Roman Lappat: Creating New Worlds One Brushstroke at a Time

Roman Lappat is a full-time artist and has been painting miniatures professionally for over a decade. For nearly fifteen years, Roman has ran his own blog, Massive Voodoo. Here, thousands of articles detail Roman’s creative process as well as the process of his fellow painters who help run the website. Something I appreciate about Roman’s work is his ability to create stunning pieces of art that really do feel like they have a sense of emotion and story behind them. The medium of three dimensional miniatures allows for artists to tell their story in a unique environment. Shapes can be painted to bring more attention to certain aspects, full objects can be added or sculpted on to help the viewer visualize the world that each model exists in. For Roman, this uniqueness is brought out in the multiple types of pieces that he creates.

The Aquila - Hero of Rome 41 A.D. 
This piece captures the scene of a centurion returning alone from a battle, the only survivor of his group. Elements such as the snow sculpted onto his cloak as well as the rough texture of his clothing help to drive home that this warrior has encountered a long, dangerous path home.

One creative theme that I feel Roman embodies will is the idea of learning from failure. Many of the videos on Roman's Youtube channel explain his step by step process when creating a piece. It is a common theme that something for him does not go the way he wants it to, and that is okay! Roman explains that much of the time failure is only considered failure because something didnt go the way people assume it will go. To me, this really reflected the idea of failure not being true failure that we read about in the WIRED article.

Memories II - Roman Lappat

The Last Light - Golden Demon Winner 2013
 Roman has several videos explaining the problems that he encountered while he was creating this diorama. Rather than give up, he decided to use that failure to change up his creative process and technique. This diorama ended up winning one of the largest painting competitions in the World in 2013. It goes to show that hard work can pay off, even if the road is rough!




 

Rain of Vengeance - Roman Lappat
I enjoy this creation because it takes the traditional idea of a two dimensional piece of art and employs several ideas in a three dimensional form. The entire diorama is created inside of a picture frame to make it seem like a contained world, and I believe makes the piece overall more eye catching.

I am personally inspired by Roman's work because it shows what the end result of a high quality painted miniature can be. Because miniature painting is something that is passionate to me, it is hurtful to hear people claim that it is not a legitimate form of art because you are starting from a pre-made canvas. Creative artists work everyday to bring new life to all different kinds of miniatures throughout the world, and Roman Lappat proves that this can be an artistic form of expression.