Who is Old Man Paints?

Who is Old Man Paints?

Old Man Paints is a quick name I came up with one day in 2019. I was in a Nottingham “Warhammer” shop when I noticed that I was much older than most of the other people in there. This is my Oldhammer blog.

I want to say Oldhammer blog in a loose way, because not Every single miniature will be oldhammer. I also collect miniatures from companies producing miniatures today. Many f those are new oldhammer. that is to say….produced in the oldhammer style. Almost always metal miniatures.

I’m not THAT OLD, I guess I am middle-aged, a man and I paint …but OLD MAN PAINTS Sounds better than middle-aged man paints.

My name is Phil, I paint figures or as they now seem to be called, (minis). I am originally from the Derbyshire Peak District and my first exposure to “lead figures” was through playing D&D with some local friends.

As I remember, we spent a lot more time arguing about the rules than actually playing. Anyway, this is where I was introduced to “figures” and I was instantly hooked.

I had a halfling trumpeter and a Boromir figure. These are recently acquired versions of those miniatures. One painted, one started.

After that, we would travel to the Games Workshop in Sheffield to buy paints and figures, or minis as they are called nowadays. (Warhammer shops were called ‘Games Workshop’ in the 80s)

Sheffield Games Workshop

My first figures were painted with Humbrol Enamels, and no, I don’t have them anymore.  My local Games Workshop was, on “The Moor’ in Sheffield.

A chap who worked there “Kenny Crow”, was extremely encouraging of my work and let me display some of my figures in the shops’ Cabinet.  In the 1980s, Games Workshop shops were a bit less corporate and more about the customer.

You could take your painted miniatures into the shop and if they were good enough they could be displayed in their octagonal cabinets.  At one point I had about 30 figures in there.

Kenny kept pushing me to improve but I was becoming complacent. I started churning out crap figures, he told me, reminding me that only the good stuff could get in the cabinet.

It’s thanks to Kenny that I pushed on and entered the Golden Demon ‘single figure’ category for the 1989 Golden Demon Heats, Single figure Category.   I won, I was 15.

Golden Demon Awards 1989

The Golden Demon final in 1989 was at Games Day, held at the Assembly Rooms Derby.  It was packed and as a figure painter and not a gamer, I was pretty bored that day.

However, the day picked up when I bumped into John Blanche, he signed an Apple for me…Yes, an actual Apple.  I didn’t have any paper.

He also got my miniature photographed for the ‘Fantasy Miniatures’ Book.  (Pictured above)

That day, I made a last-minute decision to take a different figure, than the one that had won the heat. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Anyway, the figure I did take got photographed and was added to the book, so it’s not all bad.

I also have to say that regrettably, someone else’s figure was also attributed to my name. I’m very sorry about that to whoever painted it. It wasn’t anything to do with me, an editorial error, I guess.

For the record, mine was the Imperial Scout. The Eldar scout wasn’t mine.  I’ll show you the figures here now, just to illustrate.

Below is the Imperial Scout I chose to take to the final instead. I don’t know why I thought this figure was better for Games Day 1989, but I did, and that’s that.

A New Dawn in Figure Painting

1989 was for a long time, the height of my figure painting success (so far).  I never entered the GD again, and a few years later I discovered other distractions such as booze and women. By the time I was 21, I’d stopped painting miniatures altogether.

Many years passed and the figures lived in boxes and tins at my parents’ house. Some were lost and broken beyond repair.

Then, one day in 2018, after forgetting about figures and painting for well over 2 decades, I came across some photos of figures I’d taken years ago.

I got the figures from Mum and started looking at them. Next, I found a group on Facebook called the “Oldhammer Community” and never looked back.

First Miniatures in 24 years

the first miniatures painted in 24 years are in the collection you see above.  At the time I didn’t even have any Citadel paints.  I think they were painted using just craft paints and some Coat D’ arms. Once I found my confidence again I started expanding my paint set.

Since then, I’ve renovated my office, bought some small display cabinets, filled them with the old and now, many more modern figures. I even won a category at BOYL in 2023.

To see my painted miniatures, look on my Instagram @oldmanpaints and if there’s a story to tell, I’ll write it here, on my blog.

I hope you enjoyed reading my little tale?  There’s lots more to say, but hey, we have all the time in the world.
Please feel free to ask questions.