Interview with Jesús Martín from Nocturna Models

Hello everyone

Today we want to bring you an interview with Jesús Martín, who is currently running a Kickstarter campaign. If you don’t know it yet, here is the link to the campaign:

And we’re going to learn a few things about who Nocturna Models are and their current project

-Hello Jesús, tell us a bit more about Nocturna Models. How many people are currently working at Nocturna Models?

Well, Oscar Rodríguez, Sara Salmanpour, and myself, Jesús Martín. I have been here since the beginning, and the team has changed over the years with new people coming in. Currently, we collaborate with several people since we are basically the “artistic department.”

-How was Nocturna Models born

Nocturna Models was born in 2008. At that time, there were very few large-scale fantasy brands, only Andrea and Raúl Latorre. I had recently discovered this larger scale (before, I painted Warhammer) and I wanted to paint fantasy figures that weren’t on the market at the time. That’s where the idea came from.

I contacted some sculptors, and we started creating figures that, to be honest, I wanted to paint for myself.

-What’s the hardest and most challenging part of creating a Kickstarter project like “Blood and Skulls”?

Without a doubt, the hardest part is figuring out the “key” to what people want, finding an interesting theme since the whole project—design, marketing—depends on that.

On the structural side, there are many technical challenges because we are a small studio, and the infrastructure we have forces us to outsource part of the processes, relying on suppliers, which always involves risks. For example, in our last campaign, the two resin casters we had contracted closed down halfway through the project, which delayed the delivery of materials. These are setbacks you can’t predict, but you have to adapt to them.

-Tell us more about the main figure of your campaign, which gives the whole project its name, “Blood and Skulls”.

About three years ago, I came across an illustration that I loved, and I immediately contacted the artist to create a figure based on that illustration. The project was left unfinished, but I always wanted to continue it.

I wanted to release a mounted figure and some creatures, and we wanted to go “big,” so Sara started modeling it last year. This has been her first fantasy work and the first complex and large figure with so many pieces, and we are very happy with the result.

-Looking at the figures in your campaign… does size matter?

Well, the truth is that size, more than mattering, I think it scares some people. But it’s quite the opposite—large figures really help you improve your painting. You can create textures, apply different materials…

-Well, thank you very much, Jesús, for your time, and good luck with the campaign!