Aloa,

it is time for another painting class review.
As you - our readers - might recognize we are in the early start of MV's "year of the painter". A year in the jungle that is focused on sharing articles, painting thoughts and helping other painters outthere. 2014 is also a year with many painting classes to come as this is a big part of helping other painters to improve.

Peter and I are working hard to plan the next round of painting classes. The last one we did manage to plan to finish was the one in Aschaffenburg, Germany in which twenty students attented.

Many thanks to Thomas, the main organisation power behind this class. He is a member of the gaming club "Asgard-ab" who are a bunch of cool guys. We can only speak of those Raffa and I were able to meet there as some of the members attented the class. It is said the club counts over 40+ members and we also had some visitors during the class who have been to a tabletop gaming tournament during the weekend. I was told that they meet up every week for games and painting. So gaming and enjoying the hobby is big in Aschaffenburg thanks to the guys from Asgard-ab:

A big cudos goes out to the members of the Asgard-Team who helped so much with setting up the class, offering a great catering during the class and helped to clean up until the end of the weekend.
Thanks for the kind feedback so far in the german forums, I am really happy that everyone was able to take a big amount of "learning" from the class. I can give you a little glimpse of what the participants think (sadly only in german):


"Ich kann nicht anders und muss hier mal ein dickes Lob an alle Beteiligten loswerden.Ich kann mich nicht erinnern,das die Stunden beim Malen schon einmal sooooo schnell vergangen sind,Wie an diesem Wochenende. Für mich als zwei Farben schichten und Wash drüber Typen, war das einfach eine Irre Erfahrung, mal eine solche Herangehensweise ,an ein Projekt zu erleben.......einfach nur toll.......als wenn mir einer Freude am malen Gespritzt hätte ;-).
Felix"



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"Ich habe so viel gelernt und es hat nebenbei auch noch ne Menge Spaß gemacht. 
Daffl"

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"Für Anfänger UND Fortgeschrittene ist der Workshop nur empfehlenswert,
da man hier nicht nur Neues lernt, sondern auch Altes nochmal gefestigt bekommt,
und sicher auch einige neue Sachen dazulernt.
Shejtan"

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"Hilfreich ist auch, dass es sich Roman nicht einfach macht, indem er einfach Vorgaben an die Teilnehmer weiter gibt, die dann 1:1 umgesetzt werden sollen.
Roman versteht es in diesem Workshop drei Rollen gerecht zu werden - man verzeihe mir an dieser Stelle den Bezug zu den Rollen einer Führungskraft.

1) Leader: Er vermittelt über den gesamten Workshop hinweg eine positive Einstellung zu Farben und zum malen. Über die theoretischen und praktischen Inhalte bekommt der Teilnehmer SEINE ganz EIGENE Idee davon. Es packt einen einfach die Lust drauf los zu malen, nicht weil man muss, sondern weil man bock darauf hat seiner Miniatur mit dem Pinsel Leben einzuhauchen.

"Wenn Du ein Schiff bauen willst, dann rufe nicht die Menschen zusammen, um Holz zu sammeln, Aufgaben zu verteilen und die Arbeit einzuteilen, sondern lehre sie die Sehnsucht nach dem großen, weiten Meer."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Der Nachweis an dem Wochenende für mich war, ohne mit den anderen Teilnehmern darüber gesprochen zu haben, dass trotz der anstrengenden Tage (bis ~24.00 Uhr am Freitag und Samstag) der Großteil der Teilnehmer schon wieder um 09.00 Uhr an ihren Plätzen saßen um zu malen, obwohl es offiziell erst um 10.00 Uhr los ging. Wirkliche Pausen - wenn nicht zum essen - hat sich auch kaum einer gegönnt.

2) Manager: Roman hat es auch geschafft, das die Teilnehmer am Ende ein respektables Ergebnis mit nach Hause nehmen konnten. Dazu gehört bei den vielfältigen Inhalten und vor allem bei ca. 20 Teilnehmern, die alle unterschiedliche Ansprüche haben, eine große Portion Organisationstalent!
Klare "Ansagen" und/oder Vorgaben gab es nur dann, wenn es wirklich notwendig war (z.B. bestimmte Farben nicht zu nutzen, da nicht geeignet).

