These guys rule!!

Here is a picture of (from left to right) Dieguete, Lotina and Fenix enjoying some beers after the great Golden Demon conquest!



Cheers!!!

Golden Demon Poland Spanish Results

Hot news directly from Poland!!!!

Dieguete Gold in Large Scale and Gold in Monster Fantasy
Lotina Gold in Open and Gold in Single 40k
JMPN: Gold in Single Fantasy and Silver in Large Scale
Fenix (Borja): Silver in Single Fantasy and Silver in Squad
Paloji: Silver in Duel

CONGRATS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben Komets won the sword with a great diorama. Can't wait to see it!! Expect more news soon...

Painting Styles

Interesting topic about painting styles in ST forum (in Spanish):

Link to discussion

Here are my thoughts:

I think that the best way to know if a painter has a certain style is if you are capable of identifying his figures without knowing they are painted by them. There are more original and less original styles, also learnt styles and developed styles.

One thing i've noticed is that people lately tend to say that in spanish contests all figures have more or less the same style, and that they don't like it. Is it that bad? Isn't it logical that spanish painters learn from one another and develop similar styles (but not identical)?

In my personal case, its obvious that my style is very close to those of Banshee or JMPN because they have been basicly my masters. It's not the same anyway, because I don't pretend it and I don't try to be. It's just that I learnt to paint that way and its the painting standard I use. When I go to France and I see what they do there, the first thing I do is get crazy because I can't think of how to do what they do and if I am able to learn anything, I try to do it. I also think that it isn't bad to have similar styles, they show our roots and also our personal tastes.

I think it's important to develop our own styles, the more original the better (there is nothing original in the end, but there's always something to add) and a good way of getting a name in this world is to have a recognisable style. This can only be achieved by using colours you like or you are used to, but without using always the same. Because one thing is having style and another is to paint everything the same way, with the same colours, the same ambience. I think that these are different things.

There's a threshold between style and repetition, I couldn't really measure it because I doubt if there is some way of measuring it, but its something subjective that anyone can perceive differently, one way or the other.

The Best Figure Ever

Finally it is going to be released! I've been waiting for these for a long long time now... it's the greatest thing made ever, the Dark Elf on Cold One by Freeman!!!!!!!!!




It's name is Varathar, the Dark Guardian. For me, the best miniature ever made, and of course, the best figure from Freeman, he has really set the record with this one. Congratulations master!!!

It's going to be on the market by Andrea Miniatures, this one's not a must... it's THE MUST!! I have never seen anything so big, so great, so strong, so beautiful... and even commercial!!! I can't die without painting one...

Meanwhile, we can stare at the superb one painted by JMPN (Jose Manuel Palomares) which I very proudly have to say won the Best of Show at Soldat de Plom in Girona this year 2008. It's one hell of a figure and the BoS is a great reward for Jose who has been deserving one for a long time now. Let's hope this is not the only one for Jose, please keep up the great work, master of masters!













Also, congratulations to my friends Dieguette and Lotina for their awards there as well. This JMPN team is going to do great things...

link to Freeman's photo of the figure at coolminiornot: http://coolminiornot.com/204609 (Best mark ever on the site so far!!!)

Final Date for Golden Demon Spain 2009 (31 MAY)

At last some final news from GW. Spanish Golden Demon will take place in Madrid on Sunday 31 MAY. The exact location is "Polideportivo Alfredo di Estéfano" in Leganés, a little city close to Madrid, to the south. D.O.S, a famous national warhammer tournament event will also be held in the same weekend, on saturday. GD will be on Sunday, same format as usual. We'll be waiting for the contest rules and let you know when we have them. Stay tuned!! For anyone intending to come, Leganés is very close to Madrid and transportation is great, there is Metro connection with this city, and there is also Metro in the airport, so really it doesn't matter where to stay, it's easy to get there. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact any of us, enter http://www.spanish-team.com/foro or send me an email and we'll try to help as much as posible.

Cancer Bust from War of the Zodiac (Yedharo Models)

This is the next bust from the amazing sculptor Fausto, from Yedharo Models, and next in the War of the Zodiac line of figures. First was Leo, in two versions, a bust and a 54 mm figure, then came Tauro, in a bust version, and now comes Cancer. I think this War of the Zodiac stuff is just getting better with each new model. I was looking forward for this one, Cancer, I thought it was going to be very difficult to create a good design, and this really lives up to my early expectations.



















