Hey!

A paintjob for my private collection of Ilyad Miniatures.
You can see my so far painted collection in the lowest photo.

She is supposed to look like waving a spell just right in this moment, magic is happening, the ground is shaking and breaking up and ... soon boom!

Hope you like her!
If you are interested in creating magic effects on your models check this link:
Tutorial - How to create magic effects on miniatures









You can also find her on Putty&Paint to drop a vote if you like!
Thank you!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Hello Jungle Painters,

time again for a tutorial on Massive Voodoo.
Again it is our pleasure to announce Matt DiPietro as a guest author with a very cool topic in his article.

We hope you enjoy the read and say big thanks to Matt who took his time
to write this article for you all! Now let's hear what Matt has got to tell!



_______________________________________________________

Hello!!
It is good to be invited back to the jungle so I can share some step-by-steps with you. I owe a big

thanks to Roman for making this possible.

If you are wondering who is this guy?
You can find out a little bit about me at the beginning of my first guest article HERE.

Using Feathers in miniatures, by Matt DiPietro

In some of my recent works, I have had interesting results  playing with found objects and natural materials. I like to go for long hikes either through the city or the forests and mountains of my home, and in my travels, I always have my eyes open for strange materials or unusual objects to use in my projects. 



In particular, feathers have been a common theme in some recent work. I have used them for a variety
of effects, and I will share three uses with you in the following article. First we need to learn some things about the various types of feathers.

There are three types of feathers, each with its own unique properties. You cannot substitute one type of feather for another. This means learning how to identify each feather type is essential if you want to recreate these effects.

My feather collection ...


One type of feather is the down feather. This feather comes from the body of the bird where it shields against wind and insulates from the cold. A down feather is relatively small with a curved shaft to match the shape of the bird’s body. The down feather is also split into two parts: a fluffy part near the base and a feathery part near the tip. These two parts have different uses and the down feather tends to be more useful than other types of feathers.
 
The Down Feather in detail:



The second type of feather is the aerodynamic or flight feather. These feathers come from the wing or tail of the bird. Wing feathers have thick rigid shafts, are asymmetrical, and have limited uses. Tail

feathers have rigid tapering shafts, are symmetrical, and tend to be much more useful than wing

feathers. The defining characteristic of all aerodynamic feathers is dense plumage that sticks to itself.

You can check this by grabbing part of the feathering and pulling upwards along the shaft. If it is an

aerodynamic feather, the feathering will stick rather than separating. This property traps air allowing the bird to fly.

The Flight Feather in detail:


The third type of feather is the specialty or cosmetic feather. These are feathers that the bird uses only for display. Not every bird has them and their properties vary wildly between species. This picture shows one type of specialty feather I have actually used on miniatures. It comes from the tail of a chicken notice how it differs the other feathers we have studied.

The Cosmetic Feather in detail:





Using Feathers in Miniatures - Examples

Part 1: A feather in the hat

This first piece is a steam punk themed freedom fighter. She is a deadly sniper who takes trophies from the greedy noblemen and corrupt politicians she slays.


You can find additional angles here on Putty&Paint.

To make the feathered hat, we will use the small structures from a down feather.


Separate a number of the strands from the tip of the down feather. If you look closely, each strand looks like  a tiny micro-feather.



The micro-feathers are attached using a pair of locking tweezers. One at a time, dip the base of each
micro-feather in a pool of CA glue and arrange carefully on the model. Glue accelerant is helpful for this delicate task. Take your time and have extra feathers to allow for mistakes.





Part 2: The master fletcher

Sometimes I have a crazy idea that I just need to try to see if it is possible. For this miniature from Studio Mcvey I wanted to try replacing the arrow fletching on the model with real feathers!



Some additional angles are here on Putty&Paint.


First, trim the tip off an aerodynamic feather. Use a fresh blade for your knife as this procedure is very delicate.



The next step is to trim all the micro-feathers off one side. Then trim away the micro-feathers from the other side so that only a few millimeters are left.



Cut the remaining piece into sections. Then dip the shaft section into CA glue and apply to your arrow.





I was happy with the result but in the future I think I will only use this method on larger scale miniature. The reason is not that it doesn’t work on small figures it is that no one notices! I have to point it out when I show the model so perhaps it works too well?

Part 3: Jungle Drums

The last model I want to share is my version of a bust you’re all familiar with Tribe Chief Morrow from Forged Monkey. The rhythm of the jungle was really flowing through me on this project!


Additional views can be found here, again on Putty&Paint.

I have to warn the readers though… when I started putting this part of the tutorial together I realized

that I had only taken photos near the beginning of the process! Then I remembered the mad state I was in rushing to get my entries ready for the Crystal Brush painting competition. I was painting at work then working long into the nights for weeks and the lack of photos suddenly made sense. So instead of a normal step by step I’ve deconstructed the model a bit to give an idea of the design and

I’ll talk about some of the thoughts I had while working on this project. I hope you will still enjoy it.

The idea for the headdress came to me while I was taking one of my many walks. I was waiting to cross the street when I looked down and at my feet were a clump of strange feathers. They must have come from the neck of a pidgeon because they were irredesent changing from green to purple with the light.

