 All right. Hello everybody and welcome to another interview with the artist. That's right. We're back. It's a new season It's a new world. It's new questions and new artists I'm talking to and I am very very excited to talk to the artist today Mamacan, how you doing sir? It is so good to talk to you and I met in person for the first time Like two weeks ago and instantly I was like this is somebody I like I was like you're this is my guy I got to interview this guy. So how you doing today, sir? I'm doing pretty good. Thank you very much for this introduction Vince, and I Also want to say I had the same feeling towards you It's a you know bromance that probably will go a long way. Hopefully exactly. Yeah, I mean like right away It was so funny because we You know, we met kind of just hovering around the Golden Demon cases We went and adept at adept con in Chicago. We're talking about the various entries as you do with the other artists if people don't go I highly recommend it's a great place to just hang out and talk to people and I'm walking around And I'm like, yeah, I really like this one. I really like this one and Mamacan was like, yeah Yeah, I painted that one. I painted that one. I was like, oh my god. These are my picks Like you were so many of my hot picks Okay, one of which I have up right now this beautiful chaos wear unit. This was a hot pick in from from my list So Sir it is an absolute pleasure to have you on the show you are an artist of That I've been following for a long time on The socials and so it was great to actually like put the face officially like in person with the name All right, so we're gonna start out at the beginning Basically, like that's where we generally start these interviews. I'm gonna they were gonna use a slightly different format of questions this time It's a new seasons new world. We're gonna change it up some but Some questions are still important like for example How'd you get into the hobby? Like how did you get into miniature painting? This is a weird thing. We all decided to do right? We all have to be a little weird to decide to paint tiny plastic people. So how'd you get into this? Well, my journey starts when I was a little kid It was actually my older brother that got me into this It was already three to four years into the hobby when when I started liking it and The final kind of piece in the puzzle for me that made me go across the the border and start Really liking this was the Lord of the Rings and the miniatures that came with it I remember my mom passing me a A journal with some I think Moria goblins and and paints that She and my Brother got me and I started, you know clipping them off the of the sprue painting them and I was like, this is the best thing ever Then a year later I started really liking this even more because on a one sunny day my bro brought a I don't know if you've seen them the back in 2001 or two they introduced a Magazine in the white dwarf like an addition to the white dwarf that was why it's covered Journal with all of the golden demon winners from the past year So my brother brought this journal with 2003 I think winners and We just we were amazed with everything that was in it so many amazing pieces one of them was a unit of Chaos Mounted warriors. I want the slayer sword in the UK in 2003 by Yakup Rudin Nielsen. I actually remember this piece. It was a real is were really cool chaos warriors I know I are cast Knights or whatever. Yes. I remember exactly what you're talking about. Yes. Yeah, and By the way, my brother is also and well, I don't want to say also, but he's an amazing artist He used to sculpts amazing miniatures back when he put could put a lot of time into into the hobby and If you remember that year that there also was a dragon. I think it might be a Sculpted dragon and he actually copied that the miniature exactly. That was his first sculpt And I thought okay one day we have to make him a sculpt and I'll paint and we try to win a demon Power combo right there. Yeah, exactly That would be that that is a you know bucket list thing that that I still want to do Hopefully one day if he has time to to to do it Maybe the community can put him under pressure and start messaging him or something. Let's let's figure this out later I like it. I like it. Absolutely. I mean look we saw like you know the custom sculpted Metheson or whatever this year, right? So like it's it's it's in like let's make this happen. I love the idea. That's great Yeah, that would be something special for sure and yeah, just kind of But more and more I just kind of got more and more into this as the years passed on You know, there was the usual as you call it the break when you when you Figure out that there are girls in the world Sure, and you start being afraid that someone will know that you are into miniatures and then you know back in I don't know 2007 it wasn't that popular. It was a big hobby and it was you know, very very nice and cool and everything But sometimes you could still get those. Oh, you're into miniatures. That's kids toys And sure when you're 13 14 year like, okay, I have nothing to do with this So yeah, I had a break from this but I still Still really liked that the miniatures. I always saw the new releases and I thought one day I'll come back to this. I will put my effort effort into this and the time I That was that was the part where I just enjoyed playing the game as well But one day I was terrible at playing the actual game The curse of the of the hobbyist and painter. Yes, it's being like you play the game, but you're bad at it. Yeah, I Always rolled once except for the times where I had to roll leadership Then it's just straight sixes all the way down. Yeah, absolutely classic. Yeah, so I thought maybe I will just stick to painting for now But yeah, that that was the beginning And see this is where I was lucky because I met my wife actually before I Started playing Warhammer Okay, or became involved with miniatures in any way I was already a mega nerd in like five other ways so she she knew what she was in for But after I met her I got into Warhammer because I was like I met her before when I was Like 16 and then when I was 18, I think I got into Warhammer So at any rate she she knew what she's in for the whole time So I was lucky there see I didn't have to didn't have to ever like have that that's kind of gap period But it's not unusual. I also never had an older brother. I'm the eldest child So I was cursed a lot of people I talked to their older their older siblings get them into it I could have been into it years earlier could have been way ahead of where I was but no No older sibling So You you had your gap years you got back into it Focusing up on the hobby side. I have a question for you What it was originally Lord of the Rings. Have you always been a fantasy guy? Did you get drawn back in like did you eventually go over to the sci-fi side as well? Like what part of it holds more of your heart or your interest or is it both I? Would say it's definitely 40k Because my favorite army is space wolves And that is also very tightly connected to my brother because when I was a little kid Usually the kids get stories about you know fairy tales and nights and you know, whatever castles And I got stories from the I think third-edition space wolf cortex about space wolves And it was amazing because I you know I had dreams when I was I don't know nine or eight about Becoming a space wolf, and I thought this is so cool. This is the coolest universe ever So I actually I'm more drawn into 40k. I really like the fantasy world as well But I would say In my heart at 70 to 30 percent Towards the 40k, but Lord of the Rings is more about I think The the movies as well for me I could we watch them Unlimited amount of times. I've maybe watched every single episode 500 plus times. It's I know it's pretty crazy, but It's just an amazing movie and every time I watch it as well. I did the movies. I always get My painting mojo as well, so I can paint better and more Yeah, nice nice it's funny because When I started playing it was during so I started playing with fantasy, but I also queer very quickly got into third-edition 40k and I