Designing the First Space marine - Bob Naismith

[@WePrintMiniatures]

A pleasure to bring you all together for one of the most epic conversations. #BobDesignedMyChildhood Everything we thought it would be and so much more! Thankyou Bob for taking the time to share your passion with us all.

[@Mjolknirn]

What a humble and creative soul. Could yarn with him in the pub and never guess he's responsible for so much in hobby.

[@thepaintingphase]

What a lovely comment, cheers Mjolk.

[@manosanastasiou4405]

😂

[@Lacainam]

The humility is stellar. Yeah he'll say "oh yeah I did that" but it's not a brag or boast. It's him seeing it as an opportunity to be involved in it.

[@matthinton19]

Happy to say I’ve been lucky to speak to Bob a few times on social media. He seems just as excited if not more excited to talk to people who paint his figures as we are to speak to him

[@NapGod]

"You might never be seen" "Or named" This is hands-down the nugget at the center of the strangeness of Games Workshop. All the unconventional obfuscation, secrecy, and lack of community engagement (this part has defintely improved) orbits around the fact that I can't do a google search to find GW's sculptors, artists, or who's even on the Eavy Metal team at the moment. The creatives I have found were by accident searching through instagram accounts. Not one human is credited in any codices, battletomes, or core rule books I own. And what in Sacred Feth is a "Warhammer Storyforge" anyway? Thank the Emperor Black Library authors are freelance so we do know who they are. I just don't understand it, and I assume it's by design for reasons I am not privy to - Perhaps the fanbase can be... over enthusiastic and people find it easier to sculpt the next Primaris Lieutenant in peaceful anonymity. With that rant out of the way, I'm giddy that y'all are doing these talks with guests! This was fascinating and I hope to see more in the future. The history of Games Workshop, itself, seems to be poorly documented, and I'd love to hear more stories from people who were there. Another great video!

[@thepaintingphase]

Hey Thanks Kyle, your right it is a shame you can’t easily find out who did which sculpt l, piece of art etc. and to some degree it is to protect the employees, but we never got stalked or harassed back in the day, so not sure why it’s such an issue these days. Glad you enjoyed the chat with Bob, hopefully down the line we can get some other big names on the show too

[@christianzilla]

I'll tell you why this is so. The same tactic was used in the early days of the massive scifi comic 2000ad. They would even employ a person to go through the artwork and remove signatures left by artists. As soon as you have a name, you can effectively become a brand and start having power within the company and potentially get headhunted by competitors, neither of which are welcomed by the business heads. It is anti-creative and exploitative and there will come a day when this practice ceases. It took the actions of one editor in 2000ad to start the ball rolling and adding credits to the artists, writers and letterers. Unbelievably, nobody wants to be oppressed and feel worthless in their workplace.

[@Roadkiller85]

To me there seem to be several reasons for this phenomenon (without having worked at GW): GW might try to avoid a certain "fixation" on or "cult status" of certain artists, which could influence sales or corporate reputation, making it easier for GW to hire and fire. Following that logic, not naming artists prevents them of developing some kind of public reputation and "market self esteem", lowering the possibility of them being recruited elsewhere and keeping salary comparably low. Rhodes and Peach are good examples, they were publicly seen, became quite famous and utilized that for going their own way (which is smart). Just speculation, but I know of that practice from other fields.

[@PrometheusZero]

I always thought it was for a layer of protection. I remember this coming in after 5th Edition when the internet was really quite cruel about Matt Ward. Because his name was associated with codexs that were not popular I can only imagine the amount of hate that was thrown his way. All for just doing his job and following a brief set by the company. If I had ten thousand people, every day, telling me that I'm shit, that I suck, that they hope my family gets cancer, all the worst vitriol of the online world, I think I'd blow my brains out.

[@MrPolicekarim]

@@christianzilla Pat Mills?

[@Loathlytower]

What a sound guy and happy to see he's a fellow Scotsman. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@thepaintingphase]

A Great Scot! Indeed.

[@stevensmith8261]

AH - so not Geordie then - still working on my regional accents. When I think Scottish, I think Billy Connolly.

