Hello!

My real name is Andrey, I live in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and here is my story in few words about how I became 3d miniatures creator)

It started in 2012, to make a story short – I saw some miniatures from polymer clay made by guys in the magazine about videogames and decided that I want to do something same. Mother gave me polymer clay for that and I made that Hellgast from Killzone figure (about 15 cm high). Then I made Judge Dredd and Conan, as you see – they look not good at all. But that was an experience.

As it took too much time to make each figurine, I decided to try and make some minis. Of course, before that I made some gifts to friends and family, tried to make another project - but it was rather hard for me to make good big figurines. So, the first mini was that warrior with a huge blade whose image I found on the internet.

I enjoyed that process more than making the big figurines because it's cheaper and faster, also no need to be mega-detailed and errors in proportions do not affect the result seriously. My second mini was Achilles because I like the movie "Troy") 1 or 2 years later I remade him in 3d and now this model is available for everyone for free.

By that time boardgame became my passion. We played a lot of new games and of course I wanted something with miniatures – and I decided to make some minis for the game called Jakal: Archipelago. Yes, it was easier to buy some game with minis, but making my own... Lets say, I am not searching for easy ways)

All of them were made from Magic Sculpt and that was my first experience with replication of minis using silicone molds and resin.

Also that was my first experience in minis paintings) I did not know anything about painting minis, my experience in painting big figurines from polymer clay was not enough to paint the good, but everyone is starting with something.

Another problem was photographing. Still, I do not know how to make it better, but each time I make something - and each time the photos become better and better. Luckily, a friend of mine presented be special lightbox for that - really nice thing! So, next time I created this Viking and stoped my test with resin. And I think it looks good, so, maybe I should recreate him in 3d sometime?) As you see, the wooden horse is on fire - I had to do that only because half of its head was missed as I ran out of resin during its replication) But the result looks better than I could imagine.

I understood that I like minis – sculpting, painting and playing. The next project was PnP version of Spartacus boardgame with handmade minis. But their quality was far from good as far I made a lot of mistakes and was unable to fix them.

Suddenly, my parents, who were rather worried that I hurt my eyes badly by making so tiny minis decided to give me a drawing tablet for Christmas. A half year later I bought my 3d printer and that begun…

What do you think was my first make? Of course, Conan! During that time I did not understand well that he will be very small, so I tried to make him very similar to the actual look from the movie. And you can check if I succeeded in that or not – download him for free)

During the time when I was making minis for the Jakal board game, I was thinking to make Battlelore: 2nd Edition in a Warcraft-like setting – because I like Memoir 44 and ready, that Battlelore is better, but I do not really like the original design and it was hard to find it anywhere for the reasonable price. Moreover, I tried to do it long before I started 3d sculpting – but failed. Here is how the first try looked like – but I understood that I was unable to make silicone molds from that mini.

But once I had 3d printer – I understood, that this idea can become true!

Before that project I decided to take time and prepare - I was very bad in painting minis, so I took fallout Board Game and painted all the minis from it just to learn more about how to do that. And I think that results are rather good, not perfect, but good for me)

The process of making this game was a great experience – I sculpted minis, then draw the field, tested them, decided, what terrain will look better.

There were not many problems with sculpting minis, but due to my printer is not big (Anycubic Photon S) and I was not very experienced – many decisions I took during the making of the terrain, like cutting forest in halves, making hills from gypsum and others.

It took me 7 days of 10 hours of painting to complete the project – I had to ask for a vacation on my job for that!

I used a cheap airbrush from Ali, small brushed (0 and 1) because I did not know that a smaller brush is not better for minis, I had to mix colors because did not have a lot of them... So, that was a tough and challenging week for me) But it worthed it!

And to make the story short – all models are available now both on MMF and my Patreon (as a welcome pack) and you can try Orc-Grint for free right now)

It is a really good game, you definitely should try it out!

But time moved forward, I wanted to make something different, unique. As far my father is an artist, he offered his Rebel Rabbits for the next project. That was the moment when I understood - I should become Sculptooner, to make tooned minis with funny, friendly characters, like my fathers draw stile.

Then he created FreakingZ - we tried to make something like Asterix but more brutal at the same time. We even made our version of the Technoviking from old meme (probably, his granddad)

Also there was Witchear - I will tell you about him in another story. And finally - Warcarrot 4000 squad – all of them are also available at my store, even the Emperor mini is free for you to try it!

But these series are not popular at all. The most important thing I learned from them was – pipeline for the sculpting and development of my style. I will tell you more about some projects in other stories soon.

It's pity, but looks like it is not time for that style of minis - everyone wants something brutal and something they are already familiar with. And I decided to give that to people.

So, this is almost 6 months since I started Patreon and over 1 year of 3d sculpting, I hope more people will keep an eye on my minis and we will develop a tiny friendly community) The next project WIP is available for your attention, the release is in September and several months ahead will be dedicated to these nice Night Elves heroes)

Hope that article was interesting for you and you have found something useful. Never give up, do your best and try to find ways to people's hearts and tables!) If I succeed with that - definitely, there will be another article about the success formula, if not... Then, no article)

Best wishes and sta tooned!)

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