hated space wolves I hated them so much and I still I still hold that anger and resentment to this day only because Their book was so good at that time and they were so strong and the player in my group who played space wolves would just kick the crap out of all of us and so You just like you know what I mean? It's like a learned hatred like there's nothing actually bad about it's a cool aesthetic But no, no, I just forever hate them because they beat up on me when I was when I first started playing the game So there you go All right, awesome, so you're you're painting your hobbying obviously you have these memories of the You know of the Golden Demon Sort of winners that were you know in that in that magazine and that pop out I wish they would do by the way more books with the Golden Demon stuff like printed material with really nice pictures Like what kind of Golden Demon? Compendium put together what Matt, you know put together, but I'd love to see them do Coffee table books and you know just stuff like that. I think it'd be real I certainly picked those up I just love a collection of like some of the coolest entries over the years right and like you could imagine the sections But anyways, there's an idea GW make it happen. Let's go. It's just another book. We'll all give you money just Find these pieces. You got to have pictures of them somewhere. Yeah, exactly Um And yes, thank you man Zach true grit was OP. I agree. That's exactly right That is exactly it. They could use full-size bulgers in one hand. All right, I don't want to get into it I don't want to get I'm not gonna revisit third-inition 40k. It's very upsetting to me Anyways, just bring it up. She's opening old wounds there Okay, so when did you decide hey, I want to start doing some competition painting, you know, I want to move beyond what Motivated you to that step and and how did you get there? What was the you know, what were you doing? What was your method of improvement? Well, this is a A question towards I have an answer with two two kind of smaller answers within it because I think I always had a good understanding of Actually where I am because sometimes people think okay. I'm now good at painting So I will win a slayer sword tomorrow when they are 13 and I always knew that okay now I'm good for young blots, but not for the top competition for you know, the seniors sure so always knew that You know, I'm I'm pretty good, but I cannot compete with the you know top painters so I really wanted to win a Golden Demon and In 2008 I Had the opportunity to visit the Golden Demon in Poland in Poznań and I prepared an entry I Went there again with my brother and I was lucky enough to win a silver But there were three entries. So at least I wasn't I don't want to offend the guy that was in the bronze But at least I bit, you know, I was sure no, absolutely no, I'm just kidding, but that was an amazing achievement to me because I Actually took part in some, you know local store competition Stuff and I never placed and I really wanted to have this At least young blots achievement in my books And I was amazing. I also met bad comments and many top painters like Borja Garcia, hopefully I didn't slur the name The channel is all about mispronouncing things. So don't okay. You're fine. Okay, then after my surname you can Sing a Macarena because it's pretty complicated So yeah, I mean I met some amazing painters. It was just the best day probably of my childhood Then I had the break and then I came back paint it just for myself then some commissions and Then I thought Maybe I can do better just for you know at that time Just so I can earn more money and paint better commission level Stuff and so I try to improve But I think at that time I was still pretty tabletop level So it was nothing special then I Think it was 2016 when I thought this time I will actually put my effort into this I prepared four entries went to Nottingham and Got I think two finalists for four entries and that was pretty good to me But I at that time thought maybe I could get a bronzer cure there. So that was already Trying my best to win. So It was first the push of trying to actually just earn more money with the commissions sure if I want us And then I thought maybe I have a you know, I have a chance to to get back into this competition after a big break and Start actually compete competing on the top level again Did you find so you were doing commission painting did you find that Commission was helpful or a hindrance to your improvement It was absolutely helpful because again when you're There there comes a moment in your life when you're a commission painter when you depend on the money or you you know You want to just earn more money so you Starts trying better or painting more miniatures and for me it was always Better to paint less miniatures to to a better standard. So I always wanted to have commissions for HQs and you know Characters and everything like that so I can paint less miniatures and you know With a big bigger time frame to a better standard just because I really like to put more effort in the miniatures sure I know always hurt me to do to paint squads of that's why I don't have an army painted because I cannot paint Miniatures not to my perfect level to my perfect level. So I understand So somebody just throwing 40 space Marines in front of you and being like no, no, I just want these done. That's a nightmare situation for you Absolutely, I had this amazing commission of a full army of orcs Fantasy orcs and there was amazing money But it was 300 miniatures and I sat on it for three months and then I said, sorry Here's our money back. I will not paint I cannot paint this just because I couldn't start that even the first miniature because I knew there was 299 more Wow, yeah, that's I Still army paint but over time. I've certainly come to love smaller more elite armies, you know Like I think the happiest I've been painting an army recently is when I did my sons of Batman for a OS because that's that's like six Miniatures my great. I can do this. I can do six miniatures. That's that's an army right there now We're talking right. That's that's exactly the the kind of that's exactly the kind of investment. I'm looking for right here It's just you're just basically painting like six display figs right because they all just feel like you're doing large-scale things Effectively because they're just big humans, right? All right, cool. Yeah, it's always interesting because I think about commission painting a lot of people It it's often a way to get drawn in but I all I often wonder like can it become a distraction on the road to improvement if it's if you are just focusing purely on speed Right and trying to turn things around and you kind of lose the the the vision of deliberate practice If it's just like not gonna keep applying the same techniques over and over again to just rip through these Right, I wonder if it can't end up being a distraction. So that's interesting okay, I Want just just a tiny thing on this absolute feed can because it's very similar to There's there's a lot of stories about people having dreams and then spending times Their lives and time in the office just because they got a promotion and they just kind of left their dreams to you know Go away, but right focus them on their day job And this is the exact exact same thing if you focus on the commissions too much you get good at the commissions Then you're you have a possibility of losing the side of what's actually Your way to improve because you just you're comfortable with You know this sort of money and you just paint to the same level for 20 years and you never improve Which is fine for for some people but for me it always was You know the case of improving at some point at least So yeah, nope makes perfect sense Uh Gracie or had said skaven are known for their elitness. Well, yeah I look my because I'm also a huge skaven fan and You're not wrong Gracie or if we end up getting new sculpts this year for for skaven With the alleged skaven book that's on the horizon. I'm gonna be putting a really tough spot That's gonna be I'm gonna have to compromise my values. I guess for the horned