Artist Interview: IntoTheGreyNorth

Hi everyone; I thought it was about time for another Artist Interview on the blog; this time, it's with Colt J of the Instagram page, @intothegreynorth, famous for his muted colour palette and fantastic photography. Below is an interview alongside some of his select work as well as an explanation of his exciting homebrew project, Salvatore28. Enjoy!

 

 

How did you get into miniature painting & what was the first miniature you painted? 

My first miniatures were American Civil War and Revolutionary War miniatures (a bit smaller than 54mm) when I was probably 9 or 10.  I had them sitting on my shelf and I would always stage and restage them with some scale railroad terrain I had.  It amazed me to see the movement and actions these motionless lead figures had when I'd arrange them in different ways. I didn't realize then but as a child, I was telling stories and having interactions with them that I still do with my projects today.  I discovered Warhammer a year or so later at an independent hobby shop and the battlefield of Fantasy formations that were on display absolutely blew my mind. 

 

The 40k 2nd edition starter set and a few random Dwarves were my first intros to Games Workshops realms.  I built and painted my Blood Angels (first minis) with Testors enamels and was fighting Ork and Gretchin hordes in no time.  It all spiralled out of control from there fortunately and I've gone through peaks and valleys but have always come back to my love of historicals and the grimdark. 

 

How did you get into painting miniatures in your distinct style?

I've always tried to push myself to try new methods and paint different things so Historicals and the Grimdark have waxed and waned in my hobby area for years with all their accompanying styles.  Until just a few years ago, when the 28 community started springing to life, I had never thought of combining the two. That is when I started testing schemes and practising weathering techniques some of the hardcore scale modellers were doing at the time but not many mainstream tabletop gamers had breeched.  I've been a follower of Zatcaskagoon and his GrimdarkCompendium Patreon series for a long time now and his series have provided me with a solid foundation to confidently and efficiently go back and forth between techniques.  I use all sorts of mediums now, acrylics, oils, enamels, pigments you name it.  I go with what the miniature/unit tells me it wants and let the creativity be fluid.

 

 

What sources of media do you draw inspiration from? For example, specific games, books, films, art? And what (design) philosophies do you like to incorporate through these?

A lot of my inspiration comes from movie, music, art and nature.   The first time I saw a Ridley Scott movie my creative mindset was shaken.  The Geiger tones of Alien and the Dystopian grittiness of Blade Runner kicked me into Sci-Fi overdrive.  I love war movies of all shapes and sizes and anything with a good story, plot or cinematography. 

 

I have a broad range of musical interest but when seeking inspiration for my creativity I lean heavily on soundtracks and anything with a dark or brooding atmospheric tone.  I have a playlist on Spotify titled Salvatore28 for specific references if anyone is interested.  From Gregorian chants to haunting organs and death metal to movie soundtracks it's what I imagine the world of Nimbus IV (my planet for Salvatore) to be full of.  It's constantly evolving with new additions.  Art also plays a huge part although that has only sprung up in more recent years and part of my enjoyment outside of the hobby is visiting art galleries.  A recent viewing of the Capodimonte collection really had my creative energies flowing.  That Renaissance period art provides a wonderful colour palette that I'm consistently referencing.

 

Finally, nature in all its glory never fails me in providing ideas.  While war-torn city streets paint great scenes on the tabletop I am very interested in exploring the more natural elements in my "Little Wars".  I think grass mats and natural scapes are often overlooked in the Grimdark style and only recently have come back to the limelight with several 28 community projects displaying an excellent portrayal of natural scapes.  I'm very excited to explore these more natural environments and hopefully help myself understand how to apply them to the dark side of 28. 

All of this blends together to form what I've called a historical grimdark approach.  I like taking the Sci-Fi and Fantasy elements and blending them with real-world aesthetics as I find it very interesting and appealing to the eye.  A 17th-century pikemen, given a sprinkle of dystopian tech, now becomes an ectoplasmic ghoul fighting warrior.  It's very fascinating to me to blend the two different aspects together and the 28 community is all about it from what I can tell.

 

Could you talk me briefly through your process of making and painting a miniature from start to finish? Any tips or tricks you use to make the process smoother? Do you paint them separately from the base, varnish them etc? How long do you take?

I'm pretty loose with my conceptualization process sometimes collecting images into a "look book" but mostly I'll see a bit or part of a model and visualize it as something else.  From there it's a fluid process of digging through my bits boxes to find what works.  Blue tack is essential, I'll tack a piece on a model and let that sit on my shelf for as long as I need to ensure it's the right one, if not I'll find something different until it looks right.  Things need not line up or match perfectly as there are plenty of ways to "ghost" mistakes, mis-joins, gaps and anything else you don't want to see by placing a shoulder pad, armour piece, garment, flag over it. 

