I’d like to take a short detour from my TK project to write about what motivates me to build/paint and to display the work of two good friends of mine.

I started this hobby back in ‘98 while I was still in the Army. I remember coming up to DC from Ft. Bragg to visit my girlfriend (now wife) and for some reason or another we found ourselves at a GW shop in the mall. I remember being blown away by the incredible armies they had on display in the glass cases so I bought a box of those crappy Saurus and some paint and vowed to return one day. 13 years later, I still play at that store and the then manager James is a damn good friend of mine and one of the most unforgiving opponents I know.

James is a brilliant painter and most of my technique was developed from trying to replicate his style and he still astounds me to this day with his talent. Here’s some of his work:

My favorite part of this model is the boar. The skin is brilliant and the attention to detail by glossing the eyes and the tongue makes this little bastard spring to life. The Orc is also amazing. James paints like the old school Heavy Metal painters and it pisses me off at how easy it is for him. He now has a full unit of these sexy beasts by the way…

This Dark Elf Lord was painted for some tourney where everything had to be represented on the model. The Blood Armor is again brilliant. The saddest part of these models is that about 10 minutes after I took pictures someone knocked James’ case down and both got broken. The Boar Boy was easily repaired being plastic but the elf lord took all kinds of scratch damage. ☹

Last but certainly not least is this amazing terrain piece from my friend Michael (Chewie). Chewie is to terrain as James is to painting. It never ceases to amaze me what he does with board terrain. Here’s his “Rock of Aegis” (that name kills me! LOL!):

This beauty is for sale if anyone is interested. It does include the mounted guns by the way but we tend to take them off when he brings them into the store so they are not stolen/broken. Drop me a line if you have any interest and I’ll get you in contact with Chewie.

My hobby is driven by viewing the work of other hobbyists. Seeing someone crank out a badass model/unit or some inspired piece of terrain makes me want to paint/hobby myself. Find out what motivates you and use that inspiration to take your work to the next level.

Shawn G. (SoI)