rat. That's that's what's gonna come down to okay so That was your results of your first Golden demon and here's I want to talk about something with with competition here. Okay, because You went there this 2016 GD, right? It wasn't really perhaps the results you were hoping for Okay, I will also say by the way 2016 was the first year. I went to a painting competition as well so that's interesting interesting alignment there and Wasn't I didn't get my my results didn't turn out how I was hoping you such as like How did that like how did you respond from that? Did you see that I was like, okay? Now I know where I am. I need to you know keep pushing Did you get to talk to the judges at all? Did they give you feedback like what was your response after that initial hit? I Want to be honest. It wasn't great As in I went to the judges and asked for the feedback and it was absolutely fair and I saw that the better pieces want So I had no problem with that. Yeah, but You know, even if you're a humble person I'm not the most humble person in the world, but I tried to be humble and even when you know that you You lose fair and square you still feel the the sadness It doesn't doesn't matter if you didn't win because you you were not better and I was if I'm honest out I didn't feel that good after the competition. I took a break for a year I think and then I came back did some more commission painting and then By the end of 2017 I thought okay. Let's give it one more go so I started preparing again and and That time it was a little bit better and As we talked before the show again the last-minute piece won me the golden demon and the everything else that I did not Expect to lose with got me nothing. So sure it was pretty funny as well every time every time It's always the last-minute piece. You know, I try to be responsible I start working like a year ahead like I started working on on this last one in like May 2019 But all the ones I did up toward the end that was the stuff that was the stuff. It's always whatever you do last-minute I don't encourage people to do that like take your time. It's always the last-minute thing Okay Well, awesome. That's great. So then you you were there obviously as we can see in the halo above your head You've had more success since then as we can see the the trophies over top of you there and I so at this point, we've been talking a lot about You know What I want to call it. I don't I want to say gaming miniatures, but that almost sounds like I'm being dismissive. I don't I'm not dismissive at all I love painting 28 millimeter 32 millimeter whatever like traditional gaming miniatures. There's nothing I see no It's not as though like oh, that's lesser art than doing a bust or a different scale or something like that That's that's nonsense. They're all just different, but I know you paint beyond just sort of gaming miniatures. So When did that happen? Did you was that always there in the background? Did you say hey, I want to try some other scales some other things like where did that also integrate into your journey there? I Don't know if this is common or not, but I'm Well, I was a very Arthodox games workshop painter. So I really liked the miniatures by a GW because they were there in my life since I was a little kid Since I can remember actually So, um, I almost always painted just the GW miniatures Then, you know, I was aware of amazing miniatures created by Other companies as well, but I thought There's so many GW miniatures. I want to paint in the first place I don't have the time to paint anything else. But then, you know Some of the busts got got the better of me like the Bust by Carol Rudick, I think He does some amazing sculpting and I was really drawn into into that as well And I thought okay, let's give this a go because at that time it was Starting getting more and more popular to paint busts as well. Yep so I thought let's give it a go and actually what brought me into non GW miniatures was the fact that Sometimes I get comments. Okay, you you paint good GW miniatures But have you ever tried painting something bigger something in a different scale? So I kind of wanted to prove some people as well that I can paint something bigger and something more More in the I would say fantasy world as well So I just started picking some Some different miniatures and it was actually very Interesting to me. I really liked the experience. I'm looking forward to painting more of these now as well with some amazing competitions in the future like the World miniature expo, I think it's called yeah in July This thing is happening once in three or four years So I might as well go and just just to see the the level and just to see the amazing miniatures So that was that was my beginning of the journey in 2020 I think with different miniatures. Nice Yeah, it's funny because I think World Miniature Expo is It's supposed to be every four years and The last this will actually be five years on for this one because they canceled it last year and moved it forward a year because it was 2017 it's the last one here in the US. I believe and now it's over Over near you So there you go. Yeah, I'm very excited to see what's there what people have been, you know, I gotta bring to this It's it's I'm probably I'm sure not gonna have a chance to go over for it, but man, that would be really great I don't I'm sure I'll be old and dead by the time it comes back to the US One can only hope so Where do you see yourself now and where do you want to go in the future right like as you sit here now? You're an accomplished painter You've won lots of awards. Oh There you go every three years. Thank you Andrew All right, so You know What what's your goals at this point? Like I think for a lot of people They feel like they probably look at the stuff you paint and say I just want to be able to paint something like that And the idea that there's still a world beyond that is is sort of tough to imagine So what's your world beyond that like where are you going from here? What do you want to focus on? What do you see your journey as from this point? When I just started Wanting to compete in the competitions. I Asked the senior painters that are on the stage for many years for advice and some of the advice well All of them almost gave me the piece of advice to always Search for a better painter and look up to them and try to copy their work if you like their work Just so you can kind of acquire their skills by copying their work So I I think no matter almost no matter who you are there might be a few few exemptions There's always someone better than you and I have Hundreds of painters that I look up to I think these guys are just killing it and probably if I would become a full-time painter I could become like them quicker, but This is not the path for me, but at this moment in time I want to Start painting more realistically. I've done it a couple of times on some of my pieces But I usually stick to the very clean everything that's highlighted Kind of style with my own miniatures Just because as we discussed before I'm a perfectionist So I cannot live with some surface not highlighted not shaded not edge highlighted and stuff like that But I really want to move forward to something more let's say Looking like the classic paintings by some artists from the Middle Ages and and I really like the the arts of a few classic painters. So I'm looking towards better painters than me in and in miniature painting and also to amazing historic painters like Velazquez and I think that that is my favorite but to many many others That have their painting in the museums, so I really want to go to Towards that direction and I really want to start painting Different kinds of miniatures as well I Still have my my favorite aesthetic of miniatures something quite similar to the GW IP, but not by GW so there's there's stuff in and In the works at the moment that I'm working on that I'll hopefully be able to show within the coming months. So you see what I was talking about Nice. All right. I love it. Good teaser. Good teaser. All right So with that, I think we should move over and actually start talking about, you know, kind of your work Let's look