How cool! I needed to use them!



After studying reference photos and considering the challenges involved I came up with some design

guidelines that would help me construct the headdress. It needed to have multiple layers of feathers to

give it volume and realism. The layers near the front needed to be added first and then I’d work towards the back of the model. I worked in this order to avoid making mistakes with the super glue. I knew that a single mistake would mean I’d have to start over from the beginning.





The area to the sides and rear of the headdress was filled with fluff from the base of the downy pidgeon feathers. Here you can see how they were broken up and attached.





I’ve really enjoyed sharing my little adventures with you and I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself as well.

Maybe you will feel inspired to try using feathers as well or perhaps you’ll notice some other tiny piece of nature to use in a creative way on your own projects. It is surprising what you may find if you just have the eyes to see that there is treasure everywhere!

Matt

Hello Jungle Painters,

today we have another Mu for you - a Material Unpacked this time - and we will have a closer look on some brushes which are distributed by Big Panda V.




First of all let us say that these brushes are recieving a thumb up when you look at their price, the money you as a painter has to spent to get them. They are half as expensive compared to a Windsor&Newton brush. Talking about their price will directly lead us to their quality.

We did test these Kolinsky Sable brushes in the past months and we allow ourselves to give honest feedback. First of all they make a good impression when it comes to the quality of their tip and hairs.



During painting we realized that they are good to work with. As we are mainly working with W&N series 7 brushes we realized that the hairs of the Big Panda V brushes to not have the same strength in their hair compared to a W&N series 7. While working with glazes, pulling and pushing thin glazes around they turned out to not be as comfortable when looking at the results we achieved. Good results can be achieved with them but it does not feel as easy as with the strong hair of a W&N and need a little training to understand the way the hair of the brush reacts when working with it.

Their tips are good and you can work on details like freehands or small lines, but for glazing on bigger areas they lack in hair strength if you work with the side of the brush.


Summed up we can say: If you are looking for brush that offers you a decent brush quality for a very good price you are right with this one via Big Panda V - Optimo BigPanda Brushes.
They are available in different sizes and arrive in blue colour.

If you want to test them yourself, give them a try!


Keep on happy painting!

Hello everyone,

here´s a miniature I finished already some weeks ago (some time back in 2014), but as I didn´t make good photos for a while I haven´t shown him already. Basicly he´s isn´t painted superfency but I had fun while painting him and diving into the imagination of him hunting and searching his prey through the woods of Athel Loren.

The miniature is Araloth from Games Workshops Warhammer Fantasy range as many of you might have recognized. Normally he carries a shield with him, but I wanted him to be a little bit more light weight equipped so he left his shield at home in my version.
I also painted him very desaturated because I liked it that way in the time I painted him. Nowadays I could imagine him a bit more colorized in some areas. But as with every miniature you can create multiple versions in your head which all would look good but most times you will only paint one version of those.
Still in my opinion an elf in the woods shouldn´t be too colorized and bright, because that would destroy his stealthyness.

But no more stupid talking from me, here are some pictures of the figure:




Well, I hope you like him, even if he was more like a relaxing project for me.


Cheers
Bene

Well, well, well ...

we recently said thanks to Sergio for his cool gift to the Jungle of Massive Voodoo.

So why not do the same to Roman from Russia who visited us for his second private coaching session with the MV teachers. Roman brought a huge surprise too: His beautiful Orc Bomba!

He just said he wanted to give it to us as a gift and so he did - left us completly speechless!!
As we did not find our speech yet we were able to do some proper photos of it.

We hope you enjoy and do not forget to check
Roman's blog about his way of the painter!






Wroom!

Good Monday Morning Jungle,

it is time to dig again in the past year.
Back in December 2014 Roman and Peter travelled to the second episode of MV Jar's Beginners Class in the Netherlands.The first class in Sprang-Capelle took place exactly one year earlier
- you can find a review of it here.

Well, this class was a blast for both teachers of Massive Voodoo and the students. This class was packed with repeaters of the class and only a handful first timers. Thanks to everybody who was a part on this weekend. Thank you for the cool time we enjoyed together and your will to learn more about miniature painting from us!

Another big thanks goes to the sponsors of the class, those companies who help MV with their support in material to bring a happy painting time to different locations:




First things first.
Peter and Roman had a little trip with the train and arrived in Brussels Thursday evening where they got picked up by Gert via car. After a nice dinner at Gert's place a nice relaxed evening was spent there before sleep took us over.

Brussels by night ...

It is important to say: In 2013 we thought the organisation of the class was close to perfect thanks to Jurgen, Gert and Peter but via this class and the preparation all of them took care of (before, during and after) we can easily say it was even better.

Many thanks to you both, Gert and Jurgen - we really felt so good to be at the well prepared venue again and enjoyed the great organisation of the food and drinks. If there was a question left both, Gert and Jurgen were just there giving you the answer and their help. Thank you for all your hospitality all over again. It is really a pleasure to organise such an event with you guys!

Many thanks to Peter for helping Roman with so many repeaters in this classroom!



