Why works in progress still matter with Guest Alex Buñag
As some of you may know I used to run a YouTube channel and am reviving it WAYPN meaning What are you painting now? Our focus was always on the NOW part. It didn’t matter if you were the worlds greatest painter or fresh to the hobby. We had some people who won Golden Demons and people who were fresh from the factory floor so to speak. BUT we didn’t have the problem of Upward comparison. Speaking of…
So with that intro out of the way, I saw Alex Buñag and decided I needed to share his story because, it shows something. It shows that even competition-level painters face challenges and once you see the work and effort someone puts into a single project. One single model the blood, sweat and tears as we say here in Australia. You no longer have a sense of envy or a feeling of disappointment seeing some of the beautiful work they have done. So, his story taken directly from Facebook with permission Let us share in Alex’s tale of woe.
How I just missed the deadline by Alex Buñag
When the Arthurian Legends dropped for September, I saw a model that I could enter the painting contest with. The Lady of the Lake is a model that could be painted with sheer or wet fabric effect, something I haven't tried so I welcomed the challenge. If you're curious how it all went down, from concept to utter failure
My initial concept for the Lady of the Lake was to have her half submerged in waist deep water, about to disappear into the depths after receiving Excalibur from Sir Bedevere.
I ran into two problems. She had fishes sculpted into her hair and a halo on her back. The fish won't do since she'Il be out of the water and since I'm planning to paint sheer/wet fabric, I'd like to show her bare back without the distraction of a halo. I asked RH if she would qualify if I edited them out and was granted permission. So Project Vivienne is a go!
I can only work on her over the weekends and the initial print at 100% scale didn't have enough facial details with my print. I also ran out of UV resin and switched from plant based to water washable so I had to recalibrate my printer. Scaled up 10%, the facial details are more discernable.
By end of Week 2, she was fully painted and ready for the base.
With the spare model, I start building the base mockup to get an idea of where to place the terrain and figure in an 8cm x 8cm cube diorama.
Week 3 was spent sculpting the terrain. In hindsight, I should have taken official entry photos at this point to submit, in case the resin pour didn't work out but clearing my workspace to setup the lights, camera and background, then set it back into a painting desk would have taken more time and I'm beginning to feel the crunch.
I didn't have xps foam to make a good diorama terrain but in such a small scale, polymer clay works well enough.
I left a portion of the base open for future plans of putting led lights and make it into a night lamp. For the competition, I planned on painting a base where the cube will sit that would give an illusion of depth.
Week 4, the old resin I had left over from a previous project wasn't going to work. It had too many bubbles and wasn't clear enough. Too late to have one shipped in but thankfully I found the right one at a local craft store. Here's the first pour of the new resin.
With 4 days to go before the deadline, the diorama sits while waiting for the resin to cure. It takes 24-48 hrs for it to set and 7 days to cure.
24 hours later and 2 days to go before deadline. The resin is still sticky in the corners but I'm running out of time. I give it another 8 hours by which time the upper corners are already set. I start to demold the cube but only two panels come away cleanly, the other two are stuck with resin that's not fully set. The panels eventually shattered when I pried them off, gouging the corners of the cube.
At this point, I was gutted. I had less than 48 hours before the deadline. Sanding and polishing the edges would take longer than that and I didn't have the proper equipment for it.
I tried to get decent photos to submit but I couldn't get a good shot angle. Parallax, something I totally didn't take into account, as well as the scarred edges made it impossible to get a decent shot. So I set the cube aside to ponder my options.
I always print 2 models in case something catastrophic happens to the primary model and this pretty much qualifies as a major catastrophe.
I had roughly 16 hours to work on the backup from a primed state if I ever have a chance to enter the competition. Throw in there sleep, and work, it might still be doable. I already know the paint and techniques I'll use from the primary model so it's just a matter of doing it.
Sadly, I didn't take into account the time difference so it was a lost cause. I finished the project 6 hours past the deadline.
Thank you so much for this Alex his original story can be found here
This is from a private Facebook group but so long as you like models I am pretty sure they will let you in
Why Alex?
I have already told this story before and this a break from format from the usual. However, Alex’s story called to me for one reason above all others. His a working man, he can only work over the weekends. Sure I do a commission business and he might be showing me up on my own website but…
The number one thing people will respond with when I point out things. That’s easy for you to say you are a commission painter, you have all the stuff, you can X, Y and Z. Alex is a little less easy to dismiss. He can only do his work on the weekends but he finds the time and he has the set backs. You can see the amazing work he produces, but if you just saw this…
For all intents and purposes what appears to be his table top level you might be understandably jealous, doing that upward comparison again…
However when you look at this…
This was a man giving it his all and still things went wrong. So even after all of that…
He still and made something just as amazing… There is a lot of work that goes into things and when you’re able to see that work… It helps making you realise… its not that you don’t have the talent or the equipment or the time…
It is hard work that makes these things great.
Alex your work is amazing and thank you for letting me use and share it along with your words.
I hope seeing Alex’s story you will push to make your next project a reality and push through even though you may have setbacks!