I'm certainly going to get my hands into one to these... and hopefully you'll be seeing photos of my version of Leo on 54 mm next weekend, when I finish it (it's nearly finished by now).

You can follow Yedharo Models here: http://yedharomodels.blogspot.com

Take care of the sea by Remy Tremblay

The other day I was talking to some friends about this one. I thought I had to share it with you all. This masterpiece is one of the best figures done this year, and one of the most fantastic i've seen in my whole life. It's name "Take care of the sea" and the author is the french Remy Tremblay.

Have you noticed the turtle crying? It's also a compromised figure! This is what a turtle feels if you destroy their homeworld. Even turtles can cry!


We had the discussion whether this piece should be considered as a miniature or as something more. I believe that this kind of artwork is beyond the mere miniature hobby. It's quite big in fact, 6 inches long. But the length is not the problem. I think that this kind of work is closer to SFX than to our figurine painting hobby. This is truly realistic, its like you had a real turtle cut out its head and put it on top of your desk. Amazing. Never seen anything like this if not from a movie or such. In fact, we don't see much of this kind of things these days. Cinema tends to use more computers and less plastic puppets and that's a real pity. Do you remember how cool where all those monsters made out of nothing but plaster, paints and lots of make-up?

This turtle from Remy shows me why they will keep on using computers. To achieve this level of realism you have to be greatly skilled, and spend a whole lot of time... and in cinema that means a lot of money.

At least we will always have these amazing figures from amazing artists like Remy. Congratulations. Sincerely.

Daemonette by Kai

When I first took a look at the WIP about this one I knew it was gonna be one to remember. Holy shit, this guy is really into painting with this super cool nightly style! And he even gets to blend to hell with a base in black primer! Unbelievable. I have to see him doing this because I just can't understand how he does it.

Well this figure is going to be an exchange between two great friends, Kai and Lotina (both my friends too, Christian and Pedro), and I don't know what Lotina is going to paint but I would bet he is going to be the winning side on this one! Nah... I'm only joking, give Lotina just one week and he'll get you painted something even better than this daemonette. Just let's wait and see. I hope he will be sharing his part of the deal with us!

May this post be my personal tribute to this great two painters, and for Kai's return to painting, can't wait to see what he'll be showing next!!

Apothecary by Matt Cexwish

This is the miniature which got Silver on Golden Demon Germany 2008. It's a great idea for a figure, taken from the space marine rites. There's a Space Marine device inside of them which is too valuable to be lost, so when posible, it is recovered from dead Space Marines to be reused on others. This scene (quite gore) represents this moment, an apothecary is getting this device out of a Space Marine corpse.

Congrats to our friend Matt for this award. It was a pleasure to share podium with this great painter, better person. I will never forget our time at Köln after the event, we had great fun! Pity we won't be able to attend Golden Demon on Poland this year. Hope to see you on our Golden Demon if you come again this year!




Click on the photo to see the coolminiornot entry.

Chaos Géant by Julien Casses

Here's another one from our french friend Julien Casses. This one got gold on UK Games Day 2008. It's a great figure! I love the details which make this one different, specially the shield on the back, very Sebastian style with all those turquoises.

I have to give a chance to a Giant myself one of these days.

Congrats Julien for the Gold! Hope to see you soon.




Click on the photo to see the coolminiornot entry.

Mexican Palace Guard

Today I present you more fantastic minis from the international figure universe. I start with this astonishing figure which is a sculpture of a bust by our dear friend Paul. It's a bust of a Mexican Palace Guard in 1/9 scale which is brutal. It reminds me of the classical sculpture because of the forms from the face and the way he does the hair of the beard. I love it. Congrats Paul because you made an incredible piece again! Check out the great quality of the details!

This bust is going to be on sale by Michael Miniatures on October 2008.

Here you have a little work in progress report on the Spanish Team forum.

Who had the guts to finish this?

When we plan to get into a new figure, what always comes to our mind is the eternal question. What will I do to make this new miniature unique? The pose? Static or dinamic? mmm... there are a lot of static poses in figures already. Come on! Let's do a dinamic one, running maybe? Charging! Or even jumping!

But after all this good intentions, you get into modelling and converting and then you see there's no way that figure will stand on his arm... the metal parts make the figure bent like madness... its imposible to paint that tiny little thing that although hidden remains visible to everybody from kilometers away. And in all your desperation, the miniature falls to the floor (or even worse, falls to the floor when you just finished painting) and all this apocaliptic scene finishes in a maremagnum of broken pieces, destruction and chaos. So you finally decide to paint a monocomponent Space Marine right out of the box and there you have, all your problems are solved.

