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?