3) Coach: Für mich neben dem Leader die wichtigste Rolle an diesem Wochenende. Es gab keine klaren Vorgaben wie wir die Base gestalten sollen, welche Farben zu nutzen sind, etc. .Die Verantwortung für die Base und die Miniatur lag ganz klar beim Teilnehmer. Auch ich habe mehrfach probiert mal eine klare Ansage zu bekommen, wie ich jetzt am besten weiter mache, um die Verantwortung an Roman abzugeben. In der Regel, hat er mir allerdings die Entscheidung nicht abgenommen!

"Wer einem Manne einen Fisch schenkt, gibt ihm für einen Tag zu essen. Wer ihn das Fischen lehrt, gibt ihm ein Leben lang zu essen."
China

Ich persönlich finde es viel wichtiger, dass ich auch zu Hause weitere gute Ergebnisse produzieren kann, wenn ich auf mich allein gestellt bin. Alles andere wäre für mich eher "malen nach Zahlen". Sobald die Zahlen fehlen wird es schon schwierig.
Michael"


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Thanks to Raffa for driving the car with all the stuff we packed and being a cool addition to the class-athmosphere once more. I missed him lately, so codus to you. It has been a really cool weekend.


Well, talking about the weekend this review will be a little different than the usual ones where I sit down and write my impressions. I want to thank Oliver for taking a lot of photos and writing up his impressions of the class, his own review, in english. So it is not my review, this is the review of Oliver that you now read. Thanks for that as I think it is always important to see such a class from the eyes of a participant, rather the person who holds it:

_____________________________________
"Hello everyone,

this is Oliver and I was a participant at Jarheads Workshop in Aschaffenburg, Germany in February 2014. After this really awesome weekend I want to give something back to Roman and therefore at least write a litte report how the weekend felt for me.

I will go through the weekend in a chronological order, adding some jokes or stories and of course a lot of pictures.

So, when to start? On Friday I left work early at about 12 in order to have some time to pack and organize a few things still missing. I new Daffl would pick me up at about half past two, therefore there was no time to spare.

Everything went according to plan and I was pretty sure that I have everything, except for water colors, with me. About half an hour before we should arrive in Aschaffenburg I ran my checklist. Colors? Check. Brushes? Check. Modelling tools? Check. Photo Box and Camera? Check. Purse? what? where is my purse? .. a really good start for this weekend. I could confirm that I left it on my table but this would be an interesting weekend without any money. I learned that the other folks are just great, they helped me out without any hesitation or making a fuzz about it. Thanks guys, you are really great!

At 18:00 the course officially started and Roman gave a little speech. Afterwards he showed a few presentations giving us some inspiration and idea what this course will be about. The first step after these introductory lectures was to get a daemonette, clean it and put it together. Everyone was highly motivated and after a short amount of time everyone had a little lady in a boring grey in front of us. (Unfortunately there were no "hers").



After this small excercise the fun started. Roman showed us a few things how to construct a base, opened his boxes for us and gave us two advices. Let your creativity flow and most important: HAVE FUN.

In my case I just browsed through several boxes and found a fancy bit with a chainsaw and some angles. In my mind I saw some postapocalyptic things forming a path where the lady could walk along. Adding a spring and a cylindrical tube formed a relic from better times. Adding a path of stones and half a tire finished the construction. At this point I was pretty sure I would hate myself for this on the next day.. so many stones for edge highlights...

 





















Roman did a great job as a lecturer. During our working times it was always possible to just go there and get a little advise.



Around midnight we finished a last presentation and could go to sleep, beeing excited and tired at the same time. I had some weird dreams about colors and contrasts.. If they do not go away I will have to consider going to a shrink..

