Chat: Q&A with Garfy #1

I opened myself up to your questions on social media and after the jump I’ll answer them.

3D design and print by Garfy

Are you really clumsy, or do you intentionally break household items so you have an excuse to design and print better versions?

For those who don’t know. I own a 3D printer. For the past 8 months I’ve been teaching myself 3D modelling and printing. I have slowly been replacing broken things in my home with bespoke designed 3D printed solutions. I absolutely love it. I’m currently thinking about breaking my foam core paint rack so I can design and 3D print a better one.

Hmmmm, Humbrol. 

Of all the hobby paint available, in your opinion, which tastes the best?

Humbrol enamel by far. The taste is ok, but cleaning your brush with methylated spirits in a confined space ensures a nice buzz.

Tired of building model soldiers… I turn to buildimg lifesize ones

How do you deal with lack of motivation for painting? When you paint, do you listen music or watch a movie ? Those this help you stay focused?

I just stop if I’m not motivated. It’s a not a job. I’m not getting paid for it. Why force it? I have so many other things I could be doing with my time (building two suits of Stormtrooper armour at the moment). The thing with painting models is I always go back to it eventually.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

Any advice on setting up a work/paint station/area?

If you have the space a dedicated work space can be a god send. You can can be more productive not having to set up and put away your painting equipment. Sometimes the first step is the hardest and having to get everything out might seem like a chore and put you off a paint session. As for advice, I would say be careful of distractions. Find the balance of being surrounded by just enough interesting things to make it feel like your area. Avoid things like computer game consoles if you’re easily distracted. I have my iMac on my desk and Facebook and Youtube are really distracting for me.

One shall stand, one shall collect. 

What is the fascination with Games Workshop minis if people don’t game with them?

It’s no secret, I’m not a gamer. I use to love gaming in the 90s and early 2000s. Even up until recently I  was still buying all the rules and reading the background. 7th edition killed it for me. The released it 2 years after the last and it was just an awful copy and paste job. After that I stopped buying the codexes. The fascination with Games Workshop minis is a tricky one to answer because I think it’s so many different things that add up to one incredible experience. I love collecting things (have a loose vintage Ninja Turtle and  Transformers Generations toy collections) so collecting minis really appeals to me. I also love coming up with paint recipes and schemes. Ultimately it’s the buzz of completing a model or squad or army and feeling proud you finished another project, before that feeling slowly ebbs away as the looming tower of plastic in the corner casts its shadow on you.

It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any Dragons. 

Since it’s an ask me anything … are you going to consider Smaug anytime soon?

On a more serious note, how do you maintain your enthusiasm? I struggle to finish regiments and always want to try a different model rather than complete the unit.

I took Smaug back to Games Workshop and got a refund. I fell out of love with The Hobbit when Games Workshop stopped supporting it. They did a terrible job when the Hobbit films hit the cinemas. It was half arsed and poorly supported. Especially with the third film. We should have all been army building. They’re playing catch up now and I’m not interested personally.

Finishing regiments of troops is tough, don’t look at the whole regiment. Break it down into smaller projects and every time you finish a small batch it’s a little victory. Just keep grinding through it. Alternatively look at ways to cut corners with your paint recipes without drastically losing quality.

We all have to start somewhere.

What should I focus on in painting as a total beginner?

Easy. Learn your paint. Before you can practice getting perfectly flat layers or blending two colours into each other you need to know the limitations of your paint. You need to know you can’t paint Yriel Yellow straight over Abaddon Black without first putting down a couple of coats of Ceramite White. I’ve had lot of beginners praise my tutorials for their clear and concise instructions because I explain things like this and include all the steps needed.

Maintaining your own high quality is a challenge when you’re friends with the king of neatness, Stahly. Escher Gangers painted by Stahly 

I’m constantly amazed with the sheer volume of work you produce (this month excepted…!); how do you manage to maintain high quality, output and motivation?

This year has been a slow year. I’ve only really painted a tiny collection of Space Wolves and now Starting on Primaris Ultramarines.  Maintaining high quality is easy, I just keep trying to emulate Stahly. He’s one of my favourite painters. Paints in a bright clean style which I love (2nd editioners  represent yo). To maintain output I think depends on your own personality. I don’t like half finished projects so it’s in my nature to finish things. If I absolutely can’t can’t finish something I won’t force myself, I’ll just sell it or return it (like Smaug). Maintaining motivation is a simple case of getting that little buzz feeling you get when completing something. For instance I have the Primaris Ancient on my desk with banner at the moment. It’s stalled a little bit as I’m too busy to pick up a brush but when I return to it I’m going to try and knock the banner out in one session. This will giveth project a little kick and give me a small buzz. Sometimes starting with the hardest part of the model can really help a project because it’s plain sailing after that.

Careful planning has ensured a well thought out and consistent force.

How do you plan your work out?

I don’t really. It tends to fall into place logically. For instance I had some Space Wolf sprues from the Stormclaw boxed set and quite a few marines left over from the 2013 Space Marine Megaforce set. I quickly started to organise the parts and plan out how many squads I could build. Then I refined the plan working out I could have heavily decorated and ornate Wolf Guard with grizzled heads and young looking Blood Claws with hardly any Space Wolf paraphernalia adorning their armour. When it came to the painting I painted up one test model and documented the steps and wrote a tutorial for this blog. This tutorial I would use again and again to ensure consistent units in my army even thought there might be a years separating the first and last unit painted.

Do you have any advice for basing models?

I’m the worse when it comes to basing models. I just base for wargaming which is stupid because I’m not a wargaming. I need to up my base game and I will try. I did post a VLOG on basing. You can watch that.

Surf social media or finish painting your army?

How do you keep yourself focused whilst painting?

I just want to get to the end of the project. Want that little buzz I get when I complete a project. Music and podcasts help in the background. Movies and TV shows are the worst, I always stop and watch a minute, which turns into he whole show/movie.

Stay tuned for part 2 😉