Interview With Pintandominiaturas

Interview With Pintando Miniaturas

Atila Kawauti, widely recognized in the miniature painting community as Pintandominiaturas, is a Graphic Design graduate from Brazil. He began his artistic journey with drawing before delving into miniature painting in 2014. Atila’s notable achievements include founding the largest miniature painting YouTube channel in Brazil, Pintando Miniaturas in 2017, creating the first free miniature painting course in 2020, and contributing significantly to major events and workshops in the miniature painting sector both nationally and internationally

1. How did you start with miniature painting?

I started because of a board game called Super Dungeon Explore! It is basically a dungeon crawler with anime chibi style miniatures. This grabbed my attention because it was a concept I never thought of in a boardgame. The colorful artwork grabbed me immediately and I asked myself: What if I paint these miniatures? And I started my journey.

2. What is your proudest achievement to date?

At the moment for me are both the Gryphon Keeper and the Robocop bust.

3. Who do you look up to in the miniature painting community?

There’s a lot of people, honestly! But I’ll mention the names in no particular order: Arnau Lazaro, Moses, Alfonso Banshee, Marc Masclans, Erik Swinson, David Colwell, Ladislav Majer, Magnus Fagerberg, Robert Karlsson, Vincenzo Miniatures Den, Natalia Oracz, Sergio Vilches, Michal “Lan” Pisarski and KAHA Katarzyna.

4. Why do you find colour important to miniature painting?

Yes, absolutely. A good color scheme most of the time is the first thing that will be perceived by an observer. Of course contrast is also important but with colors is where I feel I can express myself more as an artist.

The way someone mixes the color is part of the style. For me this is a very important part to understand especially if you are aiming for display quality painting.

Atila uses these Redgrass Painting tools

5. Where do you begin with a new miniature, is it more a technical or an instinctive choice?

Well, because of the content creation part I do both. Like when I’m doing my short videos, I always try to find a character that could be known by a lot of people, because this is the first thing they will see and could possibly recognize.

Now, when I’m painting the display stuff I go purely by instinct. I have to like the miniature a LOT or else I wouldn’t be able to spend 20-30 hours painting it.

6. What are your five ‘must have’ paints?

Nowadays I use Scale75 (Scalecolor and Artist), AK-Interactive, Green Stuff World, Kimera and Pro Acryl.

But one color I use the most is Ice Yellow from AK and I always try to incorporate magenta from any brand into my works.

7. Do you have any other ‘creative’ hobbies you do? Do you feel they benefit one another in any way?

Well yes, I think video editing could be considered as a creative hobby! They absolutely benefit each other! My YouTube channel (PintandoMiniaturas) is responsible for keeping me painting all kinds of miniatures from the best to the absolute garbage. Even when I’m painting some Happy Meal toys I feel like I’m learning something, because most of the time I’m dealing with bad sculptures and this makes me have to come up with solutions I would never have to when painting good sculptures. It also helps me to value the work of a good sculptor.

With the channel I was also able to share this hobby I like so much here in Brazil with a lot of people, much more than I could ever imagine.

8. How do you begin your work day, or how do you organize your day at work?

First I try to clean my desk. I check all my lights and my camera (I always paint filming myself)

Next I prep the miniature and pre-shade it. Now if this is a display paint job, I like to study the possible color schemes. Most of the time I take a picture of the miniature I play around in photoshop. Once this is decided I Look for the colors I think will fit the color scheme and put them near me. I always change the membranes on my studio XL for every miniature.

9. Why is using a wet palette so important for miniature painters?

For tropical countries like Brazil, it is a must have. It is almost impossible to paint with a dry pallet here. I always keep 2 wet pallets active, because I paint a lot of stuff at the same time.

10. What is the key tip you would give to a miniature painter who wants to improve?

Practice is the most important way to improve. But along with practicing you can also try to develop your painting method, copying the parts you find useful from other painters Stick with the ones that work for you and practice again.

Look for references, direct ones are good when you are starting your journey but indirect references could also be very useful. Painting, drawings, real life photos, anything could be a potential reference.

Try different tools, those could be game changer for you. For me the more recent game changes in the hobby are oils. I tried some out of curiosity and now it is a tool I use a lot!