As you know, on this website from time to time we chat with passionate, well-known content creators who like me carry on the passion for painting miniatures. After having a chat with several national and international artists, today we chat with Mary from Musha Miniatures! She is Italian, but often her tutorials are in English. Let’s not get lost in other talk and let’s get to know her immediately.
Let’s start with the presentations, who is Mary of Musha Miniatures? And where does this name come from?
Hello! First of all, thanks to you Stefano for choosing me for this interview! I am 28 years old, I live in Rome and my nickname has belonged to me since I was 12 years old… it comes from Mushu, the little dragon of Mulan from Disney.
Why Mushu precisely?
Because I’m as clumsy as he is! Due to the various copyrights I had to change the logo and as a guide animal I found the red panda … also very awkward but nice! Later I discovered that Musha is also the diminutive of Bugheisa, the samurai women who used the Naginata as a weapon … which coincidentally is the weapon I studied when I was doing Kung Fu!
I saw from your website that you really do a lot of things … from motocross, to the use of drones, through snowboarding, horses, gaming and miniature painting … where do you find the time to do all these things?
It’s true … I’m a “one girl, many passions” … I wish I had 72 hours a day (mostly to sleep). I have always been a very curious person and anything fascinates me … even languages ​​to say … so much so that I speak English, Norwegian and Icelandic!
I believe that life is so rich in worlds to discover that it would be a real shame not to. Also because there is no turning back, age advances along with the “ailments” and we need to take advantage of the moment!
Tell us how your web project dedicated to this hobby was born.
It all started during the 2020 lockdown … so as not to weigh too much on my mother’s pockets I started running errands … I posted many models every day also because whole armies were commissioned to me, so I had a lot of miniatures to show! And they often asked me “how did you get this effect?” “How did you choose those colors?” “How do you advise me to do to be able to improve” etc. Ergo I thought I’d take advantage of it and put some simple video tutorials on YouTube recorded haphazardly with my iPhone and every now and then it also happened to do some live streaming on Instagram (the internet connection where I lived did not allow me to stream with OBS so I immediately tried with Instagram). To which one day I thought… but what if I did a real painting academy for beginners? Just like those classic videos of the 101 series … basically on YouTube there are no artists who explain clearly and explicitly the reason for certain choices, steps, methods, etc. … many things are taken for granted and who is really noob (pass me the term) many things he still can’t see … well! I’ll think of it! And so the academy was born and I can say that it was immediately a great success and I am really happy to have helped many people. It is in English and subtitled by me, nevertheless I am preparing one entirely in Italian given the numerous requests: D
What kind of miniatures do you prefer to paint? (busts, Warhammer, 3D prints, fantasy, sci-fi, historical etc etc)
Mainly busts… they have more fun, the scale is bigger and with the fact that they are constantly experimenting to learn new techniques they lend themselves very well. As a genre I would say fantasy and sci-fi absolutely. Historic I did it at the beginning, but being limited to certain colors in competitions cut the wings of my imagination. I can say that I have always liked Warhammer, the sculptures are well done and they are also very versatile for studying various techniques. Moreover, they are the most painted and sought after models for tutorials so they allow me to organize more video lessons.
Tell us a little about your community, how is it organized, what numbers does it have and who is part of it?
With great joy I can say that I have concluded 2021 by reaching the fateful 10,000 followers on Instagram! The catch was for the swipe up, which was removed in August and replaced with the sticker “link” open to all accounts … oh well, it can be! My YouTube channel continues on its way and we are already 4500 subscribers, while for Twitch I have just exceeded 400 followers! Considering that I started streaming on Twitch towards the end of April I would say there are so many!
We are a community of both Italians and foreigners, mainly Spaniards (many are friends even in real life), English and Americans .. some French are not lacking;) … during the live shows I usually speak in Italian but if I have to explain important things or things related to painting I do the double translation.
How do you relate to the English and Italian communities?
I have a Discord server that has over 200 members. There are channels organized by language and by topic… we interact daily from painting to anything else and I’m glad it’s so active, especially because new friendships have been made and some of us have even met off the web!
What are your favorite techniques and where do you think you need to improve?
I like to experiment continuously, as I said above… I use busts in particular to try NMM, TMM, various types of shades, texturing and so on and so forth. In my opinion there is always something to learn and to improve on … you should never say that you have arrived “at the beat” … Leonardo Da Vinci himself always said: “The moment you think you have already learned everything then there the decline begins “. We must always be open to new methods, visions, colors, imaginations, teachings … I have been painting for years looking for the perfect shade … in the last 3 months I have been studying to give my miniatures a more artistic touch, Turner style (impressionist painter) … Vary and trying new things will only expand our cultural baggage … that we then want to focus on one thing rather than another … the important thing is to try!
What is the tool, or brand, you just can’t live without?
The ultra matte varnish of AK! I refer you to the first video of the academy where I explain why. I will not dwell here otherwise I would write a poem. Since this year I have been sponsoring GreenStuffWorld and they let me try their silver series brushes … fabulous! Not to mention the new colors they have come up with… here too I made a video where I try them for the first time and you can feel for yourself my amazement and enthusiasm.
Let’s take a step back now, when did you start and how did you enter this world?
My very first miniatures date back to 23 years ago … I was 5 years old and I bought the miniatures of Lord of The Ring on newsstands … let’s say that more than anything else I “tried” to paint them … then I gave up … in middle and high school every now and then I would return there hype for Warhammer and bought a few single miniatures trying the brush approach again, but nothing serious. In 2017 I discovered the world of the fashion sketch … busts, fantasy pieces, historical, means, dioramas … and from there I started competing on an international level for a whole year, bringing home not indifferent gold! 2-year break where I moved and therefore I no longer had a painting station … I resumed as I said in the first question during the lockdown and here I am: D
I’ll ask you the same question that I also asked Mark Sorastro when I chatted with him: what advice would you like to give to those starting this hobby today?
Well first of all … take a look at my academy! Seriously … paint what you like, give free rein to your imagination and have fun. Do not try to want to go beyond your abilities immediately because it will only make you depressed for the simple fact that you still cannot! But as in all things it takes patience, dedication, time and experience … if you are practical enough, follow the right advice and study, you can take giant steps even in a very short time (3 months?) … so do not rush. Don’t try to want to make your first perfect miniature. Finish it, leave it there and choose another one. Here, this will already be better than the previous one, it is inevitable! Have faith!
