Saturday 14 February 2015

What happened to the 'Eavy Metal paint quality?!

I recently browsed a copy of the new Blood Angels painting guide for a little inspiration and was thinking of purchasing the digital version until I did a double take regarding the quality of paint jobs inside. With at least two previous painting guides sitting on my shelf including my favourite ""Masterclass" book, I had to check my previous edition Blood Angel codex to confirm what I was seeing was something new and not a product of browsing too many other tutorials and painting guides.




Above you can see the 5th Edition Codex banner version on the left. A brilliant freehand which we should all aspire to and be able to compare with any Gold Daemon entry or best painted army at a local tournament. On the right is the version included with the official painting guide which accompanied the 7th Edition Codex. It comes with a handy step-by-step which is great to break down what is initially a daunting design for a new painter, but leaves a little to be desired for the long term collector looking to push themselves to the next level.



I don't really know what to make of this, I understand they are looking to involve newer players with less experience, but being a shrink wrapped product that cannot be reviewed before purchase I would be very annoyed having wasted my money on this product. I also feel there are a few steps missing when compared with previous painting guides, and the models look much less detailed for higher definition photographs which is a shame. I also spotted mold lines and even a finger print (see above) on one of the dreadnoughts. Do you think this is a drop in painting quality or simply a product aimed at much newer painters than myself?

9 comments:

  1. Most of these are painted by the Studio Hobby Team and not the 'Eavy Metal.

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    1. I can only find references to "produced by the Games Workshop Design Studio"? Is this seperate from the Eavy Metal team? A lot of the models in this painting guide appear in the Codex as well, with similarly lower quality than the previously painted models. Is this a new direction for the company? Has Eavy Metal disappeared altogether?

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  2. The production rate has increased a lot our days ...

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  3. Anyone remember the LoTR era paint guides? comically lacking techniques beyond strait paint on white primer. Add in that the guys doing it had crazy good brush control, they gave such a bad impression on how painting actually worked.

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  4. I suspect the amount of time they have for individual jobs is lower than it used to be. There may also be a desire to make models appear more achievable to people starting out.

    Having seen some of the personal figures people on the team are doing in their own time, there's definitely not a decrease in the skill level!

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    1. I would say this is the case, but I would love to see a range of achievable painting levels, or even a small blurb on taking it to the "next level". I suspect the time frame is to blame as has been mentioned, and these models look great as an army but I don't feel they are suitable for "showcasing" the hobby in such high definition pictures.

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  5. I do remember an article stating that the studio paint jobs were there to show what would be possible with a lesser amount of painting skill, vs showing off to the best of their ability.

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    1. Do you have a link to that? I must have missed it somewhere along the way. Cheers!

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  6. The army paintjobs are definately getting, "flatter". More emphasis on a simple basecoat, wash, re-base, then edge highlight, instead of adding in those extra layers of highlighting and shading that really gives a model real depth.

    If the few "Studio Hobby Team" painters are being overwhelmed by the amount of models being thrown at them these days, perhaps GW could do what they used to back when I was a common red-shirt: send a few pre-release models to the retail shops, and have their star painters try their hand at them. We used to get models half a year to a year in advance of their release, and either send the fully painted ones back, or some pics, to be used in the GW North American promotional material. It used to make us feel special, and privileged, to work on pre-releases, and most of us would do it on our own time, free of charge (or else we'd work on them when the store was devoid of customers, and there was no tidying up to do).

    As for the current trend, I had a few choice words to say about it:
    http://www.sableandspray.blogspot.ca/2013/07/painting-trends-im-not-fan-of-pure.html

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