Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive !
I think the Bard of Stratford wrote those words, it has been suggested that Alias used the same script writer in there business proposal.
I’ve been Modelling ( yes spelt the correct way with two LL’s ) for 40 plus years, from the days of the Fisher body Guild, when in its hay day was bigger than the Boy Scouts of America in its membership I’ve seen some of the first Milling of clay in Germany around the end of the 60’s. I’ve listened to pundits, skeptics, profits and experts tell that Clay Modelling will be dead in a few years, that was back in 1973.
The long and short of it is in the Automotive world “ There is no substitute for a full size “ Clay Model “ that any one out there can touch, feel and admire !
I have a son who is a Computer Graphics Special effects modeller, His work is all Sci Fi related , he has won two Emmys and an Oscar for Visual effects, the end results a so real you have to believe it, But it never leaves the screen. Either TV or Film, That’s where all these Computer Automotive Modellers get it wrong, on the screen its looks fantastic but translate that into real life and its all wrong .
Our eyes play tricks on us, given the advances we have all seen with the advent of Alias , Rhino etc and the milling of models from that data, how many have seen an end result that does not have to be corrected by a “ SKILLED CLAY MODELLER “ that’s what you all should be looking at, skills are not obtained by
“ going to school “ getting a degree, paying some big named institute to attend two our three hours a day and coming away after four years with a piece of paper, skills are leaned by mistakes, apprenciships, attending the School of Hard Knocks, going on to the “ University of Life “ and coming away with a degree in common sense.
Good modellers are a product of that process, learning from others, being allowed to take that chance and pushed all the way by more talented , not like some who think there better than others and I’m not going to show anyone how to do it, because that will put my job at risk,
New blood is the same what ever way you look at it, if your dying a Blood transfusion the first thing get.
Thinking this skill is some sort of “ Fraturnaty or Union of Brothhers" with secret hand shakes and silly walks, not saying that there are no modellers that walk silly, after many years on your knees or laying on a studio froor wont stop you from getting stiff. It is not the way, we have to train and educate, showing what we have learned so this Art form never fades.
Great Modellers are born that way, just like an artist, I don’t remember Picaso or Rembrant going to Art Center or the Royal Colledge of Art.
Those few can command the big money , they deserve it, the others gripe about whose getting this , and so and so is paying this, next thing they go with the agent on contract, when the contract dries up, they complain that there is no work, you cant win !.
Getting back to the subject matter, modellers are worth there weight in Gold if that’s what being paid, on the other hand, they are only worth there weight in peanuts if you are working with monkeys.
An association would bring some sense of combined force having weight, until one person got greedy, and then it would all fall back to what it is today.
If we really look at our self in the mirror, we wouldn’t have it any other way, working 24 hours a day to correct an Alias “ thingy-up “ working three days straight to finish up a show job because the Designer kept saying “ Oh just move that line 2 mm “ .
At the end of the day its great to wake up in the morning knowing I ‘m going to be doing something
“ I LOVE “ the money is a bonus.
