Darren Carnall's creative corner

[Darren Carnall]

thanks guys. We'll see how long it stays so clean looking

 

[Mooncat]

Looking good, looks like more space Darren

LMK about Saturday m8

 

[phase3]

What a fantastic repaint of the Indy figure!

May I ask what types of paints you use? Lacquers, acrylics?

Sorry if that has been asked a dozen times before (I haven't gone through all 150+ pages of this thread

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[stmod0568]

Congratulations on your new studio, Darren

 

[sparkstron73]

I painted up Darren's awesome head sculpt today and Extended Ripley's legs . I wish i could paint like Darren so be kind and shes meant to be perspiring cos shes going back in the Powerloader.

Excellent paintjob really like this sculpt and hopefully will have one soon,maybe you would be interested in repainting mine if you have the time?
If so let me know how much as I'm crap at painting and don't want to to mess it up.

 

[Crimsonbob]

Thanks

You should commission Darren to paint ripley when you order 1 from him, he's a much much better painter than me

 

[Lee in MI]

Now that you have a new awesome space, that affords you greater efficiency, does that mean you're taking on new work?

 

[Darren Carnall]

What a fantastic repaint of the Indy figure!

May I ask what types of paints you use? Lacquers, acrylics?

Sorry if that has been asked a dozen times before (I haven't gone through all 150+ pages of this thread

Cheers,
Rob.

Thanks Rob! Basically I use acrylics... when I started I used to use the toothpaste tube types that artists used (it was what I had) and they worked just fine... but the ones that come in small glass jars, designed for painting miniatures I think, seem to be a little better. smoother and easier to work with. Don't worry about asking it again... this has turned into quite a big thread to have to work your way through

Thanks

You should commission Darren to paint ripley when you order 1 from him, he's a much much better painter than me

whilst I appreciate the free advertising and promotion .... STOP IT lmao.... I'm too busy... stop sending people my way!! (thanks for the compliment though... but your Ripley still looks awesome! )

Now that you have a new awesome space, that affords you greater efficiency, does that mean you're taking on new work?

lol, sorry Lee... still no. The new space is certainly helping me. I can have more things out at the same time... but more importantly i can have painting stuff and sculpting stuff on the go simultaneously... and that is a huge help in speeding me up.

Sadly this doesnt allow me to take on new stuff... just get through my never ending list (my fault for taking on more work than I realised) of eager customers faster. They deserve to have their work done as fast I humanly can... and this new workspace is helping me with that.

Sorry about the 'no' though

 

[Crimsonbob]

whilst I appreciate the free advertising and promotion .... STOP IT lmao.... I'm too busy... stop sending people my way!! (thanks for the compliment though... but your Ripley still looks awesome! )

nps

 

[Badism]

Where's the full reveal on the Spock figure? I'm dying to see it and hopfully buy one or something.

 

[Peteskywalker]

Hi Darren finally had time to take some pics of that great repaint you did for me

Thanks again darren those are the best eyes i have ever seen. Just when i think you cant top your last repaint you go ahead and do it lol.

 

[Crimsonbob]

Wow thats an amazing repaint looks great

 

[abake]

What a fantastic repaint!
Congratulations.

 

[jediknight120]

That Bespin Luke is AMAZING!

 

[Mooncat]

Hi Darren finally had time to take some pics of that great repaint you did for me

Thanks again darren those are the best eyes i have ever seen. Just when i think you cant top your last repaint you go ahead and do it lol.

A pair of Sovereign Studio arm skins and this figures . . . .

Just so happens Ive got 4 sets

Shoot me a pm and ill sell you a set

Wow amazing what a re-arrange can do

 

[sparkstron73]

Cheers darren for the ripley head got it a few weeks back but got caught up and forgot to email back.

Very nice sculpt still undecided whether I'll paint it or have the talented mr bob do the honors as I might mess it up.
Will try painting a few other heads first and see how it goes any tips as I hav'nt painted any before?

 

[Mooncat]

Hows tricks Darren ? shoot us a pm m8 tell me 'whats occuring' (insert welsh accent)

 

[Darren Carnall]

woah I havent been on here since April?? Damn, that's what happens when you're juggling a bazillion projects and trying to get them all done I guess. Man it makes you tired lol

sleep

Thanks for the comments guys, Pete.. that Luke looks AMAZING on that body!! I didn't think it'd look that good all put together.... cool custom you've put together there mate, looks brill!!!

...damn I'm good sometimes

Hiya Jase how's it going? I'll PM you a lil bit later today

Good News Time.

Guys, one other thing I wanted to mention, I'm not sure how many of you know (certainly the old timers will) that I have epilepsy, and about 14 years ago I was a financial adviser, and my childhood epilepsy that was previously controlled with drugs kicked off again... and I had to hand in my driving licence and stop working. I started to receive Incapacity Benefit (like disability payment for people who can't work through illness)

after years of doing nothing I got so bored that I started to do oil paintings as a hobby, and even sold a few... and for a while I thought I'd be able to turn that into a business, but ultimately it never went anywhere. (not enough people buy original oil paintings)

I'd tried going back to work doing some basic office work for my brother's finance business... photocopying, answering phones, filing stuff... that kind of thing. EASY stuff. But the side effects of my epilepsy were (and still are) so strong, that trying to do more than one (simple) thing at a time.. results in my brain slowing right down to the point where I get confused and forget what I'm doing/where I am etc. It's such a pain... considering what I used to do for a living. Anyway I really wanted to work, so I stuck with it for a whole year... hoping it'd get better, but it didn't.. it just got worse. And eventually the docters pretty much said "Darren what are you doing, you're going to give yourself seizures again" - and so I gave up.

few more years passed, and I started to collect 1/6 figures from Sideshow. I'd already repainted a few small 7" Star Trek figures for myself and a few others, but nothing much. My very first 'proper' resculpting and repainting of something was the Anakin Skywalker that I did. And I got so much interest from that from people who wanted me to do custom work for them, that it turned into a nice little 'hobby that paid'.

Over the last three years the level of work that I've done and the level of interest and requests from people has shot through the roof, to the point where I realised "I could do this for a living... oh my god... this could get me off Benefit... this could be what I do for a living!!"

I've been going through the process with the various agencies involved, and on Friday last week, I officially signed the paperwork to sign myself OFF Incapacity Benefit, and am now officially self employed. In charge of my own destiny... or someting lol

more importantly, it's now wholly up to me to bring money into the house. *gulp*

It's both very exciting (VERY!!) and a little scary. No safety net now... this is it, my own business, self employed... all by myself.

and I'm LOVING IT



thanks for all your support during this time! You guys

 

[THE JOKER]

Congrats, thats amazing news.

 

[eighthsamurai]

i didn't know any of this (apart from the epilepsy), dazzer. and i think it certainly shows your character that you want to get off benefits (despite fully deserving them) and want to stand on your own 2 feet. truly amazing, especially considering the thousands and thousands of other people who would never have signed that paperwork, thinking they had a cushy thing going.

kudos to you, man. kudos and respect.