Saturday startet with a 5 stations course. Add small details to the base, polish it, grap a little animal, something I just forgot and: paint a color circle only with the 3 base colors yellow, red and blue. My first picture was taken at around 12 when we finished priming our bases with black and white.


After this step we learned how to paint a wet in wet brightness contrast on that base. I for myself chose a cold blue base with the idea of putting a bright and warm lady on it. As you can see the participants hang on his lips during the lectures the lectures.



Incredible how much effect could be gained by just painting one color in different grades of brightness on a base ...


After painting the initial brightness contrast we added new colors for different materials. I used the opportunity to mark the spots I want to be rusty and added edge highlights on the stones.. on every single one of them...



It was getting late on Saturday, but at least two things we wanted to achieve before going to bed. We chose and painted the skin of the lady in our chosen basecolor at about 50-75% percent brightness and started adding the shadows. Roman said several times that this is not very rewarding and we will hate it. I have to slightly agree. It has not been the most fun part, but it has not been nearly as aweful as he told us.



























The next morning started with adding the lights to get a higher contrast on the miniature.

Afterwards many little steps followed to reveal the beauty of our ladies. But I have to admit, I was so much in the zone that I forgot to take pictures and cannot recall every single step. But I think the result is good enough for my showcase, especially considering that I have learned so many new things in this three days.

And last but not least, my final lady:


Thank you for reading so far and I have only one advise for you: If Roman holds a workshop close to you: Just jump on this opportunity and enjoy a delightful painting weekend with a lot to learn.

_____________________________________

Roman again :)
Well, what can I say. Thank you Oliver for your impressions and the time you took for writing this up. It was my pleasure to see happy faces again on Sunday as Saturady was - as promised - the most exhausting day with not many rewards while painting on the ladies. Raffa and I recieved two surprise visits from friends who live close to the class. Very cool! Here are some more photos from during the class:

























Thanks for a great weekend an d all the helping hands sorrounding this event!

Keep on happy painting!

Best Wishes
Roman & Raffa

PS: You want to take part in one of MV Jar's Beginner classes??
Check this link about the next ones available!

Hey Jungle,

a painting class on last weekend and two days of private coaching passed and believe me that even both drew a good amount of energy from me and Raffa it was totally worth it. More about both happenings soon.

Meanwhile, while I dive deep into an office day today and write emails and such I want to link you to a nice interview, where Rafael aka Volomir, my buddy asked me different questions. It was a lot of fun answering those and it really felt like sitting down with him for a cool chat. I hope you enjoy the interview:

Good Morning,

While Raffa and I pick up Roman from Russia today for private coaching session during the next two days, I found a little inspiration. I really enjoyed that clip as it shows how simple you can switch subjects and athmosphere. Maybe it is the same with miniature projects too?

Only sad thing is - this clip by the Sunday Times is way too short - could watch sth like it for hours!


The Sunday Times - Icons from Us on Vimeo.

Some more inspiration which I find pretty useful for Miniature Painters too ...


Process- the painting of "Plastic" from Robin Eley on Vimeo.

This is just great to see the change in such a small number of years ...

Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects Oscar Winners from Nelson Carvajal on Vimeo.

Well,

the decision which tutorial will be up is done.
You voted for tiny Samurais instead of Zombies and here we go.
Don't worry, there will be Zombies too in the future!


The "year of the painter" on MV is rolling on and as it looks there won't be as much posts about other blabla all the time from my side. The posts that will appear from me will be more focused on sharing experiences, ideas and offering help. From painters to fellow painters. Still looking forward to find back to the roots of the jungle. Already feels awesome having tons of articles in the pipeline for our readers out there, but this already becomes some blabla again, let's get it on then. Musica.

