Name: Petra aka. Petrelka (yes, I listen to both names)

Job: Software developer & engineer (as well as a part-time Quality Assurance person, aka. "automated bug-finder")

Painting: first phase between 1997 and 2001, mainly D&D characters and a having a little look into wargaming; after a longer pause I directly went into display painting around 2015 until now.

Media: mainly acrylics (Scale artist, Kimera, a bit of Mr. Paint, P3, Schmincke and AK), inks by W&N and Liquitex. I am also currently trying out other color mediums, like gouache and aquarelle and trying to figure out how to incorporate them into my painting.

Brushes: Still a Wamp brushes kickstarter and Broken Toad Mk. 2 fangirl, while currently looking for alternatives (Rosemary, DaVinci, Isabey & Miniwarpaint brushes are currently on my table). I use a huge variety of no-name brushes for going wild on bases and doing first sketches, where I don't need to worry a lot for wear & tear of those tools.

Miniatures: I like a lot of things, but it seems to concentrate mostly on fantasy and cyberpunk (looking at my pile of opportunities), no matter if full-body or busts. I am neither an army painter, nor a big fan of over-sexualized content (still waiting for the day when gravity again reigns over boob size gravitation ;)).

Scale models: I don't like to paint and build huge models. So I never really got into the Revell model building scene. But (!) I did build a couple of Star Trek ships (back in the Voyager time), and I fell in love with the complete SeaQuest DSV model line from Monogram (back in the days). And, oh well, I am still looking for the Deep Space Nine model with fiberglass lighting - but that most probably will stay a dream. :)

Sculpting: Ohhh, I have loads of ideas in my head - but ... well ... getting them out is still a bit hard; learning curve and such things are steep. I am dipping my toes into that field as well, but nothing to show yet.

Inspirational Miniature Painters: You? Yes, definitely must be you! (I still find that most of us carry a load of inspiration that just waits to be seen)

Other hobby shenanigans: I occasionally write short stories. I play in a marching band. I actually also paint on other things, like computers, laptops, fridges, brush boxes, entire walls … sometimes even on canvas.

Gallery: putty&paint – most times not up-to_date, but I'm trying :)

The tl;dr:
Hey, my name is Petra and I like to put paint on minis. :)

The long version:
So, who's here for the long introduction? Get something to drink, switch to your comfy pants and here we go! Welcome to the jungle that is also called »my mind«.

My name is Petra, I am located in NRW, Germany and started painting when I was around 15 - a time when I also first encountered D&D with my local writers group (yep, also doing some creative writing every now and then). Everyone of our newly formed D&D group wanted to paint their gaming mini, and this is how it all started.

Back then I just started with a couple of white metal minis, some Games Workshop stuff (but already found out that I never will be an army painter) and some wonderfully huge LotR dragons by Mithril Miniatures. I really liked the Skaven armies - and then Mordheim appeared; I was super excited because you did not need a whatever-many-points big army and the small skirmish sets also looked like one could paint them in an evening. So, I bought a couple of sets, painted them, but never really found a group to settle with - mainly because tabletop gaming groups were not much sought after in my school days (at least when it came to girls). We did play a lot of Magic, tho. :)

Then Rackham's Confrontation crossed my way and Warmachine, and whatever my little comic book store could get hold of. So I painted (and all without this thing called Internet) and wondered whether I am just a weird person for having weird hobbies that do not even comply with the "local (male) nerds": I went to creative writing courses for short stories, and we also published a book. During this time I also started making music in a marching band; and never was interested in going to the club or hanging out with other people on weekends. I painted miniatures, read books, and wrote stories. By now I would say: a very regular introvert person (didn't know about that concept back then, though). So, artistry is all over the place, and I choose to ... develop into software engineering. Sounds weird? It absolutely is not - because there also lies a lot of creativity in writing code.

During college, I completely stopped painting, mainly b/c it was too expensive and there were other things to focus on. Fast forward to ~2015, when I rediscovered the hobby, dusted off my Citadel colors (at least some of them had not been completely dried out at that point), took out some still unpainted Mordheim minis and ... uhm ... quickshade (well, it gets the job done!). I found out that there are people on this so-called "Internet" who also like to paint individual miniatures (and not hordes of similar looking marines). I stumbled over Painting Buddha and found my first painting community with lots of chats, and some of these friendships still last until today. By that time, I occasionally stumbled over tutorials by Massive Voodoo, and sometimes saw that they announced painting workshops. But every time something was happening near my place, it was sold out in a flash. So I only watched (and admired) the MV team from afar.

Let's talk about workshops! I had my first painting workshop ever with Meg Maples in Berlin at the end of 2015, and she helped so wonderfully to reignite the fire for painting that this time I stayed in the hobby. Since then, I also joined a lot of other workshops by a lot of very different and very talented people - because this is how I learn best: seeing magic happen in real life. I aim for one workshop a year to leave my brain some time to digest the information and incorporate it into my painting. It’s a journey with a pace that suits me, and I believe everyone of you will find (or have found) their own best way of learning and speed.

