How Joek Minis Came to BE...

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! 

JoeK Minis' Philisophy...

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. The cast runs of the figures will be small - I make no apologies for this. The nature of resin and the expense means that the first run of the figures will be roughly around 100-200 pieces. If it sells, then I'm able to start work on the next figure. If that sells, then I can move onto the next, whilst having enough money to recast if there's a demand for it!

(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!

Who are Joek Minis...er...minis for?

Well, there's no 'range' as it were. I'm not creating new armies or anything like that. Whilst the first figure is a fantasy one, if the project works out, I'll take on Sci-fi, Steam Punk, real world...whatever. Again, going back to this selfish part of me - I'll be producing figures which appeal to me, and hopefully others will feel the same way. Actually, a lot of the time I've discovered I have fairly generic tastes, so there's bound to be something here which someone will also like!

The figure should be mainly of a fairly similar size to GW's output I guess. They could work as heros for games, although because they are cast in resin, they are fairly delicate! My main aim is to create figures for painters to work magic on. There's nothing better than to see a wonderful work of art on display! But hey, buy them anyway, and I'll let you do whatever you want with 'em :)

Finally, why the name 'Joek Minis'?

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 ;)