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In the end of 2013 I had some weeks were I really was into painting 1:72 figures.
I fell in love with those new ones from Zvezda, a russian company who produces a large amount of figures in that scale with focus on many eras of the past. I also had some Samurais and Ninjas under my brush, maybe you remember them:



What I liked during painting these was the high amount of quality I found in these sculpts. They felt like a 54 mm figure from their quality and so it was a lot of fun painting them. I also started a bigger group of Samurais and Ashigaru, who protect their Damyio in the face of death:



Well, those are the models I am talking about, just for you to have them on your screen. This tutorial will not show you a step by step guide with colour recipes, rather it will show you my progress and thoughts I have made during the work on the "Samurai on horseback" and the "Ninja".

During these weeks I worked on several 1:72 projects at once, so there was a constant flow of projects turning to be finished and new ones who were prepared and painted. I told you about the quality I found in those sprues of small figues and I want to share it with you. First of all, Zvezda is offering a game with those Samurais, so it is very interesting what you can find in those boxes:


Ok this is very small and has to be prepared like every other plastic figure.
 Oh yesssssss ...

Ok, then. After preparing the plastic figures, removing all mould lines with a sharp scalpell it was time to build them up and find some proper plinths for them. They also had to be very small, I really enjoyed this vacation from the usual scale I paint miniatures in.

Time for basing. 
I decided to do simple but nice bases. For the Samurai on horse I used a cool wood piece that I destroyed and glued in place, while for the Ninja some tiny stones were glued to tiny dice-sized plinth.





Back ...




to ...



the...

roots.
Back to the roots with obviously too much superglue, but I cared more about the mouldlines who still caught my eye on the photo. Tiny mouldlines are harder to remove than bigger ones. 1:72 Scale is a challenge on its own, so it was time to get out the knife again. A little glance on the Shogun while basing shows that I was basing mainly with cork here:


After the bases were prepared also with some soil/earth to make it all one natural piece the figures have been primed black. After this was dry I used the Airbrush and some bright greenish grey colour (I think it even was VMC Green Grey) to apply on the figures and get a better overview on what is happening there.


After this step I gently started to apply basic colours to both of the models. Basic colour means, I place an opaque colour. I want this colour to be the colour of the area in the end, still I have to paint shadows and lights to it later on.


During this process I usually stick to my plan to paint every basic tone to all areas to have a good start to work from, but in the case of the rider I somehow got stuck by the horse's glittering stuff - don't ask me why, but I just decided to let it flow ...


It doesn't matter in my eyes if such a little distraction happens as I know that there will be a base tone on every colour in the end. The base was painted by putting a wet basic tone of something brownish to the base and painting a sketch of light and shadow to it by mixing in colours from the pot to the wet area.

At this point I do paint my plinths black. 
It was time to start what I have done to the blue parts on the horse to other areas. Working my way to highlights and shadows. Also to the Ninja.























This takes a little while and is really not easy on this scale. That is what I have learned. If you got a proper feeling of zenithal light painting you will be safe though. It helps you to know where your shadows and lights will appear and it all makes sense in the end. Using many glazes brought me this far:


Working on the highlights and shadows will help your eye to read the figure better as it will not only be a simple plain area of colour. It comes alive, even in 1:72.

For the Ninjas base I decided to go for a little river with stones here so I added some gloss varnish to the greenish/grey stone area to make it look wet.


For the Samurai on horseback I went for an autumn base and used some natural leaves. I did use them as even there are other brands who offer great products most of them do not fit in this scale. By grinding them by myself I am able to decide how big they will be in the end. The leaves have been placed with matte varnish.



More painting time was spent on increasing the contrast range from dark to bright (shadows to light). On the Ninja and the Samurai. The Samurai also recieved a freehand of his clan on his banner. I added some gloss varnish to the base of the Samurai too but mostly in the lower area. I think I messed up his red armour parts too by using a little (or was it too much) gloss varnish on it. I know that the Samurai Armour was polished and very shiny, so I tried to achieve that here too, but I think it was too much for that Scale:







Painting Ninja's black is different topic and you
might find another tutorial with some good
thoughts on it in the near future.