[@colthedrummer]

@@stevensmith8261 Scotland is a country, not a region, fella 👍😁

[@stevensmith8261]

@@colthedrummer Yes, I'm aware. At least I didn't say "Scotty from Star Trek". Do you know the story about Dame Maggie Smith calling an elderly Scottish lady about studying her particular regional accent?

[@vc7526]

Bob Naismith's Idea just saved GW! The GW 3d printer pluggeg into the internet (GW's database). If they do it the glory is all Bob's!!! What a wonderful idea. Or the GW-walk-in-3d-printing-bank. There you can see the 360-creativity at work. Just brilliant!

[@thepaintingphase]

The man knows his onions - Geoff

[@larrywagner1432]

Like anyone who came into the hobby early on, even in the early 90’s for myself, this man so much a part of my vision of what 40K. We all know the models today are fantastic, and they are beautiful and amazing,but there was a built in soul to the work this man and his counterparts put into the early hobby that cannot be accounted for. Thank you for sharing your experiences, and your interest and passion for new technologies! Cheers! 🖌

[@Jimalcoatl]

A note for Bob, the VR sculpting he's imagining does exist. The art KZbinr, Jazza, who also does miniatures content, has several videos where he sculpts modelsnin VR and then prints them out.

[@GabaWocky]

12 minutes in and I’m in awe with Bob, what a fantastic humble man he is 😊

[@lgyamjr]

What an amazing man, could have listened to 6 hours of you chatting with Bob. The part where he explained how hobbying has permanence, encourages reading, imagination and maths really touched me

[@thepaintingphase]

Yeah he was such a great guest, and honestly we would’ve happily sat for 6 hours and kept recording…..but he’s a busy man lol

[@Haanzer]

I'll never not be impressed when traditional sculptors make the leap over to digital and still manage to produce interesting and characterful miniatures. I can't imagine having to completely re-learn my trade like that halfway into my career. Fascinating hearing everything he did outside of miniatures as well - it never really occurred to me that it would be the same artists working on dolls/doll accessories as on miniatures, but it makes perfect sense. A wonderful interview with a genuine living legend!

[@thepaintingphase]

So pleased you liked it - We loved spending time with Bob.

[@Wildboar_War]

What a inspiration this guy is, with such a great legacy. Thanks for bringing this to us for everyone to enjoy.

[@thepaintingphase]

You’re so very welcome.

[@JC.Denton.]

You guys are spoiling us, what a treat.

[@huwtindall7096]

What a legendary guest. Didn't think this show could get any better but here we are. Also Test Match Cricket was a brilliant game as kids. Was big in Australia too! Everyone seemed to have a set or knew someone who did. Can't believe he did Victrix too. Could be hobby MVP. Also he seems like an absolutely top bloke. Generous with his times and honest and down to earth with his answers with that philosophical ending!

[@thepaintingphase]

Great reply.

[@CaptainEshara]

what a legend, and a bunch of legends together, i don't think bob will thank me on the age thing, but at the age of 48, heroquest was one of the first boxed games from Gw/MB my parents conceded to buy me it, as I'm sure my parents thought GW was like going through an Airfix phase and up until then as a kid the only Gw stuff i got was from my pocket money and birthday money which got me rogue trader, but christmas was different and I'm sure they thought i would grow out of whats turned out to be a life long hobby

[@thepaintingphase]

Fantastic comment, thanks Stephen.

[@CarlosMartinez-kp2ll]

A fantastic interview with a legend of the miniature industry. Great show 👍

[@Hammerandhilt]

What a fantastic fellow, I really enjoyed listening to you guys talk about this hobby. Bob seems like such a down to earth guy, I am going to have to purchase something from his site.

[@davekenny8774]

I worked for a large OEM designing valves for the oil industry a few years ack and we could print all our prototypes into a working model in plastic and check the interfaces and fittings etc refine and prove designs physically before we sent them off to the machine shop to be manufactured. Wasamazing stuff to work with.

[@cheetor_sho3box]

I just *loved* this video. "Bob Naismith" was just a name to me for the last thirty-something years, so it was a genuine pleasure to see him come across so well.

