Meg Maples Painting Class

Well this post is months overdue but I had some time and said lets bang this out. Back in October (I think it was October) Mr Bell aka Northblade was hosting a two day painting class up in Toronto. This class was being taught by former PP studio artist Meg Maples. When I found out about the class I checked the work schedule, cleared it with the wife, checked with local guys to see if they wanted to come, and booked arrangements. Local gamer/paint Mickey aka DieselDM was free and he took the trip with me. We got into Toronto Friday at rush hour (great timing). We got settled into the room found some grub and laid low so that we would be all ready to roll first thing in the am Saturday.

 

Saturday morning we hit the free breakfast in the hotel and headed over to the local college where the class was being held. I am nut sure exactly how it was arranged but Northblade got one of the art studios for the weekend for us to use so the space was nice. The class had between 20-25 students of different skill levels but many were very good. Due to the size of the class Meg would people up to her painting station in groups of 5-8 people to demonstrate a technique and then seen them back to do their best. The major draw for me was to learn and watch two brush blending. We were all given a Nemo1 resculpt as out test mini.

 

 

 Training session

 

Mickey working on his beloved Swans

 

Northblade fighting the urge to eat his paints :)

 

I typically prefer black primer but Meg likes white and when in Rome

Base colors. I have wanted to try out the Mirewatch scheme from an old NQ Guts and Gear article  and finally pulled the trigger and gave it a shot. 

 

 End of day one (front)

 

 End of day one (back)

 

So as day one drew to a close this was the state of my Nemo. The day was long and a tab bit frustrating. The technique, while making complete sense, was more touchy and difficult than expected. I went through bits of extreme frustration with my miniature and actually rebasecoated a few section different time to make a second and sometime third attempt. I was pretty discouraged with my mini by the end of class and was sick of looking at the old man. After everyone packed up their supplies we locked up the room and headed out to Dave & Busters for some much needed dinner and drinks.

 

Upon arriving at D&B we were told it was a two hour wait for a table so we just flooded the bar area and took every chair they had. This was a really nice time as we had time to mingle in small groups and get to know some of the people in the class a little better. I had some time to chat with Meg about painting and some future projects like Kingdom Death (man she has some crazy ideas there). Around 9pm Meg was ready for bed and Northblade took her home. Most of the class left at that time but a few of us weren't ready to all it a night so we continued to BS, have some drinks, and ruin a first date (you know who you are ;). Big shout out to Charles who was my partner in crime for the night and while everyone took off hung out and partied with me until I don't know maybe 2am? (can't remember).

 

I was pretty burnt out on painting the next morning and didn't have the same enthusiasm as day one but after grabbing some breakfast we headed over to the class room. When I left the class room after day one I was pretty discouraged with my Nemo but I guess sometime away really helped this as when I sat at my station day two I no longer hated my mini and could see some positives. Day two I did the blending on the blue sections of Nemo's cloak and a few details here and there. I wasn't able to sit and focus for long stretches as day one so I just listened to Meg's lessions and mingled most of the day.

 

 

 

While not 100% at the end of day two here is Nemo as we packed up and called it a weekend.

 

I have to say the class was very informative and I'm glad we made the trip. Meg was cool and very helpfully and the class had a lot of quality painters that were fun to be around. We had a lot of laughs and learned some new techniques so it was a very successful weekend from my point of view. Due to the nature of the weekend I didn't have as much time to catch up and BS with Northblade as I would have likes but them the breaks, eh? I will leave you with some photos of the sample minis Meg brought along with her.