What I can say in retroperspective is that this Scale is not really different than others. You can work with the same techniques, same theory and can achieve cool results if you put proper time to your goals. What I really enjoyed during my 1:72 weeks was that I became better and better in working with those ultrasmall details. It trained me to paint smaller dots and to do smaller glazing strokes with just the side of the tip of the brush. It was good to see how it improved by just painting it and I know that this will also help me on future projects, whatever scale they might have.

The only downside I got from it was that your eyes are really going completly to another dimension when you focus on such ultrasmall parts for a longer while. It's fun but don't forget to take proper break during your painting sessions. Let your eyes relax by looking in a far sunset for example:








Well, that was my little journey through both of these models.
I hope you enjoyed it?

If there are any questions regarding the article's content let me know via comment and I'll be back at you as soon as possible :)

Some more 1:72 journeys I have completed:







Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Hi.

Just a little information on MV's Painting Class review sections.
I just added the Sprang-Capelle and Trier class to the review section and Güni's private coaching.
Finally everything gets updated step by step. Feels good!

Hope you enjoy!
Roman

Important information for registration 
(big thanks to Mike for the translation help!)

Registrations can be made by a “Here!” in this forum thread or via eMail to
jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com. Please express your interest in this class, even if you notice, there are already a lot of registrations. There will be a waiting list, and, with a given number of interested
people.

Massive Voodoo - Jar's Basing Workshop

First an overview of the information given in this thread:

1. Instructor
2. Contents of the Workshop
3. Date and Location
4. Attendance
5. Price of the Workshop and Registration
6. Schedule and Program
7. List of Materials
8. Information on Food and Accommodation
9. Disclaimer and Information on Minors
10. List of Participants

1. Instructor:
Roman Lappat
Gallery: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/jarhead

2. Contents of the Workshop:
• Base Construction in Theory and Practice
• Main Focus: Theory of Composition
• Theme of the Base: „Post-Apocalypse“, Nature Wins Back
• Topic-Related Study and Materials Science

The following photo example shows the theme of the base, on which the workshop was designed:
„Post-Apocalypse“, Nature Wins Back


What happens at the course?
Every participant builds his or her own base on basis of the main focus mentioned above. The base
will be constructed, painted and greened. Materials for the base construction will be provided
completely for every participant.
It's the objective of this weekend workshop to give extensive knowledge of applicable design
possibilities under inclusion of theories of aesthetic composition. From the fusion of theoretical
knowledge and practical application originates a package, that will go constantly with the
participant after the class and will train his or her senses for harmony and composition as well as for
naturalness on a base. Romans main focus during the workshop is on the support for the
participants, he will not build his own base. This workshop is addressed to advanced miniature
painters, who want to develop a better understanding of the composition of beautiful display bases
(exhibition bases).

Important: This Massive Voodoo course will never go on tour, that means, it will take place every
time only in Augsburg. The reason for this is a didactic phase on Friday evening, during which
“life-size bases” are built, and accordingly a lot of materials are needed. The workshop will take
place only once or at most twice a year, every time in Augsburg. This summer (2014), two dates are
available, this one in August and another one mid to late September. For the workshop planned for
2015 the theme of the base will change.

3. Date and Location:

When?
 September 26,2014 – September 28, 2014

Where?
On Friday:
Massive Voodoo Atelier
Kulturpark West
Sommestraße 40
86167 Augsburg

On Saturday/Sunday:
Staatsinstitut für die Ausbildung von Fachlehrern, Abteilung I,
Henisiusstraße 1,
86152 Augsburg
 
4. Attendance:
maximum 18 participants

5. Price of the Workshop and Registration:
The participation fee is € 145,00 per participant. This amount includes rent for the room, material
costs, time for planning and preparation of the course by the instructor, approximately twenty seven
hours of work of the instructor over the weekend as well as a final, detailed handout concerning the
contents of the workshop. Details about the transfer of the participation fee will be listed in this
section, when the workshop has reached the maximum number of participants.

How can I register?
Registrations take place from June 27, 2014 at 8.00 pm here in this thread or via eMail to:
jarhead---at---massivevoodoo---dot---com
 
Financial transaction?
Will be added later.