I've got I've had one up the whole time Which is you took silver at the most recent Golden Demon here in the US with this chaos warrior unit Which is great. I love this unit. This was as I mentioned to you as we were walking around originally I thought this was a very strong entry But you know like before any before they had put up any of the judging I had kind of picked this one as one of my one of my top picks in the category But then, you know, tell us a little bit about this one and then we're going to jump into some other pieces So this thing coming together because there's a nice mix of the different sculpts as well So with the vampire This is the one I was talking about the Carol Rudick Sculpt so this this piece is just an amazing sculpt it's amazing to paint because it has so many textures and I was really inspired. Well, not inspired. I almost tried to copy One of the best if not the best painter in the world. No offense to anyone else, but Carol kind of No, I mean, it's I don't think I don't think that's a surprise. He just he just is Yeah, just incredible painting. So I was I wanted to copy his work with a slight Variation and the tones and the colors to see how he paints and to understand how he approaches Lighting or a cell non-metallic and everything like that But this piece I tried to do within two or three days. So I didn't have the time Enough time to put into this That I would ideally like to have I would probably spend a month on it at least So Again, this was the classic case of copying someone else's work almost precisely to make sure that You understand how they work and then use that that's kill on some of your other pieces and I really tried to Showcase to the community as well a little bit that I can paint in a different style because as I said before I had a ton of comments throughout the year saying hey try something different than the metal style try something more complex or Basically different so I really wanted to prove to people that I can paint in a different manner And I'm very happy with this piece. I Still have not Put it out on a proper show. So maybe I will bring it to The competition in July But I can paint a lot better now because that was almost what two or three years ago now. So I Still like this piece, but I think I can do better now No, that's isn't that always the case you like every piece you create until you're done with it And then you hate it because you know like that's that's the journey right of the of the artist of the literature painter It's like everything is your favorite piece until you're done with it And then it's like, oh no, this is this is terrible, but the next thing I do this is going to be the one right So what I really like about this somebody asked by the way, let's real quick go back to this Somebody asked about your chaos warriors Were they modified at all and I don't think they were right? You just mixed them because you used some of the ones out of the underworlds warband and then some of the normal cast warriors Am I right there? Not exactly. So I really like to convert all my miniatures almost all of them Just so they're more special and that is something you can see also and many past golden demon winners they they try to make their miniatures stand out by converting them as well as painting them well so, um I converted I think all of them except for the familiar for the tiny demon um The lady is a the holga miniature the limited edition lady mace um, and the other three are um, just Slaves to darkness or whatever they're called right now miniatures with with some slight variation with the Swords with the axes and I actually took them from the old chaos warriors kit But I really like the new sculpts of the these miniatures By uh, maxine corbel. I think I might might have already slaughtered a few names now He's a sculptor for uh, gw and he's teaches just amazing sculpts. So I really recommend checking his workout nice All right back to the vampire what I what I love about this Is it really? I really can't see you Exploring, you know a different style here. Um, it feels much more painterly And it's also the the way you're using color tones is really nice Like you're integrating the this This thing that I think has become I see people do but it's it's it still isn't really super common It but it's become something that I notice as like a hallmark of Uh, what I see is good paint jobs And it's the soft integration of like yellow yellow ochre Into the near soft light So like around the vampire around the light spot you've gathered on his head On the shoulder plate of the armor, you know, so on and so forth. There's this soft infusion of these other hues right These like it's not obviously the sky has this sort of blue green skin But then we're infusing this nice yellow tone in there just so ever subtly Around the highlights and it ends up being a really nice counter that still keeps just a little bit of warmth There on that side when we've got all that heavy warmth on the other with the red Right, so it doesn't just feel like it's completely cold and completely warm The light feels much more natural much more organic Uh, and you know this the the style of this like picking out a lot of the textures Of the rough brushed steel on the armor of the texture on the cloak As you said bringing forth all that amazing texture that he sculpts into the skin I just think you did a really nice job sort of gathering all that up and really bringing it to life Thank you. Well, yeah you um I think you have to approach every paint job with an idea of what is happening around it and I won't take credit for any of this because as I said, uh, there was this was a almost a copy of carola's work but um I would still place the the colors and the lighting in the same place as if I would do it probably And I would say you also have to remember that it's it's very nice to work with the stronger um stronger Places of the miniature you have to highlight them more as in if there's a very nice detail If there's something that should be popping make it pop If something has to bring more attention to itself Do do your best to to bring the attention towards that peak towards that um thing considering the The lighting with the yellows. I really like to incorporate the the yellow Towards my non metallics as well because I think When you have a piece that is supposed supposedly standing with Outside and it has some some lighting for say the sun the sun usually gives you this very bright almost white color It can have some yellow to it as well and it brings more life more interest to the to the non-metallic. So I really like to uh add some of yellows reds uh to my uh non-metallics especially when you're doing a sort of um uh glimpse of the light that is reflected from from the the most light uh area of the of the sort let's say so right right This is this is something I actually I'm very happy that you spotted it. So it's very cool Very good. Awesome. Yeah, man. It's a really great piece. Like I I really like this a lot and uh, I I can't wait to see you do You know more of these busts Is there any is there any one in particular right now? You're really excited about any any one that you've got your eye on that you want to get into as far as from the bust think goes There's too many but I have That is a custom sculpt that I've ordered So it's a no one will have it ever except for me probably I'm not planning to sell it afterwards So this was this will be a completely unique piece. Um And I will paint it with the same kind of idea as with this one But I'll have to figure out everything on my own because no one else has painted this before. Sure. Yeah, I will I'll be a very interesting um Journey hopefully as well. So Uh adding more to the hype of of this project, but I don't want to have it too much I just hope it will be fun to paint and good to look at after I finish it Nice, uh, you say that now that you're not gonna you're not gonna have it on offer But see what happens if you do a really, uh, great job with the uh, With the piece and then Uh, and then all of a sudden You got a hundred people Come into you wanting to see hey, where can I get this thing? Where can I get