William is currently the oldest I have had the chance to interview within the modelling community, but it definitely doesn’t make him or Valandar less cool.
William is a guy that shows off his process from start to finish via his youtube videos and then works a bit on the sci-fi side with a cyberpunk themed project coming up soon. Lets dig into the interview and get to know William a bit more!
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself:
Well, I’m a nearly 50 year old man (turning 50 in mid-November), who was a theater performance major in college; spent 5 years in the USMC; did computer tech support for a few years after becoming a civilian again; and have been doing 3D art professionally since 2001.
On the gaming side, I’ve been gaming since the early 1980’s, and painting minis since 1984.
How and when did you join the RPG modeling community?
Oooh… well, my first 3D printer was a total disaster, and it was unable to produce anything vaguely resembling useful results.
In 2017 I got a CR-10, which was FAR better, and began work on converting some old geometry I had made for the modding scene in 2000 or so into a base geometry I could sculpt on. And in April of 2018, I started broadcasting the act of sculpting miniatures.
What did you wish you had known when you started out?
Not to get the make and model of printer I got first. It was a doozy of a disaster.
You are working on a project with cyberpunk overtones. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Basically, with the release a few months ago of Cyberpunk Red, the release several weeks ago of Shadowrun 6e, and the release early next year of Cuberpunk 2077 video game,
I think it’s time to turn my eye to that side of the hobby. There’s always been a bit of a dearth of minis that would fit the Cyberpunk theme, and several games based around it, so it’s almost like unexplored territory.
I plan on making as many figures as I can, plus things like drones for riggers, vehicles, and random scatter terrain with a near future style.
With a bunch of people going the fantasy route. What made you choose the sci-fi route?
On the scifi side of things, even recently, there has always been only one miniatures behemoth – Warhammer 40,000.
This is a very recognizeable property with a very unique style, and it does not translate well to use those miniatures for the plethora of scifi games out there that aren’t set in M41.
It’s a gap in coverage I thought I’d try to help fill.
How long does it take you to model one of your models?
Oooh, that depends. For a humanoid model (elf, human, orc, and so on) it doesn’t take very long, between 1 and 3 hours, because I have some base geometry to work with, already pre-rigged and such.
For props, it can take a varying amount of time depending on complexity – a scifi crate would take a lot less time than, say, a dragonhead fountain on a daias. And for critters, well, they take the longest, as I prefer to create a base geometry, and then rig it, to make certain the proportions stay consistant, AND so I can choose to re-pose the figure and have a different version if I wanted to, or if an art director decided they didn’t lie the pose.
You also make fantasy models. Which fantasy model do you like the most and why?
Of the critters I’ve made, I’d say it’s my wyvern. The first version of it I did was also one of my first Thingiverse uploads, though not exactly in scale for tabletop use.
The second version has a more dynamic pose, and is part of my Epic Enemies set.
Its amazing you are doing live modelling on youtube. What do you think is the best when doing youtube videos?
Not having YouTube give me issues with the connections. 😛 Seriously, it’s having an audience.
If I have people reacting and interacting in the chat, it feels more dynamic, and I have a lot more energy to work with.
Iv’e done the same thing live, with the people right next to me, and it’s just as dynamic.
You have a Patreon. Why should people go to your Patreon right now and sign up?
Because I like eating? Heh, seiously, right now I have forty-one models that are free as part of the Patreon, and the Patreon ALSO includes my epic Tarrasque model.
On top of that, those who sign up on my Patreon have the option of a single totally free sculpt from me of a character (not a critter or copyrighted character), which will also be done live on broadcast. But if you sign up for the sculpt, please message me so we can schedule your session!
Oh, and to support me as an artist, of course. 😀
Alright, thanks William!
We got Valandars Roll History profile here:
https://rollhistory.com/creator/listing/valandar/
It’s possible to check Williams youtube channels out here (you can see him sculpting here – worth a watch):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6BFVwFEZjepxGdRKGrb3Jg
&
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKw_j1Xa0zmSQJOZBtP–MA
Also check out his Patreon if you are interested in acquiring some of his awesome models here:
https://www.patreon.com/Valandar
He also have a Gumroad account which you can find here:
https://gumroad.com/Valandar
