My story

Together with my friend and my dad I went to Antwerp. There, next to the townhall in a narrow street there was a tiny shop. In the window there where boardgames I had never heard of. And miniatures of fierce warriors fighting scary dragons.

When we openend the creaking door we came into a small dark room, smelling of cardboard and paint. On almost every wall there where shelves packed with boardgames and miniatures. We where greeted by two men, one a bit older with a beard as white as the armour of a white scars space marine. The other one a bit younger with a friendly face.

I have some really great memories of spending hours looking trough every shelve in the shop.
Sadly the physical shop no longer exists.

Then came my teenager years. And in those years there are different things one is interested in, for example parties and girls. So my miniatures got shoved in a box and put away in the loft.

In my early twenties I got reintroduced to Warhammer. This time Warhammer 40k, a couple of friends where playing the game and after trying it once I was hooked again.
Its around that time I discovered there was a wargaming club in my area. It is called Tin Soldiers of Antwerp

Getting introduced to a wargaming club really improved the joy I found within the hobby.
I found more like minded people who really loved painting miniatures and just played the games for fun.
I talk to some of my clubmembers almost daily about painting and gaming.

I would recommend it to every hobbyist out there.

In recent years I started a family. My youngest daughter was born with Cystic Fibroses. therefore we needed an extra source of income. And I knew that I stil needed to paint models from time to time because it helps me reduce stress. So I quickly came to the conclusion I wanted to try and become a commission painter.
I contacted some of my hobby friends and asked them if they liked the way I painted and if they would pay money for models painted by me. Turns out there where a few friends who where interested.

So I started. At first I kept prices low and tried to deliver quality within a limited timeframe. It worked out great. With every new project I got offered I improved my skills at painting and the efficiency at which I did it.

Then came the next step, if I wanted to advertise my work and get more clients I had to go legit. So that’s what I did. Registered in the country I currently live, The Netherlands. I started a facebookpage and slowly new clients started pouring in.

Now I’m at a point where I want to do more then just the commissions. One of my dreams is to teach other people in the hobby about the way I paint. And introduce new people to this wonderful hobby.
There are some more ideas in pipeline. But more on that in the future.

If you get to this point, I just want to thank you for taking a moment to read about my hobby story.