Do Not Miss: June 2011

Not so many miniatures seen on the internet on June 2011! Maybe because everyone is preparing summer contests? Might be...

• Article: Thinning down your paint by Chris (bestienmaister): Very clarifying article to those beginning on miniature painting by Chris. I'm sure it will help solve lots of doubts regarding the neverending question of how thin paint should be!
  
  
• "The monkey show must not go on" by rolljordan gabriele: I love this idea of a mad monkey done by this incredible miniature from Smart Max. Take a look at the colours used because they are awesome.
  
  
• The barbarian by Alfonso Gozalo: Another awesome sculpture by Alfonso Gozalo, this time we're talking about a Conan (the new movie version) for Scale75.
  
  
• Dry soil tutorial by Matt Cexwish: This is a great tutorial by my friend Matt on Massive Voodoo. Look what you can do with an egg!
  
  
• Severus by automaton: Sebastian Archer is back with another breathtaking miniature. Sebas is one of the best painters in the world in my opinion. Look carefully at what he managed to do with this apparently simple miniature. Impressive.
  
  
• Millenium Knight by Arsies: Javier González has painted this new release from Kabuki Models and he managed to do a great job. Take a look at it, I'm sure it won't let you down.
  
  
• BOS of II Concurso de la Fábrica Roja, by Juan Navarro: This display was awarded Best of Show in the second edition of the annual contest organised by La Fábrica Roja. I find these sculptures totally amazing, specially the sorceress.
  

Confirmed: second date 30-31 July Painting Workshop by Morsa and Volomir

Finally we confirm that there will be a second date for the painting course imparted by Elias Alonso (Morsa) and me. This second date will finally be 30-31 July, and again it will take place in the store Miko-Arts in Madrid.



It will be exactly the same as the one we will be doing on the weekend of 16-17 July. There are still spots available if you wish to come, so I repeat the details of the course:

The course will focus on painting the latest miniature of Andrea Miniatures Dark Nova range, Gabriel Blackburn (the box art is done by Elias Alonso himself) from the beginning. It will be entirely practical, we will not stop to explain theory but it will be a dynamic painting workshop focused in mixed tecniques using brush and airbrush.



Therefore, these concepts will be the ones we will be practising on:

• Preparation of a metal figure of 54 mm
• Lighting of a figure (types of lighting, light, shadow, contrast)
• Mixed brush/airbrush painting techniques (brush strokes, glazes, colours, watering, inks, outlining...)
• Painting a face
• Metals (Real Metal and NMM: Non Metallic Metal)
• Effects (textures, scratches, chips, blood...)
• Freehands

• The course schedule is:
  
  
  • Saturday: morning 15.30-19.30 and evening 10-14 (pause to eat for an hour and a half)
    
  • Sunday: morning 10-14.
  
  
• Before the course all attendees will receive a printed dossier on painting explanations on the miniature of Gabriel Blackburn (which we will paint in the workshop).
  
  
• All attendees will receive a unique chameleon modeled by Elias Alonso to decorate their bases (a very nice animal, similar to the boxart version of Gabriel Blackburn from Andrea).
  
  
• The necessary and essential material for the course will be the brushes. It will be convenient (but not essential) that each attendee brings their light and paints. The figure will be delivered on the first day of the course and will be already prepared for painting.
  
  
• Miko-Arts Shop address is Camarena, 90, Madrid. The nearest metro station is Metro Aluche. Any doubt about the store you can call (+34)917196531.
  
  
• The maximum number of participants will be 12 people. Having two teachers, the course will be as personal as possible and we will the most out of the available space.
  
  
• The course fee is 95 euros. This price includes the miniature we're going to paint, the latest new release from Andrea Miniature's Dark Nova range, Gabriel Blackburn (worth about 30 euros).
  
  
• Full payment will be made before the course to confirm full reservation.

If you are interested, send me an email to the address volomir (at) gmail.com or just put a comment.

Summer 2011 GDs I will be attending

Summer is here, and so are Golden Demons!



I can confirm that I will be attending two Golden Demons in the next two months:

• Golden Demon Spain (July 3)
  
• Golden Demon Germany (August 7)

Expect to see lots of photos of these two events on my blog, and to those who are able to attend, hope to meet you guys there! Look for "Mosin" the cat!

WIP: Death Korps of Krieg Army part 4

Previously on... WIP: Death Korps of Krieg Army

More advances in the Krieg unit.

In this step I improved contrast in the blue coats, rising the lights up with turquoise and white. I painted the gloves in scab red, the masks in rotting flesh and catachan green (same as the shoulder plates) and painted plain brown (english uniform) all the areas that will be painted leatherish. Also, the armoured plates of the gloves were painted plain metal.






















