Lost a couple of weeks of sculpting to some very unfortunate things happening with the day job (thanks economic crunch!), so I'm only about halfway done with the new project. I did get a couple of hours work in yesterday, and overcame a major stumbling block in the build design. Which got me to thinking...
I've done some pretty extensive conversions and semi-scratchbuilds over the years, but as one of the first real models I've taken from nothing to something I'm intending to cast, well, it's been an eye-opener. At the very least it's given me a greater appreciation of what the GW design teams do, and how they do it. Sure, from what I've heard, there's a lot of CAD designing that goes on in the GW workshops, but the majority of their products are hand-designed. And seriously, it's a lot of work.
So what have I learned? One rule: Be a Conductor. Not an Engineer.
Consider the operation of a train. There are two main positions- the Conductor, and the Engineer. In simple terms, the Conductor oversees the general operations of the train, and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The Engineer drives and maintains the specific mechanical operations of the train (since Engineer also refers to a technical/mechanical designer of machinery, I give myself bonus points for making a clever analogy). Anyway...
The point I'm trying to make here is that it's very easy to be an Engineer and lose yourself in the technical design of scratchbuilding something like a vehicle - get too bogged down in the mechanical viability of the design and you run the risk of not only over-designing the thing (adding a lot of tedious, tension-filled time to your build), but also of losing the "flavor" of the initial idea. Most of the vehicles/equipment/weapons in the game would never work in real life anyway, so there's room for you to breathe.
Of course, you can swing too far in the Conductor side of things and create some ridiculous stuff in the name of style, but I think 40K is pretty forgiving of the majority of wacky ideas. Remember the original dreadnoughts? How about the first sentinels? Yeah - if the initial designs of those can be based off of a peanut and and egg (respectively), I think you can relax on whether there's enough horsepower in your engine size to drive a 30-ton war machine.
So be a Conductor, not an Engineer - the train will get there on time.
Brent: The Adepticon Experience
5 hours ago
3 comments:
Thanks for putting this in perspective.
I find myself getting wrapped up in being the engineer a lot. It's caused several project delays, not so much for trying to conform to reality, as to never accepting that there's not one more thing to add.
I've run into that problem also.
It's really easy to keep fiddling around with things, and adding "just one more thing".
Once that Conductor state hits though...all of the hang-ups just wash away.
I arrive little late, I know, but curiously I read this entry just before start a large scratchbuilding/sculpting project. Thanks for the valuable info, I'll be a conductor in sculpting terms then.
Post a Comment