I’ve been painting for 24 years, ever since the first Lord of the Rings magazine was published in Poland. Although for most of that time I didn’t go beyond painting miniatures for gaming, I always wanted to meet the increasingly high standards of painting displayed in various publications and online. Since 2016, I’ve successfully participated in competitions for the best-looking armies at Lord of the Rings tournaments, and in 2022, I entered my first exhibition competition, Kontrast, where I managed to win silver in the master category.
I think I’m most proud of the two gold statuettes I won in 2025, both of which have my name engraved on them. Especially the Golden Demon in the Middle Earth category—the setting I’m most sentimental about.
Best of show, both at the Golden Demon and the more artistic competition.
I think I respect Alberto Moreto Fonta’s craft the most. Besides his work, I also have photos of Anthony Smith, Arnau Lazro, Erik Swinson, Joshua Gatti, and Moses Yao hanging on my wall for inspiration/education.
Stylistic consistency and uncompromising attention to detail. Effective and realistic rendering of light. I also believe that flashy techniques add value to a work only if they meet these criteria.
I’ve been painting miniatures professionally for over 10 years. I started painting late, at 33. However, I first painted much earlier, while still in college, painting a few Lord of the Rings miniatures that were published in magazines. At first, I tried to imitate other painters, drawing from their experience, but over time, I developed my own style, combining techniques used in reductive painting with the aesthetics of miniature painting and attention to the smallest detail. After a few years, I began successfully competing in painting competitions.
My greatest achievement is winning several Golden Demon statuettes. I recently started selling my brushes, which will satisfy even the most discerning painters.
As a huge fan of Warhammer 40k and because I mainly paint GW miniatures, I dream of winning a Slayer Sword, which is, in my opinion, the greatest award in the miniature painting industry.
As an aesthete and someone who places great emphasis on detail, I will primarily look for attention to finish in the works I evaluate, but I will also pay attention to creativity and technique.
I’ve been painting miniatures for over 25 years, most of which were purely gaming models, though I also took a few years off from the hobby. The ambition to improve my painting skills and compete in competitions first arose about nine years ago, and I’ve been painting semi-regularly ever since. I fell in love into miniatures painting world, like many people, from seeing a display case of painted models in a local Częstochowa shop when I was about 12. That was back in the days of the 2nd edition of WH40k, and shortly afterward I bought my first plastic space marines, which I tried painting with Humbrol enamels. I really got hooked on the LotR DeAgostini magazines.
The fact that I still like painting and looking at miniatures after all these years 🙂 From the competitions, I think it was gold in the 75mm sci-fi master at Kontrast’22.
Finally, go to a big competition outside of Poland!
Maxime Penaud, Robert Karlsson, Eric Swinson, Richard Gray, Rodrigo Akore
I enjoy NMM work, with its strong lights and shadows, illustrative, and somewhat stylized effects, which, through painting, suggest the figure’s surroundings. I particularly appreciate the interesting depiction of the figure’s skin, the complexity of NMM, the distinction between different materials, and the intelligent exposure of focal points through color and light.
I started painting in 2022. My husband, who has always been interested in Warhammer, asked me to paint a unit for him. Unfortunately for him, I quickly discovered that miniatures weren’t just about Warhammer, and I started painting mostly larger scales and focusing on the more painterly aspect of the hobby.
Even though I don’t participate particularly actively in painting competitions, I’ve won a few medals, and my work is on display at the Verkos Vault museum in Las Vegas. However, I consider my greatest achievement to be that I’ve taken my hobby “out of the basement” and met so many wonderful people in the art world thanks to my courage to show my work.
Perhaps because of my education, I focus more on the artistic aspects of my work. As much as technique, I appreciate creative courage, unconventional thinking, and the determination to pursue one’s vision.
I started painting with Lord of the Rings magazines, around 2003. My parents’ friends had a son who played Warhammer, and I always loved his armies. Unfortunately, it was too expensive a hobby for me at the time. Fortunately, magazines featuring Lord of the Rings miniatures started coming out soon after, and they were much cheaper, so I managed to talk my parents into it.
I think 4 golden demons, but I also have medals from competitions such as SMC, Monte San Savino, Kontrast and Łódzka Migawka.
For competition purposes, I’d like to win gold on the Golden Demon, as I have three silvers and a bronze. Painting is simply a source of joy and satisfaction.
My favorite painter throughout my entire time in the hobby has always been Kirill Kanaev. There are tons of great painters, but for me, he’s always been the standard I wanted to strive for.
Composition, but also details, and how these details interact with the composition.
It’s hard to go back that far 😉. It was in the early 90s that I discovered this hobby, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, then Warzone, and soon after that, my passion for painting arose. At first, models for wargaming, and for a good few years now, I’ve been fascinated by larger-scale display miniatures.
It’s hard to say. The obvious one seems to be the Slayer Sword at the Golden Demon or the Grand Prix at any painting competition, because everyone has incredible competition these days, and the work is getting more and more magnificent every year. But honestly, I’d like to keep pushing myself in this direction.
A great many. There’s no point in listing them, as it would be a vast list. I value them for representing diverse paths of interpretation, and above all, for inspiring and fueling me to further develop my skills.
