September Challenge - Part One

For the last five years, I've tried to get the family to participate in a Game-A-Day Challenge in September. The idea being that usually gaming tapered off over the summer and the challenge was to jump-start fall gaming - and try to find a way to prioritize time for gaming, while all of the other fall activities were starting up. We've had varying degrees of success, usually not actually playing games EVERY day... but more than "making up for it" by playing WAY more than 30 games. 

I floated the idea to the family in the last weeks of August and was met by a distinct lack of interest and enthusiasm. I even tried to frame it as an individual challenge for myself, that they could each "help" me with - every other day or so (between the three of them, each playing a one-on-one game with me every third day). Still no interest. I think it's a mix of everyone is tiring of the pandemic isolation.... and... TEENAGERS! 

I have no doubt that we'll still play SOME games together throughout September - and the rest of the fall. It shouldn't be TOO hard to find the time, as we are all doing far less activities that we have in previous years.  No more violin/cello lessons, Keira is down to two dance classes (from six last year!), Amanda is teaching fewer yoga classes. There just wont' be a gaming challenge. 

So I've got another sort of challenge I've set up for myself. The SEPTEMBER DRAWING FROM THE MASTERS CHALLENGE! This isn't really and "instead of", as I'd been planning it for some time and, initially, thought it would done concurrently with the game-a-day challenge. 

Ive been thinking I haven't really done much art-making - drawing or painting - other than painting miniatures and making for a long time - at least not with any sort of consistency or regularity. I've also in the midst of a middle-aged-crisis of sorts. Not really sure what to do with myself with my role of the last decade and a half as that of the Homeschooling Dad sort of vaporizing as the kids move on and decide to take on learning in new self-directed methods (There has been a BIT of a reprieve in this crisis as, at the last minute, Keira decided to continue homeschooling for the next year, rather than try out high school as initially planned, due largely in part to her anxiety about). There are many other factors at play ,which I can't even begin to get into, but I've been contemplating a return to making art. I even had a brief moment of returning to school - either to finish an art degree at university or maybe taking some sort of digital illustration courses or 3d modelling or something... But for a number of reasons - not the least of which is cost - that's just not in the cards for the immediate future. So I thought perhaps just doing stuff on my own

In times past people used to learn art from "copying from the masters" - studying the works of acknowledged masters of art that has come before them, and trying to replicate them. That style of learning seems to fallen out of vogue in the art world. 

So the plan... for the month of September I'm planning to create an illustration - using drawing or painting or a mix of media - copying from some of the artists whose work I admire most. That's it. I had other ideas/rules/plans/frameworks - like it might be 30 days of just John Blanche and then each month for the rest of the term/winter/year I pick a different artist or style or theme... and... it might still be something like that... but I didn't want to limit myself and decided it would be best to keep it simple.  30 illustrations, copied from artist(s) I admire through the month of September. 

I have to admit, part of the inspiration has come from my kids. It has been nothing short of breathtaking to see them evolve as artists. Keira has, for years, spent entire days just sitting and drawing of painting from "how-to" books, filling sketch book after sketchbook with drawings and paintings. She's evolved into fabric arts and does less drawing and more sewing these days, but her dedication to creating things remains tireless and undaunted.

Finnegan, on the other hand, has eschewed the how-to-draw books and always just done things his own way. He's been slower to come to this, but this last year we've seen an explosion of art from him. He, too, has filled book after book with full colour ink and pencil crayon drawings inspired largely by gaming - either characters in Four Against Darkness games or monsters from various games he's played. Some are character portraits. Some are scenes of encounters that have taken place in games. Since the pandemic and his D&D games moving online, he's REALLY gotten into it with creating his own tokens for Roll20 - drawings for each character and NPC and monster! 

Seeing them both improve so much by simply DOING THE THING has reminded me that getting good at anything has required shoeing up and doing that thing! 

All of the selections from this week are John Blanche illustrations copied from The Emperor's Will - Agents of the Imperium (pictured above). It's a fantastic book. If you like 40K art, I highly recommend seeking one out (although, considering it was published almost a decade ago, that may be... challenging...). 

The ONLY problem I have with the book is that it doesn't indicate who the illustrators are for each page, there is simply a list of the contributors to the volume on the last page. Some, if you are familiar with their work, are obvious. Others, whose work I am not familiar with, I have no idea who did them - and I really WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!?

The first week's illustrations ended up all being based on one's by John Blanche. I really LOVE his style - there's kind of a frantic rawness and intensity to these illustrations that, for me, masterfully conveys the grim-dark reality of the life in the 41st millennium. 

I should say, just to be 100% clear here (because, as an artist, intellectual property rights of of great importance to me), the original illustrations are © John Blanch and/or Games Workshop and my studies  were done purely for my own private entertainment and education purposes and are presented here simply to share with the community a creative thing that I did. They are not now, nor ever will be, for sale. I do not take commissions of any kind. 

Day One - Tuesday, 1 September 2020

While we are in renovation mode, I have a temporary hobby/work station set up, upstairs. It is basically my miniature painting station moved upstairs (and cleaned off a bit). As there isn't really any more convenient place to work, I've been working there. It causes... some limitations... there is a lot of splattering in these first illustrations - and I just can't do that here, as, if I get any paint on the floor or nearby furniture, Amanda may very well murder me... 

The finished work. Crappy camera. Poor lighting. 

Day Two - Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Wasn't really sure if this counts as one illustration or two... Do I do one half of the page one day and the second half of the page the next? In the end I did both on Day Two. 

