Review: Private Coaching with Kilian

by Roman aka jar


Hello Jungle,
some weeks ago Kilian visited me for a two day private coaching in the MV-Studio. It was just like this ...


... and I leave most of the words in this review to Kilian himself as he did a write up my words can not match.


"Hi, my Name is Kilian,
I’m 32 years old and I’m a mechanical engineer. You might think, what the hell, what am I reading here? I wanted to introduce myself, to make sure that you understand, that I come from a very technical background and I’m writing about something which brings up creativity and emotions from the bottom of my heart. You also have to know, that the following review is partly written for you, the readers of the MV blog and for Roman himself; because feedback is the most valuable input you get, as a human and as a teacher.


You must unlearn, what you have learned
– Yoda, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back



In spring this year I was trying to figure out, what I wanted to do for a holiday this year. I’m not the lying-on-the-beach-doing-nothing kind of guy. So I decided to spend some time in Augsburg, with Roman to learn a few new tricks. We settled on a topic a couple of months beforehand. Or at least he settled on a topic. I told Roman, that I wanted to truly paint figures and not just put some paint on them. He immediately understood what I wanted to learn – good because at that time, I did not.

I decided to go full Roman,
right in the face mode and visited my second Beginners Class before the private coaching. I’ve already written a review of my first Beginner Class, so I knew what was coming towards me, and I had a figure with me that cost me a lot of headaches. It was absolutely joyful to watch all the other amazing students and how they did the workshop. All the revelations, and all the “no-no-no that is not how you do this”, which I had a year ago. It was also really cool to see how different all the Demonettes were compared to my workshop. During the class, Roman took very good care of me, answering all my questions, taking a lot of personal time and pushing me slowly to edge of my comfort zone bubble – and beyond it. The class got me in the right mood and my painter juices flowing. I couldn’t wait for the private coaching.


After a day off for both of us,
and a sleepless night on my side, we met at the MV studio to kick off my private coaching. Roman promised me that he would “destroy” me on the first day. It wasn’t as bad, I can tell you that, but it was very challenging. You know, I’m not a good painter on a canvas. I always hated it. I can’t to proportions or stuff like that. So I was looking forward to something like a material master class or the like, but Roman had other plans. We sat down, had some coffee, and he handed me the hand-out. “Jar’s Advanced Class” was written in large letters on the first page. I’ve read a lot of reviews in the past. And this class was the one I was afraid of THE MOST. I knew I had to paint that wolf at some point in the day. It scared me like shit! First things first, I had to mix some colours using the basic colours and my knowledge of the colour wheel – a task that was easier than I thought for me. Then came the wolf. Roman was comforting me a lot and helped me through the process of painting it. In the end, the result wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.




Before lunch the main topic of the coaching began – understanding and painting in atmosphere. Roman told me what this meant, and how to capture atmosphere, surrounding and lighting in colour and on the miniature - the essentials to tell your story on the miniature. I had to choose a setting for the wolf from a Fallout illustration book. I chose the Rad Storm, which meant my whole colour palette shrunk to basically browns and greens. It also meant that every colour the wolf had, had to be mixed to fit into that setting. The result and the progress were stunning. I understood what this atmosphere did to the colours and to the picture. The wolf in atmosphere looked almost better, then
without. It tells a story now – it had come to life.






Then we started with the workshop miniature, a guy from a Warhammer Underworlds warband. I chose my atmosphere and lighting colour and started painting the skin of the dude. Again Roman helped me with every question I had and was by my side when I needed him. But the more I painted the more I began to understand. Everything just came together. It is very hard for me to describe this feeling, but it all just made so much more sense now. I’m pretty sure fellow painters can relate.



This night my brain had a lot to process, so it meant another sleepless night for me.



The next day we finished the miniature by painting the leather, fur and hair. By that time I was really in the groove and found my painting mojo. It was like every question I had, I could answer by myself. I just needed the courage to do so and Roman taught me that. The last part was the metal on the miniature. Up onto this point I always did metal like, slap a bunch of paint on, wash it, edge highlight it, done. Roman taught me his true metallic metal painting technique but this was really hard for me. Metal is a strange material. For me it only makes sense when it’s painted fully and correctly. Before that it is just wrong. After that, you can see every little mistake you made and I had to correct those, so that the whole miniature made sense. Even today I’m practicing hard to get it right, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.

