Thursday
...so after doing little-to-no hobbying for most of the past year (for reasons, see my previous post) lars4life & I headed out for Adepticon 2015. The big change this year was that the con moved to a bigger venue at the Renaissance Schaumberg Convention Center:
The hotel was pretty nice - pretty much on par (amenity-wise) with the former venue, but much bigger. It was nice to have more space, but I get the feeling that the folks at the Renaissance didn't really "get" the needs of the con just yet, but hopefully that'll work itself out in the coming years.
After putting our bags away, we headed downstairs to get out badges & swag bags. As usual, the AdeptiCon swag bag was one of the best out of any convention I attend:
...A Protectorate of Menoth battlegroup, Badger & Reaper paints, brushes from Games & Gears, minis from Palladium, Victoria Miniatures & Soda Pop Miniatures, as well as a ton of coupons for more freebies & discounts in the dealer room. I really wish some of the other cons would take a lesson from AdeptiCon in the swag bag department.
Since the registration desk was right in the dealer's hall, we took a quick lap while we were there. I wandered past the Forge World booth and was a bit taken aback that there wasn't a line - last year, I got my stuff after a thirty-minute wait, and that felt like a gift. I walked up to the nearest employee and said "Can I pick up my preorder?" He said "Sure!" and grabbed the box. I kept if pretty small this year - I got the Caestus Assault Ram (just because I've been drooling over that model since it was released a couple of years ago), a Khorne Blood Slaughterer & some chain axes to outfit a Chaos project I've got in the works (more info coming soon!)
After that, we pretty much just wandered around the con, checked out the displays, and said hi to some friends before heading off to bed.
Friday
But, I can only accomplish so much in two hours, and the class was extremely helpful in breaking down the steps in painting anatomy.
Our next class was "Hands On With Two-Brush Blending" with Matt DiPietro, a studio painter for Privateer Press. I had previously taken a version of this class with Meg Maples, who also used to paint for Privateer Press - this is pretty much their "signature" technique. And, like before, I wasn't really crazy about it. I get it, and I can do it given enough practice, but I'm just not convinced that the results are worth the effort, or at least that I can't get similar results with other methods that are more natural to me. Sorry, it just doesn't "click" with my brain for some reason.
Our last class of the day was "Blood, Guts, Puss and Gore" with Michelle Blastenbrei. I didn't realize it when I signed up for it, but I had actually taken this class with Michelle at GenCon a few years ago - this actually made it kind of interesting, because I was able to see how Michelle had expanded and changed the methods she teaches. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and Michelle gave every student a whole box of goodies to play with!
After the class, a friend of ours from out of town showed up, and we all made our way down to the open hobby area in the lobby and painted for a couple of hours while meeting new people and trading techniques.
Next: Part II!