Well, it turns out that some chosen people are able to triumph and not only ignore the laws of physics but also Murphy's Laws. How can someone paint this diorama and not break anything in the process?!



It's insane... Congrats to Talonicus for finishing this scene and not die while doing it. And also for the Golden Demon of course (bronze in Diorama GD UK 2008). I don't know how were the other entries but I'm sure there was great competition!

Extra! Extra! Spanish Golden Demon 2009 in Madrid!

Some information filtered by gaming clubs from Games Workshop and the organisers of the event say that its very posible that this year's Golden Demon is going to be held in Madrid. It will be the same weekend as the D.O.S Warhammer tournament. The date of the event would be Sunday 15 of March and the actual location would be Leganés, a small city close to Madrid, which also held the D.O.S. event last year. If this news are confirmed, people who prefer Madrid for the event will be very happy. We have been asking for this many years now and finally they are answering our prayers. Now we just have to attend the event on masse and make it the best event of the world. Let's make them see how reasonable they have been!! Also, people who prefer playing to painting will have the chance of attending D.O.S. which will be held the day before, Saturday 14 March. But there are still some questions to be answered, nothing is confirmed yet. Will there be Games Day? What will the categories for Golden Demon be? Whatever happens, its good enough that people begin to talk that the Golden Demon 2009 is going to be actually held. Not everyone thought this was going to happen! News can't be better. Of course I will be there... will you? We're gonna have so much fun!!!!

Non Metallic Metals and Chrome effects

Today I give birth to this new section of the blog. I'm going to post photos from miniatures I see, and I begin just right now. I'll begin posting this awesome miniature from Pinnen, a Sweden painter who did this incredible Abaddon from Forgeworld (a very old miniature) quite big in fact (28 cm tall). The NMM and the contrast between the whites of the face and the reds and yellows of the armour are simply amazing. They remind me of the World Eaters painted by Vincent Hudon which inspired me very much and led me into painting miniatures more seriously. Check it out:













The other miniature for today is the winner of gold in the Open category in the UK Golden Demon. This is a Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines painted with a supernatural taste. It has a wonderful chromed effect very well executed which catches the eye instantaneously, brutal contrast and maximum smoothness. Precious effect which you can't miss! Thanks to Brokenblade for painting this marvel.







I put you links to coolmini for both of the figures so you can vote them:

Marneus Calgar
Abaddon NMM

UK's Golden Demon sword 2008

Here I let you photos from Nano's Space Marine, which won the Sword in this year's Golden Demon in UK. A very simple Space Marine, a very effective conversion and great execution with a perfect painting down to the last detail (Nano's typical style). A very well deserved sword not only for this figure but for his story in the last UK Goldens. However, despite being very simple, its a new super figure from Nano.

His post in the Spanish Team Forum.

The Babe Wore Red

This is my version of Little Red Riding Hood from Tale of War range of miniatures (keep an eye on them because they're all just great!). The Remis twins gave me one before going on sale. I took the idea of painting her in a Sin City style from Saul Remis. This is also my first black and white figure and it turned out to be very relaxed. The red gives her this comic touch. The figure was published together with the original version from the twins in Fantasy Dimension #2. Also, the figure won awards from Tale of War in Quimera (local shop in Madrid) and also was part of the display awarded silver in El Escorial 2008.

Link to coolminiornot : http://www.coolminiornot.com/206083

Step by Step Article: http://volomir.blogspot.com/2011/02/babe-wore-red-step-by-step.html

Ork Nob

This was my entry in single 40k on the Spanish GD 2008. I managed silver just behind Jeremie Bonamant who won gold with a magnificent harlequin. Also, I could share podium with the great Juan Carlos Ávila and also my friends Iago Pineda (kaleth) and Mario Rueda (dante). A great honour for me! This figure is my personal tribute to the ork nob from one of my favourite painters and friend Sebastian Archer (automaton). Also, as always, thanks to Morsa and Banshee and to all the Raspura Oscura who made it all posible.

Link to coolminiornot: http://www.coolminiornot.com/182859

Link to the Ork Nob Tutorial: http://volomir.blogspot.com/2010/09/ork-nob-step-by-step.html