6. Schedule and Program:

Friday:
Meeting Point: 6.00 pm at the Massive Voodoo Atelier
Starting Time: between 6.00 pm and 6.30 pm (punctuality is asked)
Welcome, Introductions
Theoretical Part „Lead-In“
Theoretical Part „How base-harmony is produced“
Theoretical Part „Theory of Composition“
Practical Part „Building life-size Bases“
Expected End: 12.00 pm

Saturday:
Meeting Point: 9.30 am at the “Staatsinstitut zur Ausbildung von Fachlehrern”
Starting Time: 10.00 am
Theoretical Part „Lead-In/Inspiration Base-Theme”
Practical Part „Materials Science“
Practical Part „Preparing Material“
Lunchtime
Practical Part „Guided Construction of the Base under Inclusion of previous learned Theory”
Evening Break
Practical Part „Detail Work on the Base“
Practical Part „Preparation of the Base for Priming“
Practical Part „Priming“
Expected End: between 11.00 pm and 12.00 pm

Sunday:
Meeting Point: 9.30 am at the “Staatsinstitut zur Ausbildung von Fachlehrern”
Starting Time: 10.00 am
Practical Part „Painting the Base“
Lunchtime
Practical Part „Painting Details on the Base“
Theoretical Part „Greening under Inclusion of previous learned Theory“
Practical Part „Base-Greening“
Debriefing
Expected End: between 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm

 7. List of Materials:
To be brought by each participant:
- Daylight lamp
- Cutting- or crafting pad
- Tools: Scalpel, pliers, fine saw, if available etc.
- Super glue, PVA glue
- Brushes and paints
- Pencil and paper

All other materials will be provided by the instructor. This includes e.g. lots of material for the
construction of the base, for greening and detail work on the base, a socket, sanding paper, primer
etc. A figure matching the theme of the base (28mm by Hasslefree) will be provided as well as two
special surprises to intensify the theme of the base.

At this point we say thank you to the following companies for their support:
__________________________________________________________________________


8. Information on Board and Lodging:

Lodging:
Here it's: Everybody cares for him- or herself. Whether Youth Hostel, Hotel or overnight stay at
local persons, you'll have to manage on your own. Maybe you can make an arrangement with other
participants of the class.

The Youth Hostel Slepscan be recommended, for it is less than two minutes by foot away from the
"Staatsinstitut". To stay there overnight, you need a Youth Hostel pass, which can be made out
directly on site at the Youth Hostel. It's € 3,50 in the summertime for persons under 27 years and €
10,50 for those 27 years or older. You can call the Youth Hostel and will be well advised. There are
also multi-bed rooms and guesthouses available. Augsburg also has a lot of pensions and hotels. We
expect every participant to care for his or her accommodation autonomously.

Board:
Your are responsible for your food. In close proximity are several bakeries, to supermarkets
(Tengelmann and Norma), a bank (Sparkasse), snack bars (turkish), some butcheries etc. According
to our usual practice we will plan our breaks together at the workshop. Inside the building, where
the workshop takes place, there is a coffee brewer, a dishwasher, a fridge and an oven we can use.
Bring so money with you for your food etc.
Bring your food for Friday already with you at your arrival because there is no meal break
scheduled.
__________________________________________________________________________
9. Disclaimer an Information on Minors:

Minors
Minors can only attend the workshop with a declaration of consent signed by their parents. An
appropriate paper has to be brought to the workshop or can be sent previously to Roman by mail.
Ask for the address by PM or via eMail.

Disclaimer
The organizers of the workshop assume no liability for damage to persons or property.
Behaviour in a sociable manner is precondition for a pleasant atmosphere at the workshop!
__________________________________________________________________________

10. List of Participants:
Please see to the forum for actual updates.
__________________________________________________________________________
If there are still questions, please ask here in this thread, so I can answer them once for all of you.
We are looking forward to meeting you and will surely have a lot of fun together!