What a great weekend in Ingolstadt ...

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... soon there will be a big video report about the weekend of the Duke of Bavaria ready for the jungle - please be patient. It was such an aaawwweeessooommmeee weekend and simply great to see all the nice people around ...


A postcard from ...

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... a wonderful Duke of Bavaria Weekend 2012.
So much Sun and so many nice people.
Not to forget so many nice figures and projects ...


Asterios´ Legacy - final WiP

by Peter aka Baphomet

posted by Peter aka Baphomet

Hey guys...

as I´m taking a quick brake I wanted to show you a very last (quick-shot) wip-picture...


There is still some stuff to do...  but I will finish it tomorrow

As I was checking all my miniatures for tomorrow I realized my cabinet´s brakedown some weeks ago was worse then I thought... I thought about taking "Hattin" to Ingolstadt but as I saw the desaster´s real amount tonight I realized there is no chance of saving it... big parts of the colour broke away and it´s nearly impossible to repaint the parts without recognizing... I´ll have to repaint the whole miniature... the horseman also took some bad hits and I have to resculpt some parts of the lovely hair before I can finish him...


My mood is quite bad at the moment but I should have looked for the damage earlier... but I think I did not want to... well... everything happens with purpose... I´ll  finish "Asterios´ Legacy" and take care  about all the other miniature later :)

Hope to see some of you in Ingolstadt!

Peter

KohP?

by Roman aka jar

 posted by roman, jarhead, kong

KohP?

"Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever. "
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Medusa - Work in Progress

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Ugh! Ugh!

Medusa bust was started at the last Painting Class in Graz.
I have no plan just enjoy painting and it seems she is miles away from being finished.
I try to do for the weekend as the Duke of Bavaria rolls in and there is still time left. For me at the moment the overall model is about 40% from 100% and followed by a strange colour and technichal start I am able to see were the journey may lead - ai ai ai  ...


Today will be the big clean up day of the skin and I am also collecting motivation to get some better work on those thousaaaannnnddddssss of damned snakes ...

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

How to... Display Miniatures professionally?

by -Matt Cexwish-


Traveling the Palazzo Strozzi in Tuscany some time ago I stumbled upon some veeery interesting Work that made me think quite a bit about displaying our tiny Passion Fruits...^_^...

The following are works from Mr. Thomas Doyle, who specializes in creating small sceneries of Houses and quite peaceful settings, that have felt victim to some kind of disaster... With this, an uncanny Atmosphere is created, a kind of void or rupture in the seemingly idyllic envoirment...





Not only I like this Idea, I LOVE the way the Projects are displayed! Placed on the very edge of those long tongue like shelves it bizarrily stresses the immanent danger those filigrane structures are exposed to... One careless Visitor and you can take out the Super Glue for good...^_^...

The next Artist is Mr. Partick Jacobs... He specializes in creating hyper realistic, highly elaborate Sceneries that can be seen through peekholes in a Wall... It´s a like a small wonderful World in a Glass and creates the mind boggling illusion of real miniaturized Nature! Incredible...



We can learn at least Two things from these Projects:

1.) It actually IS possible to build a realistic looking, miniaturized lush Grass Field (with small Flowers, Bees, Cow turds and all that...)... We will have to experiment on how to achieve it to make it look that Good since I have rarely (meaning never...) seen something as simple as a Green Grass field in our Hobby... If you think about that nearly any Fantasy Miniature should be standing on Grass rather then the usual Sand or Pebbles most people use...

2.) If we want to be taken more seriously as Artists we will have to learn much more about this kind of Presentation and Professionalism (and I put some more importance on the IF, since I know that it is only true to a fraction of Miniature Painters... to become a "True Artists", adress many other people that cannot relate to the mainly Clicheé, Brutal, Unintellectual and Kitsch World of Warhammer "Toys"... And eventually make a Living out of Miniature Painting...)... As our work is physical, real, even haptic, we will have to think about how to increase certain aspects like the Miniatures fragility by displaying them this way... Here´s another example from Edgar "degra"s absolutely BRILLIANT Exhibition a couple of years ago...







Not only that I seriously think that this is an absolutely lovely way to allow people seeing your Work in a Good Distance and Light safely, it really makes something with the Space! It transforms it into a meeting place, people can see the Miniture closely and speak about it at the spot... Wander through the Forrest of Light  and appreciate all it´s tiny details... Great!

I hope this inspires you somehow and starts some great thoughts in you! As Jungle Critters we are very curious about what you are thinking, please let us know! :)

And please follow these Links to find out more about the Artists Work...

Thomas Doyle

Patrick Jacobs

Stay Happy! Start Painting...:)...

Painting Class by Georg in Hannover

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong








Another great happening to watch out for is Georg Damm's painting class in Hannover, July 2012. If you want to learn how to create perfect blending, Georg is your guy. With a wet brush and a strong guidance he gives you all you need to know to master a clean and sharp colour transition.

Don't miss this!


More Infos!

