MASSIVE VOODOO

Brekk, the Unbreekable hitting ebay...

2012-01-29T22:25:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

You now can make this unique version of ForgedMonkey's 1:10 Brekk bust yours.
The auction starts with a fair starting price of 0.99 $ like always.
Shipping worldwide.

Check the auction here with all the details!

Happy Bidding!

PS:
Here is a little photo I have done from the bust
- for seize comparision. Photo done with lightning from the camera,
so not the best:

Back to the basics....

2012-01-29T21:58:00.000+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,...

Hey everyone!

As i made a nice painting evening with my girl i decided to not to paint minis or to sculpt....
I wanted to do something 2 dimensional again and decided to go with oil colors.... so here's the start to my sigmar priest ;)

At this stage i painted the basic backdrop and preshading and done the face with oils.

There will be some more photos the next days and when it's done some final photos with a good cam because my mobile phone cam eats some colors....

I'm also taking a lot of work in progress shots on the way so prepare for some big post :)

Cheers,
Raffa

Work in Progress - getting it done

2012-01-29T13:27:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

These days I am still full of painting.
Time spent well on the brush.

Finishing off projects I want to finish.

Still time needed to get it done but in about 2 weeks it is time

to start with the "Chimera vs. Bellerophon" Project

and I am so much looking forward to it :)

The Rhino seems never to be finished but I am working on until the moment comes - for me this moment is still far away on that model. The Sentinel at last heads to an end, slowly. Both will be done for an online competition and time is running while I do some relaxed painting sessions ...

I wish you all some happy painting!
Roman

The start of the MV Brushbox

2012-01-29T10:33:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

I want to show you how a little project goes.

A little different project beside figures but well connected to the hobby of miniature painting.

I thought about getting another wooden brushbox lately. Not for me.

For you - one of our readers - to get later on when it is done.

It will be a personalized brushbox as Raffa and I will paint something on it.

A very unique piece you can say and maybe store your brushes in for the future.

Early Work in Progress.

Hope you like this thought!

Keep on happy painting!

Roman

A Visit to Sockelmacher's Workshop

2012-01-27T14:40:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Alao.

Another little report dropping in, as promised some days ago :)

During our stay in Hamburg for the latest Painting class we have been able to visit Steffen, the Sockelmacher at his Workshop and Raffa and I really found that place very inspiring. It felt like that every second Pinoccio could come out of a corner full with wood and stuff and saw dust and ... wow -

We have brought some impressions for you to enjoy:

At place I already talked with Steffen about some unique display sockets I need in pretty strange seizes and I can't wait to get them. I think it is a very nice option he offers, doing unique sockets for your wishes. Meanwhile Raffa was working on his first ever selfmade socket under guidance by Steffen.

I always love to see workbenches and it was the same here at this place, even there was sooooo much sawdust - if I would have known this for one of my last projects, MAESTRO, life would have been much easier. I really like the thought to know how it looks in Steffen's Workshop, as I now will have a different feeling when holding one of his sockets in my hand. I know where they've been created and that is another point that makes them special for me, beside the great quality.

I hope you liked this little trip as much as we did

- we found it just awesome to see so much cool sockets and so much wood and so much unique wood pieces and so much sawdust and the smell of sweat from this hard working Gigolo!

You can visit the Sockelmacher too!

Una Mattina

2012-01-27T12:36:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

"Una Mattina" means "one morning" ...

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not;
and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882

You now find Peter's For Sale Offers included in MV For Sale Area.

Some new pictures of old stuff..

2012-01-27T10:25:00.001+01:00

posted by Peter aka Baphomet

Hey guys,

I was asked some weeks ago to write a small article about "The Rising" and how it developed. For this I needed some new pictures because my own we´re quite crappy. Raffa was so nice to help me out with this and his awesome-super-duper-camera did some very nice shots. I took the chance and he also took some new pictres of "Custodia Mortis". So special thank to Raffa, my favourite camera-owning guy (because he knows how to handle it) ;-)

So I just wanted to show you the pictures (old-timer somehow).

To write the article was very interesting as I had to think about the last year and how my painting skill have developed. Even now as I look at both pictures I remember the two weeks before the "Duke of Bavaria". It was quite a nice time :)

Those who read Massive Voodoo for a longer period of time know that these both projects were quite hard to finish and so they stick to my heart. Unfortunatly my start in Reutlingen will be more expensive than in thought, so I have to sell both of them.

If anybody is interested in buying "The Rising" or "Custodia Mortis", feel free to drop me a message:

baphomet[at]massivevoodoo[dot]com

Cheers,
Peter

Check out the Golden Vinci!

2012-01-26T21:40:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Take a look at the online competition over at dieVincis.
Take your chance and paint something for the competitions categories and win a golden Vinci.

Even it is still a very young and virgin competition, the team at dieVincis is doing this with so much heart you have to read the english rules here and maybe get something ready for the contest!

Brekk, the Unbreekable

2012-01-26T14:10:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Brekk, the Unbreekable.

Always hungry, always eating.

Always funny and naughty.

Always up for a good brawl, even a war.

And he stands tall, as he is the Unbreekable.

ForgedMonkey, 1/10

If you like to vote for the Unbreekable,

click here!

This bust by Forgedmonkey.com was a real pleasure to paint.
Brekk really is a cool bust with a lot of character.

I started to paint my version during the Painting class in Hamburg and really was happy about that chosen model as it really has supported my own training of painting skills. It is somehow in the sculpt- let me explain.

While Painting I discovered that it is also a good training your-painting-skill figure - leather, metals, skin, clothing, all in different types and seizes, big areas to work with light and shadow, detailed areas to do the same, all good to reach and to make material studies. For me it was a real joy to paint him, but honestly he painted himself alone just because of all the fun the character brings.

Get yours at:
www.ForgedMonkey.com

So far, I hope you like my version of Brekk :)
Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

PS: This model is for SALE!
Contact me via jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com
for a quote or check the Jungle's For Sale offers!

PPS: and some actual painting music:

Painting Jam 24 - FAQ

2012-01-26T12:35:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Time for another Painting Jam :)

You can find all Painting Jams and answers to frequently asked questions here. Take a read! Many answers might already help answer your own.

________________________________________________________________________________

Mitch asks via mail:
"I have a question if you don't mind. I am painting a new guy using only oils on top of acrylic base. I have two small spots that no matter how much paint I put there, it won't stay. Went I dab with brush to blend, the paint just comes off that spot. Any ideas? "

My answer:

Ough! That never happened to me before. I can only tell what I would do, maybe there are others reading this and helping you with their experience via comments. I do hope so. So I would let the Oil dry completly via oven or with time and would spray some matte varnish over the whole miniature via Airbrush, that should grant a new closed surface where you can paint on top. Otherwise, if you are not in reach of an Airbrush I would try to do the same with just putting some varnish over that evil spot.

Mitch also asks for some input on one of his miniatures:
"This is one of my gamesday entries. Just wanted to get you thoughts on it. Gamesday is a few months away so got plenty of time for changes. Thank you for your input."

Click to enlarge!

My answer:
This looks good so far. I like the colors you've chosen. My main feedback would be to maximize the contrast, that means work out a better light situation, for example zenithal lightning. If you take this "imagined light" as a guide you get used to put your lights where they look good. Maximizing the contrast means for example: Taking a look on the skintone it looks mostly the same overall with minor bright and minor dark areas. If your range of contrast in a specific colour tone, like the skin, means 100% from darkest shadow to brightest light you worked out around the range 40~60% at this stage. The Skin could get way more highlights and shadows. So does the armoury. I hope you get what I mean and my words could help you for this project.

Painting Zenithal Lighting
A guide that shows you how you can bring your miniature into a good light situation.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ivo asks via mail:

"Hi!

my name is Ivo and I came across painting two years ago. I was doing mainly tabletop stuff, but I bought recently my first palette of oil paints. I love miniature painting (and modelling as a whole) with all my heart, but I'm still kinda noob at this stage.

I'm not asking about painting advice this time, but I'm really interested in making good bases for my figures. Could you please tell me what should I get, just some general tips and if you can please give me some advice where I should learn about making bases (beside your site of course - it's awesome!).

Thank you in advance."

My answer:

So you have read the article section in the jungle about basing already? Check CMON for more articles or other forums - there is no specific one I can name because other things to learn basing are far more important. You learn basing best while creating a base and being happy with the result. Share your base with others in a forum, ask for feedback and criticism. Basing can't be learned by Theory. Theory helps when you got your own experience and can build upon it. My tip on basing is: Have a plan, but don't be too stuck on it. If something changes during your basing work, like something won't fit in place, something gets broke or you glued something to the wrong place like on your plan - stay happy and accept that, it often happens with a reason and your base has to grow from itself and its build up. Create bases, do it, they are getting better and better from the experience you will find. If you are totally lost in my answer, why not search for a base that you like and rebuild it for the start?

As far as I know Miniature Mentor released a DVD with Ben Komets about Basing actually!

________________________________________________________________________________

Florian asks via mail:
"How did you archived those great glow effects on your TREASURE GUARDIAN?"

My answer:

I did paint the area I want glowing in the end with pure white. You can't paint a glow effect on something dark. Ok, you can but it will never have the power of a white underground. I have used Forged Monkey's Day Glow Pigments as glazes on the areas I want glowing in the end. Check the article about Object Source Lightning and the article about Dayglow Pigments that should help you. You can find all of the linked articles in german language in the article section.

Florian asks via mail:
"When you´re working with 15mm miniatures, is there something you make different, then in regular scale?"