And while we are at pace and speed: going to shows and conventions was also a very new thing for me. 2017 was my first Scale Model Challenge (and since then I regularly join SMC), 2018 I joined Paint-O-Palooza (an event by the former Painting Buddha crew) in Berlin. During the last Duke of Bavaria in 2019 I had the wonderful pleasure to meet a couple of lovingly weird human beings, who not only shared the same nerdy hobby as me, but also kept Massive Voodoo up and running - and by now I can call a lot of them friends. In 2022 I visited my first ever World Model Expo (oh boy, that was huge and awesome!) and traveled to the Monte San Savino Show. And I am so looking forward to finding all those little gems of shows over the next few years!

Pace, speed, journeys ... what else is there? Imagination and creativity! Well, I must admit: I am a rather slow painter - or better said: a very fast idea finder, but super slow in setting those ideas into practice; because there are literally thousands of them that I have on a daily basis. By now I keep a journal to get them out of my head, otherwise I would never even start, as the next crazy idea is around the corner and just a glimpse away. Some of my friends also call me a "hobby butterfly", as I start things and then put them aside in favour of other projects. I guess that's just how I roll, and having a clear vision from start to finish line ... is just not one thing I normally follow. I don't just want to "paint it like the box art", but aiming for telling a story, to do a crossover between two mostly unrelated topics maybe, or want to try out a new concept that I thought about. Honestly, the thing never comes out the way I imagined it - but that's also the fun part: having a plan, throwing the plan away in the middle of making, and after finishing then analyzing what I have learned. It takes super-long in comparison to other ways of painting and planning a project, but then again I enjoy the process more than the finished result. This is also why I have a ton of half painted miniatures in various degrees of progress sitting on my shelf, but seldom finish them. But then again, maybe this is why I am also here? :)

I also don't have a "favorite" color - it seems like I unconsciously try to use all of them in every piece I paint. So, one of my "new years" resolutions for each mini actually sounds a bit like "but this time I try to reduce my color palette for real!". Maybe one day I can make this come true, but today ... is not that day!

And with all of this said and written down, I hope you are still awake enough to be able to get some more colors onto your gray army, because:

Hey all,

David's back again with another look back to an older project I finished a long time ago and only ever hit the blog in my introduction post. However, I decided I needed to show it here for two reasons. First, my jungle brother Roman took a few nice new pics during the Massive Voodoo family's recent stay at the studio (read all about that wonderful weekend in this blogpost).

Second, this is one of my dearest and most important projects. I started it during Roman's Advanced Class in early 2016 (YES, it's been that long...). The workshop's goal was to learn how to paint atmosphere, and I wanted to challenge myself and aimed to portray the original dwarf maiden as a "Massai" warrioress called Moran (the Massai word for warrior). The conversion included making her a new weapon, cutting her mohawk, and - of course - creating the typical Massai necklace.

After the workshop, as is usual for me, I did not immediately finish her, but put her into my cabinet. However, I still very much liked her and decided I would take her out again, start all over and prepare her for the Herzog von Bayern competition 2017. And that's what I did.

As I said, Moran has a special place in my heart as not only did I learn so much from her, and not only was it pure pleasure to paint and convert her - it was also the first time that I participated in the "masters" category in a competition. And because it is so special to me, I gave it to my jungle brother Roman, as a little "thank you" for the many years and moments of inspiration, learning and painting joy! It makes me proud to know that Moran has a special place in your cabinet!

Thanks for your interest, talk to you soon. Best,

D.

p.s.: the project (with the old pics) is also on Putty & Paint if you feel like voting :-)

Ladies and gentlemen,

it's David again with another look back to a little 1/72 vignette I finished a long time ago but haven't shown on the blog. The reason I'm showing it now is that my jungle brother Roman took a few nice new pics during the Massive Voodoo family's recent stay at the studio (read all about that wonderful weekend in this blogpost).

The vignette is based on a 1990s US mechanized infantry soldier from Zvezda. Since I wanted to build a night scene, I scratch-built the night-vision goggles from polystyrene sheet and rods.

The whole project was built and painted for a project exchange with my friend Peter Müller (Yoshi), who loves Zombie and Post-Apocalypse themes. So, I built this little tongue-in-cheek scene which is seen through a night-vision gadget, showing a soldier on his night shift guarding an internment camp where zombies are held in containment. I envision the guy just shouting orders to stay back to a bunch of pro-Zombie protesters approaching the fence shouting slogans like: "Tell 'ole Pharaoh: Let the Zombies go!", and "Zombies are people too!"

Thanks for your interest, talk to you soon. Best,

D.

p.s.: the project (with the old pics) is also on Putty & Paint if you feel like voting :-)

Hey all,

it's David once again with a glimpse into the past... and a look at a project I finished some time ago. Today, I want to show you a little vignette that I created for a good friend of mine who is a retired teacher of Latin, History and Classics. It depicts his favorite Greek philosopher, Epicurus of Samos, who proposed the beautiful idea of striving for a good and fulfilled yet simple life. Ataraxia is a core term of this philosophy, describing a state of mind of tranquility, peace and freedom from what today we would call stress. The little vignette imagines Epicurus standing in his garden, enjoying the rays of the beautiful Mediterranean sun and being in a blissful state of Ataraxia. I am super happy to say that my friend really liked the miniature and that it has found its place in a beautiful spot of honor in my friend's house. Thanks for your interest. Talk to you soon! Best,

D.

p.s.: The project is on Putty & Paint, if you feel like leaving a vote.