Mike McVey's painting inspired my own meagre efforts more than anyone else. It was his work that I poured over and failed to emulate through the later part of the 1980s and beyond. We forget now, in this age of communications technology, just how limited our source material was back then. You had White Dwarf and the supplements that came with the games you bought. That was pretty much it!
And there was the waiting...
The waiting for the month to turn, so I could make the mile long trip to the newsagents and pick up the next issue of White Dwarf. I had a ritual. I wouldn't open the magazine until I got home and when I did, my first port of call was 'Eavy Metal and Mike McVey's painted models.
So you can imagine, dear readers, that Mr McVey was a the top of my list of individuals to interview and he was one of the very first personalities that I approached. Way back then, Mike ensured me that he would, one day, get back to me and I am very pleased to say that he finally has.
 |
Mike's work dominated the final 'Fantasy Miniatures' hardback book in 1990, as this page illustrates.
|
RoC80s: How did its all
start? Eighteen is a very young age to begin anything professionally, so how
did you end up working for GW as part of the 'Eavy Metal team?
MMc: I was very young,
and still living at home at the time. It was an advert in White Dwarf that
started it all - I can't remember what issue (I really should go back and
check…) but it was later in 1986. I painted some miniatures especially for it,
and sent them off to the Studio. To my complete amazement I got a letter back
asking me to come to Nottingham for an interview - that was all the prompting I
needed to leave home and move close to Nottingham. My sister was at college in
Loughborough at the time, so I moved in with her before the interview. The
interview itself was pretty terrifying - I spent all my youth pouring over the
pages of WD, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by the people who made it.
Sitting there in John Blanche's office, with his paintings on the walls and his
miniatures on the shelves. The thing I remember the most clearly was his Chaos
Minotaur conversion - the one with Mona Lisa on the banner. I had stared at
that for hours in the pages of WD, and here I was in the presence of the real
thing… I also remember the sculpting studio - Nick Bibby, Jes Goodwin, Bob
Naismith, and Ali and Trish Morrison - all sitting round laughing and joking, I
thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I was pretty wet behind the
ears back then!
The interview didn't
go great - I was very young and inexperienced, and was more than a little
tongue tied talking to John - so I was pretty pleased when the whole thing was
over.
I received a letter
about a week later, informing me I hadn’t got the job - but that Bryan would
like to talk to me about the possibility of doing some freelance work. I duly
rang him up and he told me he'd keep me on file in the event of any work being
available. So there I was living in Loughborough, and not working for GW…
The next thing I did
was apply for a mould making job over at the factory in Eastwood - I figured if
I got in there, it might be easier to transfer across to the studio (as my good
friend Richard Wright eventually did, though I had no idea at the time). So I
got several busses and trains to travel from Loughborough to Eastwood and had
an interview with Steve Bruce and John Ellard (I think…) - who told me they
couldn't employ me living so far away…
I had been in
Loughborough for about two months (so that would be April 1987), when out of
the blue I got a call from John Blanche asking if I would be interested in two
weeks work in the studio. They had a big project coming up (which turned out to
be Rogue Trader), and needed some help with it. I jumped at the chance, and
that two weeks turned into 13 years…
 |
Mike McVey has always stood out from the crowd.
|
RoC80s: You ended up
running the painting team. During your time with the company, how did the way
miniature painting was organised change?
MMc: Everything about the
way the company worked has changed out of all recognition since those early
days. John ran the art department when I joined, and that included the figure
painting studio. Back then there was Colin Dixon (who was the first full time
painter), Sid (who got the job I didn't), and myself. Really it was just Sid
and I doing the painting though - Colin was mainly doing artwork, and only
painted miniatures when there was a crunch on. Then there was Dave Andrews and
Tony Ackland drawing and painting. I remember my first day in the Studio so
clearly - walking into that room with Sid, Colin, Dave and Tony - all bearded
with long hair, surrounded with cigarette smoke - and there I was a very fresh
faced 18 year old. I was scared out out of my wits! I don't think I spoke a
single work for about 2 weeks...
I was employed on
the understanding that I would be able to paint five miniatures a day - but
some days I painted far more. I remember painting the units for the first
plastic regiments box set - where you got 20 each of several different
Warhammer races. Most of those were painted in a single day for a unit of 20.
Learning to paint at that speed, taught me a huge amount about economy of
painting, and it really helped when I slowed down and spent more time on
individual miniatures.