My answer:
No, not really. I mainly take a smaller brush and accept that I won't be able to not paint a perfect eye on those models as the scale is pretty small. I also use the zenithal light as a guide to paint my highlights and shadows, even in 15mm.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Painting Jam over and out!
Ough! Ough! Hope my thoughts could help you!

Happy Painting to you all!
Best Wishes
Roman

If you want to say thanks for the answers sent a cup of coffee to the jungle answering machine via the donation button,

Work in Progress - Fishs best Friend!

2012-01-26T12:07:00.001+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,....

Hey everyone!

Yesterday was a pretty productive day for me, for a long time i had no commissions on my table to be finished and no other stuff, so basically "a day off".

I used this free day to start a new project with the happy monk model.
A very nice mini, it just feels like it is painting itself...

This is a very early wip, but anyway :)

And then, yesterday evening, we even made a small spontanous painting night at my place, my girl and Peter joined and later even Roman decided to come over for some "standing" painting (there was no more place at the table so he decided to paint standing ...)

I'm really really sad that Peter will soon leave Augsburg, so everytime when it is possible i try to see him or make some painting session... :( :( :(

So, i hope i will have the time to continue with the monk project and you will soon get more photos :)

Cheers,
Raffa

Preparing for departure...

2012-01-25T13:42:00.001+01:00

posted by Peter, Baphomet

Hey,

my last days in Augsburg and my heart is bleeding... after some months without a job I got a offering from a publishing company two weeks ago... a quite nice chance to do something different compared to my studies... of course I accepted the job, but for this I have to leave Augsburg and move to Reutlingen (about two hours by car). It feels like if I have to say farewell to all my friends and to a city I lived in for about seven years. I know this is some kind of bullshit in my head as I´m not really far away, but it makes my heart heavy-weight...

But there are also positive thoughts about moving away: so many new chances for my life and leaving behind all these crappy months without a job in which I was sometimes near to insanity. This keeps my mood up. So I´m very curious about the next few months... we´ll see how it goes ;)

As the job-offering came quite unexpected and I have to start the job next Wednesday, I was not able to find a proper room were I could stay for a while till I find a nice flat... so I have to stay in a youth-hostel for some days and then move to a guesthouse for three weeks... a not very pleasant but very expensive shortterm-solution... but I think this it how new chapters in life always start: you can´t prepare yourself for everything properly. So in these times you´ll learn a lot about yourself. How spontaneously are you really? How well can you solve problems without being prepared? How do you handle a new social environment? I´m really really curious!

As I´m only taking my colours and brushes with me to Reutlingen for the first month, I prepared some miniatures yesterday: Ckaarakk (Bane Legions) and the new version of Krell (GW). Ckaarakk will be part of a bigger project for the Duke of Bavaria this year (so I changed some parts), Krell will be for practicing some new ways...

Results of yesterday evening:

Of course I will not forget the second part of the Step by Step. I´m taking a lot of pictures as the Horseman slowly reaches the final stages. But it will take some time till I will be able to write the article because I need my big computer (which ill stay in Augsburg for the beginning) to prepare all the pictures. But here you got a collage of the current stage... last Monday Roman and Raffa stayed at my place for a painting evening and I painted the bust all night long... I´m quite satisfied with the results, but there is still a lot of detailwork to do :)

With the best wishes to you all,
Peter

Phlegyas Art now online ...

2012-01-25T12:25:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Do you remember the little Son of Ahab I did paint shortly before Christmas 2011?

I was not able to tell you much about the company but now is the time as Phlegyas Art is now online and officially launched their very interesting figure range. Here you can see the box art of the little Ahab by Alessandro, one of the owners of the company - I saw it in real in Italy on last years Monte San Savino Show and really fell in love with it.

I found this very cool speedpaint drawing of the artwork to the Son of Ahab
- truely a real joy to watch:

They also have a very cool contest running at the moment - I can't wait to bring some colours on this very funny bust and can't wait to see all the different character which are to be find in the bust. You also have the chance to give this bust your name proposal ...

Raven Guard Shadow Captain KORVYDAE

2012-01-25T09:23:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

The world spins round and round, painting belongs to me like taking a breath, still with only one brush, still with good music, the whole world is moving and I am standing still, just painting :)

I have finished this Forgeworld Space Marine Shadow Captain of the Raven Guard, named Korvydae as a comission for a long time Space Marine Collector. He collects single models of every well known Space Marine Chapter and the Raven Guard were still missing - until now. It felt like I did paint my 2000th Space Marine Model, but it still was fun :)

For the work on the OSL I have worked with Forged Monkey's "Dayglow Colours", mostly Hazard yellow but I have mixed in a drop of Citadel's Hawk Tourquise, mixing the color I wanted to create. The dayglow colours have so much power that you can really experiment with them to make soft variations to it by mixing in a normal color - make sure the amount of the dayglow colour is still higher than the other one. I hope you like him.

Raven Guard

Shadow Captain Korvydae

Forgeworld, 28 mm

If you like to vote for the Raven Guard -

click here!

So far - read you soon and
don't you stop happy painting even
your colors might do stupid things sometimes,
there is nothing in the world you can't rescue or repaint :)

More about OSL:

Painting Object Source Lightning (OSL)
A guide that introduces Light that comes from a source nearby the miniature.

Using Dayglow Pigments for your OSL
Raffa explains how to use really glowing pigment powder.

Sincerly,
Roman

PS: Typing this Korvydadaerrere was not fun, everytime ;)

Just Music and some minor Kong Fu

2012-01-24T17:48:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Preview:
Prepare for some minor article updates, more translated articles, finished miniatures, finally my MSS Kong Fu, other things and way more to come in the jungle ...

But most important is good music to get it all done and these days it is often Hip Hop again.
Hip Hop means a lot to me beside all kind of music. For me in retrospective I got to say I have learned to grow from the lyrics. The lyrics in the following song which is called "Milk the Cow" have nothing in common with a message I want to implant in the jungle. I just want to pay my respect to some Idols that helped me to grow back in those days of classic Hip a hippi todahiippii Hop and you don't stop bang bang da boogie ... mmh ... stuff ... LL Cool J, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Gangstarr, Mobb Depp, DMX, Rakim, A Tribe called Quest and so much more ... classic.

Without it I'd be an empty man ...

Ravage Interview about MV - english version

2012-01-24T13:56:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Some of you might remember the Interview I did for the french magazin "Ravage" ...

Julien Casses informed me today that the english translation is up to his blog now you can read it here if you want to know more about Massive Voodoo's background.

Read the interview in english here!

Thanks for the translation work @Julien, thanks again for your far too kind words and thanks for getting this rolling.

Best Wishes
Roman

Riusuke Fukahori

2012-01-23T16:35:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

DELUXE Painting Class in Ludwigsburg /July

2012-01-23T15:56:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa Brushlickers,

we are already doing massive plans about painting classes for 2012.
Thanks to Peter aka Baphomet again for his help in this task.

There will be some updates about classes in the upcoming weeks - the first announcement is for the city of Ludwigsburg, Germany in July. We know it is still some time until July but if you know early you can plan early :)

Maybe see you there?
Follow this link for details!

Ebay - Japan Hero Soldier

2012-01-22T20:10:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Japan Hero Soldier from Paolo Parentes Dustgame hitting ebay
with a fair starting price of 0.99 USD.

Take your chance and grab it yours - here!

Happy Bidding!

1000 - Who is the biggest Ape? - Reminder and Info

2012-01-22T18:07:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa.

To those still interested in the actual Competition
running here in the jungle: It is not dead!

We are working on it.
I told you that the MV-Crew will do a big diorama for you to win and it takes more time than we have expected. The project pieces are on the road to Augsburg to get their final touches and a base.
More soon information.

The challenge is still on - are you the biggest Ape?
Sent your entry to jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com but read the rules first!
Thanks to those who already made their entry - this will be epic that is all I can say from those entries!

So far - rock on!
The MV-Crew

Inspirational Uppercut

2012-01-22T15:58:00.005+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Again it is time to clear my inspirational link collection and share some of them with you.
I hope you are able to find some inspiration behind one or more links ... thanks to everyone who did sent me inspirational stuff, too. At this point I only can say wow - really did recieve a lot of mails, but unfortanetly they re making my mailbox explode :D

MINIATURE and ART RELATED STUFF
Step by Step - Arbeit macht frei
Painting Class with Mr. Cartacci (italian language)
Pirate Castle in 3D
Three dimensional gold fishs by Riusuke Fukahori
Exquisite Hyper-Realist Painting by Omar Ortiz
Skin Tones
Life Work by Takeshi Ukita
Space Hulk Suicide Mission Movie

BLOGS
(T)Raumschmiede
Industrial Decay Network
Painter's Delight

MUSIC
Radical Face - Welcome Home

VARIOUS
Read!
Impressive and Brave!
Controlled Quatnum Levitation on a Wipe'Out Track
Hamaya - deviantart login needed
Pearl Harbour - 70th Anniversary
Alexis Wanneroy
Carved Book Landscapes
China's Abandoned Wonderland
The Joy of Books
Rainbow Eucalyptus
Pizza Boomerang

If you want to see a really good movie - take this one:

Zenithal Light and Morning Glory

2012-01-21T18:39:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Zenithal Lightning on my office table ...

Morning glory, this morning, pretty early :)

Painting Class Review - Hamburg

2012-01-20T17:30:00.005+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Musica!

Hi.

