Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Thomas, though I go by several names in varying contexts. I have also been known to answer to the name “Hey you over there!” (turns out it wasn’t me though.) A Brit’ born in Strasbourg during the mid-80’s of last century I was about seven months old when Chernobyl turned premature; which some people believe explains my love for Nurgle, Rat men and all things orky green (though according to the French government the Rhine miraculously stopped the fallout cloud neatly along the border; so what is true?…) 

 

I have been painting miniatures since I was ten, so basically this is the single longest activity I have maintained in my life apart from winter sports and breathing. I am definitely a child of G.W. in that respect: for the first five years of my Hobby practices I swore only by Citadel products. And then my mind expanded and discovered other ranges, other techniques, other artists, and a lot more “others”. About six years ago I started sculpting pieces for myself and for fun because I like to challenge myself on a daily basis regarding the Hobby and I felt that I had reached a blockage on the painting front. Since then that blockage has crumbled and I have once again found new pigmentatious challenges to accompany my putty forming endeavors. Alongside all of this I trained first as a bricklayer, then as an archaeologist completing my Licence (more or less equivalent to a Bachelor of Arts) in Strasbourg and a Master of Arts degree in Conflict Archaeology at the University of Bristol. All these travels led me to create quite a nifty painting and sculpting travel kit that has become very useful for giving painting lessons at a moment’s notice.

 

I’ve always held that this Hobby is meant to be challenging in a positive way, and should always provide satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and pride. For this reason, I have never been a gamer as I do not find satisfaction in painting several identical models nor do I enjoy tactical gameplay (though I can understand that others find happiness in this, and that is splendid!). My joy is to push myself on every new project, try new things every time, and continuously learn and improve myself. I also find tremendous happiness in sharing with others. When I started out I was very fortunate to find several very talented painters at my local hobby store who would take time to sit down and explain to the kid I was how to paint whatever I had in front of me. I think that this inter-generational sharing is vital to our Hobby and I would be quite worthless if I did not have the decency to help others as I was helped, this contributed in no small way to making me love the Hobby as I still do now. 

 

A few years ago I made the move to turn my take on the Hobby into a job. I then realized how much I didn't know in this field... So I taught myself how to mold, how to cast, and how to sculpt for casting (which has a whole different set of challenges compared to simply giving shape to an idea...). I also tried to learn the basics of website creation, but here I met my match and therefore abandoned that idea which is why this site is powered by a very simple "DIY website" package. I then went on to acquire the various heavy duty tools necessary to achieve professional results, and now I'm getting those results! Alongside this, I continued fuelling my efforts to ever improve my painting techniques, acquire new ones, and push the boundaries as far as I can.

 

Other than that I am a serious Terry Pratchett fan (requiescat in pace Sir Terry), devoted whisky lover, animal friendly and particularly feline friendly, consumer of vast quantities of tea, medieval fencer with a passion for Liechtenauers' fencing system, fascinated by edged weapons of all sorts and mesmerized by the symbols that collide in the epitome of individual weaponry: the sword. A big DIY person I’ll first try and make what I need before resorting to buying it (if my attempts fail). A huge fan of Olivier Ledroits’ and Paul Bonners’ work though if I had to list all my inspiration sources here then it would be too heavy for any supercomputer!
 

I think that about covers all of me, or at least those parts more or less related to this Hobby and my little path within it.

And if you are ever looking for me at an event: I’m the big guy with a ginger goatee and probably a pint of something in a hand covered with paint stains!