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masterminis.net - where we learn to be a better painter!: REVOLUTION video #8 - Season 1.1: "Target identifi...

masterminis.net - where we learn to be a better painter!: REVOLUTION video #8 - Season 1.1: "Target identifi...: paintingbuddha.com 14 years of DREAMS. 42 days of DEEP THOUGHT. 2 months of little sleep.  Awesome friends everywhere. ...

Reviev workshop Aachen

Dear painterfamily,

a further workshop is over. This time I passed on my knowledge and skills in Eschweiler (Aachen).
Already on Friday, as I was on my way to Aachen, I received positive signs for the upcoming weekend workshop because I was very punctual with the train on the way and could reach any connecting train well. And that's rather the rarity with "Deutsche Bahn" (german rail) ;)

The workshop itself, I can only say ... During the teaching, speaking and demonstrating, I felt very well what I have to thank the lovely and patient participants. I hope you enjoyed the weekend as well as I do, and could understand my ways of painting and discover them for yourselves.

I want to thank again all the participants, and would like to highlight some of you. 
First of all I thank the organizers, Roman and Uli, who have supported me over the weekend and also long in advance. The process was smoothly and it lacked nothing.


Special thanks to Uwe (De), who celebrated his birthday on Friday, and invited all of us to a pizza.
And last but not least, Maartje (MaGie - miniature painting) and Kyle (Mr. Lee's Painting Emporium)
, who had traveled from abroad and had some hurdles during their trip to Aachen. Also thanks for your detailed reports.

And now I wish you happy painting and end this review with some visual impressions...




In Eschweiler the air is not too clean...

...but on the other hand, the painting lamps shine much brighter :))

Bye, bye in Aachen... have a nice Halloween... your Stephan `derwish` Rath.

Painting revolution november 14th

Make sure, you don`t miss the painting revolution...

Be a part of masterminis and join now!!!

Bring ALL your friends. 

The more you are, the better for you. Trust us.

Bringe alle Deine Freunde!

Je mehr ihr seid, desto besser für euch. Vertraut uns.

Initial trials at home with sculpey - 4

Hiho dear followers,

Today I practiced again to sculpt. This time, the human head, which for me is always the most difficult part. I think the results of today are not sooo bad ... another two or three heads and it looks really human ;)

The head is designed for a 54mm miniature and about 8mm high.

In the third picture you can see how my first and second attempt looked like, from March this year.

I am very grateful for your comments and always open for criticism.

...and sorry for the bad "smartphone macro pictures"

Regards, Your Stephan

Music backround while painting

This music works best for me, as backround while painting:

Radio Final Fantasy ;)

And that is worth a look too...

http://radiohyrule.com/

Timeline

Hello friends,

Many of my workshop participants have been asking to show my first minis. Here you can see very well what happens when you practice a lot. I hope I can motivate one or another hereby again.
I thought it was a good idea to establish a timeline of some of my miniatures. So you can now track my beginnings and the qualitative improvements of my paintworks.

Thanks for watching, Stephan :) 

2005 - first half

2005 - second half

review - "derwish academy 2012"

REVIEW

Last weekend I held my first intensive workshop, the "derwish academy". For me it was a very enriching experience to work with 6 interested participants to dine and swim (we had about 36 degrees the whole weekend)

Games Day Germany 2012

Collected links for GD Germany 2012 can be found here:

Workshop Aachen

Hey there,

The doors for registration are open...

Miniature holder

You can get your holders here: 

 http://www.pk-pro.de/index.php?k=208

Hello painterfriends,

Many of you have asked me how it`s possible to paint such precisely details as I do.
The solution is quite simple ... Several years ago I developed a kind of miniature holder to improve the balance and precission.
With this holder it is possible to minimize the tremor while painting or sculpting. At first glance, the holder looks a bit strange
and you don`t know how and if the thing might help. But the enlightenment comes when you have worked with it.

I could now convince many painters and sculptors of my tool and the feedback was 100% positive.

The facts:

-Comfortable handling
-Precise painting and sculpting without to tremble, by resting your brush holding fingers on the wire bar.
-The wire bar is rotatable around the workpiece (360 degrees)
-Without contact: The workpiece must never be touched with the fingers

-Suitable for painting and modellations
-Suitable for single miniatures 28-54mm, small busts, etc.
-Suitable for right-and left-hander
-pinned workpieces can be fixed in the cork, miniatures on custom bases can be fixed on the ceramic base   with Patafix
-Every single miniatures-holder was made by me by hand and checked for function.
-Wire bar can be disassembled for priming your miniature and to remove the finished work
-Available in two versions, small for 28-32mm mini's and large for 54mm miniatures

