Level up your miniature painting skill with a workshop by Roman Lappat

"Early this spring, I was planning a trip to Germany. While making these plans, I thought, "What else can I do while there? Maybe get a painting class?" Having attended Roman's Beginner's Class in Arvika last year, I checked Massive Voodoo first, and saw that Roman was running classes near the time but I did not feel confident that my grasp of the German language would allow me to get as much out of it as I'd like. So I decided to go for the gold, and emailed Roman about a private tutoring.

A few weeks later we had settled on dates, and by a suggestion from a friend I had chosen my topic, which would be atmosphere. As I do a lot of painting for gaming, I asked Roman to show me his speed painting technique in addition to this.

I arrived in Augsburg the day before the session on a very hot summer day, and showed up at the Massive Voodoo studio the next morning, rested and eager. Roman tells me to make myself at home - lots of people say things like this, most of them mean it, but Roman also makes it easy to actually feel at home. He is relaxed and easy-going and even though I've only met him once before, and that in a class room situation, it soon feels like hanging with an old friend.

I get settled in and we start to paint. Roman promises to make my mind explode, a promise he keeps. Working only by primaries, I do some mixing assignments, and like many others I am told to paint the wolf. Having no experience with 2D painting (I don't even freehand!), I completely dread this task, but Roman tells me to relax, and a little time later I am able to produce something I am actually happy with.

After some theory and another wolf, I begin on my bust. This was my very first time painting a bust, and I had chosen Romero the Cat, sculpted by Raffa. We paint, we talk, Roman gives me feedback, we paint more and talk and talk and talk. The hours fly by as we discuss life, love and painting. By the end of a very long day, it seems like Romero is likely to be finished by the end of the next day, something neither I nor Roman had expected or planned for. I go back to the hotel, dead tired, mind exploded as promised.

Starting again on the following day, there's more talk and of course even more painting. Roman provides excellent feedback at all times, explains things in a easy manner and points out corrects mistakes I've struggled with for ages. Ole focused on painting and painting and painting

Finally Romero is done - both me and Roman are quite exhausted by this point, but we still throw ourselves at some quick zombies at the end of the session. While I would have loved to practice this more, I pick up the gist of the technique and there is simply no time and definitely no energy to do more. We call it a wrap, and head out for dinner and a beer before I have to leave. This time, we even manage to cover the topics of death and religion, meaning we have talked about pretty much everything worth talking about.

I'd like to thank Roman once again for being a wonderful host, a great teacher and a good friend for these two days - I hope to come back for more."

- Ole

Level up your miniature painting skill with a workshop by Roman Lappat