My heart still beats from the jungle drums we all played in Hamburg, Germany.
First, I want to say my biggest gratitude into the direction of Heiko, who is the owner of a big Kung Fu School in Hamburg where the class took place, the Wu Dao, Hamburg. Heiko is a well known Sifu amongst the international Kung Fu scene and it is always a big honor to meet him and have a stay in this amazing place. He is also a Miniature Painter and Wargamer with much passion. We had some serious and interesting talks about life and somehow Kung Fu and Painting has so much in common, you wouldn't believe it. But more to this later on I just want to share a quote of Heiko with you that I feel very inspiring:

"A master of the martial art is like boiling water,
if he stops training he is just only water again!"

Let me show you the place of our stay, the Wu Dao Kung Fu School.
For me it was the second class in this place as I already did one in early 2010 and always this place has its own magic.

At this point I want to thank everyone involved in the class organisation via internet in front of the class, everyone who helped during the class and everyone who took the advantage of being a part of it for doing so. Thanks to my bibab (brother in brushes and brain) Raffa for travelling with me, helping me at the class and enjoying this beautiful weekend together. The photos you see here are mainly done by him and myself.

A lot of thanks to Steffen aka Sockelmacher.de and Arne who picked us up from the airport and made our stay a great memory in all aspects. It was my pleasure to see so many new faces to the painting scene at the weekend. There was one participant who painted his first miniature ever during the class. He already bought one but did not yet paint it before the class, so seriously this was his FIRST one ever. I was also very happy to see some well known faces again.

Many thanks to MAGABOTATO, which is a german tabletop internet show that did some filming during the class to make a report about it in the future. There will be interviews and stuff and stuff and stuff to see. Stay tuned. It was my pleasure to meet you guys.

Muchas Gracias goes out to Forged Monkey, Sockelmacher and Pardulon for supporting the class with material and for being at place.

Here you can find the whole crew getting ready for the epic group photo, we have been 28 people and so you can say the group was pretty big - but before you will see the epic group photos I will have to tell you a bit of the class.

We arrived on Friday and were getting everything ready - preparing the room with tables and chairs, preparing the painting places and getting everything set for the weekend. As everyone was ready, except myself we started right off with some theory and a lot of talk by my side. We were watching paintings and photos to get into a mood of colours and to sharpen the eyes, the stomach and the brain for the things to come. Heiko did recieve my latest painted Zombie Girl as a gift and already the first laughter began because of ... mmh ... funny moments :)

Friday was the day to prepare the miniatures, build up a base and staying awake long. Beside all these points there was theory in form of talk by me and some really had a hard time staying awake during my long time explanations. After the class we sat together for a while and if we would have known that time goes by so fast we would have went to bed earlier. It was late and Raffa and I always are inspired by all that weaponry around the place, so we had to do some weird photos. Here is just a little collection, be sure to find some more appearing in the review:

Saturday arrived fast as hell and had a massive impact as we made ready to make final preparations for painting. You can see some other models than the usual Demonette in the photos. Let me explain: Everyone taking part for the first time has to paint a demonic lady as she provides the best translation of the teached content. Those who took part a second or a thirt time are allowed to bring their own miniature or did recieve one from me. Using colours and brushes was ahead, finally at a Painting Class :D - Some Impressions of bases, priming and explanations:

The next step was to get something to eat and have some time for lunch, but also the time where everyone should think about where he wanted to go with his project. I would call this phase personal inspirational meditiation and you can do this best with a full stomach. After this we did start right away with an introduction in my way of painting and thinking while painting, you can call this painting philosophy if you want to. Everyone was ready to paint and so the brushes were swung madly on Saturday. Hard work ahead. Impressions:

Saturday passed fast and everyone was ready with his figures so far. The goal for Saturday was to have a sketch of colours, light and colour transition along most of all the bigger areas on the project. Everyone achieved this goal even the mind felt destroyed. I was very proud of the group. Raffa and I did some weird photos - did I tell you that? On Friday night we thought our motivational screams are heard beneath the curtains to bring everyone into Sunday final sketching and detail touches on the figure - some more stupid shots:

Sunday arrived also pretty quick and still motivation was our best friend, maybe the motivational roars of Raffa and me on Friday night helped :)

This day was meant to be the day to bring the sketch on the figure together to a bigger picture. Bring in some details later on and finally getting happy with the result. It is how it is and in my personal view on miniature painting the way, the path you walk to your end result is pure joy - the end result returns this to you if you stay calm during wandering your path. The sketching with colours always should be fun first. You have enough time for the hard detail work later on and you can do it as long as you prefer to get a better result, but never lose the fun while swinging your brush and dancing with colors. Some Impressions of Sunday.

Sunday slipped away soooooo fast and I want to excuse myself for the little delay we had in the end with mostly everything. Thank you very much for all your patience and thanks for all your help during the big clean up. A special thanks goes out to Michelle, Raffa, Steffen, Arne and Sabine.

I now want to present you the results of this weekends projects, all done from Saturday noon til Sunday late afternoon - final touches might be done as homework. Some are not on the photo as they had to go in time to have a good journey home. I am again sorry for the little unhappy accident we had with the evil lamp of destruction and I am happy that it wasn't that bad. Always remember everything happens with a reason. I hope my final feedback helped everyone in his special case - what I can say is that I am really, really, really proud of your figures, click to enlarge:

Now I was talking about an epic group shot, wasn't I?

Heiko and I had the idea on Saturday night to make "Hero photos" - every participants had to choose his weapon of choice and the whole group went outside in front of the school to get mad - Impressions:

Sadly Raffa wasn't at place when those photos were shoot ... I was really sad about that, but the class programm forced me to do it in time, because the moment was right :/

At this point I want to thank anyone of you again - for a really cool weekend and so much good memories to it. May Happy Painting guide you through your projects! Everything happens with reason you know :) - As told we are already planning about a second class in Hamburg for 2012 as the feedback was so great and not all on the list were able to take part. It looks like a fine summer breeze will be the wind that guides our plans - more soon, when the time is ready!

Keep your eyes sharp and your brushes wet!

________________________________________

After the class, on Monday we had one day to stay at Steffen's place, with his family and Sabine.
He is the Sockelmacher.de and we also visited his workshop, you will find a report about that soon in the jungle. Some impression of the pre-workshop-time, maybe some inspiration for you - don't you look me in the eyes - I was pretty tired from holding the class and did say around 4 or 5 words that day :D

Good bye and thank you all for a wonderful weekend!

Michelle made some photos too and here is an additional photo gallery link! Thanks buddy! Read you soon! Sorry for the delay!

The sunset that welcomed us home on Tuesday in good ol' Augsburg:

PS: Now guess what: I did forget to tell you about Kung Fu and Painting - what they have in common! I would say you should find out yourself by painting or doing Kung Fu!

Work in Progress

2012-01-20T12:00:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Just a little Work in Progress shot of my table - hard to tell that I am painting with a long dead brush as all my "good" brushes are still on the road via postal delivery from the Painting Class in Hamburg ... so I had to pick an old one for the duty ...

Happy Painting to you!
Best Wishes
Roman

Gravity Stool

2012-01-19T22:03:00.003+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,...

Hey,

i just found a somehow cool video i want to share :)

Gravity Stool from Miranda Stet on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Raffa

Treasure Guardian - details

2012-01-19T19:01:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Hi.

Some have asked for close ups on the Treasure Guardian diorama, hope these shots show more detail - you can find the overview here! One thing I forgot to mention when blogging it some days ago: You can find an article on how to build up a graveyard here!

Treasure Guardian - details

Rackham, Red Box Games, 28 mm

If you like to vote for the detail photos -

click here!

Keep on happy painting!

Best Wishes

Roman

The Marquis of Carrabas

2012-01-18T17:26:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Home again and getting ready to write a hundred emails that dropped in while I was away for the painting class in Hamburg... ahhhh!! Patience! And a big sorryio from my side!

Thanks to everyone who helped via comment to make the jungle a better place to navigate. We have plans from your thoughts and some will be executed sooner or later, step by step.

I want to show you another finished Miniature.
This time it is the "The Marquis of Carrabas" by Smart Max's Smog Range, in 54 mm - click here for the model information. I started this model a while ago without knowing where this will go and I am happy with the result after I did some additional work on the base. You can find an article about bricks and coins behind the link and see the base in progress. Hope you like the Marquis ...

The Marquis of Carrabas

Smart Max, Smog, 54 mm

If you like to vote for the Marquis

click here!

Feel invited to let me know what's on your mind when you look at the miniature. Thoughts, ideas, likes, dislikes, etc. - feel welcome! Happy Painting and music to you!

Sincerly,
Roman

Hamburg Painting Class "Review Preview"

2012-01-18T15:05:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa.

Slowly recovering from the painting class in Hamburg.

It was such a nice weekend with a lot of painting joy for everyone and I got so many things to tell soon, but first I am in the middle of unpacking my stuff and recharging some batteries. Before the big report drops in there are now only some little previews on what you might see in the big review beside miniature painting and colors.

A very special group photo of all the participants - this is just the prephoto were everyone was settling in to find his place and we still were waiting for some others on the photo - fasten your setbealts for the real thing going on - click to enlarge:

We have visited Sockelmacher's Workshop:

Weird stuff that happens at night when you let the apes loose in a Kung Fu School:

And the sky that welcomed us home yesterday ...

So far, soon with the big report :)

Translation Information

2012-01-18T09:59:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Again it is time to thank Mike for his outstanding help in the article section by translating articles into german. Massive thanks to Robert aka muhani too for bringing in the updates. You can now check the article section for the updates and check for your country flag.

