posted by roman, jarhead, kong

Aloa and good morning into the jungle...

Here goes the review of the last beginner's painting class held last weekend in Wuppertal/Germany. I know there are already a lot of these reviews and i hope it ain't boring for you the readers. They might sound similiar somehow, saying thanks here and there and talking about the class. This time i'll try to find some other words :)

First, thanks to Bernd for the local organisation. Second, big thanks to everyone who did participate in the class and your helping hands during the weekend. It was a really nice weekend full of colour and theory. The idea behind this beginner's class is to take those intrested in by hand and lead them into my way i work with miniatures. Sharing my thoughts about colours in full theoretical force by looking at artworks and learn to feel the colours, technical practice and mostly fun. I am drifting...

I will make a little picture show now and explain everything above the photos. Raffa and I went to Wuppertal by car already on the road we managed to catch some weathering inspiration, always keep your eyes open, everything is out there, you just got to paint it:


The workshop location was a real surprise as it was right in the middle of the city itself. The oldest building in Wuppertal, an old church which is used by the CVJM, a christian organisation which keeps an eye out for the local youth - thanks to the CVJM for letting us use such a great place for the joy of colour - here are some photos, the church even smiled at us:


The room the class took part was fine and everything was ready for setup and preparation, i am that big bald guy there, but that is not really important:


After everything was ready for setup we worked our way through a lot of theory and preparation and basing of the models. I am talking about colour theory, light and shadow and much more it is essential to have good examples you can talk about. I am using some paintings out of art history and some modern graphics to explain myself. Every picture is shown with the link to the copyright owner and the links are also written in the final handout PDF of the class everyone gets afterwards. If you are intrested in my favourites from deviant.art check them here - those are mostly pictures I love and enjoy, by really great artists. You might have to register to see all because some are with adultery material - my favourites at deviant.art.


There was a little surpise for the participants included. The one who uses a special piece in his base was rewarded later on with a painted goblin by me. No one used the treasure chest which was the first pick to win the model. The second option was using a small butterfly on his base and in the end we had a winner of this model, nothing special at the model but a really funny addition to the class i hope :)


After a lot of practical views at my thoughts and techniques while painting it was up to the participants to use the things i was trying to teach. The main focus at the beginner class is showing a fast way to paint up nice looking gaming miniatures, showing extreme colour theory (in my eyes it is better to reduce an extreme that was experienced instead of searching it the other way), showing a way to understand and feel colours, using zenithal lightning and understand it, painting techniques to achieve fast and well looking results and much more... we did start painting on Saturday at around young afternoon... the results have been breathtaking in my eyes for the short time we did really use as painting time. Sure there are a lot of things to think and work further but time is limited at such a weekend. There is a advanced class planned that will go that path, planned to start in 2011. I was really happy about all the models, i felt that everyone took a big a step in his personal Happy Painting experience due the weekend and i was sad when time run out like crazy on Sunday... thanks to all the participants for their great input and feedback - there is a lot of work still to do in the class and i am thankful i can improve it again... here are some impressions of the class:



The award for the most awkward looking ape moment goes to myself i guess - ug! ug!


In the next picture stream you can see the finished class models of the participants, again i've used Games Workshops 28 mm Deaomonettes as they invite everyone for going to extremes when it comes to colour theory and its practical use (in my eyes it is better to reduce an extreme that was experienced instead of searching it the other way). I won't show all as this might take too much time for me to load them up and too much time for you to enlarge them :)


Raffa also managed to take a walk and he droves the Wuppertaler trolley conveyor and took some nice shots while droving, pretty cool, a must see - i wasn't able to but i love photos very much:


Bernd also showed us the spire of the workshop location - it felt like Assassin's Creed somehow, haha and me, kong really lives on the ground, i felt a bit of vertigo in my abdomen.







Keep on happy painting and thanks again for a great weekend in Wuppertal!
Regards
Roman