College of Artisans - A week of painting at Warhammer World!

I've mentioned this a couple of times, but I figured I should do a post about it. In early August I was lucky enough to attend College of Artisans at Warhammer World!

How posh!

For those that are unaware, College of Artisans is a five day painting event held at Warhammer World for a small group of hobbyists. Basically, you bring a project (or two) with you and spend the week working on it alongside the Games Workshop studio painters and the 'Eavy Metal team.

Day 1: The painting area set up in the events hall.

I chose to bring my Acastus Knight Porphyrion to work on during the week. I didn't think I would get it finished, but I was determined to put in a good week's work. I also hoped to get a few painting tips from the 'Eavy Metal team.

I played around with some hazard stripes early on.

To my surprise, the event was sold out, with the maximum ten participants. Speaking with the team at Warhammer World, they hope to increase the capacity next year to allow more people to participate.

The new Primaris vs Chaos display in the exhibition.

Included in the ticket price is a guided tour of the Warhammer World exhibition with one of the curators and a member of the diorama building team. This was a really enjoyable experience and gave me the opportunity to ask questions about how the dioramas are made and what happens to them when they are retired. Horrifyingly, most of them end up in the trash compactor! I'm sure there must be a better home for these gorgeous dioramas once they reach the end of their lives.

Lunch was also included in the price. Yum!

I tried hard on these lenses after some advice from the studio team.

I progressed well with the Porphyrion over the week. I have to say though, painting for eight hours a day is quite challenging and I found myself pretty exhausted on a couple of evenings. Still, it was delightful to be able to carve out such a big slice of hobby time.

Bob Ross was always on hand to motivate me when things got tough.

Getting to meet the 'Eavy Metal team was a delight though. I got a few good tips as well as a couple of 'Eavy Metal brushes to take home with me. Now all I have to do is find a model worthy of being touched by one! It was interesting to handle some of the miniatures which grace the front of the boxes in person as well; you get a much better sense of the techniques used when seen with the naked eye.

A huge pile of Rhino halves ready for the weathering tutorial.

There was a painting tutorial on weathering and battle damage one evening which I hope to use to paint some terrain pieces to add to the base of my Porphyrion. We'll see how it comes out when she's done.

This was as far as I managed to get in the week.

All in all, College of Artisans was a brilliant event run by a team of enthusiastic staff. I was really happy with my progress during the week and it certainly gave a kick start to a huge miniature which might otherwise have been daunting. 

Life permitting, I will certainly want to attend next year.

2018/2019 Hobby Season Roundup

It seems the hobby season is at an end. (The hobby season by the way, is defined by Dave over at 40k Addict. Thanks Dave for continuing to run and support this event.) 

It's been a productive and interesting year for me. I've learned quite a bit and developed as a painter in ways I wouldn't have anticipated. So, what goals did I set last year?

• Complete up to 3000 points of Adeptus Mechanicus/Imperial Knights. I managed to smash this one, bringing the army up to just over 3800 points. Goal completed. You can see most of the collection here.

  

  This has grown somewhat since the photo was taken.

• Paint another Onager Dunecrawler. Goal completed. You can see it here.

  

  I also experimented with new basing techniques.

• Paint another five Skitarii Vanguard. This is an odd one, I didn't paint five Vanguard but instead I painted five Rangers (as seen here). I'm calling this one done.

  

  Wait a second. Those aren't Vanguard!!

• Complete up to 4000 points of Adeptus Mechanicus/Imperial Knights. Another odd one, I didn't technically manage this. However, if I count the 30k Automata which I painted to match the army (using the fan made points values) then I'm well over the 4000 point mark. I'm calling this one done too.

• Build and paint a Cerastus Knight Atropos. Very much no. I haven't even had it out of the box since I first checked the components.

• Build and paint a pair of Kastelan Robots. I built two and painted one, so about 50% done.

• Build and paint a pair of Kastelan Robots. As above, this one is another crushing failure.
• Finish painting Tyranid Heirophant Bio-Titan. A major victory, I got this big beauty done a few months back.

  

  The big bug.

• Finish building and painting 300 points of Infinity Nomads. Nope. I haven't played or painted Infinity this year. That doesn't mean I've fallen out with it and I fully intend to play lots of it in the future.

Stretch goals:

• Make a spreadsheet to track the completion of my Tyranid collection. Done! Perhaps this was an easy win but I'll take it regardless.
• Make some progress with the completion of said Tyranids. (Preferably paint more troops.) Another major victory, I painted a huge batch of Tyranid troops recently which gave me a fun, playable army.

  

  Quick and nasty. But fun to play with.

• Play some games of Infinity with fully painted forces. Nope. Haven't played Infinity this year.
• Get a better grip on the rules for Infinity. Obviously, also no.
• Paint my Forgeworld Mechanicum Thanatar Siege Automata. Done! I was very pleased to get this finished and I think she looks great.

  

  I love these 30k robots.

• Finish building and painting Mechanicum Vultarax Stratos Automata. Same as above, this was a really enjoyable project and I'm very happy with it.

  

  Such a cool model.

• Paint my Necromunda Goliath gang. No. I haven't worked on my Goliaths, but I feel a Necromunda session coming on in the near future.

And where does that leave us? Well, I think I'm going to scrap a lot of the leftover goals from last season and start afresh. Nothing like wiping the slate clean (sort of). So, without further ado, my 2019/2020 hobby goals are:

• Paint five Skitarii Vanguard.
• Paint five Fulgurite Electropriests.
• Paint my Necromunda Goliath gang.
• Build and paint a Cerastus Knight Atropos.
• Paint a tech-priest Manipulus.
• Paint some more 30k robots.
• Attend College of Artisans at Warhammer World again.
• Complete the Acastus Knight Porphyrion which I began painting this year.
• Paint at least one Black Templar model and one Imperial assassin.

I think that will do to start with. I'm sure I will wander from project to project and have some surprising things come up that I can't currently anticipate. Here's hoping for another year of fun hobbying and gaming!