Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Do Not Miss: July 2013

It's obvious that this month is summer... and that people are preparing contests for August/September... this is the most interesting stuff this month:

Monday, July 29, 2013

Golden Demon USA 2013

The first Golden Demon of this year 2013 was celebrated this past Saturday. It was GD USA, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Yeeeehaw!

Golden Demon USA is supposed to be a call to brushes to all painters in the USA, and Europeans normally leave it aside, since we already have a bunch of Golden Demons happening every year in Europe. But perhaps this year, being as it is unusually short of Golden Demons, it has seen some participation from people of this side of the ocean. My friends from Painting Buddha, Ben and Michael, and also my neighbour Octavio (from Madrid, Spain) and Reka from Russia.

Ben, Reka and Octavio

They have performed quite well in american land. Gold for Ben, Gold and 3 bronzes for Reka and 4 demons (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze) for Octavio. Quite a treasure hunt!

This was the miniature that was awarded Slayersword (pretty bad photo but the best so far):

Slayersword USA 2013

You will be able to see photos from the event all around Facebook, in the Spanish Team Forum post by Octavio, and stay tuned to masterminis.net because I'm sure that Michael will elaborate a big report around the event.

So what's your opinion on the outcome of this year's GD season opener?

Monday, July 22, 2013

Proudly presenting the Painting Buddha DVD season 1

Finally all the waiting has come to an end!

Finally!

Painting Buddha (with my very very special collaboration) PRESENT...

SEASON 1.1 TARGET IDENTIFIED


Wow, there's even a sexy trailer!

DVD #6 chapters menu

If you follow this blog (as of course you should) you must know what this is by now. We are talking about a 6 DVD pack (yes, 6 DVD) where Ben Komets and I paint the same scene and show you all the details of the process on camera. More precisely, three cameras, because not only will you see what a camera pointing to our super handsome faces shows, but also the action from other two cameras, one for all the details in the miniatures and another one for the palette.

Awesome three window screens so you don't miss any action

Real screenshots from the DVD!

The scene to be painted in this first season of the Painting Buddha DVDs is this one:

Two visions of the same scene

It features Brad and Yanet, two deadly assasins from a distant future, waiting on a rooftop to engage on their next target. There are three DVDs for each painter (Ben and I) so I'm sure you won't miss any detail. But if that wasn't enough, the DVD pack comes with Brad and Yanet so you can paint them following the DVD, or in any way you feel like. The miniatures are designed so you can let your imagination fly free and create whatever comes to your mind.

These two miniatures are very juicy

Ben painting his favourite parts

This announcement comes with a lot of happiness, pride and satisfaction. Countless hours where put into the making of this DVD (no animals were harmed) and the search for perfection in the material led to have to repeat the whole recording of the DVD entirely. This means that poor Ben had to paint the entire scene nearly three times!

Poor Ben nearly cries thinking all the hours of painting he put into the DVD

I can only say thank you to the Painting Buddha crew, it has been an awesome experience. I had a lot of fun and I'm confident that you guys watching will learn (whatever your painting level there's always something to pick up) and also enjoy all the crazy hours of painting.

Full zoom to watch every detail in all its glory!

If you want to pick up your set (funny thing, while stocks last) don't wait any longer and fly over to paintingbuddha.com! You will be able to purchase the basic 6 DVD set together with Brad and Yanet for only 42€ (check out similar products and compare for yourself, it's an unbeatable price if you ask me). And if you really like what's going on in the Bruddhahood, support us and get the full 84€ super bundle experience with tons of extra goodies and super cool stuff. Can't wait to receive mine!

The sexy supporter pack

And for all my spanish and german speaking friends, I have good news! The DVDs are all audio recorded in english (the best Ben and I could do) but we made the huge effort of translating all the subtitles into our own mother tongues. So not only is all the material subtitled in English, but also German and Spanish. I personally did all the subtitling in Spanish so if you find any mistakes in that area you can always blame me!

What are you waiting for?!

This is just the beginning. Season 1 is out! I can't wait to see what's next from our favourite painting guru. Buddhalicious!

Friday, July 12, 2013

And yet more on the Spring Angel 2013

The fabulous organization of the Spring Angel is still surprising us.


The dream judge team formed by Ben Komets, Matt Cexwish and Jose Palomares has published a really nice PDF file with all the results of the Spring Angel contest. But this PDF is nothing ordinary! It contains not only the names and photos of the winner miniatures, but also a very detailed explanation on the judges decisions and opinions, which I find extremely useful!