 

Weather effects go a long way as well, mud, rust and corrosion can cover gaps, blemishes and unplanned areas of my mini. In this way I save time with the build process not needing to get it "perfect" and I can focus on the painting process.  Then it's merely finding a colour pallet of choice, looking at reference material, watching any needed youtube tutorials for technique help and getting after it.  I've been painting a lot of pike blocks and they can be intimidating but I am a huge proponent of enamel washes for simple weathering.  A zenithal base coat followed by a colour wash or ink wash followed by an airbrush of AK enamel wash of choice.  Then a VERY light removal with isopropyl alcohol removes these top layers and brings back the zenithal undercoat and gives you great looking highlights.  Using this technique I painted The Iron Rose Kompanie (recently featured on my Instagram) a block of 30 pike in about 4 hours.  For me, that is lightning fast and helps get good tabletop quality onto the battlefield.  For characters that are an entirely different ball game and I spend much more time on them depending on what it's telling me throughout the process.  The internet is your friend as there are a plethora of great painters out there that have any technique you can imagine.   

 

What are your top 3 products and or techniques for creating and or painting miniatures in a grimdark fashion? And what is one technique you’d advise against?

Products:
1)AK interactive enamel washes - Dark Wash and Streaking Grime - makes weathering easy
2)Weathering Powders - adds realistic textures 
3)Citadel Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade - best thing since sliced bread
Best Technique:
The Reductive Approach described above, layers of enamels/oils on top of acrylics, removing them with chemicals to reveal the underlying zenithal.   
Advise against:
Trying to over contrast things, I allow on one, maybe two elements to contrast(pop) from the rest of the colours.  Too much brightness or contrast results in a cartoon look. Painting every minis eyes save that for characters.

 

What is your favourite GW model and what types of miniatures would you like to see them produce in the future?

-So many to choose from one but I am a fan of big, beefy models so the Blight Kings have been a long time favourite for me since their release.  So many conversion opportunities and the recent work by many of de-Nurglfying them is fantastic and something I will be exploring soon.  Ogres are great as well my recent Ecclesiarch Janissary was a very fun miniature to work with and convert. I hope to see more human models released soon as that's most relatable to my settings BUT I'm thrilled with what they've been putting out recently as much of it has HUGE conversion potential.

 

What hobbies do you have outside of painting miniatures? 

Unfortunately not many at the moment, I've dabbled in the outdoors, something I hope to get back into soon. Travel, art and music are big interests I share with my wife and we are always exploring those.

 

How large of a part does gaming play in the way you create miniatures? Do you game often?

Very little. For concepts and designs, I tend to tell a story first and then see if there are rules that will fit the mini.  I do not get locked on to one particular ruleset as I like so many of them. That being said when building armies I tend to try to target a group of rulesets that I could use my collection for and that typically comes hand in hand.  For instance, my Salvatore28 pike and shot armies could be used to play Warlord Pike and Shotte, Osprey Pikeman's Lament, Warhammer English Civil War, classic, Warhammer Fantasy or AoS. 

 

I tend to work around the basing constraints to play how I deem it appropriate, anything is possible if you set your mind to it.  I think there are wonderful rulesets in all shapes and forms out there especially some of the nostalgic ones. I'm very interested in Planet 28 and catering some characters and warbands for that ruleset as it is perfect for the "storytelling" component of my gaming, I recently asked Nic, the creator, to produce a set of rules for naval ship actions as that's something I've always been intrigued in and something that will be gracing the tabletops of Salvatore soon.  Altogether I have played merely a handful of times over the past couple years Mordeheim being the most used ruleset amongst my gaming group.  That all will hopefully change soon as my efforts are focused on producing some armies to get back to gaming.

 

 

Who are some of your biggest inspirations in the community and what aspects of their styles would you be interested in adopting/ trying out? 

-IronSleet were the first artists I was enamoured with.  Migs's Velka Fenryka gutted me (in a good way) and the scale work and imagery make for masterpieces that I try to resonate with my creations.
-DarkTech pushed me to think in more of a 28 mindset when it came to my projects, his ability to take basic materials and sculpt them into machinery and monsters is top notch, I find myself lurking on his social media always gauging myself and staring in bewilderment at the haunting pallet of colours and creations, his work is what I mimic the most I think as its closest to what I try to make with my work.  
-Weirdings Way has an uncanny ability to take bitz you initially don't see as something and make them into a piece of another mini with the gracefulness of a true master. I approached my Ecclhesiarch  Janissary with this mindset as I took the leg from an Allarus Custodes and made it into a holy Mitre hat.  Now I find myself constantly looking at bitz and trying to imagine them as something else, not entirely in their original form, it's working great and I have some WIPs that used this process..