My workshop result:






Those two days of private coaching passed way too fast and I learned so much. Roman, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You’re such a good teacher and such an amazing person with a beautiful soul. Let no one take that away from you! You’ve helped me so much on my way as a painter and a person. I am humbled and honoured to call you my friend. You can be sure, you haven’t seen the last of me.


Yours truly,
- Kilian



If you want to learn from me
in your very own private coaching session, do not hesitate to contact me for further details via
jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com

2019 is closed in terms of private coaching and fully booked, plans for sessions in the first half of 2020 are in the making. I will be there for you and your personal growth as a painter!




You can find more information
about upcoming group workshops via this banner



_______________________________________________________________________________
You want to support Massive Voodoo? 
If you like to support or say thanks the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale here.
_______________________________________________________________________________



FM: Do you like cheese?

by Roman aka jar

Good Morning Jungle,

Do you like cheese? Well, this little fella does.
I found this cute little mouse in a local art store for 1€ in a box with 50 others of its kind. I decided to create a unique one and paint it. It was a lot of fun.

 
For sale,
just in case you are in need of a cute Christmas gift:
https://www.romanlappat.com/uploads/RomanLappat_MiniatureArt_2017.pdf










Hope you like her!
Keep on happy painting!

For sale!
If interested, check back with my PDF cataloge:
http://www.romanlappat.com/uploads/RomanLappat_MiniatureArt_2017.pdf


Best Wishes
Roman

_______________________________________________________________________________
You want to support Massive Voodoo? 
If you like to support or say thanks the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale here.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Workshop Roadmap 2020 Update - Augsburg Seminars online!

by Roman aka jar

Roadmap 2020 overview   
- here are the dates and topics for 2020. Red are upcoming seminars,
green
are the ones in the past. Check for the reviews on the green ones.

You can find so far enrolled student numbers behind the seminars.
All seminars in Augsburg will take place as soon as we got up to six students!



Actual planning on seminars in Augsburg, Madrid and New York for the first half of 2020.
As soon as information is available it will be linked in here.

First half of 2020___________________________________


Bern, Switzerland - Info Mail soon!
// 31st January - 2nd February 2020  3 day Beginner Workshop
german language - 28/17 - Information PDF 
IMPORTANT: The price per student is not the one mentioned in the PDF,
due this is an international class with travel cost, room rent, etc.
Check back with the official announcement here!

Madrid, Spain - Signing up possible until 20th December
// 29th February 2020 1 day Speedpainting Masterclass

english language - 12/1 - Information PDF
more information!

Madrid, Spain - Signing up possible until 20th December // 1st March 2020 1 day OSL Masterclass
english language - 12/2 - Information PDF

more information!

Augsburg, Germany
// 13rd March - 15th March 2020  3 day Beginner Workshop
german language - 0/25 - Information PDF

Augsburg, Germany
// 18th April 2020  1 day Speedpainting Masterclass
german language - 0/20 - Information PDF

Augsburg, Germany
// 19th April 2020  1 day Object Source Light Masterclass
german language - 0/20 - Information PDF

St. Albans, UK
// 15th - 17th May 2020 3 day Advanced Workshop
english language - 18/0 - Information PDF (fee will vary due international seminar)
to sign up, write an email to: journeymanminiatures---at---gmail---dot---com


You can find this roadmap and more information linked up
to the right navigation bar of Massive Voodoo :)

FM: Sister of Battle

by Roman aka jar

Hey Jungle,
another miniature I enjoyed painting. This time from Games Workshop again. A classical concept in a fresh new look. She was great to be painted up.

Sister of Battle
Games Workshop, 28 mm










A quick video on how I painted the base is here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Or0Aeo4u6/

In private collection!

Keep on happy painting!
Yours,
Roman

FM: Fall in Franconia

by David

Hola!

David writing. This is the most recent mini I finished.
Again in my favorite scale (1/72nd), and again a little figure swap project, this time for my good friend and creative powerhouse Andreas  - who gave me a beautiful and tiny samurai figure in exchange.


