Moderator Guindyloo Posted January 18, 2019 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2019 13 hours ago, Corsair said: Question for January 18, 2019 How did you get into painting minis? I think my story is pretty unique. I can't recall if I've actually told it on the forum before or if I've only told individuals from the forum. So mid-2014, work at my then job slowed down tremendously for a couple of months, so despite taking tasks off of other people's hands, I still found myself with a couple of hours of free time every day. I knew it wouldn't last very long (and it didn't) so I spent that time on something that I enjoyed very much at the time: beauty blogs. The way that we buy miniatures and paint? That's the same way I bought makeup back then, so I enjoyed reading through reviews on the latest products. But with a couple of hours to burn every day for a couple of months, I found myself constantly searching for new blogs to peruse. One day, I stumbled upon one that was not your typical girly girl beauty blog and I found myself fascinated because, well, if you know me, I do wear makeup but I am in many ways not your traditional girly girl. I mean, hi, I love xenomorphs and Skeletor. What was so unique about this particular beauty blog was that the writer would include these little fantasy figurines in the pictures that she took of her beauty products. At the time, I had no idea what these little figurines were, but I knew that the skeleton ones were something that I needed in my life immediately. Look at them, they're so adorable So I immediately started googling, trying to figure out where I could get these cute little guys, thinking I could use them as desk decorations or something of the sort and that's when I discovered that people didn't typically just buy these little things as is, they bought them and then painted them themselves. That was mind-blowing to me. They were so small! How could anyone have the patience and talent to paint such small things? I had no idea at the time that people used them for tabletop games, nor did I have any idea that there was such a large gaming community. I'd heard of Dungeons & Dragons but never knew anyone that played it, so I didn't know what all went into it. I had no intention of getting into the tabletop gaming side of it (and still haven't) but the painting end reignited my interest in art that had all but extinguished over the years of struggling through adulthood. More googling led me to the Reaper forum and more specifically, to Buglips' Bones WIP thread where he'd taken step by step pictures of him speedpainting his Bones figures. He was encouraging and had made the steps easy to follow and made me think that maybe, just maybe I might be able to paint these tiny things. Fast forward a couple of years and as it turns out yeah, I actually can paint these tiny things, I just so happened to fall in love with the man behind the goblin whose posts convinced me to join the hobby in the first place and I couldn't tell you the last time I actually bought anything makeup related (that wasn't a restock of something I use often.) Also, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the blog (I have it written somewhere at home) and this was the only picture from it that I just so happened to have on my phone. I can't remember if Buglips and I wound up being able to ID those skeleton figures or if I put the picture on my phone so I could try to get them ID'd, so if someone happens to know them, please let me know. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparrowMarie Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 16 hours ago, Corsair said: Question for January 18, 2019 How did you get into painting minis? My mom used to paint minis way back before I was born. I found a box of them one time and was very enamored with them. It wasn't until August of 2013 that I actually started painting. It was, and still is, an outlet for my grief after my father had died a couple of months earlier. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGP Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 16 hours ago, Corsair said: Question for January 18, 2019 How did you get into painting minis? Homebrewed AD&D. First purchase was Ral Partha or maybe Grenadier. D&D led to buying minis, buying minis led to painting them, with Humbrol oil paints, that came in tiny steel barrels. And also, India Ink. First thing I painted was a wraith knight on a horse. (Maybe he was supposed to be a ring wraith from Tolkien but he came with wire which the hobbyist was supposed to install as a lance. No idea who made the model...a strange, never heard of it again, off brand. A true lost mini.) If anyone has ever heard of or seen this mini I would love to know it’s identity. The second thing might have been a Ral Partha Wyvern. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGP Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Guindyloo said: What was so unique about this particular beauty blog was that the writer would include these little fantasy figurines in the pictures that she took of her beauty products. At the time, I had no idea what these little figurines were, but I knew that the skeleton ones were something that I needed in my life immediately. Look at them, they're so adorable So I immediately started googling, trying to figure out where I could get these cute little guys,... Quote Also, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the blog (I have it written somewhere at home) and this was the only picture from it that I just so happened to have on my phone. I can't remember if Buglips and I wound up being able to ID those skeleton figures or if I put the picture on my phone so I could try to get them ID'd, so if someone happens to know them, please let me know. This is a maybe... There are four lefty archers in this ^ group. Two of them have the arm reaching back for an arrow. These are GW multi/part plastic skeletons from the late 80s early 90s. I think the ones in your picture may have all been custom builds from that kit. Source of new picture: https://themountainsofminis.com/2017/04/14/and-the-skeleton-archers/ I wonder if the blog belongs to the same @Maledrakh who has an account here on the forums. Same avatar. @buglips*the*goblin now you know what to get her for her birthday! Edited January 18, 2019 by TGP 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buglips*the*goblin Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, Corsair said: Question for January 18, 2019 How did you get into painting minis? In the mid-80s I built a few model kits (in the literal sense, I just glued them together), and at some point I started playing around with old Testors enamel paints. It was fun but the results were terrible. At some point I got it into my head to use the paints on some plastic army men, which was even more fun and somewhat less terrible. But when the paint ran out, no more army men got painted. A few years after that I started playing AD&D, but none of the assorted groups used miniatures so I had no idea such a thing existed. One day, my friend Dave showed up with some figures and Citadel acrylic paints. I asked where he got these neat things I'd never seen before, and he directed me to a downtown comic store. We all went down to check out their RPGs and off to one side was a spin rack of tiny metal people - Ral Parthas. I bought this guy for the princely sum of $1.50: Not knowing anything about these weird 'acrylics', I painted him using testors enamels. I got a taste for it, and started buying more - using AD&D as the excuse (though we still didn't actually use them). I eventually found a group that did use miniatures, but by then I had ironically purged my collection and moved on to other things. I started thinking about them again in 2004, and decided to buy maybe 20 or so to paint for old