Hi students!

Today we are glad to begin a new kind of interview. A lot of people have asked us about the private coachings and how they work, etc and we think the best way to know about it is listening to the people who has been in The Journey pledge.

With this in mind, we have decided to make an interview to the students in the moment they leave the plege to share their experience.

To begin with this new interviews we are going to start with Edric Van Chua who is leaving this month the group.

Hi Edric, first of all, tell us something about you

Hi Hugo, 
I’m an entrepreneur by day. I run several brands I founded dating back to around 2011. I’ve always loved art, I have no formal art training although I did take a few classes when I was a kid. Even now doing business for 10 years, one of my favorite aspects of the business is still design. My first brand was Satchmi, it’s an old world lifestyle brand. We sell vinyl records, we have our own brand of turntable and a hybrid vinyl record coffee shop. I also own a gadget brand Ekotek, and my newest brand is a furniture brand called YORI. Pre covid I also owned and operated the DC Superheroes Cafe here in the Philippines. It was fun working with the comic book characters I grew up with. For all the ventures I mentioned I was heavily involved in the design processes; from brand, product, retail, web, etc.. etc.. 

Do you have any other hobby than painting miniatures?

Aside from Miniature painting my artistic outlet has been photography since I was young. I’ve probably been doing it for 15-20 years. I also love reading graphic novels/comic books.

My first project with Alfonso

When you have started with the hobby? Can you show us a photo of your first miniature?

I started miniature painting around mid 2018. I was introduced by a friend to Games Workshop. These were my first miniatures.

In one of my meetings for the DC Superheroes Cafe, I met a fellow geek who happened to also be into warhammer. We spent half the meeting talking about miniature painting. I got really curious and bought one of those primaris starter sets with 5 small bottles of paint. This was around 2018, I devoured Games Workshop tutorials a lot during that time. I painted in the GW style for a bout 6 months but found army painting to be tedious. I ended up quitting the hobby for half a year. It was only when I discovered that you can use more traditional styles of painting that I went back into it in 2019.

Who are your favourite painters? Who inspire your works?

For my favorite painters and inspiration for art there’s so many. Alfonso of course is at the top of the list. I asked Alfonso to be my teacher for months before I was able to get into the Journey Pledge. I admire his style of painting, the way he treats the miniature as a canvas, the expressiveness and of course his technical skill. Other miniature painters I admire are Kiril Kanaev, Sergio Calvo, Marc Masclans, Lan Pisarski… Even in our own Journey group, Will Hahn, Chris Suhre and Anthony Wang. I also get a lot of inspiration from comic book illustrators. The painterly styles of Joe Jusko, Alex Ross, Adam Hughes, Dustin Nguyen, Miguel Mercado, Raymund Lee. Illustrations of Stephen Segovia, Philip Tan, Mico Suayan, Carlo Pagulayan, I mean I can go forever.  
I love a lot of Alfonso’s works, so it’s hard to choose. This orc was one of the first works of his I found. 

Orc bust painted by Alfonso Giraldes
Conan by Joe Jusko 
Batman by Stephen Segovia

It´ s time to talk about your weapons… Which brand of paints do you prefer? And brushes?

I used to use citadel and scalecolor, but after joining the academy I’ve since switched to Kimera, Scale Artist and inks. Ever since joining the academy I learned a lot about color theory, it also pushed me to study on my own. I like the high quality pigments and the flexibility these paint ranges give. For brushes I’ve tried quite a few, but if i could only have one brush it would be the Windsor and Newton Series 7 #1. I use it almost all my projects.

March 2020, fuck smoothness exercise after watching alfonso’s video.

What goals have you in mind in short/long term?

At this stage in my painting journey I think I’d like to learn how to interpret different surfaces on a more advanced/intermediate level, and then in the future maybe work more on effects. 

Why do you joined the “The journey” pledge?

I think it’s amazing that in this “era” of miniature painting there are a lot of masters who publish their tutorials online. The Journey is on another level though, it’s a mentorship program. There are multiple way to grow in any craft, but if there was a chance to be mentored by one of my fave masters I couldn’t pass it up. It meant being able to learn fundamentals and less chances of developing bad habits. 

I hope to be back in the Journey soon. 

My second project with Alfonso.

Tell us something about your experience in this pledge

One of the best things about the Journey group is the whatsapp group of Alfonso’s students. It’s been invaluable and it sets it apart from all the mentorship programs out there. You get to freely communicate in the group where everyone just genuinely wants to learn more about miniature painting. Alfonso participates in the group as well. It’s hard not to be motivated and inspired in such a group. We also get to share each other’s critiques and lessons. I really believe it’s helped my growth as a painter.

Bust painted in 2020 before joining The Journey

What have you learned in this time in the pledge?

When I started on the mentorship program I showed him my process, and he showed me immediately what fundamentals I had to focus on. I came in wanting to learn NMM and OSL. He showed me how I had to study volumes, paint application, color theory and light first. In our hobby/art (depends how passionately and seriously you pursue painting), we very rarely get straightforward feedback. When we put it up online it’s either it gets likes or it doesn’t. When we do get feedback it’s rarely in depth. When we share it with family and friends if ever we do get honest critiques it’s rare they can give it from a high technical perspective. That short conversation with Alfonso taught me more than watching multiple patreon/youtube channels did for a year prior to that.

What you can say to the newcomers to this hobby? Share with us the tip you wish someone has telled to you in the beginning of your journey

I think people paint for a lot of different reasons. Some just want to do it to destress, some want to just paint something nice to field on the tabletop, others pursue it as an art. The only miniature painter I’ve never met is someone who doesn’t take pride in his painting. Army painters, speed painters, display painters.. I think we all try to do it to the best of our ability (given the constraints) every time. If i could give advice to new painters, I would say try out different methods of painting. After some time figure out what you want out of the hobby. If like me you want to pursue display painting, I highly suggest going into a mentorship of some sort. Be it with a master or a friend painter who you look up to. Be open to critiques. I’ve worked with artists for most of my art/business life. Every work is personal, it doesn’t matter if it’s a personal illustration or a packaging for a product. Most of the time getting critiques doesn’t feel good. If all we got were good critiques we wouldn’t need mentorship in the first place. Trust in your mentor, trust that art is a lifetime process, be humble and just enjoy painting.

Orc painted in 2020 before joining The Journey

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One response

  1. It’s great to see how your painting has evolved with this mentorship.

    I hope to have the chance to enter this program as well. Patience is the key. I understand that the painters already in place stay as long as they need or could.

    If it’s not intrusive, how long did you stay in the journey and did it help you to commit to paint more ?

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