this thing? Where can I get this thing? Uh, all of a sudden You might find yourself in a different place. That's all I'm saying That is very true. Yeah Okay So, uh, let's keep moving. All right next piece is your drazar Uh, so drazar obviously this is a heck of a sculpt Uh, you know, obviously from the the this guy's relatively new Um, and I know that a lot of people really love the sculpt He is a classic Uh, so and this was a really really really dynamic fantastic update on this piece Um, I'm just gonna say a couple things. I really like about it of whatever how you handled it here Right off the the top right off the rip First of all the little touch of the blood splatter is so on the on the lead sword I don't know what his weapons are called because I don't know. I don't know dark space elf things Um, there another army that I don't like very much given past history um, but I just got beat up a lot. I was playing imperial guard in third edition. I don't know what to tell you so, um anyways the but like that blood splatter is really masterfully executed because You're pulling back these blood tendrils off of that splatter that are so Small and thin and organic and it really feels like like a dexter episode over here the way you you manipulated that blood I just I really like it. It's the smallest touch But it's really impactful to the overall piece The other thing I love is how you've gathered the light around his head So like you're the way you've handled the non metallics on his shoulder pads and then the light on his horns All of it is serving as a halo around the center of The focal point of the miniature right, but it's keeping me moving So i'm gathering this light around this shoulder this shoulder this horn this horn and then his obviously brighter face Right, so we've got these multiple rings happening of like light dark light dark And then light on the outside with the blades and it creates this really nice concentric ring of the light dark light dark pattern Um that I think just really really sells for me So tell us a little about a little bit about drasar what you're hoping to accomplish with him What like why do you like drasar? Was this just like oh, he's a good piece for competition Do you have a love for this dude in general? Where where he at with him? What tell me the story of this guy? So first of all I want to say that I can clearly see that you have a very good understanding of how painting works because You've spotted me trying to put all of the lighting around his head. So everything Brings you towards his face And I think this is very important when you're working on any piece that has a focal point And usually it's the head if that's a human or you know a humanoid Thingy, so um, yeah, I really tried to push all the brightest points towards the Towards the face This miniature is probably one of the hardest miniatures I've ever painted not because it's very hard to paint it's very nicely paint But because I wanted to make sure that this is the best paint job I've ever done And I think that was the best paint job I've ever done at that time So I've probably invested 200 or 220 250 hours into this miniature I really tried to take my time with everything I've done on this um The blood splatter was something I was very nervous To to add because on on my past projects I was very Um Very happy to add a ton of blood and make the little splatter on the whole miniature Sure, but with this piece I wanted to make it, you know there but not straight in your face And it was also very nerve-racking because Each side of the blade took me around six hours to blend perfectly to the place where I was Oh, sure. He happy with so um There was 12 hours on each blade of risk if I ruin it and also if you if you use the Blood for the blood god Paint from citadel. It's very thick. So you're you're If you ruin it, you ruin the whole blade You have to either scrape it off or get another miniature and paint it again, right? So I try to be very careful with that um This miniature I for sure painted in order to compete with it later um I painted it for golden demon. Um I brought it to the golden demon in the usa. It got me a commended card um, and I was absolutely okay with with uh, not placing because the top three were just incredible pieces and then I had You know, I I thought maybe My piece was also very good, but I saw that these pieces were Amazing they were bigger as well, which is also important because If you paint for example, if you can Come to judging a squad and you have the same level or very close But one squad is three miniatures and one is 10 you pick the one that has 10 because it's just more work of that standard so um Oh, I really like this piece. It was very hard for me to finish it off because um I think this is also very common when you put so much effort into a project the last tiny bit that that finishes the the the whole piece Off is very hard to do because then the piece will be gone. It will be over and you know, you I don't like coming back to projects and fixing them. So I thought Uh, I thought I have to add something more So I've added the banshee on the base as well the the cap today did banshee You can see the the head of it on the back Yep, I switch to the photo so that that way people can see the head on the back of the base there sure, um But yeah, it was it was a nice challenge to myself And I really wanted to do this this model of justice It was sculpted by uh, one of the best sculptors in the world. You know him very well probably Darren layton. Yep And the last thing I want to say about this piece probably is the fact that when you paint a piece by your Childhood hero. Okay. I don't want to say childhood because he will be offended and he will say i'm not that old He's not that old. He he has just started painting for every metal and sculpting for citadel when he was like, you know, six probably so I mean, um, yeah, he he uh Without a doubt is a hero for me So I wanted to to make sure that he really likes the the the piece as well And I think he likes it. So i'm i'm okay with it There you go You can see again by the way just to return back to what we said You can really see at this this this angle. I switched it to the one where we can see the howling banshee on the back Or her head You can really see the yellows Integrating that naturalistic light here as well into the non metallic of the blade And I think it just really makes it sell it feels like it's in real natural Lighting, um, I really like your execution of the non metallic Especially on the weapons it by the way that timing does not surprise me even in the slightest On six hours per blade side that sounds yep like that's absolutely I want to actually use this to just kind of talk about it when you're like your your process You're a very clean very precise very detailed painter And when you're when you're working on something like this like you're working on drazar or something similar Do you work part by part to completion so like in other words Okay, uh now i'm gonna do the knee pad. So we're just working the knee pad here like the right knee pad I'm gonna work this until it's done and then i'm gonna move on to the Thigh right above it or or you know, whatever right you get what i'm saying Or do you like push some tones over the whole miniature or you're like are you constantly making circles and adjusting? Right, or maybe something else. What's your actual process? Usually the first thing you said so usually is just p part of her part Sometimes when I want to make sure that 100 of the armor for example is done the same I do the whole armor But usually because i'm a very I like to Pay my competition pieces very meticulously and make sure that everything is perfect Even if I divide the armor into four or five sessions I make sure that they every piece looks the same as the previous one so when when it's coming to A competition piece I spend more time and I just paint every single area separately Gotcha. Yeah Yeah, it's funny because I've I've I found myself Often using that technique when I'm really trying to achieve Sort of as you said like for competition pieces, right? Um, and I wonder and like but I but