posted by roman, jarhead, kong


Ough! Ough!
The last weeks were pretty hard and full of painting for the Games Day Germany. You can read a full review here and also see a video of this nice weekend in Cologne. After the Games Day Raffa and my tasklist was full with finishing a comission of 9 Figures and now - after all is done - this week was full with relaxation and a handfull of friends visiting us during our work in the studio.

On Tuesday Thorsten, Bene and Max, the Maxican arrived and we really enjoyed painting together. Thorsten left us on Wednesday but his seat was quickly taken by Robert and Kurt. We really had some awesome painting days and I want to say thanks to my friends for such nice days. On Tuesday we did build up small airplanes by Revell and made some funny conversion with them. You see this week was not the most serious one when it comes to the work we have done. Some Impressions of the last beautiful days ...


Multi Supermulti Ultramarine Attack Airplane III:

Hans and Joachim in their Stuka Bomba with imperial lasguns:



We had the great idea to hang an old frame we found on top of our workplace to have some spots for additional lamps and to put some stuff there too.




















Robert painting a Knight by Simon M. ... finally!

posted by roman, jarhead, kong

There is but one song that always - no matter what time it is, no matter how dark the clouds seem to be, no matter whatever - that always keeps us on track and highly motivated ... truely a jungle classic:

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,...

Hey everyone!

In this review I'll be watching the Complete Guide to Photographing Miniatures by Miniature Mentor. You can get this DVD from Miniature Mentor, at the moment there is only a download aviable.

Weighing a hefty 9.5 GB download, this 7+ hours of HD material is a pretty big boy to download, so check your internet connection if you plan on getting this, otherwise you have to wait for the DVD version.

Normally Roman writes most of the reviews, but as I make all the miniature photos for him and myself, I think this falls in my field of work ;)

So, the person that will be your teacher on this DVD is Felix Wedgwood, a very experienced product photographer.


After watching the DVD I can honestly say I've still learned a thing or two.
This DVD is in my opinion aimed on the more experienced photographer. To get the most out of the DVD you should maybe be willing to spend some dollars on new lamps (the lamps introduced on the DVD are now in our studio and they are just AWESOME!) or a new camera if you don't already own a DSLR or good lamps.


But even withouth spending more money for new equipment you will get a lot out of the DVD, the knowledge shared is very good and also coveres the basics of taking miniature photos including a good light setup (without a photo box) etc.


The knowledge on the DVD is very in depth, Felix is a professional and he really shares his knowledge and experience for this topic. At very few points the DVD was boring to me, and I have to say I'm really not an unexperienced photographer.



My conclusion for this review:
If you are interested in improving your miniature photos, this DVD will pretty sure pay out.

Best wishes,
Raffa

Hey everyone,

as I noticed I didn't really post single photos of my project "Untold Honor" and I wanted to have them here (just for documentation ;) I will now show them in this single post!

Again, thanks for everyone that supported me with this project - mentally and by backing me up!
Two of those I really want to mention by name: Roman for just being Roman, helping me with composition issues from time to time and backing me up as a friend... and Anci, my girlfriend, for taking all this strain away from me when she got the chance to ;)

In the end the project really went smoothely even when time was very limited (6 weeks) and a lot had to be done in this time...

I brought it to the German Golden Demon / Games Day in 2012 and I won the Slayer Sword with it, very nice :)

Finally, here are two collages of the project!

I hope you like the project!
Raffa

Posted by Raffa, Picster, Capuchin,...



Hey everyone,

today I want to share my memories of a great day.
I'm talking about the Games Day, especially the Golden Demon 2012 here in Germany.

So let's start from the very beginning. The last 4 weeks were really, really full of miniature painting and friendship. Roman and I decided to visit and take part on the GD very late and so we only had 3 weeks to finish our entries. As we are now working together in a studio full of creative energies it was a easy task to go there every day and paint, covert, glue and paint some more every day.
My biggest hugs go out to Roman my bibab for this great time!!!

It was a really cool time as we were pushing ourselfes to the limit that a normal painter can take, there were days with 17 hours of straight painting, no computer, no internet, no distraction.
And more than that, we had a lot of fun, celebrated our friendship and had many painting guests as Bene that made our time even better.

And then it was done!

Friday, 7pm, all projects done, time for some relaxing! (time management is worth every minute spent!)

On saturday we started our ride to Philip and after 8 hours of stressful car driving in many traffic jams we finally arrived...
Thanks again for shelter, ice cream, food, many, many good laughs and a great time!!!

We arrived, ate some very good pasta and jumped into the subway to get to the hotel lobby of the Mercure hotel were many, many (dozens? hundreds?) nice painters were already completely into the hobby, talking about minis, techniques, drinking a nice drink and having a good time!
Many painters brought their projects to get some last opinions, showing it off to others and you could see fascinated faces everywhere you look.
It was so nice seeing meeting new people, friends and nice painters!
Thanks for all the nice talks and the red wine Mr. Mo.

