Craig M Denholm
Painter from Sunderland, England
About
I had no idea a little over two years back when I was looking for a new hobby after realising I was wasting my life playing video games that I would become engrossed in miniature painting.
I enjoy playing Warhammer 40,000 but my focus is the miniatures. I love painting, I never tire of it. I made a huge mistake when I first became involved by buying several armies. This is very limiting as now that I have realised the mammoth uphill task I have on my hands to clear my hefty backlog I am on a self ban for mini buying and it is hard to stay focused on the one project as at the back of my mind I can hear my Emperors Children trying to tempt me to tickle them with my brush, my Tyranids demanding attention or my Eldar reminding me they are a dying race and I had better hurry before they vanish from the galaxy for ever!
I started painting way way back in the mid 80’s as a young teen. I really enjoyed the hobby back then but as life took control I quickly lost touch with my miniatures and wargaming. But when I decided that I wasn’t going to spend another fruitless evening sitting in front of my PC or TV with a game controller in hand it was not a huge leap back to the realms of fantasy.
However after visiting my local Games Workshop and having very interesting conversations with the manager I found my taste had shifted and the gothic horror of the grim dark future was far more appealing to my taste buds.
I picked up a starter set for 40K. I chose my side and the stoick Dark Angels really spoke to me.
I took to miniature painting like a fish to water- loved doing it from the word go. Don’t get me wrong I wasnt very good but I could see improvement and I took in as many Youtube tutorials as I could digest taking what I could from each upload. I used to flick through White Dwarf looking at the Golden Daemon entries but considered them artist work and that I’d never be able to paint like that, I was missing the point.
Then a couple of months back I realised my painting wasn’t getting any better. I thought I’d hit my ceiling until I happened across Vince Venturella’s YouTube channel and his Hobby Cheating. I quickly learned that these advanced techniques were doable with the know how and a shed load of practice. It has opened new doors for me and I really want to improve.
