As you know, we here at Master of Magics we like to keep our eyes pleaded for interesting and unique painted miniatures and armies, in order to show and inspire you in your own hobby adventures. Hobbyists spend hours of their time creating, for lack of a better word, art. So, when we see some mini’s that impresses us, we reach out and ask the owner if they want to tell us about how and why they came up with their ideas. While I was looking for inspiration on how to paint my own Goblin horde for our tales of two armies, I came across Florian Kowalski’s Gloomspite Gitz, and knew I had to ask if he would share his vast collection with you all. Luckily for us he said yes. So, let’s have a look at some of the vast horde that makes up Florian collection.
So good sir. How long have you been into Age of Sigmar?
After a very, very long Games Workshop break, I actively started painting miniatures again at the end of 2018. This was exclusively in the AoS universe. Even though the 40K universe appeals to me, I find the miniature range in AoS a bit nicer.
I don’t even know why I started with the Gitz, but one morning I just happened to have almost 200 Gitz on the table. I guess the evil moon spoke to me in the night! So I just started painting these little Gitz and quickly took them into my heart. That was the beginning of a wonderful journey.
When the Battletome was teased, I was sold! And what a release. The Troggoths and the Squig-Range are, in my eyes, still the best AoS release ever. And now I can say I painted it and played it before it was cool. Quickly the ranks filled up and it was clear that only Skragrott himself could be the leader of the Horde.
„Da evil moon haz risen…it gave gifts to da Grotze!
Get em all!
Smash em!
Poke em with da stikz!
Cut em up!
Bite em in da head!
Release da fanatics!“
Skragrott, the Loonking has set out to become the greatest git boss of all time, uniting the Blueskinz Squigs and Redshroom Troggs under his banner and spreading terror across all the free peoples of the realms!
Are you primarily a painter? A gamer? Or both?
I am primarily a painter. This is largely due to the fact that there are few or no players in my immediate vicinity with whom I could spontaneously arrange a gaming evening. I would always have to plan about one hour’s travel time by car. But that doesn’t stop me from going to as many tournaments as possible. My brother lives 70 km away from me in the city of Osnabrück and has built up a relatively large AoS community there, and is largely responsible for tournament events and is very well networked in Germany. That’s how I got into the scene and look forward to every tournament (when they can finally take place again -.-) to meet up with old, dear hobby friends.
Painting is also recreational for me and has something meditative about it. Many of my friends couldn’t see turquoise anymore and begged me to finally paint something else, but I felt very comfortable with it. I have a very stressful working day as a self-employed entrepreneur and never know what to expect during the day, I am constantly surprised, and not always positively. Then in the evening, after putting the children to bed, knowing what to expect for 1-2 hours of rest at the painting table is quite a nice feeling.
It is also nice to be able to observe one’s personal development when painting miniatures, especially for such a long army project. I have improved along the way, learned new techniques, become faster, developed a better eye for contrasts and atmosphere. My first and last miniatures side by side are not comparable. Nevertheless, I like Git No. 1 just as much as the last squig, because every single miniature on the journey was important and brought me further forward.
I like the deep green/blue you have got running through the army. How did you get the effect? What paints and techniques did you use?
This is how I did my turquoise, the basic colour of my squigs and robes, developed over time. Only in the process did I realise what is important for a good result, where to take shortcuts and that turquoise can be excellently shaded with lilac.
Editors note: If you want to try this scheme out yourself, Florion has a link to a painting tutorial over on Instagram. Check out the link here, or check out the step by step below.
1: Your weapons! (not on the picture: Airbrush. You do not have an airbrush?!… Buy one!)
2: Black primer, grey zenithal highlight from above and from 45 degrees. Pure white only from above directly into the face!
3: Kabalite Green 1:8 Thinner (approx. specification…in any case VERY highly diluted) with the airbrush over the whole model. So put a filter over miniature.
4: 1 part CONTRAST Shyish Purple with 2 parts CONTRAST Medium and 2 parts water over the whole model. BE SUPER FAST! With a clean damp brush on the raised areas (tail, thighs, etc.) “wash” the paint directly from the top parts down again.
5: EASY DRYBRUSHING Step A 1-part Kabalit Green with 1-part Sybarit Green. Make sure that you always brush from top to bottom. Step B: Repeat the drybrushing but only on the face, a little lighter with pure Sybarit Green.
6: Glaze with Sybarit Green over the raised areas. (Glaze = 1 part paint with 3-4 parts water, so very thin). This removes a little the “dusty” typical drybrush effect. Do not be too thorough, do not get lost in details. It is enough on the large flat areas. Move the brush always from bottom to top, so most of the color will stick to the top where it belongs.
7: Set fine accents with Sybarit Green mixed with Ivory (1:1). here, don’t get lost in details. Not every edge needs an accent. Pair in the face, 2 lines on the tip of the cock, shoulder blades, done!
8: add a 1:1 mixture of CONTRAST Volupus Pink and Medium to the gums. Add the mixture also to selected deep points (feet, squats, around the mushrooms).
Otherwise, I try to learn all the techniques that are available and then decide for myself whether I like them and whether they will help me. Basically, I’m open to everything, although I don’t enjoy everything. I actually try to do as little as I can with the airbrush, simply because I enjoy the time (and quiet) of the brush more. I also always try to take shortcuts to achieve good results in an acceptable time. For this it is very useful to acquire a broad understanding of the various techniques. I admire people who can spend hundreds of hours on a model, but I am too impatient for that.
The same goes for colours. I use a lot of GW colours (in fact, after initial scepticism I have now also discovered contrast colours for myself, but in a different way than GW promotes their use), but I also use colours from other brands. There is no best colour range. Some colours are good with manufacturer X, others with Y.
Do you have a particular model you are the proudest of?
Out of my horde, I am probably most proud of my Manglers TWO OUT OF ONE! It worked much better than expected and the models turned out very coherent and dynamic. Funnily enough, the conversion grew entirely on my laziness. I wanted to play 2 Manglers but didn’t feel like painting 4 squigs. Sorry, GW 😀 !
So, what’s next on the painting table for you?
I’m looking forward to smaller projects in general. Maybe a very small 40k army, a Mortheim and/or Necromunda warband, the 4 last Ogor I have to paint so my Pile of Shame is 0 there. So, all projects where you can get satisfying results faster.
Looking forward to seeing you next project.
Thanks to Florian for sharing their work. If you have a unique and interesting army you have been working on and would like to share it with the wider community, then you can contact me via twitter @TenguPlaysGames or via our FaceBook page, and maybe yours will be the next army featured in our showcase. If you have enjoyed todays article, please like and subscribe to keep up to date with all we do here at Master of Magics. You want to support the site directly; you can join our Patreon for as little as a $1 a month. Until next time though remember, Stay Safe and look after yourselves.
