Double Virus Alert!

Double Virus Alert! 

Hint: There is WIN in this post, read it carefully!

Influenza - thou art a heartless bitch!

Wintertime. Freezing temperatures. A time of year where a lot of people get sick - the common cold, the flu and other undesired virus driven ailments have the times of their life.

Who am I to deny them their fun or even their existence? So I unvoluntarily became the host of some of these fellas and - to say it mildly - 'don't feel good at all'. 

Many of my friends are currently sick as well. I feel ya! Literally :D

So after an attempt of cutting video material for our upcoming DVD instruction set I went right back to bed for a few hours and give it another try now. 

Good thing that this flue will be all over in a day or two.

A different kind of virus - long lasting and possibly incurable

"Brad & Yanet" sculpted by Mati (Badsmile)
www.paintingbuddha.com

Over the last couple of month a second virus, one that I am not sure I will ever get rid of again, has taken hold of me.

This time I can't just wait it out to get 'healthy' again - I have to get busy actively fighting it so I can finally control its effects. But I honestly fear, this virus is here to stay.

I talk of none other than the sculpting virus. 

Working on our first (and currently already the second) DVD instruction set for paintingbuddha.com, I have the great pleasure of working with such amazing artists as Ben "White Rabbit" Komets, Stephan "Derwish" Rath and Mati "Badsmile" Zander. 

As far as the painting side is concerned, filming and editing over 50 hours of material and being able to look 'over the shoulder' of incredibly talented painters such as Ben and Stephan, it is a mild understatement to say that 'inspiration' struck me more than once. Even though Ben and Stephan use completely different techniques, they both create amazing looking miniatures. 

Yolandi Visser - Die Antwoord

Even with my limited previous painting experience (I say "experience", not "regular practice" :D). I KNOW that - following the upcoming DVD step-by-step - I will be able to aquire their techniques to create similarly good looking results. That's the beauty of being able to 'look over someones shoulder', watch what they are doing and have them give away their 'secrets' in the process - and all of you will all be able to do just that very soon, too. 

But wait! Didn't I say SCULPTING virus?

I sure did. Our sculptor Mati - who most of you know under his name Badsmile (and his smile is not bad at all, very misleading indeed) - infected me with another virus. The sculpting virus. 

Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton - America's Last Moonshiner
Youtube documentary about him (heelbilly english!)

Sitting next to him and experiencing first hand how he turns a blob of putty into some of the finest sculpted miniatures that I have ever seen is nothing short of a miracle to me - because I don't understand any of it. If I took a 90% finished sculpt and would try to finalize it, my skill would quickly turn it back into a blob of putty :D

For weeks now I notice myself wanting to paint stuff that means something to me, something that 'connects'. In 9 out of 10 cases, this 'stuff' does not exist yet. So I find myself wanting to sculpt stuff I see, with the goal of then painting it according to my vision. Artists (like Yolandi and Ninja from Die Antwoord), interesting characters (like Popcorn Sutton) or just crazy looking creatures, machines, spaceships and stuff I find in inspiring movies, concept art and so on.

Virus killing snake oil

Unlike Pop Sutton who illegaly distilled moonshine, I can't squash and boil Mati to get his 'sculpting essence' distilled out of him. This would be wrong on many levels, even though sometimes desperate times require desperate measures. But as soon as I finish cutting our first DVD set, I will 'press' him for answers - very carefully ;) 

This blog is full of WIN

So, how about you? Have you ever wanted to sculpt something? Or did you even finish something? Was it a scratch build or a conversion? Was it easy or hard? Would you like to learn how to convert/sculpt stuff? 

Leave your comments below - and by doing so, enter the next drawing of a limited Dark Angels Codex from Games Workshop - limited to 2000. And no, I did not buy all 2000 of them as some of you already suspected :D Let's just say that I secured 'a few' - for you!

Your other two chances of winning this Codex are here and here. Chances of winning are REALLY GOOD as there are not too many people who entered yet! So GRAB your limited codex - you know it has YOUR NAME on it ;) 

Have a great day - and don't get infected by anything else than the painting and sculpting viruses!

Zaphod