[@thehorrorist3471]

Great interview! Love hearing about the old days of GW. Wish you could guys could talk to Kev Adams in the future. Nothing brings me more joy & nostalgia than looking at those old 80/90s orcs & goblins. So much personality in those old sculpts. You guys have become my favorite hobby channel. Keep it up!

[@thepaintingphase]

We’re gonna try and hunt down some of the originals for a chat.

[@hairysticks74]

Bob was a massive part of my teen years in the 80s. Seems like such a nice bloke. I was thrilled to paint some of his zombies and dwarf minis for Mantic Games box/studio photos a few years ago. You guys knocked it out of the park with this interview - Good times!

[@thepaintingphase]

Thanks Andy and Bob was truly lovely.

[@Bombless]

Guys, I'm loving these long hobby chat videos very much. Thank you!

[@thepaintingphase]

You’re very welcome.

[@johnturner2629]

Personalities of this calibre are what makes this channel amazing 👏

[@thepaintingphase]

❤️

[@sonicwingnut]

Funny thing is this video came up as I was sat on my break assembling some of the brand new beakies for Horus Heresy, and I'll say they're fantastic models but it's also a testament to the artistic concept of Space Marines that they retain so much of that original design. I also recently picked up a bunch of the RTB01 original plastic versions as a local shop had a bunch of horribly painted ones in for 50p each so I stripped em for a retro heresy squad. The scale creep is indeed huge between em - I noticed the assembled RTB01 I had is actually the same height as one of the new Squats!

[@matthinton19]

13:20 that’s so right, the people at work are amazed at what I can do and always so suprised when they find out it only takes a few hours. Not even like I’m that great a painter

[@WarChimp]

I am late to the party watching this one but what a fantastic way to spend an hour and quarter. He's not only a sculpting legend but such a lovely guy and he sums up everything great about this hobby so well. Like yourselves, I am stunned by the impact he has had on so many things from my childhood and later life. I have had his website bookmarked for a while now, in the hope of some day getting a 3D printer.

[@thepaintingphase]

Lovely man and good news, Bob’s keen to come back on!

[@chazelliott3416]

I Remember the smell of Chavant burning in the studio.

[@swabilius]

What a legend, love to see more of the old gang, especially, Mike McVey and White Dwarf Editor "Fat Bloke".

[@Jackaljkljkl]

Do you remember that Adrian Wood guy, who used to write entirely in 40K Ork syntax.

[@swabilius]

@@Jackaljkljkl I do indeed, glorious days

[@GunwitchUK]

What an absolute genius and the reason so many of us are into the hobby. The new "Huey" sounds fookn stonking and i can't wait for it to come out. I'm a bit of a sucker for helicopters. I remember Silent Death, was a game that i found was an "upper class" type of space game. Such a great video guys, was hooked from the get go. Thank you

[@thepaintingphase]

Desperate to see the Huey. Lovely guy is Bob - Geoff

[@alexjohansson1476]

This show is fantastic, came home from a really cold walk and made myself a cup of tea and put on the painting phase on telly, magic! I would love to see an interview with the old editor of white dwarf Paul Sawyer. Loved white dwarf during his time in the magazine! Thanks once again and keep the vids coming!

[@thepaintingphase]

Great comment thanks Alex.

[@8BitJesus]

I’m only 14 minutes in but what a fantastic guest to have on! I’m loving the guests you’ve had on, I’m relatively new into the hobby (12 years, and I’m 40) so I never had the nostalgia element to the hobby. It’s great to get a glimpse of how the GW hobby started

[@lordbiscuitthetossable5352]

Honestly, never really enjoyed space marines enough to pick them up as an army, but I will never forget the first time I strolled into a store and saw the iconic set of them vs the bug guys, and I immediately had to give them a go. There is something enduring about the design that, despite the multiple revamps, keeps that fundamental design and well-rounded shape that is just classic, larger than life 40K. I am just sitting down to listen to this now as I feel this is a name, I owe a lot of my initial interest in model painting to.

