Greetings from the Workshop

So, this thing that I do, now has its own blog.

 

I've been posting pictures of my creations on a number of Facebook pages for a couple of years and generally getting some very positive reactions.  I also get asked a lot of questions about how I've made various creatures.  I've always been happy to share those processes and I'm slowly taking more and more WIP pictures to help illustrate the stages of development.  The end result of which is that I now have far more words and pictures than might fit into your average Facebook post.  To which ends, it's time to find a more permanent and substantial place to house Tiny Tom's Midnight Creature Workshop.  And this is it.  Welcome!

 

In future posts I'll try and cover each of the creatures already made in order of their birth and hopefully in increasing detail.  There's a slight caveat to that statement though, which is that its not entirely clear what order that is because the first started was not necessarily the first finished and some creations are happily paused upon the pending shelf while I fathom a particular problem or process.  For example; the Fendahleen (far left) was begun because I stumbled over a way I might make one and I wanted to see if it would work.  Also, it was worth my time because Character Options, who made the Classic Doctor Who toy line, were never going to make that particular alien monster themselves....right up to the point when they did!  And when they did, I stopped because it then already existed.  Half formed, it went to live up the loft where a lot of my stillborn art resides.  And anyway, it was just an experiment rather than a deep desire to build one so nothing was lost. By the time it saw daylight again, the Ogri (the grey stones) had come into being and by the time it had been repainted, structurally touched-up and given tentacles / tendrils (?) it shared a shelf with a Wrarth Warrior (not pictured) as well.  Anyway, one way or the other, its worth noting that there are extended gestation periods and times when I'm reliant on an inspirational spark to kick start a stalled creation.  I guess I'm also saying that patience is the unseen key ingredient in everything I've ever built.

As well as the; how, I think we are also going to be looking at the; Why.  I don't know about you but why somebody does something has always fascinated me far more than what they have actually done.  As this thing has slowly developed into something I suppose I will have to be honest and label as a hobby now, my selection process for the choice of what to make next has also grown to include a variety of criteria.  I'll build something because I want it on my shelf or simply because the idea of bringing it into being amuses me. I'll also build something because I want to have a go with a new material or try a new process that I haven't used before.  And sometimes I'll just stumble over some found object that I'll look at and instantly see some as yet unreleased creation, hiding within it, like a statue lurking in a block of stone.

And on that note, I'll leave you with the image below and let you ponder as to which of the many possible inspirations fathered its genesis!

Until next time...


Steve