I see other people who don't who I know are also competition majors Who don't do that and so I'm always just fascinated by people's process Like and I I don't think that there's like a right way a wrong way to do it It's more of just like how does your brain? Work when it comes to resolving the image, right and and making the thing look like what's up here getting out there How does that flow through from your brain down your arm out your hand through your brush and out of the paint, right? So i'm always just fascinated by the process of it. Okay He's gorgeous Uh, and yeah, I mean the 40k single as always was a was a murderers row This year for sure. Um, my god. So Yeah, like those those three marines that ended up taking it were all just like Mind blowing. Um, and I think by the way this stood next to them Absolutely appropriately like it was in in that finalist of commended. I think it absolutely earned its place there It was right on the level. There's it was it's a truly truly great piece. All right Speaking of Darren Latham Uh, let's talk about this space wolf Um, I'm actually going to jump to the frontal the full frontal image and then I'm going to kind of back my way up So we're going to look at this guy fully from the front. All right, so we've got our space wolf friend here Um, he's got his wolfie buddy Uh, take us through through this one Uh, and what you were wanting to accomplish here and and and why this piece So, um I'll I'll try to give you a bigger story, but very quickly. So I think that's what this show is all about Maybe in 2018 or 19 there was an interview with uh, darren on warhammer tv with weight price where he said He was asked what is your favorite miniature and he said Uh, this is a miniature that wasn't released yet and I uh messaged him and said Looking forward to seeing your ragnar and he was probably he was, you know, um, afraid not afraid, but um Maybe he thought that I knew and I that was just a guess because I remember him saying a few years ago that ragnar is his favorite character of Out of the 40k universe So I thought if he has a favorite sculpt is probably ragnar and the miniature was 20 Plus years old at that time So it really needed an update. So When it came out, uh, I messaged him and said amazing sculpt and uh, I knew it was it was this sculpt So I thought this is an amazing sculpt But I really really like, uh, stoic miniatures that are imposing just stemming their Already done all of the bad deeds and killing all of the heresy and everyone that they needed to kill So I thought okay, I really want to have this miniature painted but Uh, I want to make sure that it fits my idea of how how I want to see him and also Before that I was always very afraid of painting space walls Because as I said space will hold a very special place in my heart So I wanted to to do them justice when I paint them But I never could even though I painted quite well previously I couldn't Paint a space wolf to a standard where I was actually happy with it So I tried it It's one of the hardest color schemes to resolve of all of these sorts of legions that baby powder blue Is just so hard to get the right amount of depth into where to still make it look like it is what it is I absolutely agree and uh So this was a special project for me and I started converting it. I used parts for many miniatures The the legs were from corsair of hand from the wide scar miniature So it was a heavy conversion. I never Could do clean conversions as well before that so I put all my effort into this last year and uh Uh I also wanted to use one of the wolves from belladonna vulgar miniature from age of sigmar also Probably the best wolves gw ever sculpted So I really wanted to use them And ragnar also always had two wolves next to next to him Um, so I just thought great great idea to have them both on the base and uh Yeah, it was it was a lot of time Uh, a lot of effort A ton of converting but I was very happy with it and uh Yeah, I mean It's it's my favorite piece out of all the pieces I've done and might not be the best paint job probably even though I really like it but It is 100 percent my favorite piece Yeah, but I think it's really strong on this piece honestly I mean first of all it's it's a great capture of the the the space wolf sort of imagery theme iconography, etc Right in the setting Um, you handled the snow and the ice really well actually I find that like it's extremely credible sort of the way you've got the melt You have the very small icicles that feel like they're dripping into this, you know, this frozen pond, but it's not Absolutely completely frozen like things. There's a little bit of snow melt on the warm rocks that kind of thing Uh, the way that you've kind of spread that that out is is really nice. It isn't just like, um Cake batter which is what and a lot of snow that I see people use ends up looking like right? Um, it just it feels very natural in how that would gather and on the piece itself Honestly, I think both on the wolf and him The fur is just handled so well In how you've got it Like both on his back and I kind of flipped through some images so that people could kind of see But like the wolf and the way that you've captured the the tonal shift Around the various parts of the wolf feels extremely naturalistic Same with the the the fur cloak itself and just kind of the fur on him So I and I think a lot of people Don't integrate those kinds of very almost Natural color shifts and you're moving through some subtle tones here Again integrating a little bit of yellow Sepia into that brown still having the black while still having it feel like light is catching the individual strands and so on and so forth And it's working really well Where you've decided to make it a color shift in the fur versus light catch in the fur So where you've sort of highlighted the darker bits of fur as though it's light passing through the little follicles And I love love love the way you've lined that up with the light on the face and the light in the ponytail hair thingy topknot whatever he has right His his very interesting hairstyle choice. I just want by the way This is like a very common hairstyle choice in the 40 in the in the 41st century apparently I just want everybody to think for a moment if you were walking around in the real world And you saw somebody with this hairstyle like the top not directly dead center top of their head like a Thing here and then just hair coming out and flowing down the side You would immediately think that person was insane. Okay Um, but nonetheless in 40k it totally works But I just I love the way the light is catching on the face and the hair and has been caught in the fur Like and then on the front A gorgeant part of the armor would have for lack of a better term like that Like it just you can absolutely see The shaft of light that's coming down here and where that light is directed and it extends out the The arm on the vambrace down of the knee pad Like you've really set that halo of where the light spot is really really well Thank you well, yeah this piece Wasn't so much about realism for me. It was more about making a good homage to to space wolves and how they are supposed to look and and have a clean page up as well Also more towards the heavy metal style, but with some additions like you said some some Highlights where the light probably would appear in real life. So yeah Yeah, it just overall sells the composition. It's a really nice to me. It's actually a wonderful marrying of the sort of I don't know what we want to call it Naturalistic style, I guess and and heavy metal style It's actually a really nice marrying of the two concepts together and shows that you can you can make them work in harmony here Really well, and I think that's what the piece captures. So overall great stuff I have a process question for you though as I am want to do So this guy this plinth Okay, let's talk about the plinth for a moment. I'm a plinth nerd. I'm sorry. I love exciting bases and plinths Okay, did you start with a normal like just standard cylindrical plinth and then Cut it to do like some part of a pour of a resin pour there or Did you buy one that already had