After talking much too long we really had to go to the bed, but not before getting some more self-made ice cream by Phil, YUMMY!!!!

A too little sleep later we started into a great day.
Driving to the Gürzenich, where the GD is held is always a great feeling!

Inside we started to prepare the demo table for Massive Voodoo, setting up light, etc.
Valerie was already preparing her demo as more and more people arrived to the Gürzenich.

While Valerie started her demonstration the first people started entering their minis into the competition and the display cabinets started to get fuller and fuller.... to the point where the cabinets were really bursting full with highest quality entries on the most categories.
I think everyone had a great time checking out entries, watching demonstrations and strolling around the Games Day. Here are some impressions by Peter and Philip, thanks guys for the photos!
























After a good snack in the Rock Cafe time went by much to fast, you could really feel the typical GD thrill as it get's 4pm and the GD winners are called to the organisation.
Roman and Me were both lucky and got called so we walked to the upper floor where many happy faces awaited us.

I don't want to get to deep into the details of the ceremony, it was pretty fast, many happy faces, big party with a lot of handshakes, hugs and a My Little Pony balloon!






A list of winners as far as I remember and found out.
If you like to you can help me ou: Write me a mail to "picster (at) massivevoodoo (dot) com" with the information, or if you like to link photos of your entry, just drop me a mail!

Golden Demon Germany 2012
 
Youngbloods:
Silver: Mike Wieser

40K Squad:
Gold: Pascal Urgiero
Silver: Pascal Nachun
Bronze: Simon Schnitzler (Hydra)

40K Single:
Gold: Sascha Buczek (Goatman)
Silver: Thomas Wasch (DarkKnight)
Bronze: Thomas Kyrsting

40K Vehicle:
Gold: Sascha Buczek (Goatman)
Silver: Cédric Lurkin
Bronze: Jürgen Wagner (Crackpot)

40K Monster:
Gold: Jonathan Gonthier
Silver: Maxime Pastourel (Morback)
Bronze: Paul Wunderlich

Fantasy Squad
Gold: Georg Damm (GeOrc)
Silver: Stefan Johnsson (SkelletS)
Bronze: Christian Hardy

Fantasy Single
Gold: Mo Ganji
Silver: Cédric Lurkin
Bronze: Steve Party

Fantasy Monster
Gold: Shejtan (Markus Würdinger)
Silver: Jonathan Gonthier
Bronze: Alexis L'huillier

LOTR:
Gold: Ben Komets
Silver: Thomas Wasch (DarkKnight)
Bronze: Alexis L'huillier

Diorama:
Gold: Ben Komets
Silver: Jürgen Wagner (Crackpot)
Bronze: Roman Lappat (Jarhead)

Open:
Gold: Maxime Pastourel (Morback)
Silver: Cédric Lurkin
Bronze: Raffaele Picca (Picster)

Duel:
Gold: Raffaele Picca (Picster)
Silver: Jonathan Schulz (Johnny_be_good)
Bronze: Maxime Pastourel (Morback)

Best of Forgeworld: 

Slayer Sword:
Raffaele Picca

Ok,... woooooooooow, my second Slayer Sword!!! This was really thrilling for me, I gave me best on the entry and in the end it was worth it, not just because of the sword but for all the experience and the nice time I spent on my project, with the Sword it was the cherry on the cake :)



And now finally some photos of my project:



In the end it was a very, very nice weekend and for me, I can surely say, it was the best GD so far.
Tons of nice people, cool demonstrations, great hobby talk and overall a nice day.

I hope to see everyone again soon and that you liked this article!
You can find even more photos (also some minis of the GD) on our Facebook Page and a small video on Massive Voodoo TV.


Best wishes,
Raffa

posted by roman, jarhead, kong 

Exciting New Painters and Tutorials coming your way!!!
Miniature Mentor is excited to bring you even more tutorials from the world's best painters. Below is a rough schedule for our 2012-2013 roadmap.

1. Francesco Farabi - (cmon: franciuus) Freehand Techniques
2. Francesco Farabi - Pegaso Girl
3. Javier Gonzalez : The Violinist (cmon: Arsies)
4. Alex Varela : Abbysal Lord (cmon: Iguazzu)
5. Matteo Murelli : Sven Hammerfaust (cmon: Mu)
6. Sebastian Archer (cmon: automaton)
7. Alfonso Giraldes (cmon: Banshee)

Of course, it's difficult to give you folks a precise release schedule since many of the artists have to find time to contribute to our library within their already busy lives. However, we thank-you for your patience and understanding with our process - it's your support that allows us to travel the world and film with these incredible artists and bring their techniques into your living rooms. CHEERS!

Make ready for a MV review on their latest release here in the jungle valley soon!