The latest big update was mainly for the Painting Section - here is a preview for you:

Using your hands as tools while painting
Peter explains some explorations about why hands are as important as a brush during painting.

Priming Thoughts
A view on the jungles priming methods.

What colours to use?
A small intrdoduction on the colours Roman uses.

Wet Palette
Keep your colours wet for a longer period of time by using a wet palette.

Black is the new Black
Raffa takes a close look on a lot of different blacks.

Starting thoughts while painting
A view into Roman's brain during the starting process of painting.

Basic Painting techniques Overview
All common techniques explained easy to understand.

Working with glazes
Glazes are very important when it comes to painting.

Blending Theory part 1
Yvonne's beginner article about the magic of blending.

Blending Theory part 2
Yvonne brings some addition into the theme of blending.

Painting True Metallic Metal
An introduction into the theme of painting with real metal colours.

Painting metal with Printer's Ink
Andrea shows a brilliant way on how you can achieve great metallics.

Painting Leather
A guide that brings you some deeper thoughts on how to paint leather.

Human Skin 1
Starting thoughts and a Step by Step on the approach of painting human skin.

Human Face 1
A guide that shows paintwork on a 28 mm male face.

Painting Eyes
Article that brings you thoughts and examples on how you can paint eyes.

Demonic Skin with dot grain
This article shows you how you can add a cool demonic effect to skin.

Orcish Skin
This guide gives you an example on how you can paint skin of greenskins.

Painting a simple freehand
A demonic based freehand done on a standard bearer in 28 mm.

Painting advanced freehand
A round shield provided with medusa's face.

Painting wood grain
Beginner Article on how you can start with painting wood grain.

Creating real lenticulars
Tired of painting glass? Do some real one instead. This guide shows you how.

Painting Object Source Lightning (OSL)
A guide that introduces Light that comes from a source nearby the miniature.

Using Dayglow Pigments for your OSL
Raffa explains how to use really glowing pigment powder.

Painting Blood and Splatter
Pure gore in here, always keep in mind that less is more.

Creating ugly strings
Want something really ugly to an ugly model? Read on.

Creating acid slime
A go on some slimy content.

Painting SciFi energy weapons
Article that shows you an approach on how to paint a energy axe.

Painting a real shadow appereance
A thought on how you can include a real shadow on your scene.

Basic Camouflage
Article about warfare camouflage and how you can paint it.

Using human hair
Doing some fur and a bow lash with your own hair.

Weathering Overview
An overview about Weathering, including theory and practical use.

Weathering a wall with hairspray
The use of hairspray during your weathering session can bring wonderful results.

Using real rust pigments
Guide that shows you how you can create your own rust pigments.

Working with liquid mask
Another cool effect can be achieved by using liquid mask.

Weathering with Salt and Hairspray
Article that shows you the use of salt and hairspray on different scaled models.

Working with Crackle Medium
An insight in the topic cracked surfaces.

Weathering Video Tutorial
Raffa explains different weathering techniques in a series of 4 videos.

Basic use of oil colours 1
... and what you got to know for an easy start with oil paint, by Roman.

Basic use of oil colours 2
Andrea explains his way of using oil colours! Pure Essence of Petroleum, baby!

Airbrush maintenance
Generalpoleaxe contributed this very useful article to the jungle.

Basic use of the Airbrush
Simple article on what you can achieve fast with your airbrush and some gaming models.

Using Masking Tape while Airbrushing
Ferrari Girl gets a new dress and makes a dad happy!

Soon more to come!

Greetings from Hamburg

2012-01-16T18:56:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Woohaa!
Greetings from Hamburg - we are still alive after a massive painting class with tons of fun, color and happy accidents ... tomorrow we will be on the road home again and a big report is rolling in sooner or later - you just can't imagine what happened ;)

Music and Questions

2012-01-12T10:46:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Questions I really have on my mind and which we should have asked way earlier in this young 2012:

Do you have suggestions to make the jungle even better to navigate?

Do you miss something special in the jungle?
Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve?

Any ideas by you, our readers that can improve the jungle are highly appreciated.
Just let your mind flow and really, being honest is the best thing to help.
Hit the comments!

Musica:

It's about time
- I will today make final preparations for the painting class starting tomorrow in Hamburg. I got to freeze all email activity so far and we'll be back on track next weeks wednesday as we will have a little stay at friends after the class.

So far - keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Some finished Minis!

2012-01-11T19:56:00.001+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,....

Haaaaaa,
the days go by and leave more and more work to do... packing parcels from Forged Monkey and making Dayglow Color and painting Commissions i'm not allowed to show.... i still got some finished minis to show :)

The first one is "Kholodnye Ruchki", it's a mini from the Sedition Wars range of Studio McVey .
I made a slight conversion with some Magicsculp to give her the russian styled hat and some fur parts and painted her as my personal Russian Sniper Hero.

Kholodnye Ruchki

(click to enlarge)

Next is a commission of Maelstrom Games for their Banelords Range.

Drast the Hunched, Hound of Dun Durn

(click to enlarge)

And another commission for the guys at Maelstrom Games.

Eirik Longaxe, Steersman of Hrafnen

(click to enlarge)

You can buy those two minis above at Maelstrom Games... i really enjoyed painting them, especially Eirik, sculpted by Sebastian Archer, was a real joy to paint :)

I hope you like the stuff!

Cheeerio,
Raffa

Augsburg - never enough?

2012-01-11T18:05:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Just found a little video of Augsburg over on facebook.

Usually I don't post everything I see over on FB here in the jungle, but this time - c'mon it is my hometown, the place where I live, where I did grow up to full height and weight, where my loved ones and Raffa and Peter and many more of my friends live. I know all the places in the video, all the spots, know the deeper spots behind the scenes and just wow - love the video - even the city is not that big as other german important towns I really got to say that you are paradise city to me - home - enjoy:

Great video in my eyes, because it is my hometown for sure, but also a wonderful vibe by the video editors - the ladies and gentleman of gambleproductions.

AUGSCHBURG!! :D

Finished Miniatures

2012-01-11T13:22:00.005+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa,

some finished stuff is ready to be shown, but I guess most of it needs explanation ...

First there is another little Christmas gift called "Band of Bibabs", done with Flames of War Figures in 15 mm. This needs explanation for sure I guess.

Bibabs?

Bibab means Brother in brushes and brain - who is Raffa aka Picster to me. My bibab. This little 15 mm diorama was a quick Christmas gift for him and the soldiers are protecting a little pig they've found in the destroyed city. They believe it brings luck to their squad. So with this gift I wish my bibab also a healthy portion of luck for 2012.

Band of Bibabs

Battlefront Miniatures, Flames of War, 15 mm

If you like to vote for band of bibabs

click here!

The next one is a little girl from the Range of Privateer Press.
There was a big organised order of these girls over on the Bemalforum.de to get several of them as they are on Sale also as single pieces. Many thanks to Julius again for organising this. She is indeed damn tiny but was a lot of fun to paint for the first time - this shall mean it won't be the last time I did one of them as I got way too many of them now. This one will be given away as a gift too. My first version is called Zombie Girl and there is a little story to tell ...

"She is the one who misses her family,

even they are Zombies now.

The little Zombie girl can't sleep that long,

as she is a little kid that wants to play mostly all of the day.

She knows soon their parents will get up from their sleep

to share the joy of being a family even beyond death."

Zombie Girl

Privateer Press, 28 mm

If you like to vote for the little Zombie Girl

click here!

The next one is a comissioned Diorama that started with the Flesh Golem by Rackham.
At last year's painting class in Berlin I was asked by a participant if I want to paint that beast on comission and we had some brainstorm about the story beside as he wishes for a little diorama.It grew to the point that some Red Box Games Goblins are up to no good by touring around the graveyards to robb the goodies of the dead and you know: Never steal from the dead!

I really liked the idea of a Treasure Guardian that protects his masters gold with his lifeless magical body made out of Zombieflesh from those little nasty robbers. Another cool socket by Sockelmacher.de helped me realize it. And as you can see I have used some of Forged Monkey's Dayglow Pigments - they are pretty asskicking. Get yours here!

Treasure Guardian

Rackham, Red Box Games, 28 mm

If you like to vote for the Treasure Guardian

click here!

So far - soon more to come, but the Painting Class in Hamburg is gently rolling closer and time gets limited from now on I guess but you never know. Let me know what you think or just say "Banana" if you like to say something! I like the word Banana very much :)

For some painting music follow this link!
Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Work in Progress - Activity

2012-01-10T20:30:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... the neverending story of Activity :)

The Rhinotaure gets a bit further and I am soon reaching detail work on him - it is really a pleasure to paint. Also for my first serious attempt to do a Games Day Project I have today finished 0,1 % of it, but it is a good feeling to start already. Yes! :D

Soon some photos of finished stuff ... already in preparation!

Happy Painting!

Biker Daddy

2012-01-10T14:41:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong
created by robert, muhani, chimp

Hi.

Between black and white there are a thousands shades of grey and Robert aka muhani is still alive even some do not believe this news. Life and updating the article section with all the german translations from Mike - that are rolling in like Tornados everyday - and maybe some more spanish ones soon, keeps him pretty busy, but there is one thing I talked him into showcasing in the jungle, it is called Biker Daddy.

