No paint on the walls. No missing digits. I have used my airbrush and survived!
Let's get right to the video. Keep in mind it's my first video like this, so you know the only way the quality can go is up!
So what did I learn? My paint was probably too thick, despite the smooth coverage. IPhone movies are horrible creatures to edit (also, I'm terrible at editing). Also, I have an midwest accent that I never knew existed.
But honestly, I love this thing. I probably would have spent an hour or so doing what you watched me do. I still have all my details to do, and a lot of metal that needs to be painted, but I feel like I'll no longer dread painting a new model.
I'm also very excited because I now feel comfortable taking orders for vehicles! I know I'll have a Cryx Kraken to show in the very near future, and probably a few Warhammer 40k vehicles. So subscribe to my YouTube channel and like me on Facebook to keep up-to-date.
See you guys tomorrow!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
EPISODE 80: "Collect Calling"
The new episode is now up on Blip! The OverThinker counts off five "classic games" compilations that need to get made already.
REMEMBER: The OverThinker's panel at this weekend's MAGFest is Saturday at 10:00am!
REMEMBER: The OverThinker's panel at this weekend's MAGFest is Saturday at 10:00am!
Goodbye Base Coating!
Who has zero patience for base coats and a new air brush to remedy that?
THIS GUY!
That's right. After spending all this time using my hatred of base-coating as an excuse to have some unfinished models, I found a wonderful surprise sitting outside my front door today.
The Iwata HP-CS is often called a workhorse airbrush, and comes highly recommended for beginners. The compressor is nothing special - it's from TCP Global, and has a compressor tank to prevent air fluctuation from the pistons.
Basically, these months of watching YouTube tutorials can finally start paying off. I bought some cleaner and paint thinner today, so I'll start beautifying some pieces of paper and bits of cardboard as soon as the kids get to sleep tonight. The goal is to get familiar with it and then record myself blindly flailing my way through painting a piece of terrain.
But until then, I'd like close with my favorite warning from the air compressor instruction book. I've checked creative writing papers for high schoolers before, so the poor translation wasn't too hard to get through. But this one got an audible laugh from me:
"Never allow the children to touch the working machine or insert the stick into the machine. It will cause the danger of scald or get an electric shock." It's important to note that there's no stick that came with the compressor or air brush. Apparently kids shoving sticks in the compressor is a common enough occurrence that it warranted an explicit warning. Don't worry, my children have been warned.
See you tomorrow!
THIS GUY!
That's right. After spending all this time using my hatred of base-coating as an excuse to have some unfinished models, I found a wonderful surprise sitting outside my front door today.
The Iwata HP-CS is often called a workhorse airbrush, and comes highly recommended for beginners. The compressor is nothing special - it's from TCP Global, and has a compressor tank to prevent air fluctuation from the pistons.
Basically, these months of watching YouTube tutorials can finally start paying off. I bought some cleaner and paint thinner today, so I'll start beautifying some pieces of paper and bits of cardboard as soon as the kids get to sleep tonight. The goal is to get familiar with it and then record myself blindly flailing my way through painting a piece of terrain.
But until then, I'd like close with my favorite warning from the air compressor instruction book. I've checked creative writing papers for high schoolers before, so the poor translation wasn't too hard to get through. But this one got an audible laugh from me:
"Never allow the children to touch the working machine or insert the stick into the machine. It will cause the danger of scald or get an electric shock." It's important to note that there's no stick that came with the compressor or air brush. Apparently kids shoving sticks in the compressor is a common enough occurrence that it warranted an explicit warning. Don't worry, my children have been warned.
See you tomorrow!
Brownshirts (Update)
(Re-post to correct coding error in original post)
hat-tip: POLYGON.
This is how it begins...