Watch your step - 1000 Update

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Watch your step the voodoo circus rolls in town ...
Work in Progress ...

 You can win this as soon it is done - want to know how?  


 


Tutorial - Building up your paintrack

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Welcome to another small article.

This time it is about on how to store your colours to easy pick them up and put them back while working. I got asked many times on how I did build up my paintrack lately. The following explanation is just meant as inspiration for you to build up your own. To those who are too lazy to do so, there is also the option to buy a paintrack from different manufacturers.
 


Building something up in the end it isn't something very special and I believe everyone can find a solution that fits to him. Here now comes my explanation: First sorry that I have no work in Progress photos, building it went pretty fast and so I just can help you with explanations.

First, Peter and I went into the do-it-yourself-store and bought a mighty white wooden board. Thanks for your help my friend. Next we went to get some plastic angle bands where the colours are planned to stand on. Check for colour pot seizes and the depth of the angles if there is enough space for them.

Next we went home again and used an power screwdriver to bring the plastic angle bands to the white board. Also check for colour sizes and the distance between the bands for perfect fitting before screwdriving. A pencil might help :)

Final step was cutting the plastic with a saw to an overall fit to the white board as we bought them way too mighty. As I told you there are no real step by step photos but I guess everyone can read the following and sum back to my instructions. Hope it helps - here you go:

The plastic angle bands - already after I cut them by using the saw.


As you can see I was not doing perfect saw cuts :D - in the end it doesn't look like perfection on some places but I can live with that as it fullfills its duty pretty well. Here are some final shots on how it looks in action ...


I hope I could have helped in answering these questions. Now it is time that you build up your own paintrack or buy one if you don't have one already.

Take care while screwdriving and keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman


Medusa, Hamburg classes and 1000 Update!!

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa Jungle visitor,

this time I got several information ready for you







The first info is about the Painting Class in Hamburg, planned for early September. There was so much interest that we decided to split one class up to two classes to be able to make everyone interested happy.

Please make sure you get this information, there are now still some places free after we did ask and organise this new round - so hit the spots if you want to join:

Jar´s Workshop in Hamburg 1 [28.09.12 bis 30.09.12]

Jar´s Workshop in Hamburg 2 [05.10.12 bis 07.10.12]






The next info comes with an update on our 1000 Anniversary party.
Yeah this takes long but be sure it is worth the wait. You can win the following project which grows slowly :)

 
Next there is now the Medusa bust you already could see in the background on the upper shots. The plan is to finish her this week and I am not sure yet if I will make it as she is only at the early beginning of painting progress ...


So far from the news table ... there is still a lot to do and I will be busy the whole week. I also promise to get a grip on my email tsunami ...

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Midnight WiPs - Lost Temple #4

by Peter aka Baphomet

posted by Peter, Baphomet

Hey all,

I think this will be the last WiP-posting till the project is finished... time is running out and every posting need too much time ;) still a lot to do and as it is the nature of all last minute-projects, I just see my mistakes and not the good parts...

After phases of frustration I see the end of the line :) if there happens nothing special (collapsing cabinets, evil ovens and something like that) I think I can finish it by time...

Weekend was one of painting and time for relaxing... I just left home to buy cigaretts and so I´m really afraid to turn into a hermit if I can´t finish the diorama soon... but I by neglecting social contacts I was able to get on with the miniatures and you can see the actual state on the pictures below...  two of the barabrians are nearly completed (the third will be tomorrow), the Minotaur just needs some more hours to finish the details (hair, legs, weapon, skulls, leather and wood)...

Today I mainly worked on the base and as I needed to speed up with it I had to break a pomise I gave to Raffa... I used oil colourst to get on with the flagging (I tried it with acryl but got mad with it)... hope he accepts my apologies and I don´t have to sleep on the balcony when I´m at his place ;)

So here are the pictures...

Barbarians:



Minotaur:


Base:


Hope you like them :)

Regards,
Peter

Graz Painting Class - the Aftermath

by Roman aka jar

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Dear Jungle reader,

in the last painting class review from Graz, Austria I told you about some relaxed days in Austria for me and I want to thank my friends for such nice days. As there was still Robert's birthday on Sunday night after the class we decided to paint on our both projects - Robert and I started our Medusa bust during the class weekend and put some attention at them on sunday night, even we both were tired like ... nah, I don't know how but seriously tired. Some Impressions of Sunday night ...


After the weekend passed in retroperspective Monday seemed like a hell of a trip. I was completly dead from talking all weekend and just kept that day pretty quiet.

For Tuesday we planned a little painters meeting at Roberts with some friends and I choose to cook. I am very bad in cooking but with Robert's words of wisdom I managed to feed 8 people and made them happy. I was glad that I am not as stupid at cooking as ever believed. We also had a sketch book from Oli to fill who wasn't able to come. Some Impressions from Tuesday night, it was dark ...






Thanks for those wonderful days to everyone involved! I am happy to see some of you again soon for the Duke of Bavaria!!!

Ay!
Roman