[@thepaintingphase]

Well I hope you enjoyed it - Geoff

[@komma8203]

Bob like his digestivs, several mentions of it in the interview 🤣🤣 But great stuff. This is fast growing to be one of my favorit KZbin channels

[@WarlanderTV]

RIP The Painting Phase

[@ryansandwich1086]

It's awesome to hear that he's still knocking out out of the park with the latest technology after decades! Great interview!

[@Mr_Waffle.]

Great video, really interesting glimpse into the past and also the future of the hobby all in one great interview guest! Regarding the 3D printer idea, they recently opened the Warhammer Store and Cafe in Tokyo, you can go in and grab a sandwich and a coffee and play. Add some 3D printers and it would be perfect! Order your 3D prints, play a game, have a snack and walk out with your new printed Space Marine heads, much easier than ordering resin mini parts from half a world away at exorbitant prices.

[@martinthompson2584]

Absolute pleasure watching you blokes have a chat. Bob seems like an absolute top bloke (well you all are).

[@richardgreathead5735]

I work in a charity shop and just got some original rogue trader plastics donated so your still providing joy to people who didn't see em first time around

[@michaeldooley111]

what a lovely human. thanks for bringing this to the little big screen.

[@thepaintingphase]

Bob is ace!

[@facesnbases9853]

A superb conversation with a man of many legacies. Bob. Thankyou for all the minis so far and for that tabletop cricket game which I also owned as a kid! A true inspiration of humility and also going with the flow and trends. Legend.

[@thepaintingphase]

Couldn’t agree more.

[@Amaru.]

Greetings from Perú :D It was wonderful to listen to the master

[@thepaintingphase]

Hello! He was super awesome.

[@VoltanIgnatio]

What an amazing interview with a really interesting man. Thanks all! :)

[@thepaintingphase]

Isn’t he just 😍😍😍

[@MPC2160]

I had no idea that Bob did Space Marines and Navwar naval ships. I have thousands of those little ships and I've been to their store east of London many times.

[@thepaintingphase]

He’s a talented man.

[@Cyber_Zombie]

Such a passionate and creative man, truly inspiring. Amazing watch

[@thepaintingphase]

Lovely bloke! An absolute honour to be in his presence

[@mongoliandude]

A legend. Amazing to see tabletop surging within the last few years, but that really did seem like a golden age of tabletop game design.

[@ramblingbadger]

awesome awesome awesome! I love Bob's stuff but didn't realise he was such a lovely fellow too.

[@BMJYDK]

Checked out bobs site before I looked at the description, some fantastic stuff on there! Lovely history lesson.

[@knucklebonesminiatures6535]

Great to hear someone of such gaming stature talking about digital sculpting in such a positive way. Also sculpting in VR? 3 years away? Thats what I do now.

[@davidmilne6259]

What a great video! Salute to you Mr Naismith, you have done wonders for the hobby and still inspire. I'm motivated just watching this video. Cheers man, much appreciated 👍

[@thepaintingphase]

Cheers David.

[@pandaemoniumminiatures]

Loved this - been watching it gradually in sections and just finished. Lots of 'aha!' moments!

[@benhayward2597]

Great interview, you guys have become my new favourite hobby related channel. Bob is so knowledgeable and humble, he was a pleasure to listen to.

[@thepaintingphase]

You’re too kind. Cheers

[@weatherthis8062]

This was an absolute joy to watch to. Honestly, I could quite happily listen to all of you talk about hobbing all day. Thank you.

[@thepaintingphase]

Aww thanks! It was an absolute pleasure having the opportunity chatting to Bob, top bloke and hobby legend.

[@Captn_Grumpy]

Absolutely love Bob and his work. Some of it is a little "weird" so you can see he still pushes the limit. Thanks for bringing this to the masses.

[@marcna4582]

Nice to see Bob and hear old names again such as Mr Andrews , Its a shame Names like Charles Elliott who also worked on The first run of rogue trader seem to be forgotten .

[@thepaintingphase]

Absolutely correct.

[@playfulruss4227]

I do get sad how little my fellow gamers and hobbyists seem to care about both who was involved in the past behind minis, games, etc., and also today too. It's quite sad.

[@marcna4582]

@@playfulruss4227 Well without those people you wouldn't have the hobby you enjoy .

