Spotlight on painting with Ghislaine
As Southern Hemisphere Open draws closer it is exciting to chat with some of the lovely people who are a part of the event. Today I not only caught up with Ry I was able to catch up with Ghislaine Platell who will be teaching 3 Workshops at SHO. I have known Ghislaine for a few years now and during this interview I am reminded of just how uplifting, inspiring and excited Ghislaine is. I hope you are as enthused after reading this as I am after creating it because honestly I’m even more excited about the painting workshops now that I was before and I was excited before!
You are teaching painting workshops at SHO, what do you love about painting and what do you love about teaching painting?
I love painting because it is relaxing and I can totally switch off from the rest of the world and focus on creating. I enjoy designing colour schemes and my favourite parts of painting are highlighting, colour fades and special effects. I love that I end up with a collection that I can play with or look at. It makes me feel productive!
I enjoy teaching because I can pass on the skills that others have taught me or the things I’ve worked out the hard way, usually by making mistakes. I find that I learn more myself when I teach as well by clarifying concepts in my own head, so everybody wins.
Tell me a bit about yourself (who are you outside of gaming? Who are you within gaming? What makes you tick?)
Outside of the hobby, I am doing a PhD in Biology where I also do a lot of very fine work. Doing lab work has improved my painting and painting has improved my lab work skills! I also play rugby which we’ll say has improved my courage to… tackle a difficult project!
My favourite part of the hobby is painting, followed by gaming and converting models. I enjoy switching between painting a whole army where I can batch paint as fast and effectively as possible, and competition standard models where I can really go nuts with the blending and detail.
What made you pick the workshop topics that you did?
Ry and I planned the workshops together and we wanted to facilitate for beginner to high army standard workshops (knowing that Dean would run advanced level workshops). We decided on a few topics to cover a broad range of techniques and projects and then divided them up between the two of us to plan and run.
Personally, I got inspiration from asking some of my friends/customers what they would like to get out of a workshop – that’s how the Finishing Touches workshop was born for example. I also was inspired by the questions I typically get in the store (Games Workshop Morley), for example I’ve had a few customers surprised by the result I got dry brushing the store terrain and that’s where I decided to run a Scenery Painting workshop to focus on those tips and tricks to get effective results without too much work. I also commonly get asked for help choosing a new colour scheme and I wanted to give some insight into how to design your own in the Colour Theory workshop.
There are so many painting workshops this year at SHO, how do hobbyists pick which one to attend?
My advice would be to have a think about the sorts of things you have been wanting to improve or that is relevant to a project you are currently working on or planning. Are you designing a board to play on at home or an Armies on Parade entry? The scenery painting workshop can save you a headache if you feel overwhelmed tackling a big project like that. Are you a decent painter and want extra tips to really stand out at Best in the West? Head over to Dean’s workshops to learn how to paint at the next level! Do you wish you were a faster painter? Get some tips at Ry’s Speed Painting workshop! Starting a brand new project? The Colour Theory workshop may be the one for you… I could keep going like this all day but if you are unsure, come in for a chat, give us a call, or even send us your questions through Facebook.
What will people learn during the workshops?
Each workshop covers a different set of techniques, applied to the most relevant miniatures we could think of – which you get to take home! Ry and my workshops aim to focus on painting fast and for an effective result across an army so we are focusing on techniques that will make an army or terrain stand out without spending huge amounts of time on each model.
Who are they suited to?
Anybody will find something to suit their level. Beginners will get the most out of the Citadel Paint System and Building & Converting workshops, whereas high level painters will get the most out of Faces & Skin, Freehand and Crystal Blades run by Golden Demon winner Dean. My workshops (Finishing Touches, Scenery Painting, Colour Theory) and Ry’s Speed Painting workshop are all intermediate level and they suit you if you have an interest in the topic!
Are there transferable skills between gaming systems?
Absolutely! Once you learn miniature painting techniques, you can apply them to any model. The perfect example is that for my Finishing Touches workshop, we will paint an Ork Stormboy because it has metals that can be rusted up, armour panels to chip, lenses to blend, and areas to practice basic freehand (chequered shoulder pads!). The funny thing is until my example model in preparation for that workshop, I had never painted an Ork! But I know how, because I know a wide range of techniques. The same will be true for other gaming systems and even board games that include figures.
How important do you think it is to get a good foundation in painting and modelling?
Foundations are very important of course. You won’t get lovely highlights without a well built model where you have removed the mould lines and without smooth basecoats. It’s also easier to learn more complex techniques if you have good brush control and if you know how to look after your bristles. These are all basic skills we will refresh in the intermediate workshops, so don’t worry if you are aiming a little higher when choosing a workshop! The same goes if you are worried you may already know a few techniques covered in a workshop, there is always more to polish up on and I’m always happy to teach you extra bits and pieces if you have burning questions during the workshop.
How did you choose who ran what workshops?
Once Ry and I had picked the main topics to cover, we stuck our hand up for those we were particularly keen on, or were most experienced in and luckily it was a really brief discussion because we were particularly keen on different ones! So you can be sure that whichever workshop you attend, we are really excited to be taking you through the steps.
What excites you most about these sessions?
I love how varied there are! I really hope we did find something to interest everyone and please let us know if there is something you want to learn about that we haven’t covered. My first two workshops are very much step by step so you can learn about a technique and the best order to do steps on a model to save time, since we have a limited amount of time to show you as much as possible. My last workshop, Colour Theory, is probably the one I am most excited about and that’s because it is quite different. It’s full name is Colour Theory & Coaching because there is more theory than the others as well as more freedom to try out whatever techniques you like, so you can get coaching on anything you choose (even things covered in other workshops if you could not attend!). You will start off designing a colour scheme for the models provided, but you might end up designing a colour scheme for a new army project or an Armies on Parade project because you have been inspired. However you choose to make use of your time, I’ll be there to guide you and we will have a whole group of people to bounce ideas off each other and I think that’s really exciting.
What will a hobbyist get out of these workshops?
Hopefully whatever they set out to get! So if that’s new product (the models and brushes that you get to take home), dedicated hobby time, new techniques, news ways to tackle something, inspiration and ideas, maybe someone (me!) to ask plenty of questions.
Anything else you want to add
Those questions have been really comprehensive, so I think I’ve rambled on long enough! If I haven’t answered your question, please don’t hesitate to ask [As Ghislaine has said you can pop into GW Morley, give the store a call or shoot a message via Facebook], the more we know about our attendees, the more we can cater for you!
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