Well, before we start into the jungle's review of the class let's have a look on UK Miniature Painter
Peter 'Avicenna"  Bell, who wrote down his expectations before taking the class for the first time:

"ROAD TRIP!
The awesome guys over at Massive Voodoo are doing another of their International Beginners Painting Classes in the Netherlands this coming December…. and this time I’m going!
For any of you who don’t know Massive Voodoo, they are a creative bunch of so-and-so’s based in Germany who have a really great ethos when it comes to the hobby. It is all about enjoying the art of painting miniatures, and the community that is brought about by the hobby.
In their words:

"Massive Voodoo’s aim is to inspire people to have the most fun while enjoying the passion of miniature painting. We also want to reach people who are not yet even knowing about the beauty of this little miniature world and as long as we can hold a brush we will continue to do so. Those small figures and the worlds you can create around them bring so much joy."

And they very much succeed. I read the blog pretty much every week, and really hope to bring some of their enthusiasm and passion for what they do back to the UK with me as well as new techniques and style to add to my repertoire.

What will also make this an awesome trip is that I am going with a good friend of mine who has experienced the might of a Massive Voodoo painting class before, and there are going to be a number of internet friends that I will meet for the first time on this adventure.
I can’t wait!"

Found via jollybodgers.com


Peter B. wrote down some words after the class and we thank Peter B. for his kind words and the cool write up!


Friday
The class itself was really busy. From theory parts about harmony to practical preparations and base building - everybody was busy on Friday night. Beginners and repeaters.



Saturday
The morning arrived with some more practical work on the bases, adding some details here and there, putting some of the colour theory from the night before to the test and getting closer to noon, where we would meet up outside for priming our projects.



After lunch the miniatures waited for us, primed. So it was time to jump into the painting process. While Peter and Roman took both care of the repeaters needs, it was clear sometimes - with such a huge gang of repeaters - that Roman would not be at their side because he was taking care of the beginners painting and experiments with the new techniques shown. Thanks again to Peter for helping out with the repeaters and doing it the "bad cop style".






Sunday 
This morning arrived again rather quick. Time is flying by if you are having fun and learn something new in regular intervalls. Sunday was packed with little tricks to close in into a nore harmonic look on the beginner's projects, pushing those demonettes as far as we could and the repeaters did put their efforts and skills to achieve better and better results. Remember: Every minute spent is worth it!

Discussion about miniatures took place


Wim to Phill: "Put away that smartphone man! 
Paint, before Peter or Roman appear again! Don't you waste so much precious time!"

Well, but Sunday closed in to an end of the class in the late afternoon. Many thanks to Patrick from Scenery Workshop who did photos of mostly all of the models. As you can see in this review Roman and Peter were not able to do many photos as they were busy teaching full time.

Let's have a look on the results of this weekend workshop:

This first timer worked his demonette's skin with some tourquoise and did well in understanding the new painting techniques, theory about zenithal light and colour composition.


This repeater went crazy with a beatiful base and some really cool freehand work.


This student took the class for the first time and even he is a renown painter already learned a lot during the weekend on how to have more fun while painting and achiving cool results in a faster pace.


The green witch on a subtile greenish-ghost-mood base. Cool work from one of the students who took the class for the first time.


This repeater went for little Grimdalf by Hasslefree. Sadly due some headaches he wasn't able to push him as far as he wanted to but we alreay can see on how this little fella will turn out if worked on a little more.

This first timer student had a lot of fun with his demonette and bringing the colour wheel to a test in finding proper colour harmony on his base and model.


The purple lady turned out to be a bit though as she was started a little too dark in her basic skin tone but this student did not give up and brought a nice result home.


A blueish demonette with the evil look in her eyes by a first timer of the class.


Another beginners demonette screaming "harmonic colour choice!!".


This repeater went into the creation of a beautiful love scene. After a bar brawl this guy takes home the girl and leaves the place victorious. Cool Hasslefree models invited this student to create this scene.

This student who took the class as a repeater was all about learning to get better in painting skintone.
Well, he did really well, but the photo does not show anything of it. Sad.


Pushing this repeater of the class further in his overall painting skills on a difficult and fragile model was a real pleasure. Remember, every minute spent is worth it!


This student who took the class for the first time already has some deep background in painting historical miniatures and you can see how much fun he had applying some new ways of thinking and painting to a fantasy model.

Well, this repeater of the class made huge steps too. On his place you really heard many "clicks!" going on in his brain. It was a real joy to see him work on his technical painting skills by try and error himself and the result speaks for itself!


This repeater of the class created this beautiful scene and it was great to see her learning with every
single brushstroke!


A ninja turtle by Kaha-Miniatures turned out to be the star on this cool base. Even without much training during the two classes this repeater of the class took really cool steps on his painting ladder.
Now off for more homework, Sir!


This beauty was the result of another repeater of the class. It was our pleasure to see her grow in that direction.

This repeater went pretty big with his model choice for the weekend and tackled many of his questions he had on this scale. Sure we were not able to finish her, but she was a good training ground ...


... and recieved a nice base too!


Again, we want to thank everybody who was involved in this cool weekend!
Keep your brushes wet, train your skills once in a while, find relaxation in it and continue happy painting!


Roman & Peter