like a chunk out of it and then smooth it down and pour it into it like What did you do to make this ice like I really find it super credible by the way So I just I'm I'm ultra curious as to as to this process around this one So, um, I really love the plinths as well. I have a ton of them ready to to be Under some projects and future projects and my one of the drawers So for a long time I had a friend that lived in the forest and it was a Basically a guy worked in wood industry. So he did the plinths for me as a hobby as a extra Wait, that's a good hookup. That's a good hookup right there. Yeah um and uh First I bought just cylindrical plinths and you know, I used an eye for whatever to carve the the area for the resin But then I thought let's just ask the person that is a professional in this to cat To cut the area that I want to to have so I asked him to do a couple of those plinths for me With with uh already removed the areas of the wood nice, um, then I have just used a exacter knife to to make the Shifts of the area a bit more sharp. So the the resin doesn't pour her off and then That was it. So nice first, you know first A few few mistakes a few years ago where I did it myself and then I just ordered some that were already done To the to the you know, you have to remove the stress sometimes from from your Work, so yeah, hey, I'm all about it. Look. I here's what I'm saying I don't know if your friend is looking for a change of job or change of career But he should know there is a market of people out here very ready for that kind of a a plinth slash Maybe plinths as a service. So, you know, uh a little little paz solution um He's he's he's if he ever gets tired of whatever he's doing right now Boy, oh boy. There's there's a whole world of miniature nerds out there who would pay a Mixed over an amount of money for his tiny bits of of uh of cut wood. So, you know, he's got career options. That's all I'm saying Yeah, okay All right Fantastic. Yeah, this piece is just is really wonderful Okay Go to the last image. What are you doing? Be good There it is. Okay. So the last one we're going to look at here is the black Templar Um, so take us through. Are you big black Templar fan? Uh, you know, what was your what was your motivation with this one? And uh, and and while you're while you're thinking about that I just want to say, um So here the things that grab my attention right away as well as should The incredible execution of the sword Uh, love the light catches love the light Halo sort of the effect that you've you've caught on there again Seeing that yellow orange integration In there as we can see like almost the reflection of the sun or this light fade Um, I really really like that quite a bit But it was actually a couple of the small details that caught my eye here. Um, also So I'm sure you're going to talk about the background and I'd love to know about the stained glass and everything But actually what caught my eye was just like the book that's at his side Lots of like the little texture and detail there Really finally executed that tell like that gave me the impression of an old religious text That this guy has carried around for a long time, you know something that he values greatly some kind of you know an artifact for him and then the I don't know what the little shield on their chest is called. I know it has a name but the the execution of the little shield on his chest and the checkers and the the small insignias and things just so well handled and such a nice Just a nice infusion of color Right there There's other yellow obviously around the miniature in the non-metallic But it just creates a nice little hot spot Right there again of just like visual interest as I'm moving my eye around the piece That isn't overwhelming because of the way you've desaturated it down with the oranges the reds the rust tones So very nice. So tell it take us through the black template So um this piece I really wanted to do a black pamphlet or piece when Dave announced gw announced that they were going to release some new miniatures but as It's pretty usual of me that whenever the release coming in two or three months I cannot wait for it. So I take the available bits out there and I start converting so I I thought okay, let's grab a few space marines grab some Old black template bits some gray night bits and everything like that and I just built a miniature to look like again a very stoic imposing Warthorne veteran of a space marine Um My love to black Templars is probably Just based on on my love towards their aesthetic and their color Collars in in in their armor and their heraldry in the symbols I'm a big history nerve as well. So You know the the crusades and the Templars weren't that great In real life, but the aesthetics are really nice sometimes and I can see that you probably have a Templar on your back background as well. Yeah. Yeah um So but I really just like the miniatures. So I thought let's let's do a miniature Of a black Templar before they're actually released. So um This piece was done very quickly. Um The the background with the stained glass was done in a day just because uh, I wanted to have nice Purple background because one of the new artworks by gw has Some black Templars with a purple background and I really like the composition of the colors and how they work together Um, the icons are just transfers inside of a resin pour. So it's very simple to do Um Considering the sword Again, I wanted to do a beautiful non-metallic effect inspired by some real-life objects and some work by other artists that I really like And uh The book as you said exactly I wanted to have it very Um, I wanted to wanted this piece to scream that it's old and because as you say, um He probably carried it with with him for many hundreds of years. And so it's very um important but also very old um and uh Also it's purple. So it also uh compliments the the the color composition Um And yeah, this is a very cool piece I I think uh out of all the the ones I've done I think that Many things should be different on it if I would do it now. I might go back and redo it later, but for now it's it's as it is and uh It's it's one of the pieces I really like but again, I know it could be a lot better Sure, uh the the eternal curse. Yeah, absolutely No, fantastic. Um, so, uh, yann has a question And we're gonna if people have some questions go ahead and drop them in the chat now We're gonna do our lightning round questions here in just a moment But if any people if anybody has any questions for mammoth con just put them in there, but yann asked Um, you love you say you love imposing static figures. Um, Have you done pieces with lots of movement as well? I think certainly drasar has some good movement. I'll say that um, but like what you know What are the what are the things with movement maybe that you've done that you that you like as opposed to just sort of the the static bows Um Probably the most dynamic piece I've ever done as a duel Um, I've done for the past golden demon. It has a elder banshee and a tern at the gargoyle. Um This piece again You can search for the picture on my social media. Um, this piece was done With the idea of how the category at golden demon works the duel has to have two very dynamic miniatures very well Uh, a very good composition So I I had to have two miniatures in very swift movements and banshees are known for being very quick and and uh Very deadly, uh, you know a gargoyle is probably the most dynamic tern that you can find So probably that is the most dynamic piece I've done But if we're talking about Pieces that just have a lot of movement that I've done You can have a look at my diorama that has 40 plus miniatures That are all running at each other. So it's it's pretty much A lifetime worth of dynamism in my piece is probably Uh, yeah, yeah that I would highly recommend I'm gonna put all american socials down in the description So you'd be able to go follow in which I highly recommend you do go follow him on insta everything like that um, you've got some great images of your stuff out there and that diorama is so I mean, it's insane. It's the only word I can use for it just the the size