Uncategorized

Introducing Crystal Brush 2013 Head Judge – Roman Lappat!

Here at Crystal Brush we do everything we can to make sure our annual miniature painting and sculpting competition is among the best and most prestigious miniature hobby event in the industry. Part of what makes Crystal Brush as amazing as it is and a paragon of excellence is not just the caliber of entrants and the various convention events leading up to the finals in April. We do our best to make sure that the process of choosing our winners (the people who take home the huge cash parizes!) is performed by some of the industry’s finest.

This year, to serve as 2013’s head judge, we have acquired the fabulously talented Roman Lappat. From within his guise of “Massive Voodoo”, this Germany native has won several painting awards worldwide in his time as an industry professional…and now, he is coming out to Chicago in April to be our head judge at Crystal Brush 2013!

We grabbed Roman and asked him a few questions in order to give everyone out there a feel for just who will be making all the hard decisions when Adepticon rolls around.

The interview is as follows:

Cool Mini or Not: Hey there Roman! I’m so excited that you are going to be our primary judge out at Crystal Brush in Chicago. What was your first thought when you signed on to be the head of the 2013 Crystal Brush process?

Roman Lappat: I guess I am more excited than you are! When I saw the invitation email I was totally freaking out. I was very honored but not really sure what was going to be asked of me. My mind was totally blown away in the first moments and I was not able to speak proper words anymore. Now that the initial shock and surprise is gone I am looking forward to judging as good as I am able to. I am totally crazy about the travel and the chance to get to know many painters from the US.

CMoN: How long have you been working with miniatures, in or out of the gaming industry?

RL: I have been painting for 10 years. First for gaming. Then I started to work with figures as my daily job in early 2007 and since then figures, painting classes and miniature projects have been filling my daily work.

CMoN: As the judge, you can’t have any entries in the contest of course. If you could enter something of yours from this past year, what would you enter?

RL: Ough! One sad thing of my job is that I am selling nearly all of my pieces to stay alive so I don’t have many here at my place anymore. If I could choose, I would enter the “Maestro”, as this piece is my own favourite of my work. There are a lot of personality and emotions in it. It was a birthday gift to my very best friend Raffaele Picca. If I would be able to come to the Crystal Brush Contest as a participant to enter something I would love to prepare myself with an epic project that is somewhere in the visions of my brain’s future.

CMoN: Of all of your accolades within the miniature industry, is there anything you have personally acheived you are the most proud?

RL: Mmh. The thing that makes me most proud is to see a sparkle in the eye of a participant in one of my painting classes when he realizes that colors are his friend and he is the one who can paint what he wants if he jsut lets go and trains. This is truely something epic for me. Sharing experience, reaching others and getting the feedback that I helped a lot.

CMoN: Have you ever judged over a painting competition before? If so, what was your opinions about those contests you’ve judged before coming to the prestigious Crystal Brush?

RL: I have been a judge at several online contests so far and was once even invited to Italy to judge on one of the biggest shows there (around 1200 pieces in the show). Next year I will be also be judging the next Painting Crusade in Belgium with a team of other judges. So I am pretty used to judging but I am looking forward to doing as best as I can at the Crystal Brush. The experience I enjoyed the most was judging in Italy in a big team of international judges. There was so much to learn from those masters and I am still thankful to be able to have judged there.

CMoN: What is your favorite model you have ever worked on, and for what reason does it rise to the top in your eyes?

RL: It is again “Maestro”. It is not painted to perfection, but it was done in 9 days from basing to finish as I had to hurry for the birthday present. Those 9 days were pretty intense and I can remember every song I heard during the work. I was close to missing the birthday party and finished just in time. The project was also planned to take part in a online contest and the deadline was the same date. Raffa helped me with the photos for the contest, but he did not know it was his gift. He realized ths fact during the photo session because of what I wrote at the socket. I will never forget his reaction

CMoN: Now that we all know how entrenched in the miniatures industry you are, are their any games that you play or hobby aspects apart from the art that take up some of your time? If so, which ones?

RL: No. I had to stop being a gamer. I just paint and paint. If I am in need of some gaming distraction I tend find myself on the computer battlefields.
CMoN: One last thing before we let you go. Everyone knows that certain aspects of miniature artistry come and go as the years pass by. Broad highlights are in, then weathering powders, then stark non-metal metallics…and so forth. Is there any aspect of the art that you believe is on the rise at this time?

RL: Hardest question at the end, huh? I am not searching out for any specific aspects but I can certainly respect and look for their use in the miniatures I am judging!

————–

Well, a big thanks to Roman for answering our questions and an even bigger thanks for him agreeing to be at the head of our judging staff!

Cheers, Roman… and welcome aboard!