Like most painters, I have a love/hate relationship with painting forums. They can simultaneously inspire and demoralize, yet I can't help but continue to see the amazing paint jobs and modifications done by the community. Although painting is one of those things where I can say "I'll get there eventually," custom modifications are things that terrify me.
I've been trying to find "that project" where I want to go all out and try to do an awesome base or a custom pose for a model. Tonight I was looking at different ways people have done the Khador Gun Carriage, and I found this by Scorpios007:
For an idea of how ridiculous that is, here's what the Gun Carriage normally looks like:
I love it! I mean the conversion itself doesn't seem terribly difficult - cutting a few joints to pose him properly, make the hands look right with the chain, and you're done. But the beauty and intimidation of having a huge warjack haul this wrecking machine cranks up the cool factor to, I don't know, 3 million.
I want to do something like this. I love painting and making models come alive, but I'm definitely feeling confined by only being a painter. Building terrain has really helped me branch out and try new things, and now I want to do something like this.
Heck, any model I have can be modified somehow. Whether doing a unique pose or giving them an amazing base, I find myself really wanting to do more than paint someone standing outside. I don't know what I'd start with, but I'm definitely inspired to do something.
Mentally going through my models, I have no idea what I'd even do. I do have a classic Pureblood Warpwolf that I've wanted to pose on a wrecked warjack ever since I got it in a trade. I've also wanted to pose a warcaster like they're casting their feat - a pulse of ice around Sorscha, Roots of Earth for eBaldur, or a completely violent scene for Xersis's aptly named "Total Annihilation."
If I were to ever get caught up with my painting, I've also dreamed of doing a conversion across an entire army. A player in my town has a Cryx army that has all the heads converted to jack-o-lanterns, and I think he even had bases and tokens to match it. That's a lot of work, but anyone who has seen it talks about it because it's so incredible to look at (yet impossible to find online). Of course I wouldn't do it to any of my current armies, but anyone who knows me can assure you that I won't be sticking to Khador, Circle, and Skorne for the rest of my life.
And finally getting in to Malifaux, a game that only has 5-15 models on my side of the table, doing some custom work is a realistic goal. I can't even begin to guess what I'd do, but that's the fun of doing custom work in painting and converting!
That's where my mind has been tonight. Have any of you tried doing customization across your entire army? How about an individual model that turned out really sweet? I'd love to hear about it!
See you tomorrow!
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