Community Spotlight - Kami's Forbidden Psalm Mega Project (Patreon)

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a while since our last Community Spotlight, but we’ve got a real doozy to share with you this time, one of our fantastic supporters, Kami (@sleepykamistudios), has undertaken a massive painting project for the Nova Foundation’s upcoming charity raffle – Painting an enormous collection of Bestiarum Miniatures for the core scenarios from Forbidden Psalm.

If you’d like to win some of these stunning models yourself, you can pick up some raffle tickets HERE, and support some really wonderful charitable causes at the same time.  (N.B. - Pictures shown are from across Kami's Bestiarum collection, please refer to the Nova Channels to see what's included in the raffle)

RAFFLE VIDEO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4WTLzWm_xg 

LINK TO NOCF RAFFLE PAGE - https://www.novaopenfoundation.org/product-page/forbidden-psalm-set 

You can check out the whole gallery of his Bestiarum work at the top of the post (some of which will appear in the raffle), but we wanted to take the time to chat with Kami about his super unique and interesting painting style and perhaps steal some tips for how to recreate his vivid and disgusting style at home.

Tell us a little more about the project, how did you come up with the idea? What made you decide on these models in particular?

My wife and I enjoy playing tabletop games together, and the quarantine really put that into perspective. Gone were the days of hopping on a random Discord, saying ‘I have X army and am free Y day, who wants to play?’ So, we spent a lot of time trying out a lot of games, and eventually landed on Forbidden Psalm. We like that it’s quick to learn and play, and that it has modes for RPG (through MÖRK BORG), cooperative, and competitive. The story is a charming mix of grimdark and whimsy.

Fast forward to 2022: Nova’s spring raffle was going on. I’d supported them a bunch in the past.  I like their causes and having the chance to win prizes for something I’d donate to anyway was a bonus. The stars aligned and I happened to win a top prize, a genestealer cult army painted by Dr. Rhino (https://www.instagram.com/drrhino_/). That was cool. But I wanted to pay it forward, and that’s where the spark was lit.

From there, everything sort of just fell into place. I had a parasocial knowledge of Kevin Rahman, Forbidden Psalms’ author, and also knew Marcus, Bestiarum’s community manager. I reached out to both explaining my idea, and both jumped on board and sponsored me. Kevin was kind enough to donate a physical copy of the core rulebook, plus digital versions of all its expansions, and Marcus sent over all the models I’d chosen from the project.

Deciding on the models was fairly easygoing. I knew I wanted to use Bestiarum miniatures exclusively as I’d already painted a ton for our own personal collection. From there, it was just a matter of looking through Forbidden Psalms’ bestiary. I matched models to it as best I could, and passed it along to Kevin, Marcus, and Nova for approval. Once everything was greenlit, it was off to the printer!

You have a really unique style of painting, can you give us a rough breakdown of how you approached painting these creeps?

I have a lot of hobby inspirations that I look to before applying my own spin on things. totally_not_panicking, ondarkendwings, steves_paint_brush, florescentia.grotesque and many, many others on Instagram have varied and unique approaches to painting in the grimdark style. They have forged my own methods, which typically use a mix of gouache, acrylics, oils, and enamels. I’ve done a couple tutorials on my page in the past, and am happy to explain approaches to specific models on discord (Kamigoye#2367) or in the comments of my posts.

As far as a rough breakdown, though, it basically goes like this:

1) Start with a zenithal prime of black and white. Take a picture of these en grisaille models so you know where your highlights are later on down the line.

2) Apply a layer of oil wash or enamel wash, and wipe it away so that it only sticks in the recesses. Let it dry. This acts as an undercoat and layer of muck that will give the model a grimy appearance.

3) Block in your base colors with acrylics and inks. Highlight them, let dry, and apply a layer of matte varnish. We’re going back to oils after this and don’t want the base layer reactivating and stripping our acrylics.

4) Back to oils and enamels, using the same steps as before. Apply, wipe away, apply, wipe away. I generally use a mix of earth tones for this step, but you can use true colors and secondary colors also to give your models some interest.

How did you manage to complete such a huge project? Any advice for people considering a similarly massive hobby undertaking?

Small goals and steps are the best for taking on a large project. Break your project down into manageable chunks, and don’t be afraid to take breaks or step away if it’s getting overwhelming! I managed to complete all 55 models in just over three weeks, but I owe all of that to planning and feeling inspired. Generally speaking, I’d break the project down into enemy groups and complete each before moving on to the next. This gave me the tangible rewards of “yay, this set is done” all throughout the project, turning the sheer cliff face of it into a series of easily-climbed steps.

Tell us a little more about the Nova Foundation’s Raffle, how does one get involved?

I could, but I think they say it best on their own site:

The NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, Inc. (NOCF), established in January 2013, was created to assist the tabletop wargaming community in raising funds for charitable causes. Miniature painters and artists have long been involved in producing miniature armies as a form of fundraising. Recognizing the immense generosity of the worldwide tabletop wargamers, the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation was formed to bring this “Compassionate Force” together under a single banner with a broad outreach to support charities that address the needs of humanitarian emergency relief, children’s causes, the military and medical research.

NOCF is an inclusive and accepting organization, proud to represent and welcome the extraordinarily diverse worldwide community of tabletop wargaming players and artists.  We treat every person with empathy, respect, dignity, and impartiality, with great appreciation for their generous support of the NOCF and its mission to positively impact the world in a compassionate and meaningful way.

The spring charity raffle begins on April 15th. To enter, you purchase raffle tickets toward the prize(s) you want, and then if you win they contact you for prize fulfillment. They ship worldwide, at no cost to the end user.

Also, before I go, I’d like to thank a few people for helping the project come together. My wife, for motivation. Sean at NOVA for onboarding me and keeping things moving. Kevin Rahman and Bestiarum for sponsoring the project and providing access to their materials. And Marcus at Bestiarum for being oh-so-pleasant to work with. This is truly a community project, and it wouldn’t have happened without all of you. Thank you.

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Massive thanks to Kami for taking the time to chat with us about this awesome project, we hope some of you consider checking out the Nova Foundation Raffle to support some great causes, and potentially win a huge bundle of stunningly painted miniatures!

If you liked what you saw here, we’d highly recommend giving Kami a follow on his Instagram (@sleepykamistudios) - he’s a truly prolific artist with a tonne of inspirational work to check out!

Cheers,

Bestiarum Team