Is there a colour that you seem to favour and like to add
to your models when you can?
Scab red is the god of paints. I love this colour and I like
to add it because I enjoy painting red (unlike green). Red is a dominating
colour and it can evoke strong emotions, however it can also be used to portray
royalty, danger, death, love and fire. I like scab read because it makes the
tone darker, more gritty and real and it’s a real favourite of mine.
Can you pass on a tip or technique that you think a new
painter would find helpful, or that you would have found useful when you were
first starting out?
To a painter first starting out, slipping or misplacing the
brush due to nervous hands or concentration can be very demoralising. Yes, ok
colour theory, wet blending, brush licking, water pallets and thinning your
paint are also valid techniques, you can’t really have the benefit of any of
these without a steady hand. I found that my seat position was really
important, I suit quite low at my desk, which isn’t always great for the back,
but it allows me to rest my wrists on the table edge. Locking my arms and
wrists like this allows me to improve the accuracy in which I paint, especially
small details and I would recommend that any new painter or struggling painters
starts by looking at this first.
What does your workspace look like?
Do you use a wet palette or ceramic tile/plastic welled
palette?
I used a ‘range’ plastic well. I am quite picky, I don’t
like the rigid brittle palette because they are harder to clean and reuse so I
go for a softer, more pliable palette. I have used a wet palette before on
occasion but back in the day I used a tile, so there is an evolution of
painting habits right here.
What paints do you use?
I used a mix of GW, P3, Vallejo and Scale. GW and Vallejo
make up the bulk and I use these paints as ‘sets’ to achieve a specific colour.
(like deep sea blue, intermediate blue, light blue grey and dark sea grey for
nmm)
When thinning paint, do you have a particular method or
recipe that you follow?
Ha! I am a brush licker, through and through. However, I would
say the single most leap in my painting quality (aside from switching to a grey
primer) has been to apply the glazing technique to smooth transitions and
blending. I do use matt or glaze mediums as well as flow improver at times, but
that is when I am thinking about what I am doing, which goes back to the
planning comment I made earlier.
It really depends on what I am doing. If it is a large area,
I will glaze and work it up and down into recesses using the mid tone to smooth
transitions etc. If I am working on detail, I will paint it straight out and
then get frustrated and try again lol. No, smaller details I usually leave and
do in one go as I find it easier to get ‘your eye in’ that way.
Is there a particular scale or genre of miniature you
prefer to work on over others?
I’m not very brave. I have painted 28mm and 33mm models now
but I do own some larger pieces which I bought this year and last. Purgatory is
taking up a lot of my time, but I am planning on painting two 54mm scale models
next, as well as a bust to give these a go, and try new techniques.
I have a healthy passion for space marines. Now that sounds
silly, but I am a fan of the lore (or fluff) and the Horus Heresy in particular
I have a fondness for. Because you read about these characters you can be
enthused to paint the models, almost inspired to bring that character to
‘live’, however more so lately I am liking models where I can apply realism to
them so I have a newly found leaning.
How long do you generally spend painting a miniature from
start to completion?
Too long. I am a notoriously slow painter, because I don’t
prep probably and I am way too fussy. Rather than accepting something could be
better, I fidget with it for hours, often with only a marginal improvement.
Sometimes I need to leave something alone and move on and apply what I have
learned on the next model to get more done.
Do you have a preference for resin, metal or plastic?
Resin. It holds the model better and in a lot of cases the
detail is crisper and clearer, though some plastics, most notably GW or
Mallifaux have really come on of late and the quality is exceptional in some
cases. Metal is ok, but a pig because it scuffs and chips.
How do you know that you have “finished” a miniature? Are
you ever tempted to go back and tweak things?
I seldom go back. It’s done when I finish I guess. I do this
thing where I finish a section and I leave it to do whatever chore I need to do
or to go to bed. I wake up in the morning and I go in with fresh eyes and look
at the area of model or the model I have painted. If I am satisfied it is the
best I can currently do, I mentally ‘sign it off’, if not I fuss, grumble and
then put a block on myself to do nothing else until that part is done. Haha. So
sad.
As one of the minds behind Purgatory, how does it feel to
have an idea for a character and then be able to hold a miniature of that
character?
It’s a bit mental. To think that you can have a brain fart
and end up producing some really nice models is humbling. I have a passion for
my project but I have a healthy passion for other people enjoying something
that either we have created and/or brought to life. Our models are quite quirky
and very different, which we hear a lot but in places it is developing a
following and seeing people talk about them, painting them or even using them
as alternative models for other games imbues me with a serious sense of pride
and achievement.
We have an approach with ideas, where we pick something and
spin it. We completely flip it upside down and sideways to get a different
angle or take on the concept or original idea. This itself means we are
creating original ideas but something that people can still draw from or relate
to.
You’ve mentioned in blog posts and newsletters about a
couple of delays you’ve had with certain pieces. What’s the most frustrating
thing about running a miniatures company so far?
The delays are a personal thing. I worked in supply chain
and logistics for some huge companies and being on time and meeting a promise
is something of a core belief or state of mind. I hate to let people down and I
want people to be confident that this company is doing everything it can to
offer value for money in terms of quality, quantity and supporting information.
The biggest frustration though is probably not knowing what
our future holds. The industry or market ebbs and flows each day and week and
in truth all we want to do is know that we will have the backing when the time
comes to be able to realise what has now become a dream for me personally and
bring this game to life, running tournaments, painting competitions and give
the community something fun to talk about and meet new people.
Some of my best friends are from the hobby, I met Scott
Hockley as a result of buying from a range he once had and now count him among
one of my best friends. If I can produce something that allows people to do the
same then I will feel immense pride at maintaining the firm traditions of this
great community.
Have you noticed a difference at all between painting one
of your Purgatory miniatures as opposed to painting a model from another
company?
Yes. You become conscious of what people will think. I am an
average painter and as a company we took the decision that I would paint the
range, so that we could reinvest the money that would otherwise be spent on
painters, to bring more models, better art, boxes and rules out for people to
enjoy.
But because of that, all of a sudden your model or paint job
becomes the ‘face’ of your range, which then adds pressure. It’s quite a tough
thing, but something I am getting my head round. I am painting Bobby B at the
moment and the quality of the model, especially the cloak and the cast itself
lends itself to me wheeling the precious last drops of scab red to do the model
and the range the justice, I feel it deserves.
Finally, can you tell us what it feels like to have
released miniatures and to see people enjoying painting them, and seeing how
different people’s takes on the characters are as they finish them?
It’s humbling. Alex Barkley was the first person to paint
and complete a Purgatory model not from the team itself. It was great, in fact
I have told him as much and I recall leaning back on my chair and just smiling.
I even called the wife, like an excited village idiot. But it was great and
since then I have seen a number of different versions and sometimes you get
that feeling of, “he can see exactly what I was thinking” or “she has it spot
on but I’d not considered that take”. It’s great and if we can continue to do
that, no matter how well our kickstarter goes, I have already really
experienced a great deal of achievement and success.
Here are some of the Purgatory pieces that Gary has painted up.
We'd like to thank Gary for taking some time out for us to pick his brains.