For these exchange projects I like to create figures and scenes that are somehow connected to the person I build them for. For this one, I was heavily inspired by the golden autumn light that I saw all around me these last two or three weeks. And since Andy is a proud son of the Bavarian region of Franconia, I wanted to portray a proud Frankish warrior walking through the autumny woods of his home, some time in the early 4th century A.D. (which was when the Franks were supposedly mentioned in Roman texts for the first time).


The mini is a slightly converted (to give it Andy's hairstyle ;-) Germanic Warrior by Germania Miniatures; the tree is scratchbuilt from a twig, lots of Milliput, cotton wool and railway flock.



I am happy to say that Andy liked the figure and that we will do a figure swap again in the future!

A big thank you hug goes out to Roman for taking these wonderful pictures! I am sure you can see the difference between them and my usual stuff. But I will learn and improve!

Thanks and best,

D.

Musica: Batmetal Forever

by Roman aka jar

Review: Scale Model Challenge 2019 - Three MV perspectives

by David



Every year, 

on the third weekend of October, a little town in the Netherlands called Veldhoven is home to one of the world's most amazing exhibitions/shows/contests/meetings: the Scale Model Challenge (SMC). On 19 to 20 October 2019, the SMC returned with full steam, seeing hundreds of participants from dozens of countries, who brought with them close to 2,000 models, figures, dioramas and vignettes to enter into a tough but friendly competition judged by some of the most prominent people in the hobby,

MV at SMC be like...

And, of course, the Massive Voodoo jungle was there - if not in full strength, since Josua and Roman could not make it. To give them - and all others who could not be there (or those who went but want to read a third-person perspective) a little insight into what they missed, Daniele, Hansrainer and David present in this little article their own thoughts about their experience on this weekend.

... but without the other jungle brothers, it felt like...

Of course, we also provide some pics of pieces that we found interesting, that portray what SMC is, or that moved us in a particular way. There is no way we could do justice to all of the exhibition pieces, so if you want to see a huge picture report, check the official SMC website!

So, without further ado, here goes...


Lots to see!





Daniele
Here I am, finally, I have the opportunity to tell you about my personal experience of the SMC 2019. Initially, I wasn't supposed to go, but in the end, I was very happy to have done it. Together with Monte San Savino, I consider this show probably one of the most important in the world and in my humble opinion, I believe it is a unique event. Thousands of models, all of the highest level, from some of the greatest artists and modelers from all around the world. But, the thing that surprised me most about this event was certainly the commercial space. I didn't count them, but I think I've seen hundreds and hundreds of stands, miniature producers, colors, and much, much more.



But the most incredible thing is not the number of stands, but the fact that they are all stands exclusively dedicated to the miniature's world. In short, a real paradise for all miniature lovers, painters, sculptors, and collectors. While talking about the organization, I think it was really impeccable. Everything perfect, everything on time, a rare event. Really.



As always, the best thing when you go to an exhibition are not the models on display (which were incredible anyway) but always and only the people you meet and know. I was lucky enough to meet personally my friends and MV brothers  David and Hansrainer with whom I shared some really pleasant and amiable time. Unique people that make our hobby even more beautiful to practice and follow. Thanks, friends, I had a great time.




Personally I brought my small display,  which I won a Silver Medal in the Green Fantasy Category, but honestly, I didn't even disclose it, because medals are always the last of satisfactions. The real prize was getting to know more and more people who have the same passion as me, who sacrifice time for this hobby, who dedicate love and passion behind this wonderful art.

What can I say .... see you next year! Thanks, SMC!

Daniele "Found" Trovato


 


Hansrainer
To me, SMC is probably my favorite event in the painting year. I love the venue, where everyone is together in the same conference hotel and where the exposure to the other painters and artists is the most intense.



This year was only my third time going there, but it was again a great weekend: From the classes one can attend (I had the pleasure of learning to paint from Andy Wardle and to learn a lot about self organisation and project handling from Tue Kaae) over the amazing commercial area where one can get lost perusing each of the dozens of booths and vendors of great art, miniatures, paint, brushes and all the other little things the painter and hoarder in me loves to the extremely high level contest with hundreds of exquisite models for every taste imaginable.



