Heyho, I am the new monkey in this jungle. My name is Philip or the macaque and I live with my wonderful girlfriend in Cologne, Germany. It is a huge honor for me to be among all those crazy creative people here.

Some words about how I got into this hobby. If you don't like blah blah just skip to the last paragraph …

When I was about 18 I painted my first few miniatures. A couple of months later I already dropped the hobby. Why? Because I had no inspiration or influences. Last years fall and more than a decade later I wanted to give my girlfriend a bonsai as a gift. I thought a little samurai would be nice under the tree. So I was looking for a little samurai on ebay. And then it happend. I stumbled upon miniature sites and I instantly wanted to paint again. But … I was very busy working that time so I started to devour tutorials like a baby milk on mamas breasts.
When I bought some basic equipment I began to wake up early, very early, just to have some time to paint before work. I took my miniatures to work so I could prepare them in the train. Somehow I got into Space Marines and started a Blood Angles army. I never intended to play wargames. I never even liked armies. I thought it would be the best way to learn and get into routine. I was wrong.

In february I attended for the first time at a painting class of Roman and Raffa in Munich. 

The most important lesson I learned at my first painting class was to release the bonds in my head. Just let your creativity float, the rest will happen by itself. If you have been to one of Kong's classes you know what I mean, otherwise you should do it.

Magic moment two – Try the unknown. 

When I was back home I learned there was a sculpting class by Mati close to my hometown. I thought, let's try it, you have nothing to lose. I had never touched Sculpey or Greenstuff before, but sculpting was love at first sight, thanks to Mati I quickly found a good sense for material, tools and shapes, as he is very good at identifying your mistakes and leading you to the right way. OOMMMM.

A few months later I attended my second painting class of Roman. At this workshop I painted a non GamesWorkshop miniature at 54mm for the first time. I converted a King Maulg into a Viking Björlg. Woohoooo. Much more fun than a Space Marine. There was no need to be afraid of larger and detailed miniatures after all.

I am pretty sure it will happen at Matt and Ben's painting class I just registered for. I am really looking forward to learn from these two insane monkeys, too!

Without this jungle and all its tutorials, classes and inspiration I could have never learned so much in the last year. I hope I can give you monkeys some inspiration back someday. But for now I am just a Padawan …

Enough jibber jabber! You can find some of my recent miniatures on my still empty cmon gallery.

See you soon,

Phil