Stay tuned!

More photos V Encuentro de Miniaturismo San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Official photos of the miniatures participating in the contest of El Escorial have been published. These are some great pictures by the association "La Vieja Guardia" and Mario Ocaña who did a great job photographing each figurine.

Enjoy:

El Escorial 2011 (Historical Figures and Fantasy)

El Escorial 2011 (drama and Military Vehicles)

If you look carefully you will be able to recognize some pictures of paintjobs from Elias and me! Of course, these were not participating in the contest, they were part of the jury showcase. :)

Apart from this, a small announcement to make:

Now you can follow Volomir's Blog on Facebook! Become fans there and you'll receive blog update notifications while using the most popular social network today.

Volomir on Facebook!

And while you're going off to become followers, I leave you because I'm going to see the Alhambra!

More info on the workshop by Morsa and Volomir

As predicted, the capacity of the workshop has already been covered and there are no more places left. Since there are many people who have shown their interest, we are going open a waiting list and if there is people enough, we will convene another course on a different date, possibly the weekend of 9-10 July or the weekend of 30-31 July. This will also be great for those of you who have said that the dates worked badly for you. Therefore you can still send your reservations to my mail (volomir at gmail.com) and we'll see what we can do.



As for the course itself, I have more information to give you.

• The course schedule is:
  
  
  • Saturday: morning 15.30-19.30 and evening 10-14 (pause to eat for an hour and a half)
    
  • Sunday: morning 10-14.
  
  
• Before the course all attendees will receive a printed dossier on painting explanations on the miniature of Gabriel Blackburn (which we will paint in the workshop).
  
  
• All attendees will receive a unique chameleon modeled by Elias Alonso to decorate their bases (a very nice animal, similar to the boxart version of Gabriel Blackburn from Andrea).
  
  
• The necessary and essential material for the course will be the brushes. It will be convenient (but not essential) that each attendee brings their light and paints. The figure will be delivered on the first day of the course and will be already prepared for painting.
  
  
• Miko-Arts Shop address is Camarena, 90, Madrid. The nearest metro station is Metro Aluche. Any doubt about the store you can call (+34)917196531.
  
  
• Full payment will be made before the course to confirm full reservation.

And that's all for now!

Painting with... Javier González (Arsies)

Javier González is the name behind the nick Arsies. He is one of the most productive painters from Spain in this moment, with an extraordinary quality and an enviable career in painting. He is currently working as a professional miniature painter since his retirement to the hot land of Ubrique, in the south of Spain. Let's find out more about him and his work.

V: Javi, I still remember when we met, back in Alfonso Giraldes' painting course in Santander, 2006. Long time has passed! Did you begin painting at that time or are you an authentic old school? Which moment do you consider was your birth as a real painter?

Javi: Well its difficult to say. I think that I did not start there and I'm not an old school either. I started with 15 mm Napoleonic soldiers painted with Humbrol enamels and afterwards I passed to Games Workshop. I painted a Blood Angels army with drybrush when I was 15 and because of having no friends playing the game, I left it until a year before the course you are referring to (and I don't know how many times I've heard quite the same story of many people). Even so, I don't think there is a specific moment in which I could refer as my serious painting birth moment.

V: Who do you consider your true masters or the painters that have the most influence in your painting?

Javi: Seems that there is no easy question huh? Well, obviously this was a stepping stone process. The first from whom I learned was Pablo López (Paloji) when we both participated in "La Guerra del Anillo", a spanish community about Lord of the Rings miniature range enthusiasts. Back then he was way better than me, and he always had the patience of explaining everything whenever I asked, I cannot avoid mentioning him. Since that moment its all been an evolution, learning from everyone and trying to assimilate the best out of each one. I have always been impressed by the use of colour from Alfonso, but in reality I think that if I begin mentioning people this could turn into an endless list, so I will only say two more things about this:


1- Yes, Rafa, I also learned from you xD
2- Lately I have distanced myself from the internet whirlwind and I think this has changed my point of view allowing me to be much more personal and do things without much outer influence. I think sometimes its good to zoom out to see things in perspective, but this step would have been difficult without the help of "The cursed monkey corp.", my group of friends who gather around to do nerdy things (and also drink some beers).





V: How would you define your painting style? Do you think that people could recognise a work of yours without knowing that it is yours previously?