I like this one, it has a lot of different colours - compared to a lot of the other works in the book. 

Day Three - Thursday, 3 September 2020 

This guy reminded me a little of Preacher Josef - one of the 54mm Inquisitor figures - a preacher with a big-ass Power Hammer!  

I also liked the sepia-tone quality with the tiny splashes of red that really popped from the otherwise blandish background.

Day Four - Friday, 4 September 2020 

I thought this Redemptionist might be fun because I HAVE Redemptionists. Also the picture kind of reminded me of one of the characters in my current Wrath & glory game and I've been thinking it would be fun to do character portraits at some point, and with a little modification, this could very well be him. Thought I'd start with staying true to the originals, for now, though. 

The Red Redemptionist. Getting into the reds and blacks that seems so common amongst the works of Blanche - at least in this book collection. 

Also happened to watch the first three episodes of The Boys -Season Two. It did not disappoint. We were just a little disappointed that we actually have to WAIT for a week for the next bloody instalment!? 

Day Five - Saturday, 5 September 2020 

Amanda picked this one out for me (She didn't really look all that far through the book - opened it and flipped until she encountered the first bad-ass-looking female - though they're ALL pretty bas-ass-looking and selected this one... I'm sure if she'd looked a little further, she'd have found another that she'd have liked better... I'll do THAT on next week!) 

This one felt a bit rushed as I needed to prepare for my Wrath & Glory game later in the evening. In fact, at one point in the middle of the afternoon, Amanda wandered by where I was working and asked if that was really what I thought I should be doing when I had a game to prepare. 

To be honest, it WAS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TO BE DOING. I'm on this wave and need to ride it games be-damned, I can cancel or make it up as I go! It was so hard to get started on this, I'm not going to let anything stop it now!!!

In the end she did feel a bit rushed... like maybe there was a little more I could have done... but I'm calling it done and moving on! It's a study, not a commission. I did the thing. I had fun. I learned stuff. MOVE ON!!! 

Just in case you were starting to get worried that there was going to be NO gaming going on at all here this month, Finnegan did kick off his new role-playing campaign this weekend. He wrapped up the D&D5E game he'd been running since January the previous weekend - with a Total Party Kill! This fall they're trying something new - the Dresden Files Role-Playing Game! They're using a mix of Discord and Roll20 to try and play. 

As this is totally in Keira's wheelhouse - modern/urban fantasy - she's actually joined back in finnegan's Ssturday game. 

I think they're playing members of some special RCMP taskforce or special unit that investigates weird crimes that potentially involve supernatural elements? Keira's character might be some sort of half-human/half-fey shapeshifter. One of the other girls is playing a human with some minor magical ability - someone without enough power for the Council to have bothered training, but random weird stuff manifests during times of stress... the third is just playing a normal human?

So good to see both the kids playing together again and seeing Keira actually interacting with humans - other than her immediate family - and actually having a really good time! 

Later in the evening I did run my Wrath & Glory game. The adventure continued on from the Battle Off Xoxigar Prime - the escaped the battle in space just to land in the middle of a massive battle on the ground between traitor and loyalist Guard and traitor and loyalist Knights! 

One of these days I should probably write something up chronicling the adventures so far... 

Day Six - Sunday, 6 September 2020 

Another inquisitor. I wanted to try a DARK background. 

I did a dark backgound. 

Dark backgrounds are hard. Especially when trying to make it look mottled... or do that foggy/misty bit around her feet. 

Day Seven - Monday, 7 September 2020 

Arco-flagellant. 

Me at my temporary art-hobby station - currently located in our bedroom. 

Whoops. Let's just call this done. It got a little... overworked... it was kind of messed up from the get-go - proportions... entirely missing bits... first pass of colour looked all wrong and I tired to fix that and then things just got so blended and muddied... 

It's been really fun so far. There have been some challenges - some already noted (the location and need to NOT MAKE A MESS) - but also I am somewhat limited by my materials, as I am just using what I have on hand. The originals were very likely done on one some illustration board or watercolour paper - or at the very least something of slightly heavier stock than the rather flimsy paper in the sketchbook I decided to do these all in. I have a feeling that These were done with gouache and ink... though I can't know for certain. In reality I know NOTHING of Mr. Blanche's actual process and materials, I'm just guessing, based on my (very limited) knowledge and experience. 

I'm happy enough with the process so far. Or at least I'm TRYING REALLY HARD to be. I do look at them and constantly see "errors" - This wasn't dark enough, the proportions on there are wrong, etc... It is PAINFUL at times. I'm trying to be positive, though, and remember to see it as a learning process and an opportunity to experiment with things and NOT an exercise in making an EXACT replica. I DID make some art. I DID have a lot of fun experimenting with stuff I'd had not bothered or had the opportunity to use before - watercolour pencils, watercolour markers, gouache, etc. So, that's cause enough to call this week a success, right?  

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

I've done exactly ZERO miniature painting so far this month. None. So... it probably won't be a painting update. 

I plan to continue with the Painting from the Masters program. There are well over thirty illustrations in the book that I've marked as ones I'd like to draw, so I'll probably keep on with that and maybe post in a week... or maybe tomorrow.... Initially I thought I'd do daily... but then thought I'd like to leave it a week to see if I actually STICK TO IT - always so embarrassing to post that I'm going to do a thing every day for a month and then stop on Day Two. 

Any strong feelings either way? Daily? Weekly? Just give it up!?