In my office here at Wi Mansions I have a glass display cabinet which houses my favouritest painted miniatures. Suffice to say, none of them have been painted by me; the work which features more than anyone else is by Brushman Matt Parkes. I’ve known Matt since about 2008 when we worked together at Battlefront, back when they owned the magazine, but before I know him he was knocking out Games Workshop Golden Demon-winning dioramas every few years between 1995 and 2010. He acquired four Slayer Swords - the most prestigious prize in Golden Demon competitions - in that time. Over the last three years, several top-notch painters have provided content for Wargames Illustrated, either through their freelance work or ‘on the books’. One of our more recent full-time artistes - Callum - went off to pastures new towards the end of 2022; at about that same time, I bumped into my old mucker Matt. Having just completed his last painting project I snapped up the opportunity to work with the person I personally still consider to be the best in the business. Golden Daemon and Slayer Sword winning diorama 1995. Golden Daemon and Slayer Sword winning diorama 2010. Flames of War Sturmtiger. Celtic attack. To cut a short story a little shorter, Mr Matt Parkes is now working for Wargames Illustrated, and over the coming weeks, months, and hopefully years Wi readers (and I) will get to enjoy the fruits of his painting talent (along with tricks and tips from his 30+ years of pro-painting experience) in the pages of the magazine. If you are not familiar with Matt’s work, you can see some of his brushwork here and commence drooling! I'll finish by adding a link to Wi Paints which is in The Vault; this is a painting guide we published a few years ago and it's about 90% of Matt’s work. You will also find more of Matt’s work in The Vault if you search for his name - ‘Matt Parkes’. Napoleonic French in line. Aussies at Lone Pine. The Death of Nelson. High water mark at Gettysburg.