[@Kaucukovnik666]

I get exactly what mr. Naismith is saying about fun with videogames being so transient. I think this very feeling drives some of us to convert game models for printing. We feel like we are liberating works of art from their original medium to be able to stand on their own and even be expanded upon by other hobbyists.

[@kpdrrn32]

God I love hearing from the people that have played a part in shaping the hobby that has meant so much to me :)

[@picassawi5578]

Great interview, not only a legend, but I'm amazed how up to date on tech He is.

[@Ethnarches]

Wow, what a pleasure this will be! I've only heard a very short interview with Bob Naismith before, so I'm very much looking forward to listening to this. I love hearing the legends of past GW talk about the past of GW, what it was really like etc. Especially the sculpters, there's not many interviews with them available. Thanks guys for arranging this and thank you very much to Bob for agreeing to talk about this on camera!

[@murrayfish6901]

Terrific interview! Such great historical knowledge and insight into both the past as well as the future of miniature gaming, design and production. Many years ago (early 1980's?) as a young teenager just starting miniature gaming I picked up several packs of 15mm Naismith Brunswick infantry for one of my first armies. Lovely miniatures - I still have them and will likely pass them down to my children. Bob's work touched so many people and brought so much joy and satisfaction. He comes across as a really lovely man and I wish him all the best.

[@thepaintingphase]

He is a genuinely lovely person, we were very taken with him.

[@johnbeaudoin7820]

What a fantastic interview! I’m just a young pup (in the GW sense, *cough cough*), so I love hearing stories from long before my time in the hobby!

[@thepaintingphase]

Glad you found it informative - Geoff

[@rugbymeat]

What a brilliant interview, as an Engineer it's great hearing people talk about the wonder of 3D modelling and printing.

[@meanderingshade]

Absolutely fantastic interview!!! Just like you stated in the video, every time Bob spoke it was like he was dredging through my entire childhood and I hadn't even realised how prevalent his work was through it all. What a lovely and interesting guy he is to listen to, some great information about working in the miniature sculpting industry and his career. I would definitely love to see and hear him again on a future show. Thank you guys for another awesome video. And thank you Bob for sharing with us and all the fun your creations brought many of us over the years. Take care :)

[@alexlight4413]

This is an amazing vid, thank you. As the hobby gets bigger I think this sort of interview gains even more significance to make sure we don't forget where it all came from. Thank you!

[@thepaintingphase]

Couldn't agree more! Thanks for commenting Alex 😍👍

[@khromas5392]

This was great! Thanks!

[@joepeat01]

Brilliant interview, thanks all!

[@carlstanford7607]

Excellent conversation with a legend

[@ArnieD3]

This was a wonderful show guys. Thanks so much for doing it. Loved listening to Bob talk about the process and the changes over the years.

[@thepaintingphase]

You're very welcome! We had a blast making it and will hopefully have Bob on again soon

[@scottkat2327]

A fantastic video, and a big thank you to Bob. I love the miniatures can't wait to get them printed and painted. It was so nice to see someone who is an absolute Legend in the hobby and not bitter or jaded about the hobby or companies. Cheers Bob!

[@harrisonyee671]

Thanks so much for this interview, so cool to learn more about an absolute legend. I checked out his website and the models are amazing. Absolutely gorgeous

[@thepaintingphase]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sierraquebec1]

I still remember going in to buy Warhammer Roleplaying, the original, and seeing 40K and the box of plastic space marines. I loved it! Thank you!

[@jamesbrunton9507]

Just finished this, after really enjoying all the previous Podcasts and man this just made me so happy. Cheers guys.

[@thepaintingphase]

Nice one James.

[@I_am_Spartacus]

Really enjoying these informal chats guys... they are great to listen to whilst modelling away...cheers!!

[@serdna96]

so this is the guy I have to thank for the endless hours of my life I lost edge highlighting armor panels

[@LakeyWargames]

What a fantastic and insightful chat this is thanks for getting together and sharing this insight with us all. :)

[@thepaintingphase]

You’re very welcome - Geoff

[@beardhammerwargaming]

What a legend :O You guys quickly became my favorite podcast and this just...takes my breath away! Thank you so much ❤

[@ferenczkilian6189]

Amazing stuff. Huge fan. Absolutely love his old Cobalt range and Blue Moon sci fi stuff. Exactly because it looks like a parallel 40K universe. I listed much of his sci fi miniatures once on my blog but I hadn't realised he did all this digital sculpting now.

