These two are my milestone figs
Both have special meaning to me.
The first is a BTD Yank Paratrooper from WWII. I was sent this one to paint up by BTD when I applied for a painting job with them. I laboured for hours to do the best job I could, and to be honest was impressed with the work. I mailed it off to England.
A week later, I was rejected with the following sentence:
Not enough depth.
Yep, that was all they said.
Well, to be honest, I thought for a moment: "Maybe I'm not good enough at this to make it." Then I got a grip, remembered the old saying "if it is to be, it's up to me," and got to work getting better.
The weird thing is, these days I always look at the fig and make sure it has depth. Every cloud 'n all that. Being fair on BTD, the fig has no eyeballs and is flat. Still, if you're reading this BTD, work on your rejection letters a little. At least say "You suck" in large friendly letters or some such.
Inbetween this fig and the next one, I got lots of good advice from our very own Dread Pirate Garness which helped me along a lot. The best thing he said was I was lazy. This made me aware I really was being lazy, and worked on giving every part of the mini my attention. Thanks, Gar, I owe you one.
The following fig is a Shock Force Venquan. This is the fig that landed me my job with Dark Tortoise Games. True to Gar's advice, I wasn't lazy, and was rewarded with the best boss in the mini-painting world. After my first attempt at breaking into the industry ended with a kick in the testes, this was a blessed relief. Now I knew I had what it took.