With the arrival of a little one just over 7 weeks ago I am in a place that I am sure many of you have been in before. Quite rightly, mother and baby absolutely come first. Anything else is consigned to what it can get. Most of the time that is limited to the use of one hand.
In my case, what I found was that rather than just throw myself into projects (usually multiple, not finishing any) I have started to throw ideas down onto paper first. Running through pitfalls and cobbling together everything I want that “thing” to do.
In the past I have perhaps done a quick sketch, or used something like blutac to throw together a model to see how it fits, rarely have I taken the time to return to my product design degree level education to rough concept up projects on paper. I now have an A4 notebook to do just that with.
The impact of losing my father and then gaining a son has helped me to focus more on getting ideas done so that I don’t just have this massive pile of incomplete projects that, to everyone else in the world, would just look liked a hoarded pile of broken models, toys and random junk – a hoarders pile almost.
As an example, a long time ago I got offered a job lot of stuff from a gamer having a bit of a clear out. Mostly Games Workshop and a real mix of Space Marines and terrain and other things, from whole models to part models. This included some of the old Cities of Death 40k buildings. This one piece intrigued me, but I never got around to thinking about how to make the best use of it.
These days, space to store projects, is a vital consideration. With a new addition to the team, it naturally shrinks. Especially little ones as you have to consider what they can reach and essentially health and safety risk assess the home environment for them.
Now I come to design what to do with this, I want to work out several factors.
1) It needs to remain compact, the ideal would be a tower piece.
2) It needs to work with the terrain I have, so the bulkhead based pieces I have been working on ideally.
3) It needs to do the above 2 things whilst also being a characterful piece that looks like it served or serves a purpose. For example, a partially ruined tower that represents “old ruins” or a shrine.
The last point is due to my concept of “terrain”. For me, a lot of sci-fi and fantasy terrain can be guilty of being “ruins” without a concept of what they were before being ruins. “Ah, it was something industrial.” – but what? The baulk of a table can perhaps be waived away in this way, but I like pieces to have a story.
So in my head, this is going to be part of an old walkway system that housed a shrine for workers in forges etc.
With those concepts in my head, pulled out the notebook and over a few sessions of baby on shoulder I managed to scribble down some rough sketches, measurements and concepts for what was starting to form in my head.
In my approach, the first sketches and concepts are always the roughest. I wanted to get down various aspects and ideas. I toyed with the idea of two terrain pieces that could be combined to make one – but that’s too much to take on at this moment. It’s not ruled out entirely, but the tower is the focus right now. Resisting the urge to enlarge the project or create another aspect to it will help me focus on finishing the piece at hand in the long run – is at least the theory.
Again, not works of art, but I now have the plan. A tower, one side with an ornate window (the original GW piece), two sides that will be pretty much blank, but one will have a small door accessed by a ladder. Stairs would be nicer but add to the footprint. Plus, if I work this right, one of the stairs pieces I have could sit alongside it.
On the fourth wall, I will cut the same arch as the window but extend it down to the floor to be the side of the tower accessed by walkway. Again, if I model this well enough, it could double as a preaching platform if not connected up to anything. Inside, I can add details like a shrine on the one bare wall.
Of course, the final detail will be the roof which will be an ideal vantage point for snipers. I might also add a bell on the inside of the tower, visible through the window and open archway. I have one in one of my many bits boxes – this will be conditional on my getting access to it in my lockup before I go at this project, which is unlikely as things stand!
Sadly, for the moment at least, the forum is down. I am looking into teaching myself the software so I stand a chance of being able to help get that back up and running, especially with the seeming collapse of the main social media platforms (twitter/x and facebook). However, we do have a discord that is a bit quiet at the moment but I extend an invitation for folks to join – https://discord.gg/VEMNK5v8
Alternatively, respond to this post and share your experiences of how you approach projects.
As always, big hugs and stay safe out there – Mcfonz
Poison Spurs 