Greetings, your Stephan "derwish" Rath

Comming soon

Comming soon

• weekend workshop at home with derwish
• 6 participants
• intensive coaching
• suitable for beginners, advanced and pro`s
• inclusive bed, food, drinks and snacks and some other useful goodies
• details and registration start 01.06.2012 on www.das-bemalforum.de

• Wochenend workshop bei derwish zu Hause
• 6 Teilnehmer
• intensive Einzelbetreuung
• geeignet für Anfänger, Fortgeschrittene und Meister
• Übernachtung, Essen, Getränke, und einige brauchbare Kleinigkeiten inklusive
• Einzelheiten und Anmeldung ab 01.06.2012 auf www.das-bemalforum.de

Interview

A part of the Interview I gave to Infamy miniatures:

Stephan Rath (derwish) has been painting awesome miniatures for years and is well known for his crisp, detailed style and brilliant NMM. He seemed like a great choice to paint up the first Infamy model and certainly didn’t disappoint. Once he was done with Jekyll he was kind enough to answer a few questions about his work on Jekyll and his painting in general. You can check out more of Stephan’s painting at his website.

Q

). Can you give a little bit of information about your start in the hobby and how you have developed?
A). I’ve painted my first minis in 2005 after a good friend showed me his collection of 30mm figures in two large display cases. I was very impressed and immediately got hold of paints, brushes and a unit of Games Workshop Silver Helms. It was so much fun that I painted for more than twelve hours on some days.

Some months later I found out about the Golden Demon competition. I participated in it and was very lucky because I won my first Slayer sword!

Q). How about your life outside of the hobby?
A). Outside the painting, I am a father of two children, Celine and Jonas and I have a charming wife. Thinking about what I do outside of my family, friends and the hobby, I notice, that there’s not really time for much else. Family, friends, job and miniatures, that’s all I need!

Perhaps, when I have some more time, practicing some riffs on my electric guitar – ACDC, Metallica and some others.

Q). Do you paint models for companies and run workshops full-time or do you have a ‘normal’ job too?
A). I have a normal job. The paintjobs and workshops are my second job. I work shifts as a technologist in a paper mill. I think there’s a good balance between both jobs. Pressure and stress in the paper mill and the relaxing entertainment while painting miniatures on the other side. For me, it couldn’t be better.

Q). You have won numerous awards including Slayer Swords and you are the 5th highest ranked artist on CMoN. Is it your aim to reach the top, or are you just trying to be a great painter? Do awards and competition matter to you?
A). Actually, it is not that important to me to have too much success. I try to satisfy myself in everything I do and that is usually very difficult, because my needs are growing more and more. The success in competitions and on CMoN are bi-products that motivate me on my path as a painter. A little recognition from the community is also a very nice reward for the many hours I spend on my painting table.

Q). What / who is your inspiration (both miniature painters and in the wider world of art and life)?
A). This really varies. Sometimes I am inspired by video games, movies, concept art or just nature. I find inspiration in many areas.

In our hobby, there are the all-rounders, who can paint brilliantly and also sculpt, such as Sascha Buczek, Allan Carrasco, Steve Party and Sebastian Archer, the sculptor of Jekyll.

In the wider world I am inspired by Adrian Smith’s art, but most impressive for me is Leonardo da Vinci… for me he has a kind of divinity of perfection and arts.

Q). What do you think is the best mini you’ve ever created?
A). The High Elf Swordmaster is my favorite mini. I think it’s a solid paintjob and I was satisfied, when I finished him. Too bad that I sold the model. It is the only figure that I miss sometimes in my display case.

Q). What are your favourite models painted by others?
A).

• The Troll by Fabrizio Russo – He should have won the slayer sword in Italy 2008, the work is so much better, than my Eldar.
• Zorabeth and a Starcraft Marine by Javier Gonzalez Lozano – I could gaze at both of these for hours. He really knows how to handle paints.
• A mounted griffon by Sascha Buczek – A real masterpiece.
• Visions of Hatred by Raffaele Picca. – This is a really nice demon which is very colourful, but nevertheless a very good balanced work. There are many colourful minis which look a bit too busy and messy, but his is a project where you can see that colourful can also be beautiful if it is well balanced.

Q). You seem to be an odd mix when it comes to painting. From what I can see you mostly use GW paints, but you are well known for your NMM painting (which is not a very GW style). How did this mix come about? Is it purely a stylistic decision?
A). If I want to paint a clean and new looking metal I use only normal paints, because I can handle the light better and have total control. If you use metalic paints the reflections during photography can be much harder to control. It’s just a tool to control the light. For unclean, used or weathered metal surfaces I sometimes use metallic paints, for example the Dark Elves tower or Enigma’s Eweling.

