Do Not Miss: November 2013

This is the selection of most interesting things read in November 2013. Lots of stuff actually!

• Roman Lappat's emergency repair box: Very interesting ideas for all of us miniature painting event lovers.


• Daofei Step by Step by Baphomet: Read the first part of this step by step, very instructive. Don't forget to check the second part, here.


• The Last Light final post: A few months of heavy diorama stuff drop by drop come to an end!


• The coronation of Napoleon: Really cool Napoleonic scene by Javi and Cris, amazing work that got them the special prize in MSS 2013 for napoleonic figures.


• The Storm Knight by Thomas David: Seeing new stuff from the master Thomas David is always a good thing. Inspiring and refreshing!


• Bill Horan in action: Some very interesting videos which show us Bill Horan sculpting. Old school goodness!


• Giu's Robot Repairs step by step: The MUST read about the diorama that was the sensation of MSS 2013 by Raffaele Picca. This is the final part which has all the previous parts of the process linked for your convenience.


• Kids playing on an abandoned cannon in Russia 1944: Another cool work from Javi (Arsies), you can find inspiration from anywhere!


• A Journey of the Heart: John's fabulous wedding present to his mother was this incredible diorama, absolutely scratch built and filled with love. What a great son! A moving gift no doubt.


• Open your mind: From a very inspiring thought comes this cool scene from prison by Alex Varela (Iguazzu) and Antonio Fernandez (Piqui).


• Petroyos: Another amazing sculpt from Roberto Chaudon for Mierce Miniatures. Always a Do Not Miss.


• Triumph of Jomarth'Bay by Kirill Kanaev: I should have had this blog on my newsfeed before. At last, a place where I can see everything from my Russian favourites! Here you have, some Kanaev goodness!


• Irillyth Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Spectres by Ringil: Super cool eldar painted by Ringil, using a style inspired by Giger. Breathtaking.


• Shaetann, The Inmortal by Raúl García Latorre: The master of masters is back, and Rafa Coll's Blog has the honour of posting this article on how he created his last miniature, this amazing 75mm daemon for Mproyec (in Spanish).


• Jack in the Plucker by Joaquin Palacios and Fabrizio Russo: This wonderful creation, based on the artwork by Brom, was awarded Best of Show in Monte San Savino 2013. A must!

Making 2014 event attendance more and more difficult

SERIOUSLY, WHY??!! For some reason, the gods have conspired against me (or maybe just contest organizers of the world) and two of the contests I wanted to go to are coinciding with other two contests that I also wanted to go to!

Just take a look at how the calendar looks for the first part of the year 2014 (extracted from the Events Calendar section):

FEBRUARY



• 22-23 Lugdunum: Painting contest organized by the Lugdunum association in Lyon.
• 22-23 Tactica Hamburg: Miniature convention in Hamburg.



MARCH



• 15-16 Montreux: Montreux's miniature show, Salle Omnisports de Clarens, Montreux.
• 14-16 Painting Crusade XI: Open contest, organized by the Belgium Miniatures Team. Brussels.
• 14-16 IV Concurso Modelismo Estático Ciudad de Leganés: Event organized by the association Model34. Leganés, Madrid.



APRIL



• 3-6 Crystal Brush: The CoolMiniOrNot contest, the one with $10,000 for the winner in the Adepticon, Chicago.
• 12 Salute 2014: The world famous wargaming and miniatures event in the ExCel, London.
• 25-27 AMT Torrent 2014: The contest of the AMT in Torrent, Valencia.
• 25-27 Duke of Bavaria: Herzog von Bayern 2014 - Ingolstadt, Bavaria.



MAY



• 9-10 MFCA Show: Contest of the Miniature Figure Collectors of America (MFCA), Valley Forge Casino Resort, Pennsylvania.



JULY



• 11-13 WORLD EXPO 2014: IT'S YEAR OF WORLD EXPO!!! In Stresa, Italia.

See how the contests I marked in red coincide? Seriously, why?! These were contests I was absolutely fixed on attending. But not only that, Painting Crusade and Leganés also coincide with Las Fallas in Valencia, another event (completely unrelated to miniatures obviously) that I had my eyes on.

