Q&A With Gary Devereaux Part 1

It's Q&A time again here at Noobs and their Paintbrush and this month we've managed to drag Purgatory's Gary Devereaux away from his Kickstarter prep to answer some questions!

Tell us a little about yourself

Hi I’m Gary, fast approaching 40, well not as fast as others maybe but it’s all a bit downhill from here as I understand it! All jokes aside I enjoy life in sleepy Holbrook, a village in Suffolk where I live with my partner and my daughter of 7 years. As an avid footballer, I support Arsenal and funnily enough my favourite number has become ‘4^th’. Having now retired from football, I spend my weekend’s wistfully dreaming of running around in the ran with my mates, but instead I redecorate a house that we are in the process of gutting and re modernising! Its great fun, honest. I work in business development within the utility industry and do a lot of travelling, which gives me the chance to continue my project with Purgatory, which is starting to get exciting.

How long have you been painting, and what made you get into the hobby?

I have been in and out of the hobby since I was probably around 12 or 13. I used to work on a market stall from an early age and had a fair amount of pocket money. GW lured me into the hobby, much like many others and in my home town it was in Debenhams. The good old days. 

My first model was a space wolf long fang with a heavy bolter, you know the huge unwieldy ones from back in the day. From that day forward my love of space wolves was cemented forever. I left the hobby when girls came along, but after a tough time with football injuries and work I drifted back to the hobby around 26 and I haven’t really looked back since. Though I would like much more time at the desk than I currently get.

Have you ever won any competitions?

Yes. I have a silver scrap demon from 2009 to my name, where I mangled the recently released chaos space marine possessed sprue. I have a silver demon from 2011 for a space hulk, blood angel and genesteeler diorama. I have won other local painting competitions as well as a first placed at conflict Norwich for a space wolf army. 

I was the first ever winner of the GW kill team event in 2014, where I led the demonic to victory and I have won ‘best general’ and placed in the top 10 of a number of grand tournaments.

Name three things at your workstation you couldn’t live without.

Scab Red! (How dare GW stop this product!)

Nail file (well 4 way buffer) for cleaning up models. It’s the modern modellers accessory of choice!

Sculptiboard – this stuff is a revelation

 Do you have a brand or size of brush that you favour using over others?

I need to be a lot braver than I currently am. I have the WAMP brushes which are very good from the successful kickstarter, though historically I have relied on the good GW tried and tested fine detail and detail. 

I get ‘turned off’ by funky or chunky brushes, not the tips or bristles, but the but you grip. Especially the triangular ones, they can do one!

For me it’s about control, I like a small brush because I am quite neat, I don’t splash paint around and correct it, I like to work on an area, finish it and then move on.

What’s the last model you finished painting for your own collection?

Ha! Bobby B is in the middle of being completed at the moment and it is safe to say that he is very much from my own collection! That aside, as in the last model I finished that was not my own I would probably suggest that it was Gandalf of the LOTR range for GW, but I do have a 90’s Ragnar Blackmane on the go.

True Metallics or NMM?

I love the look of NMM, it really makes model ‘ping’ though equally, TM looks excellent if done properly. So I will sit on the fence and say I prefer whatever is appropriate for the model/scene.

Do you use an airbrush and if so, what do you use it for?

No. I don’t use an airbrush. I might drift into it in the coming months and years and time becomes fraught but I prefer the blade to the gun.

Do you suffer paintbrush envy? Is there a particular painter that you wish you could paint as well as?

There are so many painters out there that are really pushing the boundaries. I like the work of Peter Bell as his barbarians are always so very nice, especially the skin. Ben Komets is person who in my opinion is at the pinnacle of his powers. It is important however to apply a caveat to some painters, they are professional painters who don’t have the same commitments as others who have a ‘day job’ do. I know a good many painters, who if they could have the time, could very much excel and join the ranks of the elite. 

I suffer army envy though. There is a chap called ‘Dave Paints’ who just knocks out ‘gaming’ standard models every single day and the quality is quite high.

What do you feel the need to improve and why?

Prep. I don’t have a lot of time, so I usually end up wind milling into a model and don’t consider the colour scheme or what I am trying to achieve. The one time I really planned something properly was my silver demon, though I poured everything into that and it paid off. 

I am very much a person that feels that every part of my ‘game’ can improve. Aforementioned painters produce some fantastic stuff and I know that I can improve as a painter even more than I have with more time and perhaps somebody sitting beside me to show me a few trade secrets. I would really like to attend a masterclass and it is in my agenda in the coming 12 months, along with sculpting.

Do you, or have you ever, felt like a Noob with just his Paintbrush?

Yes and no. I remember meeting Nigel Carman. This guy had (not has anymore, which is a shame) a real passion for the hobby. He would embark on mad projects and I remember the first time I met him at a Platoon Britannica event, that I was in awe of his approach and his general zest for projects. I learnt a good deal from him. 

But I like to learn and discovered a long time ago now, that there is no point in feeling inferior or in fact, a noob with his paint brush, but to instead embrace what others do and see what you can draw from that to enjoy your own hobby even more. 

What are three things you’d want with you if you were stranded on a desert island?

Ok, excluding family, because obviously the right answer is my wife and daughter. So if we are considering items:

A serrated knife (to cut trees, branches and fruit)

Mosquito repellent (pesky midges)

The Gaunts Ghosts book collection (something to idle the time)

Note: I would take a toothbrush, but that goes without saying and would be boring. 

 Some work by Gary:

If you've got any questions for Gary, drop them in the comments below and we'll put them to him to answer for part 2 next week!