About Ana (Ańa) - Miniature Painter • Chest of Colors

Nickname

Ana (or more accurately: Ańa)

Painting since

Late 2004

About myself

Hello, I am Ańa – Anna Machowska.
I’ve been painting miniatures since late 2004.

Before I started painting miniatures I used to paint on clothes, which was a kind of related to my education and proved useful many a time.

I was educated as a stylist and fashion designer, and as a student I was lucky to work as a stylist, and after graduation – as a designer. After so many years of dreaming about this work (because I was sure who I wanted to be even since I was a kid) I accidentally happened to get into miniature painting and… my world turned by 180 degrees 🙂 I quit the rat race and moved to the “meditative job” (as my friends tend to call it).

The first model I painted was Sparr, the Alcoholic Goblin. I painted the model for Mad McGobbo’s Painting Contest and won silver – to Mahon’s and my own surprise! The next year I prepared the Five Seconds To Heart Attack diorama for the Total Testosterone contest and won silver in fantasy category and the Best Diorama of the show. Even after all the years the model remains one of my favorite models, and is one of the few which remained in my display cabinet. The model also won me gold in fantasy category and Grand Prix at Bazyliszek – the prize called Van Gork’s Sunflowers is still one of the nicest decorations on my wall.

When in 2007 the Femme Fatale II contest was organized, I was finishing my entry until the latest moments before the deadline. But I managed to do it just in time and even won the first place in Simply Scandalous category and the Best of Show prize! This was also the year of the first Polish edition of Golden Demon. I prepared a large project which took me a lot of time. I have never painted so many freehand decorations before. But my work was appreciated and won me my first gold at Golden Demon competition! I also entered the painting contest at Bazyliszek, winning 4 prizes plus the Grand Prix again.

In late 2007 I participated in the Newbold Challenge with my Garrity Gals, which were even purchased by the contest organizer – Ian Newbold.

In 2008 I traveled to France for my first foreign Golden Demon with a diorama, which won a honorable mention and was even published in a White Dwarf magazine. Seeing so many awesome works was a truly inspiring experience! Later in the same year we had the second edition of Golden Demon in Poland. This time I decided to enter with more works, which resulted with 6 Golden Demons for me.

In 2009 I went to Germany to participate in their Golden Demon. I had very nice holidays and returned home with one Golden Demon (gold in fantasy single model) and one honorable mention / finalist. Later I won two gold awards in the Chick Challenge, and two awards in Slayer of Daemon – Polish painting contest, which was a replacement for the Golden Demon.

My competition activity was much lower since 2017, when I got involved in cooperation with Mixed Dimensions as their Master Painter and Lead Artist for a few years. This allowed me to get into some new aspects of the hobby, like larger scale models and coordinating work of a whole team of artists, which became useful later. 🙂

Still the most of my works were never entered in any competitions, which doesn’t mean I am not proud of them. I will be happy if you check them out in my gallery. Without any further comments you can see my whole portfolio there.

