Martin “Dre4mit” Goumaz in the spotlight

Today's interviewee is Martin "Dre4mit" Goumaz. Thank you for sharing in.
Spotlight are short interviews to introduce some of the artists here at Putty&Paint.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about you.

My name is Martin Goumaz and I’m 30 years old. I live in Geneva, in the french speaking part of Switzerland. I’m working in the social part with the youth. I’m also the proud father of two kids, Robin (2.5 yo) and Maya (1 month). My life is pretty busy at the moment as you can guess!

People may know me under my nickname, dre4mit. It doesnt really mean anything, it is a nick that i keeped from my videogames sessions when i was a teenager.  It’s probably the same story for many painters :) .

What are your favorite tools, and why do you use them?

I think my favorite tool is the internet. As I’ve always been painting alone, the internet has been my teacher. What I love in the miniatures painting community, is that most of people are happy to share their knowledge. So you can ask people how they painted this or this effect, you can read tutorials, you can watch videos, you can look at and analyse photos of amazing minis… Of course watching things on the internet won’t magically transform you into a top level painter, but if you practice enough it will help you to progress.

I use Raphael brushes (from 2/0 to 2), paints from many brands (MC, GW, P3, Liquitex…) depending of what I’m painting and the effect I’m looking for. Some brands are more shiny or more matte, more or less covering etc. I also paint with a wet palette. I owe an airbrush but i nearly never use it. I’m a total newbie with it and I hate the cleaning.

How would you describe your own style?

I think my works are clean. I’m a perfectionist guy, I like smooth blendings and i hate to see technical mistakes on my works. I mostly look at technique, when i paint and also when I look at other painter’s minis. Even if it’s maybe not the main thing that determines if it’s a great paintjob or not. I also try to create atmospheric bases, giving something more to the figure. I love creating bases :) .

Show us your workspace. Do not clean it.

As I had to leave my painting room to let it to my daughter, I moved in the living room and managed to put everything in this console. It’s small so I have to clean it very often, but it works quite well ! The good thing is, I can close it so my children can’t touch everything :) .

Who influences your work and what inspires you?

Well, when I started to paint at the end of 2009, i was simply looking at paintjobs on the internet without paying attention to the name of the painter. I think you can find great ideas looking at paintings of any painter, master or not. Later I discovered the MASSIVE VOODOO crew, who inspired me a lot and learned me many things through their tutorials. After that there are of course some well known names, like Sebastian Archer, Diego Ruina, Fabrizio Russo, Matthieu Roueche, Thomas David, Francesco Farabi, Jérémie Bonamant Teboul, Mirko Cavalloni, MASSIVE VOODOO guys and many others… But photography, canvas paintings and everydays life are also great inspiration sources.

Show and tell us what you are currently working on or what you recently finished?

I’m actually working on two things. A bust given & sculpted by my friend Massimiliano Richiero. It’s sort of a warrior with a spiky helmet. Quite a strange model but I love it. Still at the preparation stage.
The other thing is a bigger project, the Boelg from Alambic Miniatures. An absolute pain to prepare, but I hope i’ll be able to start the painting soon. I love this sculpt! I progress really slow, my children don’t allow me much time. With luck one of them will be finished in one or two months :) .

Cheers !

___
Visit Martin “Dre4mit” Goumaz at Putty&Paint