JoeK Minis was an idea which suddenly sprang to life at the end of 2009. I've always been a fan of Games Workshop and the figures they produced over the years, and whilst never interesting in the gaming side of things, I always loved to paint these figures up. I started in around 1981 through to 1993 whereupon real life and University set in and all that was put aside :( . 

In January 2008, I was having a discussion on a forum with some like-minded folk. We were recalling those heady years of playing around with little figures, and paint them up with much fondness. I then got told of a site called Cool Mini or Not and the rest was history! I'd been so blissfully unaware of how much the standard of painting had come on, and even more so the quality of figures on the market. What's more, there was life outside of Games Workshop! 

I decided then and there to buy some paint and brushes and see what I could do! It took a little while to get back in the swing, but I took a few things to Golden Demon 2008 and I was absolutely chuffed to bits to walk away with my first little finalist's pin in the Open category (if anyone wants to see the entry, have a looksie at my gallery on CMON, HERE .Since then I've not really looked back. It's given me an enormous amount of pleasure to paint things up, and I'm not going to stop any time soon. 

Throughout 2009, the industry has seen a whole slew of new 'boutique' mini companies open their doors for business. For me, the most notable entries have been companies like the quite wonderful SmartMax, Kingdom Death, and probably most significantly for me, Mike and Ali McVey's Studio Mcvey. Mike Mcvey has always been one of my painting heroes really, so when he and Ali started releasing figures I jumped right in! 

What all those companies introduced to me was that there is some amazing sculptors and designers out there, without which we (as painters) wouldn't have half the amount of quality things to paint up! It also showed me that whilst metal and plastic are kind of 'standard' in the industry, the wonderful detail you can get from employing resin as the casting medium means you get a figure that's as close as possible to the original quality of the sculpt. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that with a little bit of research, I could think of doing something similar. It's a purely selfish act on my part - figures I think of and/or design, a brilliant sculptor creating it and a resin castor making it all up! Wow! 

So, I did a bit of research. I got in contact with huge amounts of sculptors and worked out that - yes! - I could actually do this, and get a really cool figure sculpted and cast to the highest quality possible! Sod it! Let's give it a whirl I thought. If it all goes pear-shaped so be it, but at least I've given it a go, and at the very least I'll have got a figure I really wanted to paint myself! 

This is a project. There is next to no profit in this at all. Certainly not for the forseeable future. I'm lucky - I work in a job that I enjoy (well, most of the time...) full-time, and JoeK Minis is - rather perversely - my way of relaxing! I love this business with a passion. I've been lucky enough to speak to some of the great names in the industry, and through the hobby I've made a lot of good friends who are both extremely talented, and generous enough with their time to help me on my way. I'm trying to create figures which are pretty much one-offs, created by the best sculptors I can afford, and cast in the highest quality materials I can get. If I couldn't get either of these, then the project fails completely! In fact, I don't know if the project will succeed at all! The whole idea of the project is to be self-sustainable. 

(In my mind all the above makes perfect, logical sense. I suspect the real world will throw a few things into the mix, but there we go!)

I don't know what will happen, but I'm determined to give it a go, and I really really hope there are some folk out there who will like what they see here, and pick up one of my figures! I guarantee that the quality will never waver!

Well, I hope that I have a broad enough church to have something for anyone who wants to join! The figures are (more or less) in the 28-32mm range, so perfectly usable for table-top gaming if that's what folks want to do (I've also found that the resin my caster uses tends to be a little bit more harder wearing than some!). I come from the painting and collecting background myself, and I think they are proper painters' figures too. But who knows what the future will bring...you buy them from me, you can do with them what you want!

Ah! That's a simple one. My name is Joe Karame, and throughout most forums you can find me as 'Joek'. Hence the name. Yup, it's very simple, but it kinda stuck and you can like it or lump it ;)