The miniature
painting and art room was a pretty chaotic place - but we did get a lot done.
Everyone went to the pub most lunch times (at least it seemed like that looking
back), so the afternoons were definitely more 'relaxed'. I can't remember
exactly how things were organised - but John would dole out the work and give
us briefs for colour schemes. These were pretty open and we had a lot of
freedom as to how to paint things - which was great.
The deadline was
always - 'soon as you can'.
There was never any
teaching of how to do things, but John would critique work and have us make
changes when needed. I was keen as mustard though - this was my dream job and I
wasn't going to screw it up.
As time went on over
the years, the whole company got more organised, and that was certainly true
for miniature painting. I was pretty much running it (under Phil Lewis) just
before we moved to the new studio on Castle Boulevard - I think there were 5-6
of us at that point. Myself, Tim Prow, Dale Hurst, Ivan Bartlet and Andy Craig
- I think that was everyone. Only Tim and I made it to the new studio though -
the others were 'let go'. The whole studio move was a brutal experience, and
lots of people didn’t make it - as far as I remember, they only found out a day
or so before we moved.
When we got into the
new place, we started re-building the team and I ran it properly for a couple
of years. Or as properly as I knew how - considering I had no training in
management what so ever. It was different place by then - much more organised
and formal. We worked in an open plan office, so we weren't hidden away like we
were in the original studio - that place was like a rabbit warren and you got
get away with all sorts of 'high-jinks'!
 |
| These miniatures, and their famous paintjobs, must has launched the painting exploits of millions of gamers! |
RoC80s: You were (and
indeed still are) rightly famous for your gorgeous blended painting style. How
did you develop this? Did you arrive at GW with the skill or did it develop
through inspiration or through training?
MMc: When I got to GW, I
was pretty competent painter - but I looked at the work of people like JB and
Colin, and thought I would never get anywhere close to their level. It's
amazing how fast you improve in that environment though - painting eight hours
a day, surrounded with like-minded creative people. You absorb information by
osmosis. I never remember much in the way of training - you would look at the
way someone else did something, and work out how they did it. Everyone was very
open with information, but there wasn't the culture of learning and forensic
direction there is with miniature painting these days. It was very young hobby
in a lot of ways. People had been painting miniatures for years for wargaming,
but it was pretty basic stuff - they never focused on quality in the way we
did. That was for larger scale painting.
As for blending - it
was something that John showed me with enamels, using a second brush to thin
the edge of a colour to create the look of a smooth blend. I just transferred
that to painting with acrylics. If I remember it right, the fist place I did
that was on the original Imperial Guard Sentinel, which I painted blue. I
remember Bryan complaining that it wasn't highlighted, as it was bit on the
subtle side!
Once I'd mastered
that technique, everything else fell onto place though - it was the cornerstone
of my painting. It wasn't until I got to spend a bit longer on the miniatures
that I felt comfortable with it though - the first time that happened was
probably painting the Eldar - that’s when I thought my paining really
‘clicked’, on the aspect warrior miniatures especially, but also on some of the
Harlequins. I was in the fortunate
position of being my own boss with painting - so I could spend the time I
needed to on miniatures - that allows me to really perfect that technique, and
in the end I could produce multi-layered, smooth blends very quickly.
 |
| The original Citadel Colour range. |
RoC80s: According to our
research, you were credited in helping designing the very well loved original
Citadel Colour Range (Citadel Colour, Creature Paint Set, Monster Paint Set
etc...), is this the case? If so, what was the process of development?
MMc: Not quite. The
original Citadel Colour paints were released before my time at GW - round about
1985 I think. At that time I was painting with Humbrol Enamels, so switching to
acrylics was a revelation. No more smell or long drying times. I worked a lot
on the first expansion to the range - the inks, washes and metallics - and
re-worked a lot of the colours to be a more comprehensive spectrum. That would
be early nineties I think - maybe late eighties. From that point on, I was
responsible for the entire paint range design. I spent quite a lot of time in
the paint labs of several different companies - developing new formulations and
colours. I designed about five ranges while I was there - but only two of them
saw the light of day. One was a re-design of the entire original range, and the
next was when production switched to a new supplier.
RoC80s: Andy Craig's
amusing tales of life in the studio have been very popular, do you have any
amusing stories or memorable moments to share?
MMc: God - where do I
start! I pretty much grew up working at GW, so a lot of my formative memories
are linked to that place. When I think of amusing stories, I mainly think of
Sid though - he was a pretty hilarious guy.
