Hey Jungle People and Voodoo People,

this week's tutorial voting saw a really close contest between two fresh and cool articles. The winner of the voting (counting this morning) is by far obvious. Davidè vs. Goliath had 19 votes and Pain 20 votes, which makes "Pain" the winner.




If you want to keep track with an overview on what has happened so far 
please check this link!

Support MV!
If you like to support the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale.
 

Allright,
Roman now takes over with the article and we hope you enjoy the formidable read.

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Ok, 

an article about pain and how to avoid it. By Professionals.
Yes Pros do hurt too and have feelings. Happily nothing bad happened at all as we are professionals.
Well, but I got a small collection for you all to tell stories and give hints how things could have been avoided, maybe.

In fact, some things have to happen as they happen. If you are doing stupid things without thinking, pain will be often the result. Keeping this in mind the most important rule to avoid pain: Think, before you do something. Make sure you know what you want to do, know the risks and prepare and secure yourself ahead of the actual doing.

Following you find a collection of "wounds" that we inflicted upon ourselves due stupid things. Bad ones, deep ones, minor ones and none existing ones. Of course we can not cover all wounds you can inflict upon yourself while doing this wonderful hobby, but at least we got some and do have some stories to tell.

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Your eyes are most important and Roman was close of killing his eyesight because of a stupid dance of busts on drills. Sounds weird? Check this  interview to see the dance itself, somewhere in the interview. The drill broke and was really, really close flying with force and luckily missed Roman's eye.

How to avoid damage to the eyes?
Everytime you cut something, drill something, do something that might have stuff flying around, even only working with your hobby blade (it might brake) wear your protection glasses. Proudly.


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Roman has a very big Games Workshop bitzbox with way too much stuff in it. Once in a while he is searching something in there or rather say he is digging to find something he likes by surprise ... or by accident.

These small Nurglings attacked him with their horns and he was bleeding heavily. No not really, but the spot of pain was annoying for the next days. Important if you are wounded is that you clean the wound properly, even it is a small one. Also make sure that you got a patch at hand to secure the wound from dirt.

It is nothing bad to have a first aid kit in the room you are working.
We recommend it.

How to avoid such an attack? 
Organise your bits much better.

The classic.
Here Bene did cut himself with his supersharp blade.
Often these wounds go deeper than you think and it is unavoidable to clean and patch this up.

How to avoid it?
Well, using less sharper blades can help, but sucks at the actual work result you are trying to aim for. Concentrate. Focus.

Another one with a blade, but looking at the finger a lot of cleaning is needed too.
Really this is important if you are going to work on with dirty stuff on your table.


This one was rather nasty on Roman's hand, also with a hobby blade, not a machete:




Well, burning yourself also happens once in a while. Usually in our studio if you work with a Hot-glue-gun. Here Raffa had inflicted an ugly burn to himself.


If you want to avoid most of the pain that comes from a burn, directly go where you can find running, cold water and stay there until you cooled it down to a maximum. Directly after the accident. This helps a lot and will make the final burn wound not so bad. Well, it will still hurt and it might turn to a vesica. Do not open it with force. Wait until it opens by itself, clean it up properly and patch it.

Well, how to avoid it?
Concentrate and focus again, but things happen as they happen.

Another burn, but already in the healing process on Roman's hand:



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Well this is Roman's head on his recent painting class in Beckingen, two weeks ago.
On the way to the class he was attacked by an eagle shooting down from the sky and after an epic fight ... well, skip that.

Roman is rather a tall guy you can say and he just hit his head on a too small doorframe. Unfortanetely after the the door was a stair downwards, which means that Roman had a little more drive than usually while going through a door. He even destroyed some of the stucco.

How to avoid it?
Take care about your sorroundings and duck/crouch when needed.

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Roman's elbow.
Damage taken by leaving the studio, talking with friends, going downstairs, mountain bike on the shoulders, missed a step, falling on his butt, but not first, the bike and elbow connected first and took most of the fall power on the open bike's gear wheels. Wonderful.

How to avoid?
Watch your steps.

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As you can see most of the "hobby-damage" is found on our hands as these are the tools we are working with. We will wear our hobby scars with pride no matter what, but if you take care on what you are doing you can avoid most of them.

There are many more accidents we did not record, but most of them were either with a blade or superglue or both. This collection shows the most common accidents in the MV cave, except the last two.

Do you have any "accidents" to tell a story from?
What was your worst or most stupid wound you inflicted upon yourself because you did not take enough care? Let us hear in the comments!

Good Morning Jungle people,

while rolling up the past Roman realised that there are quite some finished miniatures left to show here on the blog. Well, let's get it on then, eh?

