Victor Hardy Revisits Passion for Miniature Painting

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Victor Hardy Passion for Miniature Painting Victor Hardy Passion for Miniature Painting

Artist and attorney Victor Hardy, famed for pieces such as ‘Golgotha,’ revisits his love of Warhammer 40,000 and the miniature painting hobby.

Victor Hardy
Victor Hardy

An attorney from Austin, Texas, in his spare time, Victor Hardy has long enjoyed miniature painting, largely centered around the wargame Warhammer 40,000. A multi-award-winning artist in the miniature painting field, Hardy provides a closer look at the hobby, today enjoyed by millions of enthusiasts around the world.

Much of Victor Hardy’s miniature painting work stems, he says, from his involvement with Warhammer 40,000. A miniature wargame created by Rick Priestley, the first edition of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook was published in October 1987. “The latest edition,” adds the artist and attorney, “is the eighth, and was published in June 2017.”

During the last decade or more, Victor Hardy has achieved legendary status among followers and fans of Warhammer 40,000 and the miniature painting hobby, winning multiple so-called ‘Golden Demon’ awards in the process. He’s also attracted significant interest from other prominent figures within the hobby, including Bobby Wong, author of Miniature-Art.

Victor Hardy’s BloodThirster Champion marks an impressive centerpiece for his Khornate Army,” suggests Wong of one of Hardy’s more well-known pieces. “Victor’s miniature is outstanding because of his originality in painting, conversion, and presentation,” he continues, “and, unlike other painters, his interpretation of the red-skinned BloodThirster takes on a new twist.”

This twist, according to Wong, involves the gruesome appearance of flayed skin, a lengthened torso, reposed head, and an evocative display base. “As a result,” adds Victor, “my BloodThirster Champion took first place for ‘Best Warhammer Monster’ earning a coveted Slayer Sword award in the process some years ago now.”

Elsewhere, perhaps Hardy’s most famous work, Golgotha, remains a popular piece of miniature painting on CoolMiniOrNot, the internet’s largest gallery of painted miniatures. First uploaded more than a decade ago, Hardy’s Golgotha continues to hold the title of a highest-ranked miniature of all time on the website, home to user-submitted images of their painted models for community voting. The piece took over two years to paint, with Hardy spending more than 500 hours on the project in total.

Asked how it all started, Texas native artist and attorney Victor Hardy refers back to what he calls ‘the old days.’

“It started in the old days,” he explains, “around 1991 when I attended a convention called Texas Con and saw people playing Warhammer 40,000 for the first time.”

Victor and his friends decided to purchase the game, and the group soon began playing on their university dorm room floor. “The rest, as they say,” Hardy adds, wrapping up, “is history.”

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