Learn from the best miniature painting teacher, Roman Lappat on his famous workshops

"Hi, my Name is Kilian,
I’m 32 years old and I’m a mechanical engineer. You might think, what the hell, what am I reading here? I wanted to introduce myself, to make sure that you understand, that I come from a very technical background and I’m writing about something which brings up creativity and emotions from the bottom of my heart. You also have to know, that the following review is partly written for you, the readers of the MV blog and for Roman himself; because feedback is the most valuable input you get, as a human and as a teacher.

You must unlearn, what you have learned
– Yoda, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

In spring this year I was trying to figure out, what I wanted to do for a holiday this year. I’m not the lying-on-the-beach-doing-nothing kind of guy. So I decided to spend some time in Augsburg, with Roman to learn a few new tricks. We settled on a topic a couple of months beforehand. Or at least he settled on a topic. I told Roman, that I wanted to truly paint figures and not just put some paint on them. He immediately understood what I wanted to learn – good because at that time, I did not.

I decided to go full Roman,
right in the face mode and visited my second Beginners Class before the private coaching. I’ve already written a review of my first Beginner Class, so I knew what was coming towards me, and I had a figure with me that cost me a lot of headaches. It was absolutely joyful to watch all the other amazing students and how they did the workshop. All the revelations, and all the “no-no-no that is not how you do this”, which I had a year ago. It was also really cool to see how different all the Demonettes were compared to my workshop. During the class, Roman took very good care of me, answering all my questions, taking a lot of personal time and pushing me slowly to edge of my comfort zone bubble – and beyond it. The class got me in the right mood and my painter juices flowing. I couldn’t wait for the private coaching.

After a day off for both of us,
and a sleepless night on my side, we met at the MV studio to kick off my private coaching. Roman promised me that he would “destroy” me on the first day. It wasn’t as bad, I can tell you that, but it was very challenging. You know, I’m not a good painter on a canvas. I always hated it. I can’t to proportions or stuff like that. So I was looking forward to something like a material master class or the like, but Roman had other plans. We sat down, had some coffee, and he handed me the hand-out. “Jar’s Advanced Class” was written in large letters on the first page. I’ve read a lot of reviews in the past. And this class was the one I was afraid of THE MOST. I knew I had to paint that wolf at some point in the day. It scared me like shit! First things first, I had to mix some colours using the basic colours and my knowledge of the colour wheel – a task that was easier than I thought for me. Then came the wolf. Roman was comforting me a lot and helped me through the process of painting it. In the end, the result wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Before lunch the main topic of the coaching began – understanding and painting in atmosphere. Roman told me what this meant, and how to capture atmosphere, surrounding and lighting in colour and on the miniature - the essentials to tell your story on the miniature. I had to choose a setting for the wolf from a Fallout illustration book. I chose the Rad Storm, which meant my whole colour palette shrunk to basically browns and greens. It also meant that every colour the wolf had, had to be mixed to fit into that setting. The result and the progress were stunning. I understood what this atmosphere did to the colours and to the picture. The wolf in atmosphere looked almost better, then
without. It tells a story now – it had come to life.

Then we started with the workshop miniature, a guy from a Warhammer Underworlds warband. I chose my atmosphere and lighting colour and started painting the skin of the dude. Again Roman helped me with every question I had and was by my side when I needed him. But the more I painted the more I began to understand. Everything just came together. It is very hard for me to describe this feeling, but it all just made so much more sense now. I’m pretty sure fellow painters can relate.

This night my brain had a lot to process, so it meant another sleepless night for me.

The next day we finished the miniature by painting the leather, fur and hair. By that time I was really in the groove and found my painting mojo. It was like every question I had, I could answer by myself. I just needed the courage to do so and Roman taught me that. The last part was the metal on the miniature. Up onto this point I always did metal like, slap a bunch of paint on, wash it, edge highlight it, done. Roman taught me his true metallic metal painting technique but this was really hard for me. Metal is a strange material. For me it only makes sense when it’s painted fully and correctly. Before that it is just wrong. After that, you can see every little mistake you made and I had to correct those, so that the whole miniature made sense. Even today I’m practicing hard to get it right, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.
Those two days of private coaching passed way too fast and I learned so much. Roman, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You’re such a good teacher and such an amazing person with a beautiful soul. Let no one take that away from you! You’ve helped me so much on my way as a painter and a person. I am humbled and honoured to call you my friend. You can be sure, you haven’t seen the last of me.

Yours truly,"

- Kilian

Learn from the best miniature painting teacher, Roman Lappat on his famous workshops