The Work of James K. Craig
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Had a great time in Halifax - thanks to all who camme out to my classes and a special word of praise to the staf of the Halifax GW - they are an AMAZING crew and deserve some serious props!
So aside from that I had promised a pic or two of this when I had the opportunity to photograph it but even better than one of my cruddy pics here is a very nice pic that was shot by Dirty Steve!!!
Id love to hear what some of y’all think of it based on the pic - please feel free to use the add comment button you find at the end of each of my entries - i always like to hear what people think and id love to see some lively discussion develop on here.
Also - by popular request, over the next few months you will see many more tutorials finding their way onto the site. Many of the teaching aids I have used in various classes will be filed on the site. If there is a specific tutorial you would like to see dont hesitate to ask!
I will have more reference pics to put up, another entry on the work of Dragomir, some additional reviews and hopefully a couple of interviews with the people behind some of my favorite games!
Anyhoo until next week!
Chicago Games Day was a fabulous time! Though I was edged out of a demon this time (and hey when you are edged out by Angela Imerie - easily one of my personal favorite painters - and Alex Nemes - there is no shame!) My Chaos Giant looked really great on the day of and earned an honorable mention. I spoke with the judges and several of my comrades and have decided to make a few minor improvements/alterations and enter the improved version in Toronto. One of the main issues with it is that when I attatched it to the base I misaligned it slightly so the feet are slightly suspended in areas where they are not meant to be. I knew that it was a problem going in but was unable to rectify it in time with the materials at hand so I will take it home, rip it apart, try not to cry, and then repaint the base and reattach it properly. I will also have time to make a few small changes, retouch a couple of the horns/spines, reblend a couple of spots and really make it 100% ready for demons.
Aside from my entry for demons my day was dominated with the “golden demon lounge” a new addition to the US games days which provides attendees a chance to talk with and learn from award winning painters. This year GW invited Team North America and Members of Team Montreal to participate by delivering seminars on topics like blending, greenstuff sculpting, weathering and scratchbuilding. This was an unequivical success with huge numbers of people coming by all day long to see our models, discuss techniques and take classes (sign ups for all of which were filled completely by 11:00am!!!).
 
The team members did well overall in demons as well I would like to congratulate Brice Cocanour, Nathan Comanse, Terry Peterson (I LOVED this model), Angela Imerie (x2), Aaron Wilson, Dylan Gauker (x2) and especially Chris Borer (x2) for winning his record breaking FOURTH Slayer Sword - quite the cutlery collection indeed! (Damn his lucky shorts!).
 
Also to my friends in team Montreal Vince Hudon, Mathieu Fontaine (x2), Alex Nemes, Lionel Labrevil (x2), and Vince Hudon who had my favorite piece of the entire show (though it didnt make a demon) with his incredible and subtle work on the Tau Remora Gun drone - holy heck is it ever cool! And, my loyal readers, I think I may have some exciting additional news regarding Team Montreal in the near future so stay tuned!
 
