Little birthday present

Hello everyone!

Today here is a litte sidestory from 2011:
I have an older brother and last year I had no idea what to give him as birthday present. One day I had the best gimmick ever. He smokes, so why not creating a tobacco bag. I mean he´s smoking self made cigarettes and so in his bag he has tobacco, filter and somewhere papers. All widely scattered. I made him one bag for all this stuff.

He was really happy when he saw what his present was like. Even now when he talks to people and smokes a cigarette he tells them: "Hey, look! This was made by my sister! Cool, yo?" :D


Byebye,
Sandy

Steampunk jewellery

Hey :)
I want to show you a project I toally love!! Last year a friend of mine shared me what Steampunk is and I totally fall for it because I like the style of how people dresses. I remeber many projects I discovered in the internet but one I found awesome. Someone changed a guitar to Seampunk. It´s the first picture: Click here. I love it! So I decided to make some Steampunkstuff, too.
Martin and I bought old watches from a junk market and broke them. Okay, he broke them :) So we had many little gear wheels. And this is the result of old cogs and jewellery.

Greetings,
Sandy

Some Wip

Some projects I am currently working on.

First a little speed paint, done for a funcompetition with someone at my german forum (Das Bemalforum).
I couldn't make the deadline, studies got me away from it for quite a while but I try to bring it to an end.
Goal was to paint it in only one week and till now I painted maybe 2 to 3 hours on that little fellow. I hope to finish it during another 3 hours, so that the spirit of "fast painting" will be practiced.
Siggi, I did't forget about our brushwar :)

Only finishing the base and some special effect have to be done...

Second a short hint on something I have to do for a competition at work (working part time at my local GW store).

Third is a little scene, called "To rule once more again".
Inspired by Skyrim, a centuries old king, who just didn't notice his domain fell under a new master.
Stones collected at my bus stop and brought to some grave hill shape. Just the first sketches of colour are done at the socket.

 

And last but not least a few details of Hackepeter.

Today I finished the renderings and blueprints for my big draft, presentation will be tuesday.

And after this, all these little scenes will get colour, looking for my painting vacation :)

Garbage to gold or deadlines suck...

You work for months, change everything a thousand times and have barely freetime...ok. I can live with that, I knew that it would be that way before starting my studies.
But unorganized professors are another thing that takes my blood pressure to levels far beyond healthy.
One should think a university is able to keep the dates actual, but no, seems that is impossible.
I received a mail, from my advisor at the big draft (we have to make one every term), telling me they want everything 4 days earlier, without any reason. Yeah, fuck schedules and planning your time till deadline.^^
And 4 days earlier is....tomorrow at 15.00. When did I get this? Yesterday.
So a big mess and hurry and 4 days which were reserved for rendering and photoshop the final pictures turned to a few hours available.
This is the first one( shrinked to be displayed), sure not what I wanted to have but no more time as there are another one, which is even bigger, and a model to build.
But I thought I could show it, so you get an insight in the things I do besides painting and such stuff.
And I think thats a good example for the old wisdom: If life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.
Sometimes it doesn't need to taste well,it just should kill your thirst :)
Greets Martin

The power of little words

No miniature related stuff today.
I heard my last course of Baugeschichte today, my favorite course. You can translate it with History in Architecture, you hear lots of things about former ages, their buildings and the common thread which runs through all the times. For example how the political situation and wealth of a city during a special period effected the rest of the world.
There are different courses every year, with different focus.
This year I visited two, one about early christian architecture and the circumstances that formed the styles and types of buildings and one with focus on the american building history, from the first settlers till the late eighties of our past century. I would have never expected such a diversity, my professor killed many stereotypes and prejudices during this course.
The two courses were my glimps of hope during the last term, something enjoyable and alway interesting.
Main reason were the two lecturers. We have many bad professors here at my university, thats because they are not forced to learn something about teaching before getting the job.
There are man, who have two big architectural offices and "teach" at two universities, so they are just for a few hours in your town...try to ask them something and get crazy :)
They may be good architects, but they have no understanding in sharing their wisdom, they just read their lines and have no clue whether their students get the point or not.

And most of them don't care about this fact.

But there are others, who habilitate at free will and you always notice whether your actual prof did or not.
My Baugeschichte lecturers did and so it was very funny, interesting and so well written, that you actually could be attentive during the whole lesson.

