Attorney and renowned specialist artist Victor Hardy revisits his decades-long love of miniature painting inspired by popular wargame Warhammer 40,000.
Responsible for one of the internet’s most famous and revered pieces of miniature painting, attorney Victor Hardy continues to be featured on the hobby’s biggest and most well-established websites.
“My most famous work, Golgotha, remains the most popular piece of miniature painting on the internet’s largest gallery of painted miniatures,” reveals Hardy, a renowned attorney from Austin, Texas, boasting over 20 years of experience in high-stakes patent infringement litigation, intellectual property law, due diligence, media industry litigation, and civil rights matters.
First entering the miniature painting field almost three decades ago when the now-well-seasoned attorney was completing his studies, Hardy remains passionate about the hobby, first born out of a love of the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000, created by Rick Priestley. Both the wargame, he says, and the art of miniature painting, are today enjoyed by millions of enthusiasts around the world.
Looking more closely at his most famous piece, Hardy goes on to explain that he first uploaded details and images of the internationally revered work of art, Golgotha, over a decade ago. “Even today, the piece still holds up on CoolMiniOrNot, a leading website dedicated to user-submitted images of painted models for community voting,” he explains.
The piece, says Hardy, took more than two years to complete. “In all, I estimate that I spent upwards of 500 hours on the project,” adds the miniature painting legend.
Feedback for Victor Hardy’s work is unanimously positive, attracting praise across the board and from well-known names such as Bobby Wong, author of Miniature-Art. “Victor’s [work] is outstanding because of his originality in painting, conversion, and presentation,” suggests Wong, “and, unlike other painters, his interpretation [often] takes on a new twist.”
Accordingly, Hardy has scored multiple so-called ‘Golden Demon’ awards for his work, a highly desirable accolade within miniature painting and Warhammer 40,000 circles. “To think, it all started on my university dorm room floor,” laughs the attorney.
It was, in fact, he says, back in the early 1990s when he and his university friends attended an event called Texas Con that he first saw people playing Warhammer 40,000 and became interested in both the wargame itself and the associated miniature painting hobby.
“The rest, as they say, is history!” adds Texas native artist and attorney Victor Hardy, wrapping up.
