Artist Interview: Lunax7070

 Hello everyone! 2021 is drawing to a close, and I thought what better time, as we approach the holidays, to share this space with a fellow hobbyist? It’s been a while since I’ve done an Artist Interview, so I reached out to Lunax7070 to find out more about his awesome truescale Space Marines.

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

I actually started building miniatures when I was pretty young. Both my father and grandfather were avid WWII scale model hobbyists, and they passed their love of miniature making to me. As a child I loved to visit my grandfather’s house to see his workroom and monumental collection of unbuilt plane models lining his garage. Both he and my father sparked my interest in miniature building, and I can recount many wonderful memories perusing the endless shelves of scale models at my local hobby store.

I believe the first miniature I had was a scale model aircraft of a T6 D/G Texan at around 7 years old. Later on, I got into miniature wargaming when I discovered a GW Lord of the Rings Minis Tirith starter set in a bookstore—and the rest is history!

 

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

I’ve always been inspired by scale models and the miniature work in films like Blade Runner and Star Wars, and those examples have gone a long way in informing how I approach painting. I try to emulate a more naturalistic style that avoids the cartoony, Eavy Metal method of painting that Warhammer is known for. To that end, I use quite a few scale model techniques including zenithal airbrush highlighting, hairspray weathering and oil paint washing alongside ample weathering powders to create a worn, realistic feel to my miniatures. 

Was there a specific element or theme of the Warhammer setting that you wanted to capture that perhaps hadn't been covered much before?

From the first moment I walked into a Games Workshop store and saw the art for 40k, I was entranced by its sense of scale. My imagination was supercharged with the dazzling images of super humans and gargantuan war machines walking amongst mortals in battles that stretch beyond the horizon. The mind-boggling immensity of 40k endeared me to the setting and it is the core of what I want my miniatures to convey. For that reason, I focus on emulating that sense of scale. I don’t always do it well, and I can’t hope to mimic the otherworldly magnitude of 40k, but it is certainly in the back of my mind when I make miniatures. 

 

What are some specific quirks of your converting style?

I think my biggest quirk is that the image I have in my head for a miniature is rarely what I end up with. When I set out to create something, I always have an intention in mind, but that idea goes through many alterations as I play with the various pieces. Oftentimes, I restart a figure several times before I find something that looks right. Unfortunately, this causes me work at a glacial pace, and I
rarely make anything useful in the game, but I am usually pretty happy with what I make in the end.
 

Iron Hands

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 usually start with an initial seed of spontaneous inspiration. Sometimes this is a piece of art, a snippet from a novel, or a specific bit that I think may have an interesting use. I develop the idea in my head and plan the out the steps anywhere from a few weeks to a number of months before I start the creation process. The first thing I try to resolve is if I need to create and cast a new sculpt or if I can use existing bits to make what I am thinking. Then I try different posing around those bits until I find something that looks natural from most angles. This usually takes me a while and I often completely change the miniature’s posing and weapons several times before it looks cohesive. After that, I move on to the detailing and use green stuff, apoxie sculpt, and Milliput to fill in the gaps and sculpt any of the remaining detailing I think it needs. 

If I were to offer advice at this stage, I’d say never save bits! If you think something in your bits box would look good on your miniature, try it! Use it on the miniature you have in front of you, don’t save it for something you may never make. 

Next, I start painting preparation. This usually involves carefully removing certain pieces that may make painting difficult. For instance, I normally remove bare heads and paint those separately from the armour. Then I go through my painting stages. For most miniatures it looks similar to this:

1. Primer, undercoat
2. Chipping undercoat (if I will be planning on hairspray weathering)
3. Base coats with an airbrush, usually with zenithal highlighting or preshading
4. Brushwork on the basecoats
5. Armor chipping or hairspray weathering
6. Detail work with a brush (including bare head if there is one)
7. Oil Paint washes
8. Final assembly 
9. Base
10. Weathering powders 
11. Seal and finish!

This list is mutable and really depends on what I am doing, but that is the general idea. My advice with painting is don’t get nervous about new mediums or techniques like oil paints, hairspray weathering, or weathering powders. They are easier than you think and can really elevate your painting even if you aren’t confident in your skill set. Furthermore, there are a ton of helpful Youtube tutorials out there that can tell you exactly how to use each technique!

 

What is your favourite GW model and what models would you like to see them make next?

From the main GW studio, I think the Land Raider has to be my favourite model of all time. The sculpt currently in circulation is over 20 years old yet it still looks phenomenal. I’ve been wanting to make a truscale version of the vehicle since I started in the hobby. From Forgeworld, I think my favourite set is the original double Praetor kit for the Horus Heresy. Everything from the detailing on their faces to the trim on their boots is incredible and really epitomizes that hand-sculpted golden era of Forgeworld miniatures. I would like to see them make more miniatures that have the same level of fidelity as the FW Primarchs. I think it would be a real treat to see some 40k heroes created with that level of attention to detail and care.

 

Who are some of your biggest artistic inspirations?

From the artistic community at large I think Wayne Barlowe, Zdzislaw Beksiński, Mariusz Lewandowski, Hung Liu, and Gottfried Helnwein are some of the artists I find most inspiring. In the realm of Warhammer artists, I love the works of Karl Kopinski, John Blanche, Adrian Smith, and Mikhail Savier. I’m sure there are many more I am forgetting! 

 

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

I like to think about gaming, and I enjoy the planning stage of making a game legal army, however it never really moves beyond that. Gaming certainly takes a back seat to model making for me. I would like to add more gaming to my schedule in the future though. The new Killteam rules provide a perfect opportunity for that—hopefully I can join in on something soon!

Black Templar

What other passions and hobbies do you have outside of wargaming? To what extent do these influence your work?

Outside of the hobby, I am a medical student in my final year of school! I often find myself using my medical knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics to improve my miniatures. It has really helped to know the science of how the body works when sculpting tiny caricatures of it. Further, medicine has imbued me with a frank comfortability around the macabre, and that certainly bleeds into my hobby from time to time.

Other than that, I love spending time weightlifting or outside in nature. I greatly enjoy hiking, backpacking, and bird watching, and all of those experiences add to my hobby inspiration. I like to take cues from nature when it comes to colour; in fact, my phone is full of reference photos of cool oxidized rocks or interesting bark I’ve found out in the woods. 

 

What are your favourite works you’ve made so far, and what would you like to explore next in these mediums?

Of my stuff, I think my favourite is the MkII sculpt I made. I built it from the ground up to be a more anatomically correct version of truescale Astartes armour, and I am really happy with how it turned out! My next big project is a version of the Grey Knight character Castellan Crowe that I am 100% sculpting from scratch then casting myself. It will take some time, but I have already learned so much in the process, and I have been having a blast working through the various problems that have arisen. I am not sure when it will be complete, but I am really excited to show you all when it is finally done! 

 

    Thanks, Shane! Follow his amazing work on Instagram @lunax7070