The Year in review – 2018 | Saint-ism – Gaming, Gunpla, Digital Art

2018. What a year. It’s been so busy it’s almost like January to June was a whole year in itself.

I always constantly remind myself that life is a cycle of ups and downs. I had a really good run from June to November, coming off the highest highs of commissioning jobs and my T-Shirt business somewhat picking up.

But the Hazel + Hrududu commission I’ve been working on has been really weighing down heavily on me. This is probably the largest kit(s) I’ve ever worked on and I’m feeling a bit burned out at the moment. I also am dealing with the HMO Morrigan statue that I purchased, which originally cost 700USD, is now almost up to double that in unexpected double shipping and import taxes. Ugh.

Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.

- Mark Twain

Now back to the beginning. This year I finally caved in and decided it was time to buy some P-Bandai kits. I’d avoided them for two reasons mainly, one because they were somewhat unobtainable until now, and two because I have this somewhat irrational fear of messing up and destroying something that is essentially ‘limited edition’. I ended up buying a few during my holidays in Malaysia and have been collecting since.

I went through a building spree in the first half of the year, and I made quite a few mistakes as a result, botching kits by cutting pegs that I shouldn’t on the RG Exia and losing the hand part on the V2 Gundam. Whilst I was searching for replacement parts for the Exia, I decided to buy a P-Bandai Exia R2 instead for spare parts from a stranger on the Internet. This man was Joel from The Hangar Bay, whom I now consider a friend. Thanks Joel for the kits and I hope we can continue this great partnership!

I also felt I had finally reached the limits of painting with acrylics (in my style) after some nasty errors on my Altron, Exia and Astray Noir. This finally convinced me to use lacquers, and when I made the move it was like I had entered a new renaissance of painting. I felt I could finally consistently deliver on a commission level that I was happy with, and landed a few jobs in a row.

It was a year of many firsts. I tried my first weathering build. I sold some of my built kits for the first time ever. I attended my first Gunpla competition, and I didn’t place. It kinda stung, but it was a start to hopefully being able to put myself out there a bit more.

I also sold quite a fair bit of my Gunpla and video gaming backlog. In my younger days, hoarding and owning stuff made me happy, not so much these days. I kinda realised that having time to create art, either through Gunpla, photography or Uncharted 4 videos is what I value the most now.

In terms of video games, the only games I really remember playing were Super Robot Wars X, and Shenmue II. Playing through Shenmue with my wife really reminded me how much I loved that game, even after so long. At the end of Disc 2 when Ryo leaves for Kowloon I found myself missing Wan Chai almost like a real place.

I expanded the T-Shirt business with an Etsy store, and it’s seen some small growth over the last few months.

So yes, a year of ups and downs. I’m feeling down as I write this, having most of my spare funds drained with shipping fees and taxes, it almost makes me forget what I’ve actually accomplished:

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That’s…alot of kits! And it makes me remember to be thankful to my family that I even had the time to do all this.

Next year

I’ve already got quite a few things to look forward to next year. Unlike 2018, there are quite a few video games that are pretty high on my want list. With my spare cash gone, I can also take this time to go back and build some of my backlog, properly this time!