Artist: Ben Salmond

A little about myself, I am 29 years old and have been a hobbyist for 15 plus years. i grew up around gaming, saw my father's figures and was always fascinated with them. I started to dabble in painting when i was around 8 years old, learning a few things from an older brother painting mech warriors and other figures for a board game called Heroes Quest. My father had taken a break from hobbying for several years and didn't get back to it until I was 14. We went into a Games Workshop store, where my younger brother and I showed real interest, my father then picked up everything we needed to get started. My father never claimed to be a very good painter, but he taught us what techniques he knew. My first army was Blood Angel Space Marines from Games Workshop Warhammer 40K.

From there I wanted to get better so I looked at magazines and other peoples figures to try to mimic what I saw. I diligently practiced, which led to winning a few local painting competitions at local Games Workshops. 

When I was 19 I attended a Games Workshop Grand Tournament in Seattle, Washington where I entered the painting competition and placed third with a  Warhammer Dark Elf Executioner Draich Master from Games Workshop.

This to me was an accomplishment as I wanted to see how I fared with painters from across the country. After that, life happened and I paused on gaming for a little while painting from time to time. More recently I have been painting more and learning and testing out new techniques.

Laters,

Ben