Q). You have various models in your galleries with extraordinarily detailed freehand. Your Khemri standard bearer is particularly spectacular. How do you go about creating a flat image that is so small but has so much detail? Does it require different skills to mini painting?
A). Yes, I use a raster technique. I divide the template image and the surface to be painted in squares. This lets me focus on each square individually. The result is a detailed banner, made square by square. You can find a guide on this technique in the tutorial section of my website.

Q). Do you think painters can get carried away with freehand details and ruin the cohesive look of the model? How do you avoid that?
A). Absolutely. There are some works I can remember which were overdone and covered with freehand. The freehand work was nice and solid, but too much is too much. It’s a question of everybody’s taste for sure, but for me it’s a question of balance. I have heard, that some painters use freehand to cover up their badly made blending!

Q). Are there any tips or techniques that you would give to help people improve their painting?
A). You can learn all the techniques that exist in the world of painters, but it doesn’t automatically mean that you are able to use them. For this question I have a very short answer – practice!

Q). In the work in progress shots of Jekyll there is an interesting rig fixed to the model. Is this something you’ve made to help you hold the mini as you paint it? How does it help?
A). What you have seen is a kind of bracket which I use to hold the miniature while I’m working on it. This means I don’t need to touch the model with my fingers. Also, I can rest my fingers on the metal bracket and therefore I have a better balance and control over the brush. The basic idea is actually to work on a project while I am as relaxed as possible.

Q). Do you ever use an airbrush or is it all brush work?
A). So far I have not used an airbrush. All you can do with an airbrush works with a sable brush. I think it is most useful on larger scales like 54mm and above.

Q). What are the mini painting things you couldn’t do without?
A). I just need a red sable brush with a size between 1 and 3/0. It does not really matter which manufacturer. It is not the brush that brings the skills, but the practice. I paint with Citadel or Vallejo paints and I am very accustomed to the pigmentation.

I paint with real mountain water from the Black Forest, which was filtered through volcanic rock after it was melted from a glacier… Haha! Just kidding, I only need very simple water that comes out of the tap.

Q). Anything else you would like to add?
A). Just another quote: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”

You can find the full interview here:  Infamy miniatures

Henrietta Jekyll - Promo for Infamy

Hey there,

My latest work was a promo paint job for a new miniature company.

I am a bit proud, that I was the painter, who was able to paint the first release.

The mini is called Henrietta Jekyll and is a part of a game in a Steampunk-London background.

If you want to know more details about the game and the manufacturer, check this link:

Infamy miniatures

Other pictures can be seen on my cmon-gallery.

Your vote is welcome.

Initial trials at home with sculpey - 3

Today I sculpted again a bit. I do not know if I can be quite satisfied with my progress so far. The boots seem a little too small and the drape... I'm not sure if that is correct. 

Initial trials at home with sculpey - 2

I think you can see now, in which direction this one goes ;)

Initial trials at home with sculpey - 1

I played around a bit with sculpey ... armature, greenstuff, sculpey, volume,  just like Mati Zander teached me. Puh, it`s pretty hard for me as a experienced painter to discover these things

Stay tuned for the next steps. 

Greetings, Steph

Girl silenced the world

To remember sometimes is not enough... We all should carry these thoughts in our minds, wherever we are, whatever we do.
Watch the video, understand it and share!

Cheers, Stephan

Munich 2012

Review: Workshop Munich 2012

Last weekend was my first painting workshop in Munich.

After a difficult start (first time speaking and teaching in front of many people), 

and a few technical difficulties, I began with the first of three theoretical parts.

Then I was showing practically my style of painting to the participants

in smaller groups. On all three days I followed the same patterns:

theory, how to use the knowledge, testing, experimenting, and finally

practicing in the several areas of miniature painting.

Light, contrast, my blending variant etc. on surfaces like skin, clothes,

metal etc.

On sunday, I showed the "Padavans" my way to paint freehands.

And I think, they all have understood it very well and are able to

use these techniques to their advantage.

The experience I gained in Munich will help me in the future very much.

I want to thank all the participants for their trust, their kind words and

the other reviews of this weekend.

Thanks to Markus (Malekith), the organisator, he did a really good job.

I also want to thank the monkey-crew from massive-voodoo, for

their constructive criticism... and for sure, thanks to the

muppet-delegation, bestienmeister and goatman ;)

I`m looking forward to the painting classes in the future...

Hamburg,   May, 18. - 20. 2012

Aachen, October, 26. - 28. 2012

Picture sources: Raffaele Picca, massive voodoo

                        C. Reckerth, Bestienmeister`s blog

                        K. Knittfelder

                        A. Förtsch