opens more doors to asking questions. It is easy to look at a piece and go "whoa, that's cool!" and not know what to ask, or just ask "how'd ya do it?". Having pre-answered questions makes it easy to go "ooh, can you explain that specific step?" 

 

Seeing pictures, some folks already do this sort of thing. I saw pictures of Mori's paper on sculpting her figure, and Proctor had something on building the lion bust's base. Small versus big displays, I guess 

[OneBoot]

2 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

Typically for academic posters, they're printed on a large sheet and rolled up for transit, then tacked to a board at the event. It lets you transport them in tubes, so they don't get squashed. It would take a carry-on unless you were clever, though. Or there could be a printing set-up in Texas. You are right, @OneBoot - it is more stuff to manage, and that is a nuisance. Definite downside. 

 

I think the benefit of this over just examples of the work at tables is that this opens more doors to asking questions. It is easy to look at a piece and go "whoa, that's cool!" and not know what to ask, or just ask "how'd ya do it?". Having pre-answered questions makes it easy to go "ooh, can you explain that specific step?" 

 

Seeing pictures, some folks already do this sort of thing. I saw pictures of Mori's paper on sculpting her figure, and Proctor had something on building the lion bust's base. Small versus big displays, I guess 

 

Yeah, MrBoot has done a number of poster sessions at scientific conferences, and he always takes his as his carryon (since he travels light, that isn't a problem). My carryon is always crammed with stuff, lol! 

 

A small display on a regular-sized page, though...yeah, that could be doable! Plus it would actually fit at a station. Mini-poster!

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[Al Capwn]

24 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

I think the benefit of this over just examples of the work at tables is that this opens more doors to asking questions. It is easy to look at a piece and go "whoa, that's cool!" and not know what to ask, or just ask "how'd ya do it?". Having pre-answered questions makes it easy to go "ooh, can you explain that specific step?"

Maybe a meet-in-the-middle approach? For artists who document their processes, perhaps there could be "business cards" next to their work, with a URL link to "the poster board". People can easily look at the work, go "whoa, how did you do that?!", the artist can say, "Thanks! Oh here, take one of the cards next to it; that link explains all the steps I took along the way!" and they can look at all the info directly associated with that piece on a tablet, laptop or phone. Not saying that the artist can't discuss the details if they wish, but you get the benefits of a poster-workflow, without some of the space and transport logistical issues.

 

Basically, either just as a neat "value add" to artist row, or if considering a specific class forum - being able to tap into digital assets saves a bunch of physical space, while still allowing educational content to be presented. It is just the natural evolution from books to eBooks, DVDs to streaming, and CDs to MP3s. So either having work easily referenced in picture tutorials that can be displayed on a screen, or just convenient links to a picture/tutorial/reference repository of the piece.

 

Obviously this only works for works that have picture tutorials tied to it, but I think that @Corporea current WIP thread would be a great example of that. Or like Derek's oft-referenced How-To for eyes, which is a forum gem for sure.

 

I do think that a poster would add visual interest, but it also could eat into space. Not sure how much space is a commodity? I do like the concept though.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Al Capwn

[Guindyloo]

I don't mean to be a downer here or anything, but y'all are basically just asking for a WIP forum printed out on poster boards. I get that these things are helpful, but at a certain point it's a bit pie in the sky. You're asking for a huge time commitment from instructors who are already dedicating their entire weekend to teaching and answering questions, and that's just the time to spend on the poster pow wow itself and not the time to paint the figure, make sure that they document the painting of the figure in a very detailed way, put together a super detailed write up (which can easily take several hours,) the cost to print out such things and then the space that it would take to display them along with the finished figure itself.

 

A lot of the instructors already have blogs, tutorial videos, patreons, etc. If you're that interested in seeing the very detailed breakdowns of a certain instructor's work, I would strongly encourage you to seek out those sources and if applicable, throw a few bucks their way.

 

If you have trouble thinking of useful questions to ask, then prepare yourself ahead of time. See what instructors will be there, study their work and if you think you'll have trouble remembering what to ask, write down your questions. Print out examples of their work that you want to ask about for reference in case they don't happen to bring that specific piece.

 

I think it would be a little more constructive to brain storm about subjects that you would like to see taught rather than coming up with new and interesting ways to convey information.

[Al Capwn]

1 hour ago, Guindyloo said:

I don't mean to be a downer here or anything, but y'all are basically just asking for a WIP forum printed out on poster boards. I get that these things are helpful, but at a certain point it's a bit pie in the sky. You're asking for a huge time commitment from instructors who are already dedicating their entire weekend to teaching and answering questions, and that's just the time to spend on the poster pow wow itself and not the time to paint the figure, make sure that they document the painting of the figure in a very detailed way, put together a super detailed write up (which can easily take several hours,) the cost to print out such things and then the space that it would take to display them along with the finished figure itself.