Check it out!


Isn't it great? Well look at what they had to say about my little pieces:



Wow! I'm flattered! And the bad comments are that it's out of the box and that it has no relation to the contest theme? In my defense I'll say that it's not really out of the box (it has a tiny minor conversion) and that I didn't know there was a contest theme. :)



I agree completely! Those faces need some more love!



I am so happy!


I really find these details (and all the others I already commented) as the things that make a contest as cool as this one. This is what I call caring!

And even more on this contest: there is a podcast in Spanish from the blog Laserburn in which I collaborate every month. The July program was dedicated to the Spring Angel, and in it, David Rodríguez "Karaikal", Pablo López "Paloji" and I commented all the aspects of this amazing contest. If you happen to know Spanish very well, it's certainly worth checking it out!

See you in the Summer Angel next year!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Contest season 2013 is approaching

We have already reached the second half of the year, and the most intense season of the year is approaching. It's time for contests!


I have always thought that there are many contests, both in Spain and internationally, and that it's very complicated to be organized with all the disperse information that there is around the internet. That is why I created the Events Calendar of the blog. In this section you will find information about all the events which I know of in the miniature painting world. Program your schedules taking it into account!


I personally have many plans already set for the next months to come. As of today, it seems like I will try to make it to these events:

    • Golden Demon Germany (August 11)
    • Euromilitaire Folkestone (September 21-22)
    • Golden Demon UK (September 29)
    • Monte San Savino (November 8-10)

As you can see there's a lot of stuff coming in the next few months. These are very interesting events, and probably not the only ones.

Where are you going? :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

A weekend with Pedro Fernández

This weekend we are enjoying a sculpting course with master Pedro Fernández.

I think images speak for themselves...


Pedro doing some magic


Orchestra direction


Concentrated pupils


Sexy explanation


Getting the most out of it


High tech explanations


Time for some work


Jesús Martín creating the next Nocturna release


Mario developing his expertise


1 day draft... new creation incoming?

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Painting course in Madrid: July 27, 2013 (in Spanish)

This entry is just to announce that I had to change the date of the painting course in Madrid (in Spanish) to July 27. :)

En base a la experiencia que ha sido dar cursos de pintura estos últimos años, todos ellos intensivos de dos días y con el mismo formato, he decidido reorganizar las clases para ofrecer una alternativa diferente, más accesible y creo que más interesante para la mayoría.


En definitiva, vamos a montar un nuevo esquema de cursos de pintura, más cortos y ligeros, centrados en aspectos concretos en lugar de intensivos completos como hemos ido dando hasta la fecha.


Serán cursos de un solo día, alrededor de unas 8 horas de pintura parando para comer. Serán en fin de semana, sábado o domingo, según convenga en cada caso. El horario será de 10h-14h y de 15h-19h aproximadamente (no es fijo ya que como sabéis, los doy en mi casa, con poca gente a ser posible, y hay total flexibilidad).

El primero de ellos creo que es un curso de temática introductoria, lo he llamado "Teoría y Técnicas a Pincel", y en mi opinión está más indicado para principiantes o gente con un nivel medio más autodidacta que nunca haya ido a cursos de pintura o aprendido técnicas de otros. La estructura del temario es la siguiente:
    • 10h-11.30h Introducción teórica al pintado de miniaturas (teoría básica del color, propiedades, luz, ambiente e intencionalidad).
    • 11.30h-14h Técnicas de pintado de miniaturas a pincel. Práctica de pintura a capas de base, luces y sombras.
    • 15h-16.30h Degradados y limpieza. Práctica de transiciones y veladuras a pincel.
    • 16.30h-19h Contraste y definición. Práctica de perfilados y puntos de luz.
El temario de la parte teórica del principio es amplio y conviene estar atento a las explicaciones, por lo que os pasaré unos apuntes sobre la teoría para que podáis leer antes o después del curso. La idea es practicar lo máximo posible, que es donde realmente váis a sacar partido.


El precio del curso es de 50 euros. Vamos a pintar cada uno la figura que queramos, que previamente tendrá que ser aprobada por mí para asegurar que cumple una serie de requisitos mínimos de cara al aprovechamiento del curso. Por lo tanto, para el curso hay que llevarse una figura (que a ser posible preparamemos previamente al curso para ganar tiempo), pinceles y siempre que sea posible, un flexo o similar para luz. El resto del material lo pongo yo.