I remember there was
a youth training office above the painting room and he used to terrorise the
trainees. They had to walk past our window pretty regularly - we were on the
first (second for any Americans reading) floor and they had to walk out under
us to the bins at the back of the building. He used to bombard them with
anything he could get his hands on - and had various projectile guns to shoot
them with. He also used to chase them round the corridors when he met them -
and it culminated with the manager taking him to task outside our door, and
ending up in a fist fight with him!
Then there was the
occasion he built the 'first 40K tank' - which consisted of a large cardboard
box, that had holes for his head, arms and legs - he just happened to be taking
that for it’s first test drive round the floor of the figure painting room,
when Tom Kirby walked in with some important guests...
Sid was never a
great painter, but he was endlessly entertaining to work with!
Then there was the
time John Blanche disappeared into the spray room to varnish a new drawing, and used
black undercoat by mistake.
There are so many
more stories involving different members of the GW studio, but many of them are
not really repeatable…
The painting room
was a bit separated from the rest of the studio, so in some ways we were a bit
of a law unto ourselves, especially for the first year or so and it was Colin,
Dave, Sid, Tony and me. It was a great place to work.
RoC80s: Who were your
inspirations when it came to miniature painting? Who are they now?
MMc: Without any doubt,
the largest influence on me was John Blanche. Back in the early days he was
just on a different planet to everyone else (and some think he still is), the
work he was creating was streets ahead of what anyone else was doing. Colin
Dixon was a close second though, as his was the work that directly proceeded me
in White Dwarf and in products. I still distinctly remember looking at his work
when I started and thinking I’d never be that good. What you have to remember
back then though, is that the only good painting you saw was on the pages of
White Dwarf, or in the Journals, there was no internet. I grew up in the Lake
District, so there were no game shops with display cabinets either. Getting
White Dwarf Magazine and the Journals was huge for a budding painter like me -
and I used to devour every scrap of information I could. A few of the designers
were good painters too - Aly Morrison and Nick Bibby in particular. But, for
sure - John was The Man, without him I don’t think miniature painting would
have taken off in the way it did.
These days I don’t
keep up with the painting scene like I used too - it’s just too big. The
standard is incredible, and the amount of information out there for painters is
just never ending - which is such a good thing. As a learning environment for
painters, it’s a fantastic time to be in the hobby.
RoC80s: Fraser Grey has
become somewhat of a legend among enthusiasts. What was your opinion of his
work and what are your memories of him?
MMc: Fraser was such a
lovely guy, and great painter too. What amazed me most was how clean he could
get the colours with enamels - I painted with them before acrylics and always
hated them, but I never had the patience he did. He put a lot of time into
those miniatures, and it showed. I always looked forward to his visits to the
studio, and seeing what he’d been working on.
 |
A classic '80s Jes Goodwin Ogre hiding in one of Mike's '90s dioramas.
|
RoC80s: You produced many
dioramas during the 90s, many of which are still on display. Why did you
produce so many of these? Was it direction from management or something you
just wanted to do?
MMc: It was my job for
over a year - maybe 18 months, and I still count it as the most fun I have had
in my entire career. I got pretty burned-out running the painting team, and
really wanted to get back to creating, rather than managing. I had total free
range to do what I wanted, I just looked at what projects were upcoming (like
army books for Lizardmen, Dark Angels, Wood Elves, etc) and do a diorama based
on that subject. It was fantastic!
I could make them
whatever size I wanted, so really I could let my imagination run riot. The most
challenging thing was to produce dioramas that would work well in front of the
camera - it’s no good making something that doesn’t reproduce well on the pages
of a magazine or book. As a matter of fact - that was pretty much how I lived
my painting life, developing a painting style that reproduced well.
The dioramas were a
lot of work though - the Warhammer Quest one was several months work, and I
remember being completely sick of the sight of it by the end. I made a decision
at the start that I was going to use forced perspective to give the illusion of
depth - and I regretted it every day after that, it was so much extra work!
 |
| One of Mike McVey's early Rogue Trader dioramas. |
RoC80s: Later, you moved into sculpting models. Was this something that you always wanted to do?
How did you train?
MMc: I was quite happy as
a miniature painter, but I reached the top of what they were prepared to pay me
(which was very little!) - so they suggested I move into sculpting instead. It
was a really hard decision for me - I spent my whole working life painting, and
was very proud of what I’d achieved, so it was tough to give that all up and
start from scratch.
