I have been very much looking forward to showing the amazing runners by Stepan Nikolaev - I absolutely love these models which have been released through Nordlys Miniatures.

I always had in mind to do the San tribe hunters as a secondary version too, showing a modern day marathon runner. So the second runner was created holding nothing in hand to allow for ‘easy’ conversion.

I did both during Dogma 48 a few weeks back, over the course of a weekend. All conversions on marathoner is done in green stuff.

For me the scenes are very interesting - being a big fan of distance running, the idea of man evolving as a running machine built for long endurance/persistance hunt, and being the reason homo sapiens won the evolutionary war.

man is simply born to run. And the parallel world in Berlin Marathon is really interesting as it shows two identical souls on different sides of planet - but with same passion but different purposes - at the same time in history.

the two are built with massive contrast in mind. Hot and cold being the strongest. Normally it would be advisable to included colour contrasts in the same piece, but making two linked projects it allowed me to create two opposite pieces with contrasting colours. Working together.

I hope you like them.

  • Melnikov Ivan "Nakatan"

    you’ve got my gold again

  • Angel C Villalba "KaspareK"

    Muy bonito y original!!! Oro.

  • Mikkel Frederiksen

    Jeg er vild med den!

  • Marius "Der Stone "Stein

    I love the concept and the contrast between the concrete and dry earth. Maybe there is a rhyme in my comment. :) really Kool conversion.

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks so much! I am sure there is a ryhme but I cannot it. :) and thanks - the shoes were the most tricky bit

  • MosesPLUS

    This is one of the most interesting projects I’ve seen. Are they designed to be displayed together?

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks so much. Honoured to hear!
      Actually, yes and no. The runners was commissioned by me, so I could decide a few things. One of these things was that the runner was to have nothing in hand so he could be converted to a marathon runner. I do two versions for Nordlys always, a Box Art and a BizArr, which is an alternative box art with conversion allowed. Meaning I thought of this from the beginning.

    • MosesPLUS

      Thank you for that explanation. I especially like the fact that it simply depicts a reality. Everything else can be subject to the viewer’s own interpretation.

  • Tobias_K_AasvangPLUS

    Brilliant! They turned out so well.

  • "SCV Park" Yeong Min

    Great~! Nice~! Gold

  • Francois "Frado" Daugny

    Super good idea, extremely well executed. Gold!!

  • ohtekPLUS

    Wow gol to gold!!

  • Magnus FagerbergPLUS

    Stunning!

  • eric wolfsPLUS

    Good idea and Great job = great result ! Gold, of course

  • Theodoros Giannakopoulos

    Amazing concept of parallelism. I almost feel their movement in nature and in the city !

    [ I apologise I voted silver by mistake ]

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks so much - happy you like the concept!

  • David_cualquiera

    Just the idea itself is gold, also the superb paintjob, everything click right in this one ^^

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks so much David! Happy to hear!

  • TimPLUS

    Fantastic job dude. You can really see the love and passion behind this and the others you do. The fact that both where done in just 48 hour as well blows my mind.
    Wonderful

    • Jakob Villien

      Thank you so much mate! Honoured!

  • Eamon Connerty

    Very powerful pieces, they look great together! GOLD!

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks so much mate. Yep, they can’t be separated :)

  • holgerschwarzPLUS

    Sehr schöne Arbeit - mal was ganz anderes - tut richtig gut !!!
    Herzlichen Glückwunsch und schönes Gold von mir
    Grüße Holger

  • Clive Jackson

    Clever piece of work Jakob, beautifully executed! Gold! Hope things are good in Roskilde? Been some years since I was in DK!

    • Jakob Villien

      Thanks Clive! And thank you, Roskilde is good :) we just had Roskilde Festival and the Tour de France here :) busy summer :)

  • Flo « FFF » Rochet

    Gold! Like parallèle work on those runner, full of sense!!!

  • Lucas 'Tio Zebra'

    I really like how the piece works as a set or as individual minis. Fantastic theme and execution!

    • Jakob Villien

      Thank you so much. That was the test to make two pieces that compliment eachother. So I am happy you think it works!

  • Jonatan Gil - ElinhirPLUS

    Wonderful concept !!! Gold !!!

  • Kyle MaitlandPLUS

    Made more impressive solely by how small these are.  I was In awe when my copy arrived.

    • Jakob Villien

      But the most impressive thing about that is the sheer sculpting skill! Wow. And thanks mate

  • Anthony Wang

    A well deserved best of creativity at Monte!!