But what about the little words I mentioned?
Thats easy, as I told you, it was the last course today and two hundred students rushed out the building in a few minutes, just taking the good stuff granted they were allowed to hear, not noticing how lucky they were with this professor.
As I walked downwards to him and spoke a few minutes, the few students left who had to sign in for exam looked at me like a total stranger from mars.
It seemed it was absolutely unimaginable for them that a student could say thank you for your hard work and the effort you put into every course.But their glances weren't the point, I really don't care about stuff like this.
My professor was really happy that someone came to him, said this little words and showed, how happy he was after the course.
That made me think, and I came to the conclusion that we take so many things granted this days, like the meals your loved ones cook for you, little presents that make our day when everything seems to brake into pieces, the five minutes your sleepless and ever working room mate sits down next to you and listens.
I felt bad for saying this little words thank you so seldom and swore to myself I would change this.
I think it are these little moments when someone shows his gratitude that give all this little angels out there the power to be as they are.
So lets say this magic words more often.
Greets Martin

One night - One miniature or thoughts about diversity

Some philosophy again.
Back in 2011, one day in summer I realized I was doing the stuff I learned...and nothing else.
Stagnation at the door, no guest you really like to have at your place.
What was going on? Well, there are two things that can lead to that state, at least I know that two.

First: New things scare you.
There are so many techniques to learn, some of them really tough stuff like non metallic metal, object source lighting and playing with different contrasts.
If you hear how much time it costs to paint something on a big project it is understandable that you might think it could be too much.
And if you do something, you really want to kick ass, then you will stick to this areas for hours until you don't want to see them anymore. (So many miniatures at my cabinet, staring at me and crying)
In the end this big unknown monster seems to be so terrible, you won't even start the figth.

Second: It is really easy to do stuff you know you're good at.
Human kind is lazy and that can kill every creativity. If you painted 10 miniatures with the same warm/cold contrast, why change? The eleventh will be ok too, you will be happy and fine...works for a few months.
But you will never learn to paint with complementary contrast, or even monochromatic.

Ah, recognized a third one...
Sometimes you don't know, whether you like a special effect/painting method/etc or not.
Personal, I don't put hours of effort and an expensive mini into the game, if I don't like the price.
Hope you get what I mean.

So I had to find a solution to this three problems, stopping me on my way.
I started with this thing I like to call one night - one mini.
We paint once a week in a little group, consisting of my girlfriend, a good friend of us and me.
I started with a little bust, just a torso and helmet of a Games Workshop Space Marine, with a little cork as socket. I decided to paint weathering effects on this bust, and I did.
4 hours, no big deal and nothing special for sure, but I did paint something I had't done before.
It was cheap, not big, so it could be painted in a short time and from spare parts, so if it failed it would be no problem. So all the three reasons were attacked.

If you do such a thing, nothing can go wrong, worst case is 4 hours of painting, while talking to friends and no completed mini in the end...but that would be the case if you wouldn't start at all.too, so nothing to loose.

Since then, this is my method to try out new stuff, effects or contrasts, colors etc. If I like the result, I take the technique and and practice at bigger projects, if not, I try something else.
This safes me loads of time and money and is really enjoyable.

I never paint on them again, after my night ended, I think that would kill the meaning of the whole thing.
But thats just my opinion.

Here are two of my one night shots, the marine and a little rat, called the prophet (all skaven players will understand).
Sandy also posted her latest a few hours ago.

Maybe some of you find themselves in the desriptions, and maybe this is something you would like to try.
If you do so, feel free to show us your results :)
So take your brushes and kill the thee monsters...

One night - One minature; Part I

Hello everyone out there!

Yesterday, I painted this cute litte scene which made me really a lot of fun. It´s my second finished miniature. My first one was a demonette at the workshop with Roman in Berlin (water plus pictures are in process).

I painted since ... I think the first Banzai. Maybe some people in Germany know that books. This are magazines with many Mangas in it. Yepp, I was young, hehe, and I am still. So from that point I improved my painting skills. And then came Martin and showed my his world of litte miniatures. It´s a new way of painting for me. A piece of paper is 2D but minitures are 3D. I like that fact. You can create a scene an then look at in in so many perspectives, that´s great!
Here I am, creating my own litte universe. Have fun to look at it ;)

Litte butterflies for all ;P
Sandy

Lets start dreaming...