Selected awards and achievements

Mad McGobbo’s painting competition (2005) – Silver
Total Testosterone II (2006) – Best Diorama
Total Testosterone II (2006) – fantasy category: Silver
Total Testosterone II (2006) – alternative category: Gold
Bazyliszek (2006) – Grand Prix, a.k.a. Van Gork’s Sunflowers
Bazyliszek (2006) – large sci-fi model: Gold
Bazyliszek (2006) – single fantasy model: Gold
Femme Fatale II (2007) – Best of Show
Femme Fatale II (2007) – simply scandalous category: Gold
Golden Demon Poland (2007) – Warhammer monster category: Gold
Bazyliszek (2007) – Grand Prix, a.k.a. Van Gork’s Sunflowers
Bazyliszek (2007) – large sci-fi model: Gold
Bazyliszek (2007) – fantasy unit: Silver
Bazyliszek (2007) – single sci-fi model: Silver
Bazyliszek (2007) – large fantasy model: Bronze
Newbold’s World Garrity Gals Painting Competition (2007) – Best of Show
Golden Demon France (2008) – Warhammer unit: Honorable Mention / Finalist
Golden Demon Poland (2008) – Warhammer 40.000 vehicle: Gold
Golden Demon Poland (2008) – Warhammer 40.000 single model: Bronze
Golden Demon Poland (2008) – Warhammer 40.000 squad: Bronze
Golden Demon Poland (2008) – Warhammer monster: Bronze
Golden Demon Poland (2008) – Diorama: Bronze
Golden Demon Germany (2009) – Warhammer single model: Gold
Golden Demon Germany (2009) – Warhammer monster: Honorable Mention / Finalist
Slayer of Daemon (2009) – large model: Gold
Slayer of Daemon (2009) – single sci-fi model: Bronze
Chick Challenge (2009) – sci-fi / steampunk – International Jury choice: Gold
Chick Challenge (2009) – sci-fi / steampunk – Popular Jury choice: Gold
Grey Seer (2011) – large model: Gold
Grey Seer (2011) – open: Gold
Grey Seer (2011) – single sci-fi model: Silver
Grey Seer (2011) – diorama / unit: Silver
Grey Seer (2011) – Grand Prix
Hussar (2011) – diorama: Silver
Hussar (2011) – single fantasy model: Silver
Hussar (2011) – single sci-fi model: Honorable Mention / Finalist
CMON & THQ Space Marine painting competition – Gold
3rd place at Newbold’s 2nd Creative Event of 2011
2nd place at WAMP Dark Sword Miniatures contest (2012)
4th place at WAMP Dark Sword Miniatures contest (2012)
Best of the Show at WAMP Privateer Press contest (2012)
1st place in Single Figure category at WAMP Dark Sword Miniatures contest (2012)
Hussar (2012) – single fantasy model: Silver
Hussar (2012) – diorama: Honorable Mention / Finalist
Hussar (2012) – large model: Honorable Mention / Finalist
Hussar (2012) – single sci-fi model: Honorable Mention / Finalist
Hussar (2014) – large fantasy model: Gold
6th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2017) – Fantasy figure smaller than 54mm: winner
6th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2017) – Fantasy figure larger than 54mm: winner
6th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2017) – Fantasy bust: winner
6th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2017) – Open army: winner
MosonShow (2019) – SMC Excellence Award (team-work with Mixed Dimensions team)
MosonShow (2019) – Master class fantasy bust: bronze
MosonShow (2019) – Master class fantasy large figure: bronze
MosonShow (2019) – Hobby class fantasy vignette: silver (team-work with Mixed Dimensions team)
7th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2019) – Best of Show
7th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2019) – Fantasy bust: winner
7th Painting And Sculpting Figure Show, Toruń (2019) –Fantasy figure larger than 54mm: winner
MosonShow (2022) – Master class fantasy …: silver
MosonShow (2022) – Master class fantasy …: bronze
#2 in Top 10 paintjobs of 2010 at CoolMiniOrNot
#2 in Top 10 fantasy paintjobs of 2010 at CoolMiniOrNot
#7 in Top 10 paintjobs of 2011 at CoolMiniOrNot
#2 and #10 in Top 10 fantasy paintjobs of 2011 at CoolMiniOrNot
#9 in Top 10 steampunk paintjobs of 2012 at CoolMiniOrNot
#9 in Top 10 fantasy paintjobs of all time at CoolMiniOrNot
Being one of the top 10 painters at CoolMiniOrNot
Judge at Chick Challenge (2008)
Judge at Husssar (2016)
Judge at Kontrast 2021 (2021)
Judge at Kontrast 2022 (2022)
Judge at MosonShow – Standard Fantasy (2022)
Judge at Kontrast 2023 (2023)
Judge at Monte San Savino Show (2023)
Judge at Kontrast 2024 (2024)
Author of official paintjobs for Hasslefree Miniatures
Author of official paintjobs for Euphoria Miniatures
Author of official paintjobs for Newbold World
Author of official paintjobs for Kabuki Models
Author of official paintjobs for Stella Argentis
Author of many tutorials for Game Forces magazine
Co-author of the Girl Power book by AK Interactive
Co-author of the Miniature Painting Made Easy book by Colorful Kraken Studio