times sake and that would be it. (ha!) Eventually I stopped playing D&D, and RPGs in general. Truthfully, I've come to hate them and don't enjoy roleplaying. It took me a while to realize it wasn't the game, it was me, and that I would never find an RPG experience I found satisfying. I'm actually fine with this since the game(s) had long been secondary to collecting and painting figures. But since I do like to have some purpose beyond just painting, I've started to delve into wargames. This has led me to find and drool over some very neat WW2 and Napoleonic figures. Thus I have come full circle back to painting toy soldiers, and am slowly morphing into a kind of reverse-grognard. I still enjoy painting fantasy figures for their own sake, my issues with RPGs are the implementation and not the aesthetics, so I will still do so. I just might not buy hordes of orcs, only buying however many are different. Regardless of how much of my collection remains intact, I have determined that in any case - due to contamination, if nothing else - when I'm able to paint again I will have to start again from scratch. This is also something I don't mind, since it provides an opportunity to answer the eternal question: if you could do it all over again, what would you do differently? It's been a long time since I painted starting at zero finished figures, and now I can put to use all that I've learned. And I think I'll start with that goofy-looking partha fighter in plate. This will be the third iteration of my collection, and he started the other two. Edited January 18, 2019 by buglips*the*goblin 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkymadigan Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 19 hours ago, Corsair said: Question for January 18, 2019 How did you get into painting minis? Shocked no one said my answer yet. Heroquest. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWulfe Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 11 hours ago, Xiwo Xerase said: CGL says we shouldn't see that issue with the new starter boxes (the ones being released next week). We'll see if that is actually the case. Would be nice if they'd get that kind of thing in order... I want to order more Shadowrun books, but don't want to wait two years again... 3 hours ago, buglips*the*goblin said: In the mid-80s I built a few model kits (in the literal sense, I just glued them together), and at some point I started playing around with old Testors enamel paints. It was fun but the results were terrible. At some point I got it into my head to use the paints on some plastic army men, which was even more fun and somewhat less terrible. But when the paint ran out, no more army men got painted. A few years after that I started playing AD&D, but none of the assorted groups used miniatures so I had no idea such a thing existed. One day, my friend Dave showed up with some figures and Citadel acrylic paints. I asked where he got these neat things I'd never seen before, and he directed me to a downtown comic store. We all went down to check out their RPGs and off to one side was a spin rack of tiny metal people - Ral Parthas. I bought this guy for the princely sum of $1.50: Not knowing anything about these weird 'acrylics', I painted him using testors enamels. I got a taste for it, and started buying more - using AD&D as the excuse (though we still didn't actually use them). I eventually found a group that did use miniatures, but by then I had ironically purged my collection and moved on to other things. I started thinking about them again in 2004, and decided to buy maybe 20 or so to paint for old times sake and that would be it. (ha!) Eventually I stopped playing D&D, and RPGs in general. Truthfully, I've come to hate them and don't enjoy roleplaying. It took me a while to realize it wasn't the game, it was me, and that I would never find an RPG experience I found satisfying. I'm actually fine with this since the game(s) had long been secondary to collecting and painting figures. But since I do like to have some purpose beyond just painting, I've started to delve into wargames. This has led me to find and drool over some very neat WW2 and Napoleonic figures. Thus I have come full circle back to painting toy soldiers, and am slowly morphing into a kind of reverse-grognard. I still enjoy painting fantasy figures for their own sake, my issues with RPGs are the implementation and not the aesthetics, so I will still do so. I just might not buy hordes of orcs, only buying however many are different. Regardless of how much of my collection remains intact, I have determined that in any case - due to contamination, if nothing else - when I'm able to paint again I will have to start again from scratch. This is also something I don't mind, since it provides an opportunity to answer the eternal question: if you could do it all over again, what would you do differently? It's been a long time since I painted starting at zero finished figures, and now I can put to use all that I've learned. And I think I'll start with that goofy-looking partha fighter in plate. This will be the third iteration of my collection, and he started the other two. He lives! Yaaaaaaaaaay it's buglips! 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGP Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 4 hours ago, buglips*the*goblin said: I started thinking about them again in 2004, and decided to buy maybe 20 or so to paint for old times sake and that would be it. (ha!) ...and thus Goblin math was born... 5 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted January 19, 2019 Author Share Posted January 19, 2019 Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleH Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 7 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? 3 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyradis Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 6 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? 99% of the time, no. I like the smell of most coffee. I like coffee yogurt and coffee ice cream. Actual coffee drinks almost always give me an instant headache, followed by an uneasy gut, and sometimes it makes me heartrate weird (two sips of Sir Cyr's Thai coffee gave me a headache and funky heartrate for a while). On rare occasion I will dare a mocha, but I usually regret it. There is one place about a 20min walk away from the apartment that makes cappuccinos which don't make me feel icky. Dunno why. But mmm those are nice. Tea is my go-to caffeinated warm beverage. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NomadZeke Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 13 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? That depends, is the person asking bringing me coffee? If not, can they run faster than me? 4 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Darsc Zacal Posted January 19, 2019 Moderator Share Posted January 19, 2019 20 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? Never! 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintybeard Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 39 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? Home brewed, mostly yes. When eating out, probably not. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWulfe Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 39 minutes ago, Corsair said: Question for January 19, 2019 Coffee? Yes or no? It all depends... Touch my coffee (if you aren't the one making it) and that might as well be a declaration of war.... If it's being offered? Yes. I'll gladly take a coffee, coffee is delicious. If it has cream and sugar, still just as delicious, if not more so. If it's a latte... I think you get the idea. Tl;dr: Yes. Ohhhhh yeah it's definitely a yes. 5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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