Shock & Awe

We are in the home stretch, with only two months of acrylic slathering to go before 2023 is upon us. This is also my last month of hosting duties for this year's challenge. It has been a great experience supporting this challenge. Since I first found this painting challenge way back in 2017, I have to say it has been a incredible source of inspiration to keep working on my paint game. That said, due to life and my mounting responsibilities, I will unfortunately have to step down as co-host for 2023. As I said at the start of the year, I'm getting toward the end of my doctoral program and this coming year I need to focus on my dissertation, so I have a feeling my hobby life is going to take the brunt of the hit in terms of 'things I do not have time for'. I really appreciate all the feedback, interaction, and overall positive vibes of this whole community. Thank you all for being awesome and giving me a lot to strive for in terms of upping my painting skills. I will still be around, though likely more sporadically, so I hope to still participate next year. Now, without further ado.... onto November's shenanigans... If you are new to the challenge and what to know the ins and outs - Everything you need to know for the Challenge is right HERE. For all our regular contributors, make sure you've submitted your SS counts for the previous months in the Google Form. For our Masterclass topic: Black Friday This is a bit random, but I'm curious... so I thought I would ask. November always brings about the ever awesome Black Friday sale where we can finally get our hands on all the limited edition stuff. So, I'm curious, do any of you have a wish list for this coming Black Friday? Do you often make big orders during Black Friday? What are we looking to add to the ever exploding shelf of shame! The Pledge Form CLICK HERE! The Pledge Spreadsheet CLICK HERE! The Monthly Soulstone Reporting Form CLICK HERE! The Soulstone Tabulation Spreadsheet CLICK HERE! That's it from me for the year ladies and gentlemen! Have a great November, and, in the words of the great sage Ninjon, 'Let's Slay the Grey!' - Shock & Awe

My final September model was actually finished weeks ago, but getting time to take pictures and post them was more challenging because the school year started in the interim. Long story long, here is my Silent Knight (alt. Killjoy) for the Fae crew. Only two official Fae models left! This was also my first time working with metal, which was interesting. Definitely prefer the plastic.

This wasn’t directed at me, but I actually learned from someone else that it’s just a matter of wiping them down. I used a wet cloth and just wiped around the water effect and it went back to normal. I think it also depends on the version of the still water, because that stuff in the big bottle oxidizes quite bad. I had a huge bottle turn completely solid anyway, I have a feeling Viruk will have a much more professional answer

@Hawkoon I vote for either Serena or the Bandersnatch - those are both in my backlog and I’d love to see what you do with them. @DemiMurgos if you are talking about just this monthly competition, you can feel free to mod it to your heart’s content - go nuts! but by the current rules, whatever the base model is determines your stone count, and the model only counts in whatever month YOU determine it to be “complete” are you asking if the modifications somehow count? Or just timing of when you can claim the stones for it?

@OctaBit looking really good so far, can't wait to see the freehand - I suck at freehand As for me, I got my first of two planned models done for this month... and man, did it take some time. SO MANY SPINES!!! Here in all its stomping glory, is my Malisaurus Rex

Stupid me, I thought that was Google recognizing my account and just ignored it! I fixed! So sorry about that!

The Pledge Form CLICK HERE! The Pledge Spreadsheet CLICK HERE! The Monthly Soulstone Reporting Form CLICK HERE! The Soulstone Tabulation Spreadsheet CLICK HERE!

Holy man alive, it's September already! That means we have four months left to soldier through before 2022 is done and dusted. Time flies when you are slaying grey plastic. If you are new to the challenge and what to know the ins and outs - Everything you need to know for the Challenge is right HERE. For all our regular contributors, make sure you've submitted your SS counts for the previous months in the Google Form. For our Masterclass topic: Inspiration One of our regular contributors @OctaBit brought up a really great topic in August about tackling burnout, which many of us provided some great advice for. To be honest, I think that is something all of us have battled at one point or another. The question then is where do you go to to get reinspired to paint? This topic can be about either: 1 - when you first build your mini and start thinking about how to paint it, do you have a process for determining how you'll approach it? What do you use for inspiration there? 2 - when you did hit the inevitable burn out, what things do you use to get reinspired to paint? This might be rehashing a lot of what many of you already said last month, so feel free to skip it, but I think it's a really worthwhile conversation because it's something every hobbiest battles at some point. Have a great month! - Shock & Awe

So, my grad program really kicked my a$$ all through July, so I was cut off from the hobby for a bit... but I came charging back this month. I got a huge swath of my Fae crew done up, and there's only four models left for that crew and they are done! That is my goal for the next two months. That said, without further ado, here are my 39 stones for the month - Alt. Titania, The Thorn (Autumn Knight), the Gorar, and three Bultungin! I am particularly proud of TItania's base, and the stream I made on one of the Bultungin. I do want to contribute to the burn out conversation, but I'm wiped now from working with all those dang pictures! Save that for tomorrow.

This month I'm going to keep plugging away at the Fae keyword. Beyond this box of grey, I also have the metal Silent Knight to finish off the set, so this will likely take me well into next month at least