But there is more: Beyond the aspect of just being a show, the fact that everyone is huddled together in such a tight area is very conductive to meeting new people and forging bonds. Especially if you are a bit on the shy and insecure side of communication (as I tend to be), this is a great opportunity. 


My personal highlight this year was the Karaoke-Night in the bar on saturday evening - it brings people from all corners of the show together, be it painters, scale modelers, hobbyists, manufacturers or organisers of the event.

I am fan and I am looking forward to WME next year in Eindhoven!

Hansrainer

There was a scale model of the WTC, built by a teenager over the course of three years...

... it even included LED lights and a little waterfountain!

David
It was a fantastic weekend, jam-packed of incredible pieces of miniature art, inspiration, lots of laughter, joy and inspiration. I did not participate in the contest, having focused on expanding my unlimited assembly line of WIPs in the last months. But the contest is not what SMC is about for me. Most important are the friends I have made since I started this painting journey, both in the real world and over the wonderful channels that the internet provides. And SMC provides the chance to meet friends, old and new, all sharing the same interest. Be it in the exhibition room talking about the incredible paint-jobs, chatting over a cold one in the constantly packed bar, or participating in the legendary Karaoke sessions in the basement bar on Saturday night, there is so much time and space for exchange with friends from near and far. And, of course, the show also is a chance for MV to get together. Since Roman and Josua could not be there, it was all the cooler to finally meet my jungle brother Daniele for the first time in person.


Really cool display: Ducks of the World


But, of course, the show is - also - about the huge shopping area, and of course the exhibition pieces. I was extremely impressed to see the super-high technical standard and the complexity of miniature painting in the Fantasy figures category. However, I personally feel a bit overwhelmed by the development towards greater technical brilliance, larger and ever more complex minis, so I found myself spending more time with the historical figures area - and: the scale models. That's something I enjoy a lot at SMC, that it's not a figure or scale model show, but has both. I enjoy looking at greatly built model kits of planes, ships or tiny scratch-built motorcycles. And, as so often, I found that the pieces that left the biggest impact on me were dioramas and small vignettes, often in the historical section and including a scale model or two.

Telling stories in miniature: sweet and funny ones ...

... as well as touching ones ...

... dramatic action scenes ...

... depicting life itself!
So, next time around, I will bring a few new projects! For one thing, these shows wouldn't work if people didn't bring their models. For another, I realized that I missed the tingle of excitement on Friday evening before the show and Sunday morning, when the prizes are announced. And: I will not only bring painted miniatures and the odd vignette, but I will also bring a scale model: a 1/144th scale airplane. Not sure yet which one it will be, but it will be there.

Some scale model goodness...



... and some fantastically painted soldiers in David's favorite scale
And that's another nice thing: next year the show will be back - if not in the classic SMC format (see below) - and I am already looking forward to it!

David





Roman
Well, my second year without being at the SMC. Sad. Really miss all my friends and painting family there and I am always in a little grief if I can not make it. Unfortanetely until the Studio Move is settled and through I am holding a little tight on the money I got available for travelling to painting events, but good news is: I will be at the World Expo next year ...

Roman


-------------------------------------------------------

While the SMC is a yearly event and has been run by the fantastic team around Robert and Margot Crombeecke for many years now, 2020 will not have a "normal" SMC. Instead, the SMC-makers will host the World Model Expo (WME) in Veldhoven on the first weekend of July (3rd to 5th), 2020. This will be like the SMC on steroids with even more people, more models, more minis, and more awesome! The MV crew will be there for sure - and if you want to go as well, we strongly suggest you arrange for lodging somewhere in the Eindhoven area asap - hotel rooms at the WME venue (the same hotel where the SMC takes place) were booked out within the hour after registration opened. But if you can't make it to Veldhoven in July 2020, don't fret. We will write a report worthy of the WME summarizing our experiences; and in 2021 you might be able to make it - the SMC makers promise that the SMC will be back as we know and love it in October 2021!

All the best, the

MV Crew.