of it the sweep of it the scope of what's being portrayed there is sort of um It's sort of everything that I would want In in a giant diorama. I mean like it's amazing It's I talk a lot about how the pieces that impress me in the diorama category are always the ones that go Warhammer is so cool You know like that's what they like if that's what the diorama needs wants to like reach out of the glass Grab you by the collar and be like yo, isn't warhammer awesome. It's awesome, right? Look at this. Look at it And like that's what that's very much what your diorama did, right? Um, is it just slaps you in the face with a warhammer? Also, I love that you use the tiny like people should go see it There's a bunch of small details for people to discover and like you really put a lot of discoverable Things into the diorama But I love that you managed to use the little familiars from silver tower in there as well Long time love of those guys. They're fantastic little minis and yeah, so go check it out All the socials will be down there in the description and you can go hit them up Okay, so Uh now Lightning round three questions This is the lightning round questions that we close on Okay, so you got to give me the rules for this are you must give me one and only one answer no waffling Okay, no picking multiples no cheating You ready? Okay, let's try. Okay. Here we go Question the first who is your current favorite miniature painter they could be living or dead active or not but in your mind right now Who is your current favorite miniature painter? Uh You're asking me to offend the thousands of people that is why this is a tough question. You got to pick the one Only because you said no waffling I will answer this question No, I have to add there's there's hundreds of people that are amazing But at this moment in time the person Okay, short answer Albert Moreno, I think font Yeah, incredible painter. Just just check him out But there's thousands of amazing painters Yes, and that's why I always make it one because we know if I ask this question We would all just get out a list and be like, but but but but but but but but right but but there's always one And that is a great pick Uh because my god So amazing. I completely agree like that his his work I want like I seriously wanted to hit him up and be like look if I fly over It just could you find two days? I'll just I'll just watch you paint. It doesn't even have to be a class I just want to see you paint like I'm just going to sit there on your shoulder Is that possible not literally on your shoulder because that will probably impede the painting Um, yeah, I I agree completely. Okay. Nice. Good pick. All right question the second all right What is your favorite? color of paint Could be a brand Could be a specific color Like, you know I'm saying like, you know, like it could be just generic color green. That's a fair answer What is your favorite color of paint? You may construe it however you like Um Probably If I think about the best color to work with for me, uh, it would be methifist and red Uh, just because for years it was very hard to find a very good a pink red paint that is very deep as well and allows you to work with Uh, either if you're shading or if you're highlighting so I would say methifist and red Okay, it is a very good color. I like like one of the few gw colors I like But it makes it on the list. It's one of my like seven. I got about seven or eight. That's it big range Technical stuff's fine. Okay Last question. What is your favorite type and you again, you may construe the word type however you like of miniature Stoic imposing miniatures. I'll be boring. I I said it's uh many times uh today, but Stoic imposing miniatures that tell the story just by being there are my favorite because That is something I I know you you wanted a short answer, but I don't know. I'm okay with it. Yeah um When when you have a piece like that and you paint it to a certain standard It screams that this guy is or or a female Is very confident. It's you can see the story in the face. I really like painting faces So I try to showcase with the highlights how how um Some of the emotions of the miniature and stuff like that. So I would say Stoic imposing miniatures Definitely nice um the I mean, there's something to be said uh for For miniatures that feel like they're in sort of a victory or a survey of what's going on Right, like they're they just kind of stand there alone I think especially when it comes to sort of a single miniature type of capturing an image It just ends up working really well um You know when you're when you are dealing with something like a duel or something Obviously, you want that dynamism in there, right? Or maybe in a diorama you have more dynamic poses because people are going and doing something But it almost feels more like With a single mini. I mean you think of like classical Artists so again to return to like, you know renaissance for them for the old masters They when when they would do portraits like full portraits of people They were often standing in these sort of singular imposing positions, right now Like that is to say they weren't like in the middle of You didn't be like, ah, you know, like that's not that's not usually the way that they they portrayed Louis the 14th or something, you know, like that's not how you painted the king or whatever, right? Um, yeah, so I get it completely All right, awesome Well, very good, uh, sir anything else you want to, uh Leave the audience with here before we Before we draw to a close Probably two very quick. Thanks. First of all, um, if You're if you you want to get better at painting if you're inspired by Vince me or whoever You like and in the painting community try to do that because it's an amazing feeling and, uh Sometimes when I teach classes, I can see that someone is struggling and I really want to make sure that everyone is Feeling good after a class just because I know that sometimes you want to say I will throw my brushes away I cannot paint But if you put the hours in you will become a better painter and you will feel better about my painting When I just started I hated my painting, uh, everyone was telling me how bad I am and then I thought okay I'll try to improve So that is one thing I want to say Keep believing in yourself and uh, if you put the the hours in you will be Just fine Um, and the second thing is I want to thank you very much for for having me I want to say that you do amazing things for the community. You do the interviews. You do so many Uh, great videos that help people and I also think What I also believe is Some techniques are very hard, uh to to achieve a good result with But I really like to make them very simple for people when I again teach classes And this is what you do as well with your videos Often and I really appreciate that because sometimes people over Make something over complicated And I Not a fan of this. So Thank you very much for being in the community. Thank you for having me and uh, it's been amazing Well, thank you very much. That's that's very kind. I really appreciate that. That's certainly the goal I can't help but echo your first statement, which is that it's the thing I always say Like there's nothing special about me. I'm not like some kind of born artist or anything like that So many of the the great miniature painters I know Weren't they were just somebody who came to this hobby like any of the rest of us And if you put in the time you put in the practice you put in the deliberate practice And you you you focus and you work on it you can achieve amazing things with this with this art style So Mamma con thank you so much brother for coming on the channel. I really appreciate it. I know it's later there So thank you for spending your evening with me where you are as I said Uh, all of his socials and everything will be Down below. So go give him a follow everywhere And uh Yeah, don't forget to hit like subscribe do all that fun stuff Hit those buttons. They're real fun and it helps other people Find uh the channel find the artist and get involved. So thank you very much everyone Really really appreciate it as always We'll see you next time