Fernando Ruiz in the spotlight

Today's interviewee is Fernando Ruiz. 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 Fernando Ruiz, I was born in Málaga but now I live in Barcelona, Spain. I work as a freelance videogames translator and I love painting miniatures.

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

My weapons of choice are brushes and acrylic paints. I also use some other mediums and tools when I need them of course (airbrush, oils, enamels, whatever). I started painting that way and it’s kind of a “comfort zone” for me. But I’m always eager to try new techniques and stuff.
I haven’t tried yet too seriously to sculpt something from scratch, but I’m starting to feel comfortable with putty… Who knows?

How would you describe your own style?

Well, I always try to go for two concepts: balance and naturalism. There are multiple ways to achieve that, depending on the way you use to do things. For me, the real challenge is to make every part of the painted miniature work together as a whole, integrated in your own style and, at the same time, tell something with it. It would be arrogant to say that these two concepts define my style, as these are hard objectives and I’m in the road of improvement, as anyone else. But it would be nice to master that.
My way of doing things has changed a lot along the years but a constant obsession of mine has been cleanliness when painting.

Show us your workspace. Do not clean it.

I try to keep everything as tidy as possible, as I don’t like to have a crowded table, but chaos always finds a way… As I have a table with room for two people, the empty “guest” seat easily ends up as a junkyard. And the junkyard invades also my workspace if I let it be for too much time. The only solution I have found during these 20 years of hobby is to relax and put some order between projects.

Who influences your work and what inspires you?

I have to answer this one from two points of view, as I am involved in this hobby in a professional way.

As a painter, there are too many good artists out there to be able to write down all of them who have served as inspiration. I always say the same three names, as they have been the most direct and continuous influence for my style at some point: Jaume Ortiz, Raúl García Latorre and Pepe Gallardo. Also they are very nice guys and good friends of mine. What more can I say?

From my position at the artistic direction and coordination in Heroes & Villains Miniatures, I’m always inspired by ideas and projects that show some new angle on a theme or tell a story behind the miniature. Also, I like to devise the projects keeping in mind how I (as a modeller) would like things to be, taking care of all small details.

What’s you current favourite music/movie/series you enjoy while working?

I use to listen music while painting, but my preferences are quite eclectic. I like artists like The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Belle and Sebastian, The Who, The Kinks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, B-52’s, Johnny Cash or The Velvet Underground, but also classical music, lots of jazz and old movie scores.

Maybe the most curious fact about the relation I establish between music and miniatures is that I name all my personal ventures after or inspired by songs I love.

Heroes and Villains Miniatures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blRPcqg6-94
Ziggy Starbrush and the Figures from Mars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsVEWeBkDY0

Also I love cinema of all sorts. My favorite movies are the classic Star Wars trilogy.

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

I can’t show you yet the two last finished miniatures, as they are part of a huge release we are planning for this year’s Euromilitaire, but I can show a recent version I did of our medieval knight bust.

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Visit Fernando Ruiz at Putty&Paint
On his Website ziggystarbrush.com
And at at FeR Miniatures