Hello from Dresden,
where rain and storm rule with an iron fist. Well, at least they do this since weeks and no end in sight.
Perfect weather to write down some thoughts.
This post will introduce one of my hobbies, maybe the most important for me.
Its is painting, which is therapy and relaxation for me.
I paint since I can remember, on the walls of my parents house, in the kindergarten, my parents attic is full of boxes, which are filled with hundreds of sheets from this time.
I never really stopped it, whether its acrylic, aquarelle, oil, whatever I find.
But there is one medium that really caught me, and while canvas and paper just come and go, the miniatures never really stop fascinate me.
I started when....well I don't know. Its been a long time, thats for sure.
My way led from the tabletop to showcase and today I try to unite both.
I would like to show you some of my stuff, and then tell you my way to see this hobby, why it is so important to me and what I want to achieve with it.

This is my favorite project, inspired by an competition over at Massive Voodoo, I think everyone who paints the Minis today knows them.
It is called Bobo the Brobus and was the cumulation of a dream, the dream of owning a Volkswagen T1 Bus.
The task was to built your own car in an apocalyptic world, with all the things you would need, reflecting your lifestyle and character.
It took bronze at the Herzog von Bayern in Ingolstadt, which is an international competition with an open voting system, where everyone can get a medal and you don't compete against each other.
And it also took my heart during the creation.

If you want to read some more information, you can find it here on Coolminiornot: http://www.coolminiornot.com/276673
There you will find the initiate text I wrote before starting and a link to the WIP Thread in my forum.

The second one is a mini I did on a painting class of Roman Lappat, aka Jarhead in Berlin.
I like this one, because it has a lot of  sentimental value for me.
Years back, I was at a low point, with my life, my hobby, everything I did I guess today.
I almost quit painting, felt really empty and burnt out.
My last try was a painting class with Roman, where I found my love for miniatures again, and in many ways, my love for this world and live. Some personal struggles had given me a really bad view and I couldn't see anything positive anymore.
I did learn many things there, painting related during the class, live related during the free time.
I won't go into detail, but in the aftermath it was one of the best decisions I made to join in.
The miniature was never finished (I just hate demonettes too much, and this was the workshop mini)
but from then I started again with other goals and a new perspective. Two years later, I came back, joined another class and this time painted with heart, not with head and it was a really pleasing feeling to see, that I finally found my way.
The fact that I did this mini in just 3 days of class (and some final blood effects at home) made me proud somehow.
So here he is, Hackepeter, ready to bring some steaks right to your plate ;)

There will be better pictures for sure when I got new equipment.
Thanks Roman, not for showing me my way, but for the fact you teached me I had to find it on my own.
I definitely learned that lesson.

The last one for today is one of my running projects, which will be completed during the next month I guess.
Its called Lost fidelity and shows a once noble war engine of the empire of mankind, which now has found new masters. I love the theme of war turning against its former masters, a thing I often thought about while working on it. Kind of losing the control over the horrors you brought to the world and being consumed by them, as it happens way to often in our world.

And now the words.
I spoke of finding the own way of painting. Used to, I just wanted to be like all the painters around the internet, create stuff like them and be as good as they were.
I failed really hard.
The reason was, that I tried to copy their style and technique, but there is one thing you can never copy...and that is the heart of the painter.
You can paint the same way, you can use tricks and paint recipes but the very own character of another person? No chance.
I learned, that I could never achieve their results and after a few months I realized that was the greatest gift an artist could imagine.
Would be really lame if everyone would present the same stuff.
So I went back to the beginning and asked myself, what do you want?
I came to the conclusion, that I love to tell stories ( I am Games Master in many RPG groups, write short novels and poetry from time to time) and expanded this to my projects.
Then I asked, why do you paint?
I think my reason to take the brush is simple, I had a bad childhood, many troubles and always saw the world in grayish tones...till I took my first brush stroke and it was never the same again.
I explored I was able to bring color to my world and soon I realized, there were some people who also loved to see this color. This was the moment when I really knew why I was looking on cmon for hours, just because all this people add color to our world, they tell stories and give us short moments of happiness and hope. We can forget our troubles for a few minutes and this is the greatest gift you can get. ( Well, for me it is)
From this on I never painted again to get trophies or to push my ego, I just wanted to share my color to other people, tell them stories and give them a few minutes of joy as all my "heros" did.
 I think the miniature painting scene is way more then compete, bring color to little toy soldiers and show them around...it is a whole movement, a lifestyle if you want to call it like that.
It is family, friends, drama and countless ways for people to express themselves.
For me...it is everything.
As long as we all are out there, no one of us is alone and the world will never be gray.
That is why I paint.

I would be happy if you visit us from time to time, leave a few words or just find a few seconds of beeing happy, find color when your day is bad and take power to go on.

Read you soon,
Martin