Yesterday's tutorial voting already presented the article you can vote for, this is the duel itself. It took Roman a long time to find the right end to this neverending story, but this will be revealed in the article, IF it wins the vote!

The project was fun. It is always great to play with different scales, to form the illusion, to let the viewer dream.






You can also find more photos on Putty&Paint.

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

PS: Sold to a private collector! Thank you for your support in my work, passion and art.

Hello Jungle painters,

Tuesday again and time for tutorial voting via MV's year of the painter 2.
If you want to keep track with an overview on what has happened so far 
please check this link!

Support MV!
If you like to support the monkeys of Massive Voodoo in what they do, please feel invited to drop a jungle donation in their direction via paypal or check their miniatures they got on sale.

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#01
Step by Step: Davidé vs. Goliath
In this article you can follow Roman through one of his recently finished bigger projects. A duel in an icecold desert. A gathering of Goliath and Davidé, ready to battle fiercly.

#02
Article: PAIN
In this article you will find a collection of tiny wounds the inhabitants inflicted on themselves while working with miniatures. It is a collection from the last two years and be aware, there will be blood. In this funny article we show you horrible wounds and how to avoid them!

Happy Voting!

Hey Jungle,

it has been quiet on the voodoo front. Now it is time to roll up the sleeves again.
Thanks to Peter who showed two of his cool projects the jungle was not completly silent while Roman was on vacation. Roman is back at the desk, painting table and office desk. Vacation is over and Roman spent some great days with friends.

Now it is time to roll up things for Roman and he likes to start with an overview on MV these days.
Let's start with priorisations. Important things first:


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MV in the Figure Painter Magazine #31
You can find a pretty cool interview with Raffaele Picca of MV in the actual issue of FPM and also a little jabbadijabbi by Roman to one of his project. Check it out here and get your issue!
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MV Mad Max Car Contest 2
As we put a longer deadline to the contest April is the month for you car maniacs to give your workbenches full action. The deadline for your entries is May 2nd 2016. Right now we got 5 cool entries already, but we expect some more due all the cool stuff we were able to witness in the internet. Check all infos about the contest here!

We also got another addition to the small random prize pool of the contest:
A MV Jungle Surprise Box! Check the pool here!



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MV Zombie Community Project
You might remember the announcement of MV's big community project were we asked for your help concerning a horde of painted zombies. Of course there are those really cool jungle painters who already helped us. Let's show them:

The community base grows with Zombies: 
Thanks to the early helpers, three different persons, three different zombies, but that envelope was so cool. Thanks to Matthias' daughter who even draw a painting for the MV studio! Thanks to Andi, Matthias from Austria and - dayumn, who painted up the Fatty?


It grows even more as Sergio from Spain added a small gang of painted models and some more models as a donation. Thank you, Sergio!!


Of course Bene and Roman are painting Zombies too whenever there is time. Not only the community base is growing in numbers, also Bene's and Roman's. Thanks to Erik too who is ninja-like adding a painted Zombie once in a while too!


We heard rumors about a lot of french painters going crazy with helping us. Thanks gentlemen, we can not wait to add your models to the gang. We even saw some Zombie kids by Minisocles.fr approach from this direction.


And we already recieved the next parcel with Zombie support, but it did not make it in this update.
Next one it'll be.

If you want to support the project too,
please check this post with all information!

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MV's year of the painter 2
Well, we had two weeks without tutorial voting, but be sure that it starts again tomorrow, without the garbage article messing up the fun. Fresh and new articles waiting for you to read and learn from!

If you want to keep track with an overview on what articles happened so far  via MV's year of the painter 2 please check this link!
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MV's Jungle Painter of the Month
This section might be new and we are not sure if we are able to keep it up, but sometimes you just have to do something. This is the time to introduce Chris. A german miniature fanatic and a guy who is regularly visiting MV classes to improve his skills. Beside being a great student with big improvements, Chris is also a very kind and nice person and after he did sent us how happy he is with his brand new MV apron this we have to praise him here as MV's Jungle Painter of the Month!


On the first class Roman encountered Chris as a student it was obvious: This guy will learn fast. Roman recalls even saying: "Such a nice guy, but so many questions!" This is always a good sign for a student. Striving forward since then Chris also took part in Roman's MV's Basing Class earlier this year and finished his first display piece ever:




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A letter from Jeff:

"Hey guys! 

After your instruction at the NOVA Open I feel like my work has continued to improve. This weekend I made the cut in Sci Fi single at Crystal Brush (if I'm understanding the website right there were only 5). This may not be a big deal to the guys at the top of the game like you but I was SUPER excited to even be considered next to the winning pieces from guys like Kirill and Camelson. 

