Banshee Painting Seminar, Calgary

Back on the weekend of Nov 5/6, I went down to Calgary to attend a painting workshop put on by Spain's Alfonso Giraldes, otherwise known by his internet handle, Banshee.

There were 10 of us in the class (held at Imaginary Wars), including a couple of other Edmonton guys: Tom Carter and Ward Kapach from the Hobby Night in Canada podcast.

Alfonso had plenty of examples of his unique painting style on hand for us to examine. Very inspirational work.

The two-day class covered color theory on the Saturday and practical painting exercises on the second day. One of the exercises was to produce sets of skin tones using just the three primary colours, white and black. I surprised myself and was able to quickly mix a set of caucasian, oriental and east indian skin tones from yellow, blue, red, white and black paint.

We learned a process called "sketching," where you use a few simple shades to rough out where light is going to be hitting your figure.

I thought I'd have trouble sitting through two long days of instruction. But the time went by very quickly.

Here, Alfonso when through the process of painting a bust figure in 90 minutes.

Our own painting exercise involved 75mm figures. No one was able to finish during Sunday, but I did get a fair bit of the way through my Crusader figure. Here, the main areas have been blocked out and some detail (particularly light effects) painted in. Leather belts and wood have not been approached yet at this point, but you can clearly see the figure taking shape.

Reverse angle. Here, I started into a vibrant night shade for the defuse lighting on the cloak.

By the end of the seminar, the students had made good progress into their 75mm figures.

What's the value of a miniatures painting class without being able to enjoy beer at the end of the day?

All in all, and enjoyable and informative weekend away.

'Til next time.