Oh come on! And what should I do now! :(

And then there are complaints about poor participation on many of these events. UGH.

Anyway, always remember to stay tuned to Volomir's Blog Events Calendar because there you will find the dates and places of all major miniature related events in the world. And if you see anything missing, make sure you let me know!

Falling to the dark side... X-Wing Miniatures Game!

I am weak...

...or maybe the force is strong with me!

Countless articles and blogs talking about it made a big impression on me. So finally, when I had the chance, I tried it. And I really liked it! The game is very, very simple, but it seems to have a huge potential if you want to become an expert. Simple, easy and cheap to get into. And it's Star Wars! I can't say no to that.

So I bought the starter set and some ships to get my rebel fleet started. I'm considering doing some re-paints to make them fancier and more personal. What do you think? :)

Impressions on the painting course in Valencia this weekend

This weekend I was in Valencia to teach a couple of workshops of the painting course (in Spanish) called "Teoría y Técnicas a Pincel". They were two very intense days where I think a lot of people have benefitted enourmously from the time and effort invested, and they have learned many interesting things of my very heavy theory lecture of the beginning.

Saturday session

I want to thank all of the members of club Axtec and Avalon Catarroja for the exceptional care during the whole weekend, for the dinners, the drinks and the laughter. Thanks to Carol and David for their inmense hospitality and for opening me the doors of their home and for treating me so well. And to Sergio (a.k.a. "El Boticario") for the great visit to Valencia!

I think that we are going to see lots of improvement in the painting skills of these guys because, even with the weird faces of confusion during the theory (haha), I could read tons of motivation and illusion to learn in between the lines, and that is the most important thing of all. Remember that the key is to never give up to frustration, always keep on practicing and painting a lot. Being constant and tenacious will lead us wherever you wish, the limit is yours to set!

Sunday session

Some of the attendees have already written their impressions about the course and they are very positive. Here are some of them (in Spanish):

• Curso de Volomir - Club Axtec Catarroja
• Asistencia al curso de pintura de Volomir - Mariscal 40k

We are already preparing a second part of the course in Valencia which will take place in a short period of time. Keep on working and paint because you will need to have a miniature completely finished to your highest standard for the next session!

I want to use this post also to tell you that I have added a new section to the blog about my courses (in Spanish right now since all these courses in Spain are done in Spanish). It has been included in the Spanish version of the blog but I will also put it in the international part because I will translate it and offer it also for courses in English. So make sure you tune in to that section because there you will be able to be informed of everything concerning my painting courses, what types there are and what kind of painters they are aimed at.

Courses section in Volomir's Blog (currently in Spanish)

I am working hard in this section so for now you'll see it is work in progress (especially because it's in Spanish as of now), but I will complete it very soon. Remember that if you are interested in organizing any course, the best thing to do is send me an email because all the courses are organized on demand. What are you waiting for?

Monte San Savino 2013: The Rise and Fall of Vomitir

"What happens in Monte stays in Monte".

Stays in Monte... my ass!

Today is November 21st. A day that will forever be remembered as the day I made my way into the world. So yes, it's my birthday! And to celebrate, nothing better than posting the last article of my Monte San Savino series, which is also very personal. My most intimate gift to all my loving readers of the world.

Because this, my friends, is the real story behind Monte San Savino this weekend. The real story that nobody is willing to tell you because they are afraid of what could happen to them next year in Monte San Savino. A story of epic adventures, love and treachery, of good and evil, corruption, and death. Ok, no death (phew!) but presenting it like this makes it more appealing, right?

It's the story of how the legendary Volomir embraced the evil paths of the dark side... and became Vomitir, his nemesis (for a while at least).

It all began with the forging of the 9 pizzas of power...

I feel it in the water...

I feel it in the wine...

I feel it with Mati...

Scheiße!!!

Idromele was close, and I could feel it

And the transformation had begun

Loving friends guided me to the other side

and made sure I completed the journey

Vomitir. RISE!

"Look John! Porchetta in the sky!"