[@thepaintingphase]

Glad you liked it. Bob’s catalog of work is amazing and so varied - Geoff

[@niallmurray1978]

Great video guys, a true legend of the hobby - the very epitome of, do what you love, so you keep on loving what you do.

[@stupidfrog2205]

Sat listening to this while painting some plague marines. It's become a weekly ritual to listen to you guys while i paint, thanks for the content

[@thepaintingphase]

As long as you enjoy that’s great.

[@prdalien0]

Great interview! And you guys are completely right about 3D printing and GW, imagine if they offered bitz like they used to back in the 90s and early 2000s but 3D printed.

[@SuperFunkmachine]

I don't get why they don't.

[@jackwhorton6826]

Great interview. Incredibly interesting person!

[@scottcrompton6931]

Outstanding! Such a fun conversation! Thanks to Mr. Naismith for all of his work these years gone and into the future, and to the channel for presenting such interesting and entertaining content! Wonderful stuff, much appreciated.

[@thepaintingphase]

You’re welcome.

[@amoryburgess]

Legend…Amazing interview🎉

[@stevenconnor228]

Wow, just wow that was amazing that was so interesting what a legend Bob is. Awesome job guys 👌👏👍

[@RevDrTSgtC]

Amazing interview. Thank you for putting it together.

[@calvanoni5443]

I remember Bob did minis for Grenadier Miniatures, I still have many!

[@krzysztofmathews738]

This is a GREAT interview! Thank you for putting this together!

[@kiesminis]

This was a highly fascinating interview, thank you very much guys!

[@jonfisher4106]

Wonderful conversation! Thank you so much

[@dominicstow7242]

Amazing chat, thank you gentleman and thank you Bob. What a creative career - very inspiring.

[@thepaintingphase]

Bob is a joy to spend time with.

[@joenewkirk6136]

Wow, this is unreal. What an amazing listen.

[@thepaintingphase]

Really glad you liked it.

[@petros9711]

What a fantastically good video guys! It would be amazing to see more of these with past and even present game/miniature creators talking with them like this about their work with you. Specifically would LOVE to see sit downs with the Perry brothers, Goodwin, Chambers!? And also some that go beyond GW too, I’d kill to see an discussion with Mike “Skuzzy” Neilson about VOR for example… such a fantastic game that died quickly and tragically even though it was quite popular. 😢 Anyhow, I’m rambling, but this style of content is the best, more please! 😊

[@thepaintingphase]

We’ll do what we can to keep it coming. Thanks for the comment.

[@bosshogg8273]

I love this, what a class act.

[@stujm84]

That was a great way to spend an hour when I should be working. Really enjoyed listening to Bob and the amazing career he's had. Thanks to him for telling us all about it!

[@johnhoyland8376]

Cracking interview with a fascinating man. Thanks guys.

[@MrConna6]

‘Oh, stir it!’ For some reason this made me think of Merry from lotr

[@Dr_Evil_Prime]

Fantastic interview, great to see the insight from a professional who clearly has master level technical and creative talent. Andy Chambers would be amazing interview.

[@torros1839]

Always liked following certain sculptors. Julie Guthrie and Mark Copplestone among my top 5

[@pastfutureart]

Thank you so much for this gem of an interview.

[@thepaintingphase]

Our pleasure!

[@MagnumN117]

Loved this chat, was very pleasantly surprised to have this titan on your show! All the best & Merry Christmas to everyone hosting and producing this episode!

[@thepaintingphase]

Thanks so very much and Merry Christmas too you - TPP Crew

[@aoebetty9]

guys, what a truly joyous interview, bloody well done again

[@stevenkeelan3220]

What a bloody nice bloke :D

[@thepaintingphase]

Absolutely charming.

[@yonstenger]

What an absolute gent. Great dude.