A Good Day's Work... Greblord Celebrated.

 I spent Easter Monday painting, after first booking another meal for two at the Cavendish in Chatsworth - Look, you get one life and that tahini and white chocolate torte, really is something special.

I've had several character models for my fantasy collection, sitting on my desk for over 6 months noe, so I decided that despite hating spending my free time doing what I do every day for a living, I'd crack on.

As a kid, I lived in the 'original' Games Workshop store in Sheffield, the lair of one of the pioneers of fantasy painting - and GW staff member - Peter 'Greblord' Armstrong, from whom I learned a lot and in doing so, also got picked on a lot, which toughened me up to the world, being (as I became) a student of the 'Armstrong-Gilbride Youth Education Programme', graduating summa cum laude in 1984.

Pete is no longer with us, but his blog  remains as a deliberate memorial to him.

I always loved Pete's work in the early 80s, and Pete pretty much painted every model in the GW figure cabinet, in the days when you selected each model you wanted individually. Hi work was well respected, by some serious painters and if you saw the figures on the blog 'back in the day', you'd agree - trust me.

I always loved the Ogron Foulbreath, Orc champion model, and Pete's version at the time was the bench mark:

https://greblord-littlemen.blogspot.com/2014/09/citadel-25mm-fto14-ogron-foulbreath.html

 

Remember that this was a time before Citadel Colour, so Pete was using a truly mind boggling range of mediums in his work. You modern kids with all your choiceds of ways to bury models under layers of pigment wouldn't have lasted two minutes. You can take that to the bank...

I suspect that Pete had tried to touch the model up during the period when he had serious eye issues, leading to a long period where he could not see to paint, as the original model's paint job was a lot better than this.

Pete didn't generally look after his models...

Anyway, I had (thanks to old friend Peter White) managed to get Ogron, having lost my own, years ago, and I decided to do what I always do and release the inner 14 year-old, and try to recreate the style I used over 40 years ago, whilst also paying my respects to Greb'.

I was very happy with the results:

Pete noted on his blog that knowing where the face and helmet met was a problem. YUP!

This time around, I was ready for it, and noted that the face is a classic Tony Ackland style 'piggy ' Orc with elongated jaw, the eyes and small nose being almost inside the helmet recess.

The studs went a little crazy as the inner 14 year old got as impatient as ever. But as I said, this is not about the detail and restraint I use Monday to Friday, it's an exercise in recreating the feel and sense of fun I had back in the early years of my hobby journey.

I may go back and add more colour to the faces on the knee pads, but the Dredd vibe was strong in this one, as Pete himself noted.

Next up was a vintage Chronicle Hobgoblin Shaman, which I always loved and which saw action in my first Orc & Goblin army when you bought the range direct from Nick Lund. I recall that one I saw in a mag back in the day was in a vibrant yellow, so again, the 14 year old me let himself loose, and had some fun:

Again, I had great fun, and I was reminded that in actual fact, if you approach old lead with the styles and methods that were used in the early 80s, you get a nicer 'feel' to the end result, contemporaneous with the models themselves.

Finally, I painted Barny Llanse, one of the Bryan Ansell themed figures. I decided that he will be a character in the Chaos part of my Forces Of Evil, so traditional and respectful black and brass armour was the name of the game, with some obligatory chequer-boarding and a nice bright shield to round it out. For 40 minutes, I was very pleased as I shifted to my 1985 era style:

So, three more characters were added to the horde, and I had a great day. Remember, it was not about spending hours meticulously detailing models, it was about getting lead on the table and played with (precisely what the models were made for originally) just as the younger me would have done.  

Whilst painting I was listening to the latest Grognard Files, where they were acting as apologists for the depiction of sexy females in tight clothing or chainmail bikinis on White Dwarf covers and by extension fantasy art in general.

I wish people would stop pretending to be reformed, and in some way politically correct and morally pure to enhance and demonstrate their 'woke' credentials. I don't belive for a moment that they wouldn't have cracked one off the wrist over a Frazetta painting in their youth. Don't hold that image in your head for too long...

Look, fantasy art is what it is... DEAL WITH IT FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

If you don't like it, don't llook at it. Go and take up DIY or gardening. 

Well, if you will excuse me, I have to get a shower and find some clothes for a day out with the Memsahib in Castleton, where sh will be choosing some jewellry for her birthday in May and enjoying a decent lunch  at The Castle Inn or Cheshire Cheese.

Then it's back to the coal face of creativity on the morrow...

TTFN