There was a trainee
sculptor program at GW, but it was a little haphazard - and really I was pushed
into making production miniatures before I was ready. I learned a lot from Gary
Morely, but it wasn’t until I started sharing an office with Jes and Brian
Nelson that I found my feet a bit and started producing models I was proud of.
The only ones I actually like are the Eldar miniatures I sculpted just before I
left.
RoC80s: After leaving
GW, you did a wide range of painting work for other companies (including a
relocation to the US), was this a positive experience?
MMc: That’s not quite
what happened. I left GW to move to Seattle in the US and work for Wizards of
the Coast. They were setting up a miniatures division and wanted people with
experience to staff it. I was employed as the lead studio sculptor, but was
quickly made the Art Director. The first project we worked on was Chainmail,
but it was fairly disastrous - WotC didn’t really understand the miniatures
market and we were never properly supported by the upper management of the
company. That ended fairly badly with one of the round of redundancies that
were sweeping the company at the time - and they decided that pre-painted
plastics were more their thing (which was probably the case). I art directed
the D&D and Star Wars miniatures lines, but it really wasn’t what I wanted
to do.
I’d become very
disillusioned with working at WotC, and got involved with Privateer Press very
early in their development. The three guys who set it up commissioned me to
make a promo miniature of a Steamjack (a steam powered robot) from their D20
adventures. They really loved it and agreed to make me a partner in the
company, and we started making Warmachine. That’s far too long a story to write
here - but it taught me a valuable lesson of only working with people I liked
in future!
RoC80s: Eventually you
set up Studio McVey. Was this always an ambition of yours? How did you go about
creating the company and designing the products?
MMc: Ali (my wife) and I,
set up Studio McVey when we moved back to the UK in 2007. It was really a
response to working on defined miniature ranges for the past few years - you
just get a little tired of making miniatures for the same world/setting. I
wanted to create a range where we could make the miniatures we really wanted to
paint - and not have any restrictions on style, setting or genre. It was really
fun, and I think that range we created was really solid.
The down-side was
that the resin collectors pieces only really appealed to painters - and when it
comes down to it, most of the people who are buying miniatures were gamers.
That lead me to starting the Sedition Wars sci-fi line - and that was really
enjoyable, creating a whole setting from scratch. It was a pretty steep
learning curve though - working on a game and miniatures line as a one-man
company (Ali was concentrating on her illustration work by that time) is a HUGE
amount or work, especially when it becomes very successful in a short amount on
time…
 |
| Horus vs the Emperor |
RoC80s: Probably the hardest question for any artist. Which painted model do you think best defines
your time at GW and why?
MMc: For single
miniatures, I guess that would be The Green Knight, though Tyrion and Teclis
brought in a whole new type of miniature - so they would run it a close second.
The Green Knight was an important piece for me - it was the first production
miniature Michael Perry sculpted after he lost his right hand, so it had great
significance to all of us in the studio. I can still clearly remember painting
it now, and it must be more that 20 years ago. Mark Gibbons produced the
original illustration for it, but that was black and white - so I had to
capture the feel of that in colour.
Without any doubt
though - the work I get asked about more than anything else are the dioramas -
and The Emperor and Horus in particular. I guess they are also the thing that I
enjoyed working on the most, and put most of myself into. It’s really great
they are still on display at the GW museum too - I’m very proud of that.
 |
| Tyrion and Teclis |
RoC80s: What's next for
Mike McVey?
MMc: Studio McVey is now
effectively a miniatures design studio - we are partnered with Guillotine Games
making miniatures for board game projects. We launched Blood Rage and The
Others on Kickstarter last year, and we’re currently working on an Oriental
themed game and HATE - based on Adrian Smith’s graphic novel. I’ve been working
with Adrian again for the last couple of years - he’s the sole artist on Blood
Rage and did 90% of there art for The Others. It’s really great to be in the
same creative team as him again - he’s certainly one of the best artists I have
ever worked with. The depth of his imagination is staggering.
I’m not painting or
sculpting any more - my eyes just aren’t capable of that level of fine detail
any more, but I still get a huge kick out of the creation process - and turning
fantastic art into amazing miniatures. I still love it as much now as I did
when I started at GW in 1987.
As always, I would like to thank Mike McVey for his contribution to Realm of Chaos 80s and taking us back to the Golden Age of Games Workshop. Years in the making, this interview really does go to show that good things come to those who wait!
Orlygg