Como digo, el curso se dará en mi casa. Está muy cerca de Atocha, en Madrid. Hay bastante espacio y estaremos muy cómodos y tranquilos. El grupo no será muy grande, normalmente los cursos son de entre 6 y 8 personas, para el mejor aprovechamiento del espacio y del tiempo que puedo dedicar a cada uno.


Y eso es todo. Existe una lista de correo donde apunto a los interesados de otras veces, y ellos conocen la conovocatoria del curso desde hace unos días para optar a las plazas con prioridad, pero aún queda algún hueco. Así que si estáis interesados, ¡mandadme un correo y lo hablamos!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

First edition of El Pincel de Acero

The guys in El Círculo de Terra, Wikihammer 40k, Fanhammer and others (Spanish hobby associations) have organized an interesting initiative which I'm sure will be interesting to all (especially Spanish painters).


It's El Pincel de Acero. An online contest which in its first edition promises some juicy prizes (miniatures, discount coupons, t-shirts...) and with categories very similar to those of a Golden Demon. And I will be part of the jury! The deadline to sign in for the contest (it needs signing in before the contest, the painting can be done after, until September) has been postponed to July 14 so you are still on time if you want to participate!


Also I remind you that I will be imparting an express painting course (in Spanish) on July 13, Saturday in Madrid. That means you can come to the contest and then sign in to the Pincel de Acero because you will still be on time! :)

Good luck to all!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Painting course in Madrid July 13, 2013 (in Spanish)

This entry is to announce another of my painting courses in Madrid. I usually only announce them on the spanish part of the blog, but I figured there might be people speaking spanish which only read the english part of the blog, so I decided to copy the announcement here too! Just in case anyone interested, and Spanish speaker, happens to be able to be in Madrid that weekend. :)

En base a la experiencia que ha sido dar cursos de pintura estos últimos años, todos ellos intensivos de dos días y con el mismo formato, he decidido reorganizar las clases para ofrecer una alternativa diferente, más accesible y creo que más interesante para la mayoría.


En definitiva, vamos a montar un nuevo esquema de cursos de pintura, más cortos y ligeros, centrados en aspectos concretos en lugar de intensivos completos como hemos ido dando hasta la fecha.


Serán cursos de un solo día, alrededor de unas 8 horas de pintura parando para comer. Serán en fin de semana, sábado o domingo, según convenga en cada caso. El horario será de 10h-14h y de 15h-19h aproximadamente (no es fijo ya que como sabéis, los doy en mi casa, con poca gente a ser posible, y hay total flexibilidad).

El primero de ellos creo que es un curso de temática introductoria, lo he llamado "Teoría y Técnicas a Pincel", y en mi opinión está más indicado para principiantes o gente con un nivel medio más autodidacta que nunca haya ido a cursos de pintura o aprendido técnicas de otros. La estructura del temario es la siguiente:
    • 10h-11.30h Introducción teórica al pintado de miniaturas (teoría básica del color, propiedades, luz, ambiente e intencionalidad).
    • 11.30h-14h Técnicas de pintado de miniaturas a pincel. Práctica de pintura a capas de base, luces y sombras.
    • 15h-16.30h Degradados y limpieza. Práctica de transiciones y veladuras a pincel.
    • 16.30h-19h Contraste y definición. Práctica de perfilados y puntos de luz.
El temario de la parte teórica del principio es amplio y conviene estar atento a las explicaciones, por lo que os pasaré unos apuntes sobre la teoría para que podáis leer antes o después del curso. La idea es practicar lo máximo posible, que es donde realmente váis a sacar partido.


El precio del curso es de 50 euros. Vamos a pintar cada uno la figura que queramos, que previamente tendrá que ser aprobada por mí para asegurar que cumple una serie de requisitos mínimos de cara al aprovechamiento del curso. Por lo tanto, para el curso hay que llevarse una figura (que a ser posible preparamemos previamente al curso para ganar tiempo), pinceles y siempre que sea posible, un flexo o similar para luz. El resto del material lo pongo yo.

Como digo, el curso se dará en mi casa. Está muy cerca de Atocha, en Madrid. Hay bastante espacio y estaremos muy cómodos y tranquilos. El grupo no será muy grande, normalmente los cursos son de entre 6 y 8 personas, para el mejor aprovechamiento del espacio y del tiempo que puedo dedicar a cada uno.


Y eso es todo. Existe una lista de correo donde apunto a los interesados de otras veces, y ellos conocen la conovocatoria del curso desde hace unos días para optar a las plazas con prioridad, pero aún queda algún hueco. Así que si estáis interesados, ¡mandadme un correo y lo hablamos!