Robert and I, we have a very deep friendship and I am very thankful of that. Sometimes I also make fun of him as he does on me. I sometimes make fun about his lazy and slow miniature stuff he does. Just like little boys picking eachothter with sticks, you know. After he did not find the time to show you what I show you now I have asked him if I could do so, just for you to see because I think it is really something great again from his side. It is my honor and joy to write these lines :)

Biker Daddy

I had a very serious call by Robert two weeks before Christmas.
He has a project on his table about doing a gift for his girlfriend's dad and only 2 weeks are left.
The dad loves motorcycling and so they chose to buy a motorcycle and make something very cool for him. Robert did sculpt the rider, the Biker Daddy and did arrange everything final for the gift with helping hands in only 2 week and I was speechless after kidding around so often.

Please enjoy and see for yourself on the photos:

I love it, Robert and I really miss all my austrian buddies, except for you, Robert
- I miss you deeply! :)

Hope you like it!
Don't pay credits to me for posting it
- if you like it tell it to Captain Roberto via comment!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Green Stuff Winner!!!

2012-01-10T13:23:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa.

Sorry for the delay in this topic.
I completly did forget about the 7th for being the day of the draw, but I am back on track and will now present you the winner of Battlefield-Berlin's Big Green Stuff box.

We had 46 participants here on the blog via comments and 10 comments over on MV's facebook. Makes 56 in togehter, and I will now have to count. I now will take that number and use random.org to draw the winner.

It is ... comment 35,
FRik "Green is better ;)"

Congratulations to you - please sent an email with your adress information via jungle post to:
jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com
and your Big Green Stuff box will be sent to you soon!

Thank you for taking part - sorry that there was only one gift, but take care for future events like this in this massive jungle!

Sincerly,
Roman

Horseman Warrior - Step by Step / Part 1

2012-01-09T17:23:00.001+01:00

posted by Peter aka Baphomet

Hey my friends,

after I finished the Saracen some days before Christmas I was looking for a new and quite "simple" project to start 2012 properly. After a short time I found the right model in my box: the Sagitario-bust from Yedharo Models (sculpted by Fausto Gutiérrez). It was a small present from Roman after his return from Monte San Savino.

Right before Christmas I was in Berlin for a qualification test and stayed two days at Mati´s place. Here I wanted to prepare the bust for painting. I just thought to make some minor improvements, but Mati had a much better vision and simply resculpted big parts of the bust. The result was a completly new version of a horseman... a battleproved horseman warrior... a version I liked even more than the prior Indian influenced version and I was eager to start the paintjob... so at this point a special thanks to Mati for his big influence!

Basic Thoughts

I thought the small bust would be the right opportunity to try my new airbrush and to get some important experiences in handling it.

After priming the bust in white, I had two two possible ways to start the bust:

1) to begin with the brighter colours and do the shades afterwards
2) to begin with the shades and do the brighter colours afterwards

Raffa once told me to start with the bright colours and at first I wanted to follow his advice, especially as Roman was very succesful with this way. But while thinking about this point I was curious what would happen if I choose the second way (begin with the shades)? As there is no wrong way in painting I just started my small "experiment"...

I thought quite a lot about the colourchoice, but in the end I wanted to keep the colour-sheme quite easy. So I choose to make a simple brown horse, perhaps with some with dots :)

Airbrush:

1) First shade in Scorched Brown (GW)

2) Getting brighter with Scorched Brown (GW) & Bestial Brown (GW) --> 1:1

3) Bestial Brown (GW)

4) Bestial Brown (GW) & Snakebite Leather (GW) --> 1:1

5) Snakebite Leather (GW)

6) Bestial Brown (GW) & Bronzed Flesh (GW)

Some thoughts:

Doing the shades/darkest colours with the airbrush first is not the best way to start the miniature. As you see on the last picture the basic shade-colour is hardly to be seen on the bust anymore. In real you can see it still a little bit, but in fact I could also had skipped all the steps and started right with the last colour... well I tried and learned ;-) next time I will do it the other way!

After cleaning the airbush, it was time to use the good old brush!

Brushwork:

1) Basic work

As you already see on the last picture I started by giving every part of the bust its basic colours. As I learned from Roman in the last years, it´s very assistant for further painting to have the basic colours everywhere on your miniature before you continue. It helps you to get an idea in which direction your miniature is developing and how the different colours work together (hope you understand what I mean).

The metal-parts were painted in black (as a basic), the leather parts in a mixture of Dark Angels Green (GW) and Scorched Brown (GW), the hair was painted "wet in wet" with black and grey. While painting the hair I tried to highlight the more dominant streaks while the rest should stay darker.

2) Focus: Skin - 1

After doing the basic work on the miniature, I focused on the skin. The most important thought here was to give the skin some more intensive colour, as it has gone quite pale during the last step with the airbrush.

So I used layers of Bestial Brown (GW) to intensify the skin-colour.

The metal-parts were painted with Tin Bitz (GW).

3) Focus: Skin - 2

At this step I have to say sorry. I was at Roman´s place for a painting evening and totally forgot to take any pictures. I´m deeply sorry, but I will try to explain the steps I took:

If you compare the last two pictures you see that a lot happend with the skin-colour. After the last step the skin was quite orange, without any highlights or intense shadows.

To give the horseman a more natural skin-tone I used Bestial Brown (GW) and added Dwarf Flesh (GW) in smaller portions to work out the brighter parts of the bust (you can still see some orange on the cheek). As soons as there appeared any "unclean parts" in the blending, I used layers of the middle-tone to smooth these parts. For the snout and the forehead (brightest parts) I added a tiny amount of yellow to my colour. If you would only use Dwarf Flesh (GW) and white for the highlights the bust would look "chalky" and unnatual (thanks to Roman for the hint). To prevent this, add some yellow and afterwards (if needed) some white.

The shades here are quite rough as I focused primarily on the brighter parts. I mixed Bestial Brown (GW) and Scorched Brown (GW) to define the shades and added some Dark Sea Blue (Vallejo) to intesify them. In the next steps I will smooth these parts.

The scars are quite simple: I painted the basics with Dark Flesh (GW), added some Scab Red (GW), Dwarf Flesh (GW) and finally Elf Flesh (GW) to make them look like on the picture.

The leather changed just a little bit: I painted some small scratches with Ivory (Vallejo) and used some Inks (Devlan Mud (GW), Smoke (Vallejo), Sepia (Vallejo)) to make it look like old, used leather... but there is still a lot to do till it is finished. Click here for Roman´s tutorial for leather!

I hope I was able to explain you all the steps I took. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Either here per comment or via email:

baphomet[ a t ]massivevoodoo[ d o t ]com

Final:

Today Roman and Raffa will be here at my place and we will surely have a nice Monday-painting-evening. So I´m sure it won´t take too long till I will write Part 2 of this step-by-step...

Best wishes,
Peter

Still ...

2012-01-09T12:58:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... painting and already starting my first steps into the german Games Day preparations, big project ahead but it starts with so much small steps ... lalalalalaa, this is so much fun. If you are interested in Games Days I would suggest having a good read about over on Bestienmeister's blog ...

Wooott! Wooott! Musica!!! Yeahh! Yeahh!!

Tonight we will have our first Monday Painting Session at Peter's - dadadaaadddaaa! ... and I am shortly before finishing the big Goblin-Graveyard Diorama that will be called "Treasure Guardian", only some small things to do while already packing and preparing for next weekends painting class in Hamburg. I will take the Rhino to Peter's tonight and count my painting plan schedule soon to 3/4 or maybe 4/4 :)

Soon there will be final photos of the miniatures I have finished lately. I am just too busy at the moment with mostly everything. To all those waiting for a bigger filled email from my side, please be patient. I want to do this with the respect you deserve and my time is straight off the hook at the moment - I'll be at you as soon as possible and the winds chill a little bit ...

One Information I still got in my pocket - the new Tabletop Insider is soon available or already on the road and beside a lot of cool stuff you find there a big article about Matt's Slayersword winning Diorama of last years Games Day Germany. The mag is in german language only. Here you can find a pixeled preview of the upcoming issue.

Habbi Babbi Bainting ... still ;)
Sincerly
Roman

Painting Crusade IX

2012-01-09T10:42:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Brussels invites again to a wonderful Event and Competition for every Paintaholic in late February,
the Painting Crusade IX.

After Raffa, Oli and Ben been there last year I was told a lot of tales about the events wonderful mood and beauty. You can see photos from last year's ambiant here on facebook.
This year again a MV SQUAD will attend, including Ben, Oli, Raffa and myself and maybe more.

There is again - like every year a special Figure, sculpted by Loki that you can only get when attending to the event. This time it is a hooded gangsta with several different heads to choose from. Very unique and very funny in my eyes.

So see you there I would say! Can't wait to February.
But first it is time to celebrate January - thanks to Reef for a wonderful calendar on my wall and this short video of the shooting for January:

There is now a little area on the right navigation bar that links up events with banners were
MV SQUADS will appear. Check it on the right.

Best Wishes and happy painting so far!
Roman

Finished miniatures

2012-01-08T17:23:00.017+01:00

posted by Oli, HonourGuard, silver leaf

Finished Miniatures

On my last free day of 2 weeks without work, I want to show you some of the miniatures I finished in the last 3-4 months. Like on my last miniatures the two ladys from Darksword, I wanted to achieve a realistic atmosphere on the mini or especially on their bases.

Nothing more to say, here are the pictures, comments are welcome as always ;)

Arya Stark and King Robert:

Two great sculpts from Darksword, especially the small guy was a lot of fun to paint, I painted him on one day.

(click to enlarge)

The Last of the Mohicans:

This miniature reminds me of the movie "the last of the Mohicans" one of the best movies of all time. I wanted to capture this feeling or at least the scene of the movie, when the first Indian ran out of the forest.. :)

You should check the soundtrack of the movie, very inspiring.. for me, maybe for you too :D

The last of the Mohicans - Soundtrack

(click to enlarge)

Mid-Nor Bust:

This miniature is for sell, write me please if you are interested.