I "get" that grief is a powerful emotion that can override common sense and reason, even in the best of us. I understand that, therefore, we are expected to be deferential and sympathetic to even the most awkward, outlandish or uncomfortable expressions of grief: "Oh, it's alright. They're just upset. Let them vent." I get that... but there's a limit to everything. So, I have ZERO problem saying that the folks in Southington, Connecticut who've more-or-less decided to hold a mass-burning of "violent" video games (music and movies, too) as some kind of reaction to the tragedy in nearby Newtown are, whateve their intent, essentially painting themselves as a pack of ignorant, knuckle-dragging, reactionary cretins; and that they deserve to be called-out and shamed for what is - regardless of scale, circumstance or intent - a crime against art, culture and an affront to civilized modernity.
Southington SOS, which purports to be a charitable organization comprised of local business and community leaders set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre (which, just to reiterate, took place in a different community in CT) are the force behind this gesture. They put out a press release announcing it, which includes contact information for a local YMCA chairman who is apparently a spokesman for the group (I've contacted him for some clarification, awaiting response.)
Said press-release claims that it isn't trying to suggest that games are "to blame" for the shooting and that it's more interested in getting parents and their kids to "have the conversation;" though it goes to claim that "ample evidence" exists for violent media contributing to aggression, "desensitization" and the usual malarkey... without, of course, providing a source of said "ample evidence" (spoiler: that's because there isn't any.) They'll be rewarding "donations" with $25 dollar giftcards, which seems a little rotten to me since I'm more than certain the victimized town they're supposedly supporting could probably use that money... That the "returned" offending materials will be destroyed and "likely" incinerated was revealed by the Southington School Superintendent, Joe Erardi.
Like I said, these are the sorts of things that happen when people's emotions - especially grief and the impotent rage that comes with it - override common sense, and it only gets worse when it grips a community and becomes a kind of mass-pathology (see: Salem, 1692-1693). Often, the only "cure" for such circumstances is for non (or, at least, less) irrational people to hold up the mirror and point out the absurdity and wrongness of what said community is doing - sunlight, as ever, is the ultimate disinfectant. Which is why I think it's proper to publicize this event and respond (civily!) to Southington SOS; if only to let them know how much damage they're doing, image-wise, to themselves and their purported cause by engaging in such vile and wrongheaded behavior.
Note: If and when the representative I mentioned responds to my call, I will post any details/clarifications he wishes to make at my earliest ability.
hat-tip: POLYGON.
This is how it begins...
I "get" that grief is a powerful emotion that can override common sense and reason, even in the best of us. I understand that, therefore, we are expected to be deferential and sympathetic to even the most awkward, outlandish or uncomfortable expressions of grief: "Oh, it's alright. They're just upset. Let them vent." I get that... but there's a limit to everything. So, I have ZERO problem saying that the folks in Southington, Connecticut who've more-or-less decided to hold a mass-burning of "violent" video games (music and movies, too) as some kind of reaction to the tragedy in nearby Newtown are, whateve their intent, essentially painting themselves as a pack of ignorant, knuckle-dragging, reactionary cretins; and that they deserve to be called-out and shamed for what is - regardless of scale, circumstance or intent - a crime against art, culture and an affront to civilized modernity.
Southington SOS, which purports to be a charitable organization comprised of local business and community leaders set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre (which, just to reiterate, took place in a different community in CT) are the force behind this gesture. They put out a press release announcing it, which includes contact information for a local YMCA chairman who is apparently a spokesman for the group (I've contacted him for some clarification, awaiting response.)
Said press-release claims that it isn't trying to suggest that games are "to blame" for the shooting and that it's more interested in getting parents and their kids to "have the conversation;" though it goes to claim that "ample evidence" exists for violent media contributing to aggression, "desensitization" and the usual malarkey... without, of course, providing a source of said "ample evidence" (spoiler: that's because there isn't any.) They'll be rewarding "donations" with $25 dollar giftcards, which seems a little rotten to me since I'm more than certain the victimized town they're supposedly supporting could probably use that money... That the "returned" offending materials will be destroyed and "likely" incinerated was revealed by the Southington School Superintendent, Joe Erardi.
