Miniature Painters from all over the world are learning from Roman Lappat in his miniature painting workshops

"I booked 2 days private coaching with Roman to cover Atmosphere. I felt like my painting had stalled out after doing my time at Privateer Press as a studio painter. While working for them, I got to focus on my technique and painting for print work but that's a very different approach than painting for "art". I had lost my way a bit and hoped that Roman would help inspire me and guide me through the murky haze I'd found myself trying to wade through. "Once he explained how to tackle atmosphere - using some very nicely drawn PowerPoint slides - he then set me to a task. He broke out a photo of a wolf and a piece of paper that had a line drawing of that very wolf. "I want you to paint the colors you see. I need to understand what level you are," Roman said.

Roman watched the evolution of this painting the entire time. Not like a hawk over my shoulder but he kept checking back to see how I was going. He gave me the thumbs up and said it was great and that he wasn't worried about my understanding of how to read color I observe. So, we went back over to the couch and discussed more about Atmosphere. He pulled out photos this time of different examples of atmoshpere and he wanted me to choose one. The idea was, that whatever environmental colors you were seeing in the image, you had to then apply to the wolf. He pulled out the hardest examples he had and put them off to the side. I immediately grabbed one of them because it's one of my favorite pieces of art. Then I set about applying it to my wolf.

Pretty pleased with myself after completing this task I was eager to apply it to a model! Roman and I had decided weeks before that we would paint Spira Miribalis's Garfio Pirate Bust together. He asked what I had in mind for my atmosphere. I explained that I wanted to keep on trying the hard stuff. No reason to be pussy-footing around, it's balls to the wall! YEAH, BABY! I told him my idea is that Garfio has found a treasure chest and is carrying it back to the ship while one of his crewman holds a torch over his shoulder. I showed him where I wanted the torchlight placed and we discussed how to tackle it. And then . . . we were OFF!

I left the studio feeling exhilirated! I got my motivation back and I'm really looking forward to digging into painting over the next year. I want to get back to painting for myself and advancing my own craft instead of continuing to produce "clean" models. I want to get more story, more life, into my pieces and I can't wait to try my hand at it. I'm sure I will fail a few times along the way but that's how you learn." 

- Meg 

Learn your steep learning curve with Roman Lappat on his miniature painting workshops