Javi: I'm not really sure if anyone would be able to differentiate or not one of my miniatures. Some people tell me that they can clearly differentiate them from others but I also heard that everyone is painting the same way. I think that this is the goal, but I also understand that if I like the style of someone else its evident that I will try to do something similar, and it also works vice versa.
I think that if something can characterize my style is the definition. I like everything to be very well differentiated, not confusing, yet another thing is if I succeed in doing this or not. Others say I'm too much technical, it could be.



V: Which do you consider is your best work?

Javi: I hope that the one I am doing now! XD

The objective is to grow better with each miniature. Evidently this is a job for me and I cannot always do that, but the objective is that the finished miniature becomes obsolete soon. Even so, I would say that my favourites are the Varathar, the Zorabeth, the first Falkar (I think I've painted 3 or 4 by now, I lost count already), and of course, the Wolf Lord in his throne, and the Nurgle Lord. I also like very much the bust I painted for the WNT which you will be able to see in Switzerland.



V: The mandatory question. Historical or Fantasy?

Javi: I don't see the difference, its painting, its miniatures, the only thing I see difference in is the colour schemes because in one of them it is already decided for you while in the other it isn't. The rest is all subjective, even the interpretation of that colour scheme.

V: We see you generally painting commercial miniatures or light conversions. Have your tried sculpture? Do you see yourself as a painter/sculptor or do you want to focus on painting?

Javi: I would really love to sculpt. I already started with the help of my friend Antonio Fdez. (Piquifl) and I think i'm not doing too bad. The problem is that sculpting requires many hours of practice, and like with painting, now I don't have that time. If I win the lottery I guess I'll get into it. :)



V: Has your vision of the hobby changed since you started painting professionally?

Javi: A lot, you cannot really imagine how much. In general, when you get deep into something, whatever it is, it gets less beautiful. The idealised vision which a hobbyist has does not usually correspond to reality, howeve,r I love what I do and I am very stubborn so I do not give up. Also, many of my best friends have come out of painting, so for me it's worth everything.

V: It is said that the professional miniature painting world is a complicated world, there is too much competetiveness in the shadows and people can be very evil. Have you experimented this sensation?

Javi: Luckily only a little bit. I have to say that you can encounter many different situations, good and bad, but in the long term you can also find people that will be your friends for life and in my personal balance I think I ended up winning, although I am famous for having quite a rough personality and this has not eased the situation, normally I tend to lose in first impressions. Fortunately many people change their opinion once they get to know me.
I guess that depending on who you ask, anyone can be on the "bad" side, we have to think that there is always two versions of everything.



V: You won the Slayersword in the spanish Golden Demon in 2009. Are you considering going for that title again in Spain or any other country in the future?

Javi: It's not a matter of trying to win again. Evidently everyone wants to win awards, and if you like Games Workshop and the Golden Demons you always want the Slayersword, it doesn't matter if you have one already or not. But I thinkt that there is a difference between wanting it and preparing something specific to get it. I am going to continue participating, be it preparing commission jobs or projects that I want to do, and if I am lucky and I get another Slayersword, great.

V: What projects are you up to currently? We know that you intend to participate in the World Expo. Can you tell us something as a scoop?

Javi: Mmm, I cannot really tell much because it is a tandem project with Antonio Fdez (Piquifl), he sculpts and I paint, so I prefer not to say much. The only thing I can say is that although I am very motivated I also get cold sweats from thinking on the work I still have to do.



V: Javi, to finish the interview, I know that you are a loyal follower of Volomir's Blog. What would you like to see here in the future?

More updates! XD I don't know, I think that you are doing great, I can find everything here, tutorials, step by step articles, interviews, the do not miss section (I love that one), but I think that you could also put some miniatures of your friends because they are not bad at painting either!

Thank you very much Javi, we hope to keep seeing you paint as well as always!

I leave you a link to his blog, if you want to visit him or just know more about his work.

Arsies Studio

Painting Workshop by Elías Alonso and Rafael García (Morsa/Volomir)

I am pleased to announce a new painting course taking place. This time it will be something a bit different than my last painting courses.

This course will be a painting workshop conducted jointly by Elias Alonso (Morsa) and myself, Rafael Garcia Marin (Volomir). It will take place in the store Miko-Arts in Madrid the days 16 and 17 July 2011.

The course will focus on painting the latest miniature of Andrea Miniatures Dark Nova range, Gabriel Blackburn (the box art is done by Elias Alonso himself) from the beginning. It will be entirely practical, we will not stop to explain theory but it will be a dynamic painting workshop focused in mixed tecniques using brush and airbrush.