The miniature was done of a normal Mid-Nor Warrior from Rackham, by cutting of the half of his body, I didn't like the rest of the sculpt.

(click to enlarge)

I have to sell some of my miniatures in the future, I guess I paint too much. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

Let me know what you think about the miniatures,

I wish you a good start with working in the new year.. :D

Best regards, Oli

Work in Progress

2012-01-08T10:39:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Sometimes the fastest way to get there is to go slow ...

click to enlarge:

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes

Roman

No Pain, No Game ...

2012-01-07T15:58:00.006+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Always...
I got to say it again ... always ... when it is one of these days ...

... make sure your paint bottles are closed properly before you want to put them away. Hardcore make sure when your paint is Tamyia Clear Green. I don't often scream out "FUCK" out loud but this time I caught myself at it :D

At least it was green and fits to the jungle,
red would have needed some more explanations!
No Pain, No Game!

Airbrush Cleaner helped me some kind of fine -
but it smells like OUGH! in my painting place now... ouchy!

And some more musica - just love it:

Jar's Private Practice Information

2012-01-07T11:45:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

I want to tell you a little story...

After I did recieve an email by Melanie in late 2011 about asking me of giving private Painting lessons I was truely shocked and paralized. I wrote back and asked: "Are you sure about what you are saying and do you mean this serious?" She was completly yes ...

Ok, let me explain further.
Her boyfriend, Thorsten has visited one of my painting classes back in Wuppertal. As I was told he was painting much to learn and sometimes wished for another class he could visit. Melanie told me he dreamed about my long time announced "Advanced Class" that I am talking about for the last years due holding my "Beginner's Painting Class".

The time for the Advanced class comes closer as I myself have learned a lot from teaching the classes so far. Learned what I want to tell in my Advanced class and what I want to explain there to get a good connection to the first class, like building up a house with bricks. So far I can say there will be the first test run of my Advanced class next year with a top secret location so far and there are also plans for other special unique classes coming up in the future. The planning is not yet finished and it will all go step by step, you can read more for sure, when the time is ready.

Ok, back to Thorsten.
Melanie did not tell him anything. It was planned to be his Birthday gift to have some 14 hours of Private Practice here at my place due a time in the year while my lady is on holiday. So we planned, organised, planned and organised, managed a fair price for both of us and arranged everything to have the "present" ready for his birthday. I designed a gift coupon that he will get on his birthday. Everything went well and yes - I saw on this photo that Thorsten was really happy and we had a call one day after the birthday where we planned further steps, which include some Skype Sessions of planning the concept of the class together and getting it all prepared. The Private Practice will be during Whitsun 2012 and I feel it will get MASSIVE.

At this point I just want to let you both know, Melanie and Thorsten, that I did not forget about you, but as I told Thorsten already on the telephone I am pretty busy until the Painting class in Hamburg is over. I'll be at you then and the preparation can start - I am really looking forward to it and you will read me soon :)

IMPORTANT:
Information to others that might be interested in this sort of Brush Practice: there is no official announcement yet and I can't inform you about details at the moment. Also I won't be able to answer your emails properly about this topic. Before it gets official I want to have a test run with Thorsten first, before something like this personal close up practice will happen again. I would suggest that those interested in just keep it in the back of their minds. If you got Questions about this topic or just want to say "hi" or "Banana" you can hit the comments on this jungle posting.

I'll let you now about news :)

Happy Painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

PS: Melanie? It was my pleasure to plan everything with you and I was at least nervous like you during the days while the birthday reached.

Good Morning Music

2012-01-07T10:58:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

A wonderful weekend for everyone ... Mine is still full with painting :)

Already finished 2/4 projects - works fine as I am supported by fine music - soon there will be final photos and next week I already got to get prepared for a massive painting class in Hamburg, Germany - yeaha, so much looking forward to it ...

Happy Painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

20 Ways to good Karma

2012-01-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

20 Ways to Get Good Karma
Instructions for Life by the Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
     - Respect for self,
     - Respect for others and
     - Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and
    think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Quoting from here!

Work in Progress

2012-01-06T13:47:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Musica!

Kulmbach Miniature Museum Report at dieVincis

2012-01-05T23:34:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Those who missed this report should go check it on dieVincis or here
- thanks for posting it again Big Panda V:

Go check their site and the GoldenVinci,
the painting competition by dieVincis :)

Happy Painting all around!
I do nothing else today - mostly no distractions from it :)
Best Wishes
Roman

Quotes of MV

2012-01-05T10:37:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Some serious quotes by the apes from the last days:

"I would say life is something great and later on when you are at a point in life where the problems from today will be in the past you will get power from your past!"
Roman

"Updating the MV Tutorial Section with all the translations and updates seems like fighting good old ancient Hydra!"
Robert

And some Love to click!

Black and White with a little red WIP

2012-01-04T16:34:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Oha! !!
A painted base changes once more shortly before getting finished.
Ai! Ai! :D

Don't you forget to win some GRREEENNN STTUUUFFFF!!

Tutorial - Creating realistic arrows

2012-01-04T13:49:00.005+01:00

posted by Roman, Jarhead, kong

Creating realistic arrows in 28 mm

Just imagine a wounded Giant, picked with arrows or a barbarian fighting hordes of his enemies, his shield picked with arrows from cowards with bows and no skills in aiming. This little article is about arrows and how you can made them look cool for your 28 mm miniatures instead of using those bulky plastic ones you can find in some gaming sprues.

I did write this article for the german magazine Tabletop Insider.
It was published in german languaged in Issue 06.

You can also use accupuncture needles to achieve other effects, explained here.

Introduction

As told I don't really like the big plastic arrows from gaming sprues that look more like a crossbow bolt. To get your arrows way more thinner I recommand using accupuncture needles. You can get them easily in a high number by searching for them on ebay for example - IMPORTANT: when working with those needles take care, you can hurt yourself and they are not to be used for jokes or making fun with your friends.

When you open such a needle from its package, please take care - the needle is very, very dangerous. That is why you open it up from behind. Don't play around - I have warned you.

When you look at the needle now you see that you can only work with the thin front part. For sure the lower back might be good for something else too someday but not for arrows. I have used a calliper to cut off some arrow pieces in the size that I prefer.

The model on where I placed these arrows was painted a while ago.
Before I did place the arrows I already started painting the model and went further in the paintjob to have the overview about the overall composition in the end while adding the arrows. A tiny driller (0,2 mm) was used to drill into the painted model to create little holes where the arrows will be in the end. Make sure to drill a little deeper as if you won't the arrows can easily break.

I am not a fan of sculpted fletching when I already have so tiny arrow shafts. I want the fletching fit well to the delicate overall look. There is a little trick now. I just use thin paper that you take to roll cigarettes and cut out the pieces that I like to place. I use this kind of paper as it is even thinner than usual office paper.

I placed these tiny pieces by using matte varnish. After everything was dry the arrow shaft was painted and a gentle wash was applied to the fletching.

After this step I have finished the model. The model comes from Spherewars and is named "Hombre Toro". The fur on the back of the bull was done in this way.

I hope you liked this little article. Now aim well while shooting your arrows!
As always feel invited to leave a comment
and if you want to say thanks in any form
never forget that you can donate to the jungle!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Good Fight, good night ...

2012-01-04T03:45:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Oh dear
- I can't fight it ... you may click to enlarge!

Stay tuned for really amazing adventures!

MV Support Information!!

2012-01-04T01:10:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

A little information and a big thanks ...

to MINIATURE MENTOR who are supporting the jungle for the next 3 months. You can find their banner on the right navigation bar at the main page.

Now what is Miniature Mentor?

"Miniature Mentor is an online video library dedicated to the art of miniature painting and sculpting.
Our video instructors include Ben Komets, Thomas David, Allan Carrasco, Aragorn Marks, Jacques Alexandre Gillios and Jennifer Haley."

Check their homepage due the link above or the banner on the right to dive deep into the library!
There might be some closer looks into the library in the jungle sooner or later :)

Thanks for your support!

__________________________________________________________________________________

There is another banner in the article section that your company could use to support the jungle.
It is free since 1st of January 2012. Click on the banner there to get directed to more information:

__________________________________________________________________________________

Midnight Painting Music:

Tutorial - creating a little underwater world

2012-01-03T20:54:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa and blub! blub!

This little article shows a little insight on how I did the base of the Son of Ahab that I have finished as a Christmas gift lately. It fits well to the articles on how to create real water waves and how to create clam fouling on a boat.

The project was pretty short timed. So the base was a quick one too. I had a socket standing around where a saw was used to get sawdust for MAESTRO. The cuts were pretty randomly but I choose to use the socket anyway. Thanks to Sockelmacher.de at this point again for his cool socket. As already said the Son of Ahab was to travel in a walnut. So I did build up the base from pieces of the socket that I broke off - that is where the height comes from. Rip something off - place it elsewhere.

I wanted to create a little underwater feeling to the simple base so I have picked up some tiny shells I did get from Thomas on last years Painting Class in Soest. I also found some tiny and real corals that I also recieved in the past.

Next I have glued everything in place, primed it and painted the basic of the base.
I kept it simple as I knew I don't have much time and the coloured water will do the most of the effect later on.

The next step was adding more detail.
Therefore I have used thin iron sheet and a scissor and cutted small stripes on it. I did rework the stripes and cut thm sharp at one edge. Bend the way that I like them (take care they might be sharp and you can hurt yourself!) and prepared on cork it was priming time - for some small fishes from Busch's Small Animal Set too. After priming everything got painted and glued in place with superglue.