 
At the same time, it has been brought to my attention that some people find the idea of this group controversial. I would like to remind one and all that we are just a group of friends who were already accomplished competitors who gathered each year to have a few drinks and cheer each other on. Now we are the same people who have decided to wear funny shirts altogether a show of our friendship, to challenge each other to do better and to draw attention to our work. If not for those shirts we would still be the same group of people just walking across the stage in normal clothes instead. I had 9 demons before TNA…..havent actually added any since. So to all the detractors out there - keep painting, work hard, find some friends who will motivate you and give you genuine and valuable critique then come and take your best shot at Demons in Chicago in 2009. It is what my friends and I intend to do. Cya there.
For those who dont know a Haligonian is a person who lives in Halifax Nova Scotia - Which is where my inlaws live.
Why does this matter to anyone out there? Because if you happen to be in the Halifax area I will be running a sculpting seminar and a painting seminar at the local Games Workshop store. Both will be evening sessions
EVENT DATES:
Scultping seminar - Thursday August 7th
Painting - Thursday August 14th
Contact GW Halifax - (902) 442-0297 - for details and to sign up as spaces are limited!
Aside from that as you read this I am likely in Chicago at the Golden demon competition there! Best of luck to all my friends in Team North America and Team Montreal/Canada- from what I have seen so far our teams should do great again this year! Here are some preview pics of my entry WIP - It is a FW giant chaos spawn for the WFB large category. I have made a few minor alterations to it and have it fitting on the wfb plastic giant’s base. This will be the Mutant Monstrosity Giant for my Beastman army, as the other Giant I am working on (a few of you who were in Toronto will know what I am talking about) is actually too big to use as a normal giant in the game, though his base is exactly the right size to be a unit of 20 models… more on that over the next few months. I will do a full photo shoot of this one when I get back to Ontario - or before If I can arrange something 
James
EDIT: I WAS PLANNING TO UPLOAD SOME PICS OF THIS WHILE IN MY HOTEL - THE COMPUTER HAS NO PORTS TO SUPPORT ME UPLOADING PICS (SORRY) THEY WILL FOLLOW ASAP
It was the night before gamesday and all through the bunker, the cannons they roared, the rafters they did shudder…
Hey everyone I just wanted to do a bit of a review and to report on an event that I had the privilege of attending. Once games day had all been set up and the Grey Knights had all finished their annual conference, Games Workshop did something really special for us. They allowed us to use their warehouse to have one of the largest games of Apocalypse I have ever seen or heard of!!!! The armies of the grey knights took the field of battle along side forces comandeered by all the GW managers in attendance from across the nation.
It was truly a battle of epic proportion as we battled across a 32 x 8 foot battlezone with tens of thousands of points on each side. Whats more, we played using the new 40K rules to get a good feel for them weeks before they were released! I can say that Apoc meshes beautifully with the new rules system! It was a real joy to play, made great sense and made for incredible carnage. The whole game flowed well and with the timed turns and great organization we actually finished the while game in a matter of a few hours - leaving us plenty of time to either part or sleep before the big day (Im old and pathetic so I went to bed conserving my energy for partying after GD was in the record books!).
So here are some pics from the game with even more to be found in my events gallery. Special thanks to Mark McKellar for taking dome extra shots for me on his camera to supplement the ones I took on my phone. Also a huge thenks to GW for allowing us use of the facilities and to all those who helped to organize this whole thing.
Cya next week where I will post a preview of my Chicago GD entry! Wish me Luck.
James
 
Welcome back readers,
Today I have the schedule for Chicago Games Day’s special painters area featuring Team North America and members of our friends in Team Montreal. What is really exciting are the seminars being run throughout the day. I would Definitely suggest you get there early and sign up for one as thee are only 5 students in each section- with the exception of the double class run by Joe Orteza AND Chris Borer (HOLY $#!%) which will take 10 pupils.
Here are a couple additional Fun facts for y’all:
If my count is right, between the Team North America and Team Montreal painters who will be at the painting table table we share 96 demons and countless other awards!
- Just the Team North America members present on the day share an even total of 100 demons amongst us!!!!!!!
- Of the Team North America and Team Montreal painters Chris Borer has the most demons with 20, followed by Joe Orteza with 14, Jeff Wilhelm’s 11 and Terry Peterson and myself (James Craig) with 9 each.
- Chris Borer also has the most slayer wins with 3 followed by Team Montreal’s Vince Hudon with 2 and Jeff Wilhelm with 1.
And Now the schedule - hope to see you there!
10:00
Seminar – no seminar - doors opening
Table - Jeff Wilhelm - Joe Orteza - Brice Cocanour - Mathieu Fontaine
11:00
Seminar: Nathan Comase - Converting/Scratchbuilding/Weathering Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000 :Apocalypse
Table - Chris Borer - Mathieu Fontaine - Jeff Wilhelm - Kent Plumb
12 :00
Seminar: Terry Peterson: Weathering Techniques
Table - Joe Orteza - Shawn Welte - Vince Hudon - James Craig
1:00
Seminar: Brice Cocanour - Miniature Prepping and Blending Techniques
Table - Nathan Comase - Mathieu Fontaine - Chris Borer - Jeff Wilhelm
2 :00
Seminar: Jeff Wilhelm – Basing techniques
Table - Joe Orteza - Vince Hudon - Alex Nemes - Aaron Wilson
3:00
Seminar: Mathieu Fontaine : Blending
Table - Nathan Comase - Chris Borer - Terry Peterson - Samuel Josquin
4:00
Seminar: Joe Orteza and Chris Borer – Greenstuff Sculpting and Conversion
Table - Brice Cocanour -James Craig -Terry Peterson - Nathan Comase
Until Next week - Keep Painting, Keep Practising and Keep your fingers crossed for me - Competition will be FIERCE at Chicago Games day!
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