"Vomitir, another gift for the journey!"

Misguided, stranded, lost. No hope for me

The Painting Buddha showed the next steps to the dark side

Some more lessons on dark powers

Vomitir with his new apprentice, Darth Masclans

Soon the apprentice would be the master

And spread his evil powers throughout Monte

With renewed fuel and energy the path continues

No one leaves without Vomitir!

The final battle had just begun...

Vomitir was no mere mortal. Good and evil fought but redemption was not possible. His powers transcended and he finally became one with the Force. Thus fell the dark Vomitir.

On Resurrection Day, the master of good "Obi Wan Lappat" had little to no sleep...

This entry is dedicated to Roman Lappat and Valérie Bruère, most dear of roomates and involuntary witnesses to the Rise and Fall of Vomitir. No coats were harmed in the process. Ok... maybe one.

And many thanks to the Painting Buddha! The adventure wouldn't have been the same without these photos!

Brad&Yanet, Painting Buddha Season 1.1 Target Identified

This couple is already very well known all around the Internet. I present you Brad & Yanet, the two assasins which are the object of the Painting Buddha DVDs, season 1.1 Target Identified.

This is the version I painted for my part of the DVD. They were done in a very short period of time, about 4 days, the one we had to record the videos. As the painting progressed, ideas for colours and ambience came to mind, and it finally turned out, as you can see, as some sort of scene based around an alternate steampunk United States of America.

Painting the miniatures was very easy and fun. If you want to know how I did it (and also, how Ben did his version, the other one you can see in the photos below) make sure you connect to www.paintingbuddha.com and grab your own set of the first season. Totally worth it!

Comments about the minis or the DVDs are more than welcome, as always. I hope you enjoyed the videos!

Link to Painting Buddha: www.paintingbuddha.com

Link to Putty&Paint: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/3504

Link to coolminiornot: http://www.coolminiornot.com/345520

Monte San Savino 2013: The Miniatures (Fantasy Masters)

Better to start off with some pictures of the miniatures, right? Basically that's what everyone that could not attend is waiting for with anxiety!

Well, I promise you I did my best! I only took photos of the Fantasy Master part because there were around 350 miniatures only in that section, and that may only be a quarter of the whole Monte San Savino Show! Just as a quick estimation, let's say I spent around 10 seconds to take each photo... this means I spent a whole hour to take all the photos, and they are shitty pics taken with the iphone! Actually, I started taking them on Saturday and had to continue the next day because they closed the exhibit and I hadn't finished the Fantasy Master section!

Anyway, I did my best, especially with the awful light we had, and here is the result. Normally I would post them on the blog directly as thumbnails, but they are a lot. So instead, this is the album where all the photos are displayed:

Monte San Savino Show 2013: Miniatures in the Fantasy Master section

But I won't leave you guys with just a huge album to look at! Here's a few pointers for you to dive into the album. I tell you, the entire album is worth checking, THE ENTIRE ALBUM, but I understand highlights are always useful. Here we go:

Marc Masclans minis. Awesome!

Luis Gómez Pradal's entries (this is just one of them)

Steve Party's party of miniatures (great pun right?)

Kirill Kanaev's supreme use of colour

Mirko Cavalloni's display, breathtaking

Cool Ork Pirates all around

Dieguete's Ork bust

Alice and Wonderland collapsing by Ben Komets and Ernst Veinghart

Steve Party's sculpting skills

Jeremy Bonamant's soon to be broken $10k worth piece

Cool stuff on the road from the Cursed Monkeys

Best of Show Brom by Joaquin Palacios and Fabrizio Russo

Matteo Murelli's view on Wonderland

Max Richiero's creative mind

Christian Hardy's amazing display

Cursed Monkeys all over

The Last Light of Roman Lappat

Raffaele Picca's Robot Repairs diorama, makes sound, blinks, takes photos, videos... if only it made coffee too!

Emuse's epic win in dioramas

Here's the list of all the awards: Official list of awards

But seriously... check out the whole album! And make sure you stay tuned to masterminis.net because there you will find tons of photos very soon. And much better than mine!