After everything was placed I have used some 2k Water to fill it up. I did put a little drop of Tamyia Clear blue into the 2k water during mixing it up. After the 2k water from Ziterdes that I use is a little bit yellow it turned out a little greenish - mixing yellow and blue makes green. After I did not have much time for doing the 2k water I had to rush a bit and put in a lot. I had to stabilize the sides with some plastic card pieces.

In the end I was pretty happy with the effect for a hurried project. Just some fun that adds a little detail to the project and maybe some inspiration to you. The spume on the water was done like explained in this article. Sadly I was a bit too much in a hurry and the water is not perfect but anyhow the one who got the Son of Ahab as a gift was damn happy.

I hope you liked this little article!

Keep on happy painting!

Roman

Joy of Painting

2012-01-03T14:59:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

What would that jungle be without painting sessions?

I was pretty close to finally cleaning up my workbench, but we already had a great painting session during yesterday's night time, in the end we went to bed around 6 o'clock in the morning, ai ai ai and I feel like I could clean again :D ... some impressions.

Anci and Raffa were drawing, after Anci went to bed it was only Raffa drawing, Peter paints on his Yedharo Horsemen bust and I started with a little girl from Warmachine and making ready to finish some other pieces ...

Happy Painting!
Roman

Work in Progress

2012-01-02T21:17:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Still a little bit to do ...

At last ...

2012-01-02T12:39:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

... but by no means least this means progress - still a lot to do :)

WARNING:
You won't understand this post by only looking at pictures - the jungle ain't a comic book.

Meanwhile due the waiting time until there is cleaned room for happy painting again I can show you another miniature I did as a Christmas gift for a very nice person. This time it was for Raffa's Lady, Anci and ... let me explain, but first musica:

I would love to call this one in a lot of names.
Not easy as there is much in it from the past.
Personal moods and private things.

For one you can see Raffa and Anci standing there as tiny figures which I got from Railroad equipment. On the other Hand you can see a part of Stonehenge, where I've read the book in the same name by Bernard Cornwell. I was telling Raffa a lot about this book and those evil Stoneage people, running around naked and fighting madly with primitve clubs. As we were standing outside the balcony, where the last months of 2011 have been occoupied by roof workers we found some dirt caused by them and we build up a little stonehenge that was protectet by the one and only, Batman ...

I did choose to keep those stones and planned a little gift for Anci.
I took the Stones with me to the painting class in Wetzlar and started building up a base there, also started painting on them, also explaining some brush techniques and there was also one of the participant who had some painting moments on it for a try out of the explained techniques.

Shortly before Christmas while doing all my gift stuff I did finish the piece. It is indeed nothing very special, but for me it has a lot of meaning so let me explain further. Raffa and Anci standing there, also there is one dog, you can call her Lassie, as she is there to protect both of them from undead stoneage zombies with primitive clubs. There is also a little ape hiding behind the stones. No ones knows what he is doing there, maybe he urinated at the stones, maybe he wants to scare Lassie or ... just let your imagination flow :)

I want to call this one "Californication II", as somehow it has the same feeling for me as the work of mine "Californication I". I would love to call it "Lassie". In the end I called it "my little SKYRIM", not "my little pony". Why Skyrim? Because as I found those cool stones too in the game and for me this is my little Skyrim - I hope you enjoy this little madness :)

My little SKYRIM

Scratchbuild, 15 mm

If you like to vote for

my little Skyrim - click here!
Wow - that is my 400th upload to CMON, yeaha!

As it was done in just a couple of painting hours you won't find painting perfection in it. It was just for the fun of it and here and there are still places that are not the cleanest, but Anci seemed happy and maybe she will read this text someday to get to know what is all behind this little piece :)

So much talk
- to those who did read that far you got my respect.
I hope it wasn't that boring. I now get back to some serious cleaning.

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Saracen: Final Pictures

2012-01-02T12:28:00.002+01:00

posted by Peter aka Baphomet

Hey guys,

first of all I wish you a Happy New Year :) May joy and happiness join you while you are travelling the road of your destiny...

But enough of this emotional blabla ;) let´s go into medias res.... some weeks ago I showed you quite crappy pictures of the Saracen... a day before Christmas Roman helped me with making better pictures and here are the results. Many thanks to Raffa who helped me with his awesome camera and the socket-sign. You can read there the date of the Battle of Hattin in its Latin and Arabic version. As most of you can´t read Arabic here ist the Islamic Date of Hattin: 25 Rabi' al-Thany 583 after the Hidschra.

Who is interested in the events around Hattin please check the following link: KLICK ME

And here the promised pictures :)

Keep on going your ways,
Peter

Two finished Darksword Ladys

2012-01-01T21:10:00.005+01:00

posted by Oli, Honour.Guard, silver leaf

Happy new year to all of you!

I finally made some pictures of 2 of my latest miniatures, which are really great sculpted. Darksword Miniatures got a new fan.. :D

In the last time, I try to achieve very realistic bases, with some kind of forest/fantasy/mystic feeling.. or something like that is in my head. I still testing around.. so many things to learn in this beautiful hobby. For example I sculpted my first trees, sculpting around 100 mushrooms.. haha :)

Beside this I am looking forward to the new year, to new projects, meet new people and friends, visit nice painting conventions, improve my skills.. many plans.. and for people that show their great stuff, like they did in the last year.

This miniature was a present for my mum, I thought this mini has some kind of the same lineaments, like my mother.

I think this is one of my favorite miniatures of all time, Tom Meier is a great artist. I am especially a fan of his perfect proportions and the smoothness, in sculpting in such a small size.

So far.. I hope to see some of you in the following months maybe in Paris, in Brussel, or in Ingolstadt at the Duke of Bavaria :D

Best regards Oli

Comments are very welcome:)

Son of Ahab

2012-01-01T19:35:00.004+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa and I hope all of you arrived well in 2012.
I think a good start into the new year is to show some finished miniatures again as I am still cleaning that damn workspace :D

This one is the Son of Ahab.
The little fella will be availabe by an upcoming company from Italy, called phlegyasart.
Many thanks to Alessandro for the gift in Italy. There will be some cool and cute figures of Tales and Stories in their range. At the moment I am not allowed to tell more but in the future I will.

This model was painted pretty quick as a Christmas gift to my girlfriends brother who loves fishing.
It was done in about 2~3 days beside some more Christmas gifts and that is why there are many spots that don't look perfect in painting and for sure in the 2K water effect - I was a bit in a hurry :) - In the end I made a brother very, very happy about it and that is what counts for me - that is why I did it. Actually he is not painting miniatures at all and did not see something bad. Normally the Son of Ahab stands on top of a book, sadly I did not find the book again so I made him sail in a walnut. Did you recognize the Moby Dick puppet he caught?

Son of Ahab

phlegyasart, 28 mm

If you like to vote for the Son of Ahab

- click me!

It was fun to do this quick project and a pure joy to see the gift in the hands of the new owner.
There will be a little article about this project soon.
So far, I wish everyone a good start in 2012.

Happy Painting to you all!

Sincerly
Roman

PS: Check the Miniature for Sale area - there is a big winged update there!

Good Morning Music

2012-01-01T12:06:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

MASSIVE HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2011-12-31T17:22:00.007+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa to all jungle visitors,
jungle friends,
jungle family and jungle ... uhm, inhabitants :)

It is about time for me. Some Kong Fu.
Time to let loose of the verbal artillery to celebrate 2011 gone soon and to welcome a new year on the horizon - before I start with some melancholic words and thoughts the Jungle wants to wish you all the best for the upcoming new year 2012 - a gentle slide into it or party hard, whatever you prefer.

May health be holding your hand on the road you walk, let a honest heart guide your way and let a peaceful mind without too much trouble guard your soul.

A Happy New Year to all of you
and the best to you all! (not only in Painting Joy)

For sure the jungle wants to wish you a lot of Happy Painting in the new and virgin year.

I did ask around to all the monkeys if they want to add some personal Ape New Year Review to this posting - just recieved one so far.Here goes a little personal review from Phil of the monkeygang:

"2011 – A Kinergarten year
This year was for me all about learning the basics. A total painting and sculpting class year. From february to december at least one class or visit at Mati's place a month. Those weekends were like litte vacations. Traveling, meeting new people and lerning new skills. Good stuff. Especialy because I had a lot of work and not much time for the hobby besides those little vacations. Later this year it turned into meeting friends, learning deeper techniques and my personal hobby highlight for this year: Beeing asked to join this jungle :)

And what about 2012?
From january/february I will have a big change of pace. Less work, less money, but more time and more fun. Hence a more joyful life. My goal is to finish at least one figure every two weeks. Even if it's just a quick speedpaint. Also I want to draw more. A love I neglected for a way to long time. Makes me feel sad. The traveling will go on aswell. I am going to visit The Duke of Bavaria for sure and will hopefully meet all of the monkeys. Also I want to visit the Monte San Savino Show. The impressions Roman and Raffa brought were just to amazing and it's a good opportunity to combine a hobby travel with a vacation with my girlfiend and maybe visiting some relatives in Italy.

I wish you all the best for 2012
Phil"

Happy Painting?

Honestly, before I can write further about Painting I got to clean up my workspace from a pretty mess to a shiny start for the new year. Here is the pretty mess in its actual state and I really got to wipe out that chaotic mess ...

...

