About Miniature Studio

Who's Jacques-Alexandre Gillois?

The Gallery shows a selection of my work in that field.
The Tutorials section has articles on model building, sculpting and painting miniatures.
If you want to know what I’m up to, check the News.
Any questions ? Check the FAQ below and feel free to contact me.
If you want to hire or commission me just send me an email.

Enjoy !

Who are you? What do you do?
I’m Jacques-Alexandre Gillois (some say JAG).
I can sculpt and paint miniature figures well enough for people to give me money to do it.
This is how I make a living.

How long have you been doing this? How did you get the idea to choose such a line of work?
Back in 1998 I was a student, working part time in a Games workshop store. One of our clients, Thomas David, came up with an offer: we’d sculpt and paint miniatures for some guy with a project.
I needed money, I said yes.
When I was no longer a student, I still needed the money, so I carried on.

What did you study, did it help with the miniatures?
I studied sculpture in art school in Rennes, France. I learned many great things there, nothing about modeling toy soldiers.

Where do you work? Who do you work with?
I worked at Ilyad games and Asmodee.
From art direction to casting as well as illustration and character design, I did a lot of things, but mostly sculpting and painting miniatures.
In these companies I worked along with Thomas David, Bertrand Benoit, Jérémie Bonamant and MIKH.
Now I work from home, alone.

Right, so what style of miniatures do you do ? Who do you work for?
I’ll adapt the style of the sculpt to the range it goes in.
Usually I get to sculpt monsters or ladies.
I work as a freelance artist, mostly for companies specialized in tabletop miniature wargames, boardgames and showcase collector miniatures (list here)
I can also work for individual clients with a special project, although this is very rare.

What are you doing right now?
I’m probably sculpting thighs or tentacles.
If you want to know what I just did (or said), just check the news.

So how do you sculpt a miniature? how does it go? What tools do you use? Do you have special glasses? Can you sculpt while you…
Plasticine on a wire, mostly.
There’s a vast array of materials and techniques you can use depending on each specific model you make. Each sculptor has his own secret recipes; you can see a sample of mine in the tutorials.
I build most of my tools, sometimes I use a magnifying glass to check to details (the eyes).
I can sculpt in a lot of states, which is very handy.

What’s the delay?
My schedule is loaded, so you can expect at least six months between deposit and delivery, if I take your commission.

So I have this little project… will you work for me?
Just ask.

Drop everything and come work in my company, I’ll offer you a fortune !
Allright, cover me with gold.
I’m all ears.

Can I be an intern at your studio?
Seriously?
Well that’s very unlikely, but it won’t hurt to ask.

Do you give sculpting or painting classes? How does it go?
I did it a few times, it was always a pleasure.
If you want to put together a class with me as a teacher, I’ll deal with the course itself, you deal with all the rest.
If you want to know more about it, contact me.

Also, I heard you’ve been doing contemporary art too?
Indeed, more info here: Artistes > Jacques-Alexandre Gillois