CliffNotes Version (for you lazy buggers): A Gentleman’s Ones is a hobby blog focusing on BSMoove’s unique, background-oriented approach to painting and playing 40K. His style lends itself well to distressed metals and blood. He is pioneering a cross-blog battle report format called ‘Hailed vs. Hated’ with another blogger, who we’ll meet.
A Gentleman’s Ones is a hobby blog, which simply means the focus is on how BSMoove enjoys playing with his toys. Asking that question of a porn star yields a different answer entirely, so let’s be specific.
- How does he convert them? Check.
- Does he paint them? Check.
- Does he play with them? Check.
- Does he win? Well…
I absolutely could NOT run with the big boys, but I’d like to think that I’ve got some game and I’m always, always, always learning.
You can’t have everything. No, really, you can’t. Every blog that’s worth anything has a focus of some sort, something to set them apart from the hundreds of other blogs out there.
I’m not going to spend any time on that subject today, other than leaving you with this. If you’re not lucky enough to have friends who’ve trail blazed the field for you, carving out a niche of readers you can immediately access via links, you have to be aware you’re facing an uphill climb. That means you’ll need to do what you do, write what you know, and be willing to work your ass off.
Don’t worry, we’ll touch on that topic ad nauseum, but for now, let’s move on.
Can you describe your style of painting?
I used to paint at an agonizingly slow pace. Agonizing. I’m talking dentistry. The hobby was brutal for me back then. I returned to the hobby in 2000, and made a distinct decision to relax a bit. I stopped trying to paint every single miniature to the best of my ability and concentrate on getting an army on the tabletop. Perhaps ironically, this actually improved my painting in a number of ways.
I’ve trimmed/refined many of my techniques to make almost everything immodestly fast, but not sloppy. In fact, some of my initial techniques are just a breath or two away from “dip” method I see mentioned so often. To varying degrees, I wash almost everything in one form or another, but then I clean the model as I go along so that the smaller details tidy the initial messes.
Let’s take a look.
!
I’m including here the links for two Work In Progress series he did, the first being Rust and the second being Verdigris. For the interested, I tried out BSMoove’s Rust technique myself and was very happy with the result.
Did you have an idea for what you wanted to do with it right off the bat or did it develop naturally?
I had an idea, immediately, that I wanted to create a blog that was ambitious. I wanted it to be consistent and rewarding for readers, and wanted to emphasize both quality and quantity.
After that, I wasn’t entirely sure.
I thought that I’d need some discipline if it were to be worthwhile, so put myself on a pretty rigorous schedule early on with the goal of posting five times each week. That’s a lot. I know. But I wanted to put my goal at the upper limits of my ability, not the opposite. In my opinion, the posting plan has worked, as it allows me to develop a single theme across three posts each week.
The fourth post was reserved for Hailed vs. Hated (which I’ll talk about some more in a moment), and the fifth post was always a WIP on Sunday as a kind of culmination of the week’s work.
By any measure, your blog has taken off. Are you surprised by your early success?
Yes. Very.
Perhaps my expectations were skewed. I’m genuinely surprised and relieved that nobody has come right out and said, “Holy crap, that’s a terrible idea!” or “Why on earth would you ever move your Raptors so close to his Reclussiarch? Have you read the Codex? Can you even spell Reclussiarch properly?”
Your most innovative idea is Hailed Vs Hated. Can you tell the audience what that’s all about?
Thank you kindly. It’d be a pleasure, all the more so because HvH genuinely tells the story of what I’ve come to enjoy and admire about this blogging malarkey. Please indulge me a moment.
I’d noted Dark…
“Full stop, full stop, I’d like to report Real Genius’ eyes have just glazed over! I repeat, we have just hit 750 words and Real Genius’ eyes have just glazed over. We’ve got to bring this to a close!”
That’s that, then. I’m going to have to call a stop to this, Part II of On Blogging. Surprisingly, I managed to do it without foul language or dirty jokes!
(You know that ain’t gonna happen every time!)
The story doesn’t end here, of course – we’ve not even found out what Hailed vs. Hates is all about – but I’m going to publish the rest of the story on Strictly Average the day this comes out on Blood of Kittens. Don’t worry, because you’ve got most of it here…
Including the lighting round! Just to drive the nail in the coffin of my dreams of ever, EVER getting published on Bell of Lost Souls, I’m going to include a series of short questions and answers at the end of each interview.
Bonus Question: Blogs as magazines – it’s an analogy mate, roll with it – Bell is People, YTTH is Guns and Ammo, and Blood of Kittens is US Weekly… what magazine is A Gentleman’s Ones?
“Martha Stewart Living” (post incarceration, naturally).
Lightning Round:
Blogger or WordPress?
Blogger. I am painfully new, and don’t have the foggiest notion about WordPress. Luddite. I know.
Bell of Lost Souls or Yes The Truth Hurts?
Bells. I’ve only just seen YTTH in the last couple of months, while I’ve been haunting BoLS for a good long while now.
Blogs or Forums?
I have limited experience with Forums, but the few I’ve seen make me want to light myself on fire. So, Blogs.
Painted or Plastic?
Painted. Without doubt. While I would never expect or inflict my philosophy on others, I’ll leave a model at home if it’s not (very nearly) completed.
Friday Night Fights or What the hell is that?
I tend to avoid it in the same way I avoid lighting myself on fire.
Brent or Not Brent?
Considering my response to the FNF question, I’ll confess I voted Brent. In fact, I may have actually voted twice. That’s the Chicago way, I suppose.
Battle Reports or How-To-Posts?
50-50. One is the Ying to the other’s Yang, if you will.
Troller or Lurker?
Lurkmeister. I spent about two years watching how this works before I actually got the nerve to make a blog of my own. The very few barbs I’ve engaged within comment sections, and whatnot, have left me feeling sullied and compromised. Trolls are not my bag.
(Next time: The Worst Blog Out There – Believe That!)