Ok, 2 hours passed and mostly nothing happened :D - I did not expected this - I just planned to clean a little bit here and there and be finished soon, but no way. I only have made a big ceremony of cleaning my brushes. I won't make it today that is for sure now - that wasn't what I have expected but in the end I am looking forward to the next days when the cleaning process reveals some shiny blinky blinky spots on my table again :)

This Fail above, for example means Happy Painting to me.
I have planned to clean up my place today to be,
extremely ready for the painting in the new year.
I have failed. I will do it tomorrow and remove the smear.
I won't be angry or disapointed, improving steady,
painting with joy when the time is ready.
I enjoy cleaning the brushes, make them soft like a dove
and cherish the little things and moments I love.

I hope there will be a lot of Happy Painting for you in the upcoming year, too.

2 hours of work brought me this far ... harhar!

Conclusion
I had planned to write a big review about the last year, about what big things happened in the jungle, about events, projects and all that stuff that keeps MV alive BUUUUTTTT in the end I also failed in that. Now what can I say? I think there is no need to describe the vibe of MV and reviewing it. Cherish the past and look in the future. Every jungle visitor feels the vibe I think, at least that is what most of the people I write emails with or I've met tell me.

So why write a thousand words about it, sometimes words are not able to describe a mood.

Important for me and I think I speak out for every member of MV's Ape Family when I say that 2011 was a very nice year. A year of very much happening here in the jungle, around the places, a year of meeting and getting to know new friends, no duck and cover, just straight Happy Painting. The biggest thanks go out to you - our readers, those who help and support, those who comment, those who fill this little living room of friends up with life.
Thank YOU very much!

There are two things I want to share with you now - two things I really cherish - first one is are my favourite sayings and quotes by Mahatma Ghandi - I really have this close to my heart, I can just recommand it to try for yourself:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony!"


"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."

The other thing is something I have learned during ... oh dear, a long, long time ago when I was playing active and professional basketball. Learn to fail by Michael Jordan (english, french subtitles).

In the end I like to show you a little video that aims on the things really important in life and the place where you carry them - Mr. Jordan again (damn, I really learned a lot from him when I review the past) ...

The Massive Voodoo Crew wishes you a blessed new year!
And be sure that the year 2012 is getting M.A.S.S.I.V.E.

:)

I now will pick this post with some randomly chosen photos of MV, last year - so don't be confused - just enjoy.

Could be continued but I stop here - hope you enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Bor Skallagrim

2011-12-30T16:29:00.003+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

I don't want to spam the blog with Skyrim stuff, BUT in these rare times that I enjoy playing the game I really have a lot of fun with my Character "Bor Skallagrim" ... and this game really is an inspiring change for a working miniature painter ... It is really fascinating what habits and quirks I develop during saving this land called Skyrim from dragons and rabbits - Most important for me: Collecting Skulls and putting them in my house :D

I think this posting is already pretty nerdy so I won't show my skull collection :D - rather enjoy some music while swinging da brushes :)

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Joy of Painting

2011-12-30T13:07:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Still everything in Progress, just relaxed painting without any pressure - some finished projects ahead, maybe :)

Inspirational Fus-Ro-Dah!

2011-12-30T12:29:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Inspiration is everywhere - on a million spots in the internet as well as in the simple things in life. Here is a little collection of what kept me inspired the last weeks, taken from my big list I want to clean off a little bit before 2012 arrives - Many thanks to those who sent me inspiration once in a while, it is always a pleasure to read your thoughts and see those videos to them - thanks for the addition to my own collection - I hope you enjoy:

MINIATURE RELATED STUFF

Step by Step - Abyssal Warlord boxart by Banshee (facebook)

Stalingrad Resin Figures
Step by Step - Stones by Julien Casses
Gunpla/Plamo Tutorial Videos
Step by Step - Eldar wings by Sproket
Nurgle Chaos Lord by dre4mit
Casey Baugh: Step by Step
Jamie Salmon Art Gallery
Step by Step - Dance Morko Dance
The Lord Inquisitor Trailer

BLOGS
I recently cleaned up the right blog roll as there have been many blogs without any news for about half a year. I have also added some new ones I am reading actually.

Military Models by Alfons Cánovas
Romain Van den Bogaert
Tabletopblog (german)
Blackwood Forest

MUSIC

Andy McKee
Souls of Mischief - Propet Aim
DMX - Where da Hood at
Soul Assassins feat. Dr. Dre & B.Real - The Puppet Master
Animals singing
Freestylers feat. Belle Humble - Crack

RANDOM INSPIRATION

Tribute to Ridley Scott
Earth
Kim Jong-il looking at things blog
Great Costume
Chevy Sonic - Sky Dive
Dominance War - Massive Art Challenge Online
Two Handed Drawing of Portraits
DEISIGN
Monk
Jesus
Memories of Summer
Queue
Said
What Children drawings would look like, if ...
1983 - 2005
Vivid new Battle of the Bulge photos
The Slots are coming

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Landscapes: Volume One from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

So far - inspirational clean up - done, read ya soon!

Introducing: Forged Monkey!

2011-12-29T12:47:00.000+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,....

Heeeey everyone!

Fiiiiinally everything is setup and i may introduce to you my personal project.... Forged Monkey!

As you can see, at the moment my webshop offers different kind of busts, dayglow colors and spiderweb pack.

New products are already in development as for example conversion kits and the ronin that was shown shortly here on the blog.

I hope you enjoy the shop and i would really enjoy to get feedback on the website and the products, just use the contact form on the website!

The finished promo paintjobs will soon be shown here on the blog, too :)

Have a good start in the new year!
Raffa

Just Wohoo!

2011-12-29T11:44:00.001+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Thanks to Thomas for sharing this video with me - totally stunned I am ...

Tutorial - Realistic Spiderwebs

2011-12-28T23:56:00.005+01:00

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,....

Hello dear reader!

I know many, many, many people asked for this tutorial for a long time and it was really annoying to keep it a secret... but today this will change ;)

In the beginning i will write a small introduction:
At first i discovered this effect by mistake, as i always experiment with new stuff sometimes i put weird stuff on my brush and airbrush and one of this experiments was finally bringing some nice effect....

So to achieve the effect you need the following:
- Airbrush with middle-big sized nozzle (0,03-0,06mm nozzle will work for sure)
- Pelikan Antique Varnish (german: Pelikan Krakelee Reißlack) - Buy it here to support me :)
- Water
- Something to spray it on :)

Ok, to start some important notes:
- The effect is good for display miniatures because it will stay a little fragile.
- It is not hard, it will stay flexible just like real spiderwebs.
- it will be destroyed by too much wind and/or water.
- like real spiderwebs these spiderwebs will connect between two points of your object.
- spray after everything is painted, spraying before basecoating will destroy the webs.

Now to get the effect just put a small amount of water in your airbrush FIRST and then add some of the Pelikan Antique Effect to your airbrush.
The ratio is about 20% water, 80% PAE...

Too much water and no spiderwebs will be created and old spiderwebs will be destroyed.
Too much PAE and you can't spray the mix with your airbrush.

Now to spray the webs on your mini you have to spray with very very low pressure and large color amount. On a double action airbrush this means you have to pull your lever to the back and then press it down very gently.
If you got the right mix and pressure your airbrush will make some special sound (almost whistling) and you will see spiderwebs appearing slowly.
Don't spray with too much pressure or your webs will be just blown away.

The effect is not 100% controllable, you will see spiderwebs appearing on your workbench at the sides of where you are spraying (just a warning)... you can "catch" these floatingwebs with your mini to add some more webs :)

To add more webs, just continue with spraying more spiderwebs slowly, don't overdo it with your pressure or you will loose some of your old webs....

So, that's about all the secret.... and a lot of trial and error ;)
You have to get some experience with this stuff to use it in a perfect way....

And now for "the most important" step...
AFTER SPRAYING THIS EFFECT, CLEAN YOUR AIRBRUSH CAREFULLY.
The PAE will really cog your airbrush badly if you don't clean it right away!

If you want to support me in any way for sharing one of my long kept secrets you can buy the Liquid you need for this effect in my webshop that will launch officially tommorow!
Here's the Link

Hope you liked this tutorial and i hope to see spiderwebs on many miniatures in the future!

Cheers,
Raffa

Big thanks for support!

2011-12-28T19:41:00.002+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Big jungle gratitude to

... for supporting the jungle in December.

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For those who don't know Battlefield-Berlin make sure you take a look on their massive online store where you can get everything a Miniature Lover's heart beats for. They also have a brand new local store in Berlin, bigger, better and bigger - check the reopening report from the Apes here!

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WIN SOMETHING BIG!

There is a little gift from the guys of Battlefield-Berlin for our jungle readers that you can win.
You are able to win a big roll of Green Stuff for your daily hobby care and sculpting work.

How to win?

To win the massive green stuff box you have to be a follower/subscriber of MassiveVoodoo (check on the right please!) or you have to be a fan on Facebook: CLICK

After being sure of that simply hit a comment on this posting, here or on the facebook link to this posting with your ID. No Anonymous posts will be allowed. Only one comment per person.

On 7th January 2012 I will randomly (http://www.random.org) choose one of the comments and one winner will get the green stuff box.

You don´t have to pay any shipping or anything else.
The Jungle ships worldwide :)

Musica!
... and out!

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Work in Progress - Activity

2011-12-28T17:32:00.000+01:00

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Just can't stop painting :D - straight Work in Progress ...

A question of attitude...

2011-12-28T16:48:00.002+01:00

posted by Peter aka Baphomet

Feeling well is a question of attitude...

Regards,
Peter