In today’s spotlight on painting workshops at SHO I caught up with Ayden Ferrante. Ayden is teaching a blending techniques workshop at Southern Hemisphere Open. In this post we chat about what Ayden is hoping to bring to SHO!
Tell me a bit about yourself
Well I’m a chef by trade so I enjoy food! However, I’ve come to realise in recent years that my interest in cooking has been overshadowed by my passion for miniature painting.
Previous to becoming a chef, I also gained a qualification as a graphic designer and I’d say I’ve been interested in art and design since a very young age. I’d say that this is reflected in my miniature painting; I’ve got a lot of passion for it.
I enjoy tabletop games that have a bit more of a narrative sense to them rather than just defeating your opponent as quickly as possible. It’s for this reason that I love The Horus Heresy 30k!
But aside from that I just really enjoy spending time with family and friends, watching movies, playing board games and the odd video game every now and then!
You are teaching painting workshops at SHO, what do you love about painting and what do you love about teaching painting?
To me, the most exciting part about miniatures is bringing them to life through painting. I love building a bit of a narrative with the way that I model and paint a miniature. It’s so much an artistic journey for me.
I’ve been in this hobby for a while now and I’ve played a decent amount of games with various systems but for me the most important part of the hobby is the aesthetics. I love that painting can evoke so much character in a miniature and really immerse people in it’s universe.
This is something that I want to share with others and my hope is that I may be able to help someone improve their skills or become more confident to enter competitions. I hope that this will help our local painting community grow even more and, personally, that’s what I feel teaching painting should be all about.
What made you pick the workshop topic that you did?
It was actually kind of hard to decide on something to teach- either a certain aspect of a miniature, or a certain effect or finish etc. So I decided that I wanted to do something a bit less specific and instead show people something that I feel is quite fundamental to more advanced painting.
The blending techniques that I’ll teach can be used for so many different applications on a miniature and they have definitely helped me out in a lot of instances.
There are so many painting workshops this year at SHO, how do hobbyists pick which one to attend?
People really are spoiled for choice this year! I think it’s awesome to see people get onboard to teach all different aspects of our awesome hobby and strengthen the community.
I think, in a way, it makes it easier for people to choose because there’s something for everyone.
Who is this workshop suited to?
Well, my workshop is suited to those who may have been painting for a little while now, have a good grasp of the basics and are wanting to take things to the next level. Mainly those who are used to spending that little extra time and effort on painting their miniatures.
The blending techniques are a good way for hobbyists to build on what they already know and are a way of “filling the gaps” in more basic methods of painting.
Are there transferable skills between gaming systems?
Definitely! As I mentioned earlier, the techniques are very fundamental and can be used for so many different aspects of miniature painting.
They can even be used on larger scale, non-gaming minis.
How important do you think it is to get a good foundation in painting and modelling?
I think it’s pretty important. We’re lucky that there’s so much amazing content out there on the internet these days. There’s a huge array of tutorials for hobbyists at every stage.
I got into the hobby a while ago and I’m grateful to the GW crew that taught me first-hand some of the foundation skills of painting and modelling.
Anything else you want to add?
I guess I just want to say that I think a lot of our hobby comes down to practice and patience. It’s really the only way you’re going to properly develop your skills as a painter.
In recent times I’ve tried to not get myself too bogged down with working on army projects and instead have a bit more fun with competition pieces that I feel I can put a bit more love into.
For more information on the workshops on offer at Southern Hemisphere Open 2018 this link has full descriptions. Tickets are available via Humanitix