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Sebastian Archer – Auscon Crystal Brush Qualifier

The Road to the Crystal Brush continues…

We at Cool Mini or Not are always interested in knowing the ins and outs of what sets the stage for the Crystal Brush grand event at Adepticon, especially the thoughts and interests of the miniature artists that have already risen to the top of various conventions around the world.

Today we are looking at Sebastian Archer, the Crystal Brush Qualifier who won Best in Show out at Auscon in far away Australia, getting some of his thoughts and insights into his part of the Crystal Brush experience…

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Cool Mini or Not: Hey there Sebastian! Congrats on your big win out at Australia’s own Auscon. How did it feel when you were handed the victory?

Sebastian Archer: Pretty fantastic – this is the first time I’ve won an actual, real-life prize in a modelling competition, so I was pretty thrilled! It was a real honour to be chosen as the Auscon Best of Show, because there were a lot of good quality entries in the competition, and a lot of figures that were potential winners, I think.

CMoN: What exactly was your winning entry? Why did you choose that particular miniature?

SA: The figure I painted as my main entry for Auscon 2011 was ‘Severus’ from Enigma’s Massive Darkness range. The sculpt is by the master Raul Latorre, and I find his sculpting suits my painting very well – I always enjoy painting his figures. The Enigma figures are also slightly larger than typical wargaming figures, which makes them a little nicer to paint as competition pieces.

The concept behind the painting was to create an unusual, but clear and strong colour scheme, which would be echoed throughout the figure and also on the base. The colour scheme I used is a tetradic balanced scheme: the dominant (strongest) colours are orange and its complement cyan; the secondary colour pairing is yellow-green and its complement red-purple (violet). All the colours on the figure are based around these 4 colour hues, and also all the colours on the base incorporate one of these hues. The idea is to complement and support the colour scheme of the figure with the base, forming a complete whole – a composition of figure and base/environment that looks like it should all belong together.

CMoN: Do you have any other pieces of your work that you’d like to share with us? Anything that you are particularly proud of?

SA: Well to tell the truth, because I’ve been busy sculpting, I haven’t done a lot of competition-level painting over the last year or two – apart from the two entries I took to Auscon. You’ve already heard about Severus; the other figure I took to the competition was ‘Al-Vianna’ from the Studio McVey range. A very beautiful figure, and I had a great time painting it. Although I usually like to deviate from ‘studio’ colour schemes, in this case I couldn’t resist using essentially the same colour palette as Ali McVey’s studio version, because I think she chose the perfect colours to complement this figure. I also made sure to put the obligatory bird on the base – my friend Kyle Morgan dubbed 2011 the ‘year of the birds’, so I made sure all the figures I painted in that year had some sort of bird involvement, for good luck!

CMoN: How long have you been painting miniatures, competitively or otherwise?
SA: My introduction to painting came when I was only 10 years old (I’m now 28, so 18 years ago!), when my parents gave me the old Warhammer box set with the plastic goblins and elves – plus a paint set and brushes – for Christmas! Best Christmas ever! Haha….I took to the painting side of things straight away, as I really enjoyed the creative challenge. I gave up painting for a few years in my mid-late teens, but the arrival of the Lord of the Rings films in the early 2000s re-kindled my interest in painting. Because I already had the background from my younger days, it was easy to get back into the swing of things. I started taking painting more seriously in 2005-2006, when I first started to compete at events such as Golden Demon, and discovered the amazing online painting community that had emerged. Seeing the incredible work being done by painters around the world has been the real drive and inspiration behind my work ever since then.

CMoN: Do you have a particular methodology to how you paint a show model, or anything else for that matter?

SA: I do have a certain blending technique, which some people might be familiar with from the articles I have written and posted online. Apart from this purely technical aspect, I do put a lot of thought into colour schemes. My personal taste is usually to use some sort of balanced colour scheme, by keeping in mind a colour wheel and some basic colour theory. I think it is very important to plan ahead and have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve with a figure, in terms of feeling/atmosphere, and to consider how the colours you use will work together in order to create or enhance this feeling.

CMoN: What is your favourite model you have ever painted, and for what reason?

SA: That is a difficult question! I think my favourite models are those which have the most memories or emotions attached to them. For example, the ‘Skaven’ miniature from 2007 would have to be a favourite, because it represents a sort of breakthrough moment for me. I put a lot of effort into the creation of that figure, and even though I have moved on a little since then, I feel like it was a major stepping-stone in my development as a painter and sculptor. Similarly, ‘Lathiem’ from 2008 holds a special place for me, because again, I really pushed myself hard with the painting and I think it probably represents a moment of clarity when everything sort of fell into place for me, as a painter. On the other hand, something like the ‘Chevalier des Baronnies’ is special for a different reason: painting that figure was one of the most enjoyable creative experiences I have had, because everything just seemed to happen almost of its own accord. It was the easiest time I have ever had with the paintbrush – somehow I seemed to enter a zone where everything became simple, and the whole thing was finished in just a couple of days. So I guess it represents one of those sort of ‘magic moments’ in painting, when everything seems to work and painting becomes a fundamentally pleasurable experience (unlike the rest of the time when frustration reigns supreme! haha).

CMoN: How excited are you to be headed out to Chicago in April for the Crystal Brush?

SA: I’m very excited to meet some of the painters from North America, because I know very few in person. I’ve had the good fortune to have travelled to Europe a few times for various painting contests, and I know many of the wonderful, friendly and welcoming painters from that part of the world. But I have not yet travelled to North America, so it will be a great new experience. And this time, we’ll be speaking the same language! (although my Aussie Crocodile Dundee accent might be a bit hard for some of you to understand, haha).

CMoN: Ha, ha, ha! I’m pretty sure most of us can handle it, but be sure to stop by the Cool Mini booth to give us a test just to be sure. Oh yeah, one last thing. Do you have any mysterious hints or foreshadowing that you can give us about what you are entering for the Crystal Brush finals at Adepticon?

SA: All top secret, naturally! Haha… hmmm… some of you out there might know that I’ve been working on a few steampunk figures recently. Well, perhaps we’ll see just how deep that particular rabbit hole goes, eh?

CMoN: Well, in less than two months we get to follow you down that rabbit hole and see the next masterpiece you have in store for us. Thank you again for your time and we cannot wait to see you in Chicago!