Being an occasional series while the paint is drying, the glue is hardening or waiting for enthusiasm to come back, where i have a waffle on the things, films, books and whatnot that had a direct influence on me, getting me into this hobby or the whole SF/fantasy malarky.
Back when Star Wars had been out and Blakes 7/Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers was on the telly and the likes of Starlog and Starburst were putting out details on the modelwork in the above that i was so enthralled by, one publication became my bible more than any other - Fantasy Modeling.
I used to pour over and re-read each isue endlessly but i've chosen this one as THE influence for me.
I was just starting to get into fantasy metal figure painting and this guide, which showed how to make dioramas from household crap like polystyrene packing and the like, was new to me and a real eye-opener:
But, if my eyes were opened by that, they were peeled right back and pegged in place by the interview with Rick Overton.
Now known as an actor and writer, back here he was labelled "young writer/comedian/sf model maker" and was doing just the sort of thing that i knew Martin Bower was doing - creating craft from household items, kit bashing and converting model kits.
But where Martin was doing it for a living and using things and equipment i didn't have a clue about, Rick was, just like me, doing it for his own entertainment and buying everything from his local stores.
The fact that (A) he had a brilliant, imaginative eye, (B) actually had his models on show somewhere, was a massive influence on me.
And i studied these photos for hours and hours.
This ship, clearly inspired by 70's SF covers, i adored:
This Nautilus made from the old Romulan ship looks brilliant and also looked like something i could do:
But it was this Victorian ship that i found just stunning. Its an excellent piece of work and one i may do a riff on at some time:
As i say, hugely influential stuff. If you've never read Fantasy Modeling before, i urge you to track some down.
7 comments:
Hey I have this mag also, and another edition boxed up somewhere, I remember an article about making an airlock in one of them !! Rick Overton played one of the main Brownie's in 'Willow' I think the other edition maybe issue 5 which has Martin Bower in with his puppet girls. I used to get Cinemagic lots too, guys such as Jeff Pollizzotto used to inspire me with their scratchbuilt ships etc... Just found some of his more recent works here !! http://www.modelermagic.com/?cat=1625
It was this ship the USS Galileo that I remember from issue 15 of Cinemagic that I loved, bottom of the page ! http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=31101
Some more of Pollizzotto's work, nice stuff !! http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/4862400
Totally agree Andrew. I used to pour over Cinemagic too. The articles on photography etc i could do without - but, boy, did i study those scratchbulit ships!
I've got the first 25 editions of Cinemagic as PDF's in case you're missing any early ones, I know a few of the really early ones I missed so it was nice to eventually get to see them !!
Hey Andrew, that'd be great ta! I've got a lot of the early one's but only to about 7 or so.
I sent some Zip files via 'You Send It' to the e-mail address I have for you, did you get them OK ?
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