I Understand BigDawg
Coach,
I think its still valued by the critical eye. To me, painting is an art. Even in the electric football world. However, one of the things I find flawed in handpainting teams is the uniformity of the players.
It depends on your purpose for painting and who the end user is. I just got through with an order for a customer who wanted 2,000 handpainted custom figures. It took me 1/2 year to just create all the poses he wanted. In the oft-hours, I painted. I was relieved to have the luxury of having decals to use. It gave the players the authentic feel of reality because all the uniforms were very uniformed.
Don't get me wrong. I love the work of Ravenna Al and some legendary painters like two of my best friends, Jay Boy and the late-Dirk Thomas. When you see their work, it was extraordinary "Picasso". However, you could not rush them to do the job. I think you can still do high quality work and the decal allows that.
Guys like Chris Stacey, Terry Popham, Hulie Diggs, Eightball, and Mike Guttman all give you that high quality flawless look which when you are looking for uniformity, is very important.
I want to know every time that every line and every helmet is going to be the same. That's my definition of a uniform. It looks EXACTLY the same every time.
I think beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I do appreciate the beauty of the freehand painter but technology has allowed us the ability to expedite a process 10-fold. For a guy like me, who never sleeps and is always working on projects/orders, that's of the utmost importance to me.
Just my Opinion,
Reg
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