Therefore, these concepts will be the ones we will be practising on:

• Preparation of a metal figure of 54 mm
• Lighting of a figure (types of lighting, light, shadow, contrast)
• Mixed brush/airbrush painting techniques (brush strokes, glazes, colours, watering, inks, outlining...)
• Painting a face
• Metals (Real Metal and NMM: Non Metallic Metal)
• Effects (textures, scratches, chips, blood...)
• Freehands

The course will consist of 2 days, 12 hours total. We will begin on Saturday 16 in the morning, we will stop for lunch and we will continue in the afternoon. On Sunday 17 we will only paint in the morning so that the course is not too heavy and we better assimilate the techniques practised. After, there will be an on-line follow-up so we finish painting the miniature to assure proper completion of the figure.

The maximum number of participants will be 12 people. Having two teachers, the course will be as personal as possible and we will the most out of the available space.

The course fee is 95 euros. This price includes the miniature we're going to paint, the latest new release from Andrea Miniature's Dark Nova range, Gabriel Blackburn (worth about 30 euros).

If you are interested, send me an email to the address volomir (at) gmail.com or just put a comment. Hurry because we will run out of spots soon!

Painting using another model as a reference

This is a question that many of us ask ourselves frequently. Is it okay to paint using another person's creation as a reference trying to copy the colour or the idea? Is it ethical to copy? What do we get out of doing that?

Recently, Manuel del Toro, also known as zwo, embarked on the adventure of painting an Ork Nob using mine as a reference (if you do not know what minaiture we are speaking of, you have a link in the gallery, click on the face of Ork). Manu told me openly about his ideas from the beginning and I have followed his creative process carefully. I am personally very proud that someone likes a work of mine so much as to try to achieve something similar. Therefore, he had my full support from the beginning. In fact, Manu used almost the same parts for the conversion and the colors that I used myself. In addition, Manu took the opportunity of coming to one of my painting courses and learn first hand how to get the Ork painted as the one I did back in the day. Well, here is the result of his work:







Manu has accepted my invitation to write a few words about his experience painting the Ork. Here you have it:

Why did you decide to paint an Ork so similar?

I started in the hobby not more than a year ago I loved Rafa's Ork from the beginning and thought to myself "someday I have to make a miniature like this one". I think it is a miniature with great strength using a great composition, both the pose and the colours.

When I started painting the figure had not planned to enter competition in Golden Demon Spain 2011, however, because of lack of time, and seeing that I will not be able paint more entries, I'll present it there. Frankly I doubt that it will win something as it is my version but based on a figure of another, there is not much merit about that.

Have you encountered any difficulties in the process?

The truth is that the process was fun at first but eventually became a little tedious. I enjoyed working the yellow and the weathering, something I had never done before. However, both the base and the raised arm cost me a lot more than I thought they would.

Something I've noticed in this case and It didn't happen to me in other miniatures is my lack of consistency. Because of me having exams I have been forced to delay the process very much. Most of the days I could just paint for about 30 minutes and it shows because it becomes something very long and hard. Therefore, I reccommend you guys that when you begin a figure finish it as soon as possible!

What have you learned from this experience?

I have encountered many things from working on this miniature, both good and bad. I am very happy with it because I learned a lot, mainly to better define the areas to be weathered or to perform small changes in the composition because little details may completely change the outcome of your work.

However, I've noticed that before starting a miniature you should put a lot of time into it to make the most out of it. For example, I believe that the face I chose for the ork is not bad, in fact I like it, but it lacks a lot of strength. This choice has proven to be a mistake in the end.

I think that having such a clear reference to paint is very good for learning because you save time and effort on avoiding many of the obstacles you find in the creation process. BUt anyway I'm sure I would have learned more if the work had been 100% mine, we must be aware that making a creative process can be tough but is very rewardful.

In short, this is a miniature that has taught me a lot as a painter of I am very happy about it. I would like to conclude by thanking Rafa because in a situation like this many other people would have been angry, but he has helped me right from the beginning.

And I am grateful to Manu for accepting to write these words for Volomir's Blog and I congratulate him because I think he has managed to do a great job. I am convinced that the experience has proven very good for his learning and I will carefully follow his progress because without doubt he'll be one of the names to be followed in the future. Keep up the good work zwo!

I leave you his blog address if you want to know more about him.

Zwo ArtStudio

Photos V Encuentro de Miniaturismo San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Historical and Best of Show)

And with this second set of pics I finish the photos of the V Encuentro de Miniaturismo de San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Here are some of the best miniatures of the historical section:
















And of course, this one could not miss. The Best of Show, the giant by Alfonso Giraldes (Banshee) and Diego Esteban (Dieguete):








I want to thank the organization of the event which was a great success despite the short time they had to organize it (just a month) and it was not sure that it could done this year. From now on there will be great continuity so next year, expect more and better!