To this day, I’ve never actually watched any games from March Madness… I do however feel like March in a more holistic sense tends to be a crazy month… the end of quarter crush after a slow start to the year leaves me frequently trying to play catch up and generally paying for my slacking off in January and to a lesser extent February.
This year is no exception as I desperately try to crank through a load of Star Wars Legion Snowtrooper models for NOVA Open’s charity foundation, prep for convention and weekend painting classes that are happening throughout the year. Not to mention all the real life work projects piling up!
I think I will have something to enter for the quarterly contest although it’s nowhere near as far progressed as I had intended… it will be something at least. It’s my first time really working on sophisticated masking in a long time and although it’s coming together… that dread moment of truth when you peel off the tape has not yet manifest at the time of writing so we shall see…
On the subject of teaching painting. I have been asked a few times why I feel I can charge for classes when there’s a wealth of information out there for free, YouTube, Twitch, Club Night demos, asking buddies… I get it and I certainly try to make the most of those avenues myself but fundamentally there is nothing like being taught by a person in the room that can give you feedaback as you work through an exercise for shortcutting the learning process. I work hard on my presentation style, my topics and content as well as the skills needed not just to achieve the end result but to be able to communicate that so that my students can walk away knowing that they too can produce something of a similar calibre. Is that worth it to you? well only you can say! For myself, I attend every in person class I can from any instructor I respect and feel I can learn from because nothing has made me a better modeller and painter as fast as those classes and the practice in their aftermath.
Seeing as this is my blog – why not put a little shameless self promotion out there. This is my next class – a weekend class down in the SF South Bay:
For those of you interested in really pushing your airbrushing skills to the limit, this weekend class is going to blow your mind. Whether you normally paint figures / armour / aircraft / gunpla – I promise you that you will learn a ton. It’s also being held at a great venue run by a friend. Tickets here.