Spotlight on Painting with Dean
I have spent the last couple of days immersed in interviews with TOs and painting and workshop coaches for Southern Hemisphere Open. Today I am sharing my chat with Painting Coach (not to mention Golden Demon winner, kick @r$e painter and genuinely nice guy) Dean Lecoq in my ‘spotlight on painting with Dean’. I hope you are loving the excitement that all of these individuals have for their chosen hobby as much as I am! The enthusiasm is definitely filling my cup, actually there is so much excitement that I think it is filling my bucket! Brilliant given how stressed M and I are, these interviews were designed to share excitement with you but they are definitely working to remind us why we started ObSec and SHO! So a big thank you to all the TOs and coaches who have given so freely of your time for these blog posts!
You are teaching painting workshops at SHO, what do you love about painting and what do you love about teaching painting?
I’ll be walking hobbyists through how to paint faces, freehand designs and the effects seen on crystal or powered blades, while also talking all about the theory that goes behind painting those aspects to a standard seen in display or competition pieces. The biggest thing I enjoy about teaching miniature painting is simply inspiring others, and helping them achieve the best results possible.
Tell me a bit about yourself
I’m lucky enough to have the Warhammer hobby as both my recreation and job, so the majority of my time is spent painting miniatures, talking about them or coming up with ideas for future projects, with a good amount of reading and subsequently in aggressive discussions about Black Library fiction. I also really enjoy competition painting, and have attended the previous two Golden Demon Classics in the UK.
Overall though, I do all of this to bring miniatures to life, to tell a story and inspire others, and I get to meet SO many awesome people through it, which I’m so thankful for.
What made you pick the workshop topics that you did?
They’re generally the things that make a miniature really stand out from what’s normally seen on the table top, and draw the most attention. Being able to convey realism, character and emotion on a model’s face is important because people are usually drawn to look at faces.
Anytime someone wants to do something extra to a model to make it unique, freehand is what usually comes up, be it a chapter symbol, tattoos or just some simple script. I’ve seen a lot of hesitance in people to give it a go however, because its seen as quite difficult, but once the theory of it is understood and you really break it down, it’s a really fun skill to put into practice.
Any kind of bladed weapon is a great canvas for doing really cool effects on, especially for character models or small forces like the ones seen in Shadespire and Kill Team, so I figured it would cool to cover the techniques required to paint blades such as Grey Knight Force weapons and Eldar crystal blades.
There are so many painting workshops this year at SHO, how do hobbyists pick which one to attend?
All hobbyists will generally have a good idea of where their skill sets lie, so picking the workshops that either relate to something they want to learn or feel they’re ready to tackle are the best bets. No matter what they pick though, they’ll get something valuable out of it.
What will people learn during the workshops?
They’ll learn, and get to try out the fundamentals behind the techniques required to achieve the effect of whichever masterclass they attend, but most importantly they’ll go home with the knowledge and theories that are the starting point of becoming an awesome painter, because understanding is half the battle, after that it’s just all practice!
Who are they suited to?
People who have an interest in competition painting will also get a lot out of them but really they are suited to anyone who is looking to take their painting to a high level, and wants to get an understanding of what it takes to really bring miniatures to life.
Are there transferable skills between gaming systems?
The things my workshops teach will be usable in all projects, even if it’s not for a display piece or competition miniature. Putting extra work into characters or centrepiece models within a gaming collection can be really rewarding too!
How important do you think it is to get a good foundation in painting and modelling?
When painting to a high standard, there’s actually a good number of new things to learn. I’ve already mentioned it a bunch, but the theory behind techniques and the knowledge involved in applying them is the first hurdle in taking your painting further.
What excites you most about these sessions?
Mostly just getting to meet people that are looking to take their skills a step higher! I was really surprised last year during my workshops just how interested everyone was in pushing their painting to the next level, and it really was such an amazing opportunity to get to know a great bunch of hobbyists. Plus, I get to paint models and talk hobby the whole time!
What will a hobbyist get out of these workshops?
Aside from my eccentric company and learning a bunch, they’ll go home with a miniature, an XS Artificer brush, and depending on the seminar, some other little goodies.
For more information about the painting workshops and painting competition at SHO you can check out the website, a full list of painting workshops and descriptions of the workshops is available here and tickets for the painting workshops are available via Humanitix