 

That is a fair enough point, and I guess I should clarify my own point of view. My suggestion would be entirely up to the artist who has already decided to do the work ahead of time, not necessarily a request that artists do this as a service for pieces they decide to embark upon. That is why I explicitly mentioned a WIP thread that explains technique that has already been done, as well as Derek's guide to eyes. This isn't recreating the wheel, rather it is condensing a lot of questions that I am sure many artists get into a FAQ or repository. Doug recently did so with the "Painter's Glossary" which I think is another great example.

 

1 hour ago, Guindyloo said:

A lot of the instructors already have blogs, tutorial videos, patreons, etc. If you're that interested in seeing the very detailed breakdowns of a certain instructor's work, I would strongly encourage you to seek out those sources and if applicable, throw a few bucks their way.

 

...and I would encourage the instructors to share that information, which quite a few of them do, of course.

 

1 hour ago, Guindyloo said:

If you have trouble thinking of useful questions to ask, then prepare yourself ahead of time. See what instructors will be there, study their work and if you think you'll have trouble remembering what to ask, write down your questions. Print out examples of their work that you want to ask about for reference in case they don't happen to bring that specific piece.

 

This is actually very good advice, but it is coming from the voice of prior experience - as they say, hindsight is always 20/20. Story time!

 

My first time at the convention, I was lost. I had no idea what to expect, what to ask, or what to really do. Heck, I barely knew any of the artists or their work - I was just gobsmacked at the level of detail and the willingness of the artists to help me out with my admittedly dumb questions. I was never on these forums, and most of my online knowledge revolved around YouTube tutorials. That means Miniac, Vince Venturalla, Painting Buddha (Ben Komets), Sam Lenz (Tabletop Minions), Kujo Painting, etc. - unfortunately, none of these individuals were at the convention to ask specifics, not that I would have known what to ask to begin with.

 

This second time around, I had a better idea of who was going to be showing up, what their art looked like, and what aspects I wanted to try and learn to emulate - and planned accordingly. I am sure my third visit will be even more targeted and nuanced like how you propose, dialing in specific questions about a particular piece rather than general amazement and absorption and application of fundamental technique.

 

The point is, there are always going to be newbies, who like me the first year, are going to be awkwardly lost and just simply won't know any better. That being said, I would say we are probably both "preaching to the choir" at this point. "Past me" wouldn't have seen this thread. 

 

1 hour ago, Guindyloo said:

I think it would be a little more constructive to brain storm about subjects that you would like to see taught rather than coming up with new and interesting ways to convey information.

 

I think the spirit of some of the ideas was meant to save time and effort on the artists/instructors, even if some of the ideas might seem counter-intuitive to that nature. That being said, I do agree that maybe the thread should try to regain its focus on the topical nature of potential information, rather than the manner of its presentation. There is such a thing as scope-creep, but I simultaneously I don't want to suggest "throwing the baby out with the bath water" to new ideas either. After all, isn't part of art about exploring new possibilities? Perhaps that could be in another thread altogether?

Edited September 21, 2018 by Al Capwn

[Mr Melons]

Since ideas are being thrown around and keeping newbies in mind, my wife and I were talking and an idea came to fruition. We've been seeing that this year, the gaming has pretty much blown up and had a big draw. I'm sure there was also a big draw of first time/new painters that resulted from this. We were thinking that a paint and take is great but lacks any real input besides whomever is your neighbor at the tables. How about a walk up (not online registration) of a "class" that is like a live Learn to Paint Bones kit (just not the same miniatures that come with it). You pick one of three bones figures, grab instructions, grab three paints and begin painting it. The instructor then comes by and walks a person through the steps, providing feedback or advice throughout the whole miniature. I'm sure it could even be cross promoted with the Learn to Paint Bones kits.

[Keianna]

9 minutes ago, Mr Melons said:

Since ideas are being thrown around and keeping newbies in mind, my wife and I were talking and an idea came to fruition. We've been seeing that this year, the gaming has pretty much blown up and had a big draw. I'm sure there was also a big draw of first time/new painters that resulted from this. We were thinking that a paint and take is great but lacks any real input besides whomever is your neighbor at the tables. How about a walk up (not online registration) of a "class" that is like a live Learn to Paint Bones kit (just not the same miniatures that come with it). You pick one of three bones figures, grab instructions, grab three paints and begin painting it. The instructor then comes by and walks a person through the steps, providing feedback or advice throughout the whole miniature. I'm sure it could even be cross promoted with the Learn to Paint Bones kits.

 

Interesting idea, but maybe as a second or third mini. After running a paint and take, one of the things that suprised me was that most people just want to sit down and slap some paint on without much in the way of instruction. It was getting started on that first step that people asked the most about. I recommended that they start with a liner layer and very rarely did they want more than that other than help finding a particular color. 

 

That said, having times when the paint and take table was overseen by a person might not be a bad idea. It would pretty much have to be a volunteer. Maybe have a sign up sheet so you could commit to an hour or two at a time. I would have no problem doing that. And it would be cool to be able to say "OK this drybrushing technique I just showed you is detailed in more depth step by step with pictures in the Learn To Paint Kits that are sold right over there!"