Anyway I just wanted to share with you what one of your students was working on and say thanks again for pouring some jungle rocket fuel into an amateur painter's gas tank last fall at NoVA!"

More about this years NOVA OPEN soon! 

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So far on this Monday.
Read you tomorrow for tutorial voting.
Keep on happy painting!

Hey jungle,

this week it´s time for Peter to fill the blog with his recently finished miniatures. Today he will tell you something about his version of Abalam, Prince of Hell by Hera Models.

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Some weeks ago I was struggling with the Roman Centurion while visiting Roman and Raffa in Augsburg. As the mini is quite big, it´s a challenge to paint all these huge areas and keep a harmonic and lively appearance. During the process, I faced a problem some of you might have, too: I looked at the bust and had the feeling that something "was missing", but could not point my finger on it. All areas were painted and the blendings were developing fine. But still, something felt wrong...

While talking to Roman about this, he explained what was missing: atmosphere. In this stage I had invested a lot of energy in more or less proper blendings, but had lost all the power in the colors. Every area appeared the same: the face was pale, the coat was too desaturated, the metallics quite boring. All "vitae" was missing.

In order to tackle the problem, he started painting on the Centurion. He wanted to explain by example how he would start a skintone and how he would develop the painted area over time, but always having control over the final appearance. To be honest, my brain felt like molten iron in this situation.

I´m painting with Roman for a long time now and there have been some attempts by him to push me over my limits. Not all of them were successful, as we both have a different understanding of painting. But in this situation it was too much. I was caught between my standard, comfortable way of painting and the new, but somehow painful input Roman wanted to give. It felt like he was speaking in an alien language.

As my level of frustration was rising even more, we spontaneously decided to start a Private Coaching. Last year, as a present for my birthday, Roman had promised me coaching, but wanted to wait for the right moment. This moment had obviously come and the Centurion was banished into the cabinet.

The topics were fixed very quickly:

• creating a striking atmosphere
• learning to identify problems and solve them by yourself

As a model we chose Abalam, Prince of Hell by Hera Models. Roman had finished the bust just recently and had a spare copy (the limited version with the helmet) in his desk.

I wanted Abalam to stand on a hilltop, the morning light moving over his face while he evaluates the area beneath the hill, the upcoming battlefield. A simple but nevertheless interesting scenario. As I´m not living in Augsburg anymore, we agreed that the coaching would take place over several weeks. Just meeting on Saturdays, spending some time together and pushing the project further.

Sadly, I was too much into the project and didn´t take many pictures during the process. Below you find a picture from the first evening and from a later state (already with the bigger horns, Raffa made for me, thanks mate!)


Final results:




You can find more picture here: Putty&Paint

Final thoughts:
I´m very happy with the results. At the beginning I was not sure, if I could understand Roman´s concept in teaching. I felt that I might be too stubborn and could easily fall back into my old behaviours. But as the project continued, I felt more and more confident. Roman kept silent more often and forced me to leave my comfort zone: I had to question myself and listen for my own answers. It was a very important lesson and I thank Roman for his patience. I can only recommend doing a Private Coaching with him and push yourself over your limits. There is nothing to fear and there is nothing like "but..."

Cheers,
Peter

Hey jungle,

after some hard nights of working, it´s now time for Peter to show one of his latest paintjobs: A Roman Centurion during the Roman-Parthian Wars of 58-63 AD.

The bust is 100mm high (with shield about 130mm) and produced by Castle Miniatures.

Painting the Centurion was a really interesting, but quite exhausting project. I instantly fell in love with the bust when I saw Sergey´s version for the first time on Putty&Paint. It had so much power and you could almost hear the noise of battle.

As I´m very interested in Roman military history, I wanted to stick as much as possible to the archaeological proven facts regarding equipment and color (even if the sculpt puts some barriers here). To make things clear: I enjoy every nice paintjob I see, regardless of its "historical correctness". Painting a bust/miniature is a matter of artistic freedom and it should always stay this way.

Imagine yourself somewhere in Western Parthia (today: Syria, Iraq). Heat and dust are almost unbearable. You are in the middle of a battle, thirsty after a long march and fighting for your life. Your only chance to survive this, is by keeping your scutum up and your gladius ready for the next killing blow...

Thanks a lot to my friends, Christian Koepfer for his academic advice regarding the Roman Army and to Roman  for kicking my ass where it was necessary ;)


Roman Centurion, Roman-Parthian War, 61 AD




  
You can find more photos in my Putty&Paint Gallery.

Comments and critics are always welcome :)

Cheers,
Peter