Like I said, these are the sorts of things that happen when people's emotions - especially grief and the impotent rage that comes with it - override common sense, and it only gets worse when it grips a community and becomes a kind of mass-pathology (see: Salem, 1692-1693). Often, the only "cure" for such circumstances is for non (or, at least, less) irrational people to hold up the mirror and point out the absurdity and wrongness of what said community is doing - sunlight, as ever, is the ultimate disinfectant. Which is why I think it's proper to publicize this event and respond (civily!) to Southington SOS; if only to let them know how much damage they're doing, image-wise, to themselves and their purported cause by engaging in such vile and wrongheaded behavior.
Note: If and when the representative I mentioned responds to my call, I will post any details/clarifications he wishes to make at my earliest ability.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Setting Goals and Giving Swag
I hate New Years resolutions. I've always believed that if there's something you want to do, do it now; why wait for an arbitrary start date to start eating healthy or quit smoking? While I still maintain that the right time to improve yourself is always now, I'm going to have to recant a bit of my ravings I've made to friends, because I've found a good reason to use January 1st as a start date.
A former writing student of mine shared a video her brother made. In it, he chronicles himself doing a backflip every single day for an entire year. Compared to some things people promise to do on the first day of the year, a backflip may not seem like much.
But the fact is that he stuck with it (along with some acceptable cheating after a surgery) for an entire year. 365 video clips of a backflip are crammed in to one video, and he gets to know that he stuck with something and didn't let school, work, or illness get in his way. It inspired me.
So here's my proposal to my four readers: I'm giving you something to read every single day for the rest of 2013. The fact that it's a public thing should help keep me accountable, but I want to take it a step further. For every day that I miss, I'll have a giveaway!
Now don't expect a new PC game just because a raging virus kept me semi-comatose in bed for a few days. But considering that this is a pretty geeky blog, the giveaway prizes (apologetic bribes?) will be things that relate to my hobbies. Maybe it'll be a pack of Magic cards, perhaps offering to paint a model for free.
Here's how it will work: if I don't make a post by 11:59 pm CST, you have three days to yell at me. Email me at Ray@RayofPaint.com or post to my wall on Facebook and tell me what date I missed. After three days, I'll choose a random accuser and get them set up with a gift of apology. Just make sure you've liked my Facebook page!
So that's my commitment to my friends and myself. One blog post everyday, or else.
See you tomorrow!
edit: I'm too good at this. If I don't miss a post, I'll try to do a giveaway anyway.
A former writing student of mine shared a video her brother made. In it, he chronicles himself doing a backflip every single day for an entire year. Compared to some things people promise to do on the first day of the year, a backflip may not seem like much.
But the fact is that he stuck with it (along with some acceptable cheating after a surgery) for an entire year. 365 video clips of a backflip are crammed in to one video, and he gets to know that he stuck with something and didn't let school, work, or illness get in his way. It inspired me.
So here's my proposal to my four readers: I'm giving you something to read every single day for the rest of 2013. The fact that it's a public thing should help keep me accountable, but I want to take it a step further. For every day that I miss, I'll have a giveaway!
Now don't expect a new PC game just because a raging virus kept me semi-comatose in bed for a few days. But considering that this is a pretty geeky blog, the giveaway prizes (apologetic bribes?) will be things that relate to my hobbies. Maybe it'll be a pack of Magic cards, perhaps offering to paint a model for free.
Here's how it will work: if I don't make a post by 11:59 pm CST, you have three days to yell at me. Email me at Ray@RayofPaint.com or post to my wall on Facebook and tell me what date I missed. After three days, I'll choose a random accuser and get them set up with a gift of apology. Just make sure you've liked my Facebook page!
So that's my commitment to my friends and myself. One blog post everyday, or else.
See you tomorrow!
edit: I'm too good at this. If I don't miss a post, I'll try to do a giveaway anyway.
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