 

What is your favourite miniature or set of miniatures you’ve made, and what would you like to improve upon going forward?

The Black Swan was a powerful piece for me as it was not only my first diorama but also the one piece that I've put the most of myself into personally.  There are things in that work that I will probably never speak off and it was a very powerful and emotional process for me.  It's probably my favourite.

I am now very much enjoying, and trying to improve on, putting more story and bits of myself into my minis because it's very relatable and fun.  For instance Volkam some of my personality traits, he shares my love for animals and he can actively communicate with them, something I've learned with my household creatures over the years.  Many of my other characters will be little pieces of me or other inspirational people I have known throughout my life.  I also enjoy promoting females in my setting as I think they've been underrepresented in wargaming for far too long.  Lady Iron is my first strong female lead in a cast of characters that will grace the setting of Salvatore.  Going forward I look to build more of a relationship with my followers in relation to my characters, many of them will have glorious tales, many of them will die and I hope to portray a lot of that.  I think they have gripping stories to tell and I hope people pick up on that.

 

 

Do you mind explaining briefly what Salvatore28 is?

Salvatore "The Savior"
is a futuristic and dystopian pike and shot setting within Games Workshop's Age of Apostasy and Age of Redemption universes. It is my world-building project turned collaborative as seen before with so many rich settings like Thorn's Moon, Tor Meggido, Gelida, Mares Solum and many more.  I've been so inspired by those that I've been brewing this one for almost 4 years now starting with a deep dive into the discovery of the Americas and the conquest of the conquistadors.  I migrated into the Thirty Years War and finally realized that this was the setting I wanted to explore.  My local gaming group has been using the setting as a base for our Mordheim Campaign and developing some aspects of it.   I have all sorts of things planned and loads of great artists and gamers already contributing.  

 

We have some defined setting limits and not every faction in the 36th millennium will be represented but we are doing things a little weirder than normal blending lots of real-world themes and aesthetics with all sorts of sci-fi and fantasy elements.  Church and State, demons and angels, zealots, heretics, lots of witches, psykers, mutants, centaurs, exodites, remnants of a hive fleet are some of the factions we have discussed.  It's shaping to be very centred in Thirty Years War meets Sci-Fi territory and I absolutely cannot wait.  Really it's a story and a means for people to cast a set of characters and set sail for discovery and redemption along with the rest of the group.  Almost RPG in nature I'm going to do my best to have "chapters" for folks to contribute to and explore all the while providing for cool ideas in the forms of factions, aesthetics and stories to play and create around. This centralized structure can then be moulded to how they see fit and used on their own tabletops.  Being in the middle of a pandemic we aren't able to see each other across the game table so I think something like this keeps us connected in a way. 

 

Since it's not beholden to any particular rules, scalability is flexible allowing for a low barrier to entry.  Whether a single miniature, warband or an army a person can lend to the setting however they so choose.  Along with some 28 vets contributing, I think it's what many folks new to or entering the 28 community are seeking and I hope to help give back to a community that has given me so much inspiration over the years.  Long story short we set the framework for the story and you follow with us sharing your own progress as we explore the world.  (I'm very long-winded by the way)

 

What does the future hold for this project? 

I'm not entirely sure but I do know it is my hobby and I do not want to turn it into work so keeping it organic and fun is what I intend to do.  That being said I want to produce several Chapters as in a book. An exclusive teaser (heard here first) is that our beginning chapter will be named "Genesis: Origins" where we will be setting sail on a perilous journey across a deadly sea and through land borne warp storms.  The destination is a forgotten part of our world in which every faction will be seeking their own form of "destiny".  We have further chapters to explore based on classics such as Dante's Divine Comedy right alongside adaptations of real historical events. 

For me personally, I will be creating and producing several narrative visualizations of key events and battles that take place within the setting.  Several others are doing the same and some are already getting creative in other ways...  exploring things such as building terrain, digital and paper artworks, written fiction and even a comic!  All fan-made of course but nonetheless captivating.  I believe a website is soon to come. I'm just beginning to iron that out and it should help guide people on what the setting is.  I've put out a few very amateur youtubes detailing the setting so maybe a go at some better quality ones will come eventually.  I won't let myself get too ambitious with it yet as it is a hobby and for now I want to keep it as such.

 Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the interview; don't forget to check out @intothegreynorth on Instagram and their wonderful Salvatore28 project.