About Marrisa Christina
Third place winner of Hobby/ Model category
"Marrisa / "Mars" (@winzfactor on Instagram) has been a scale modeler all her life, starting with ships and airliners, before moving exclusively to Gunpla and mecha kits in 2008. Hailing from Solo, Indonesia, she specializes in non-standard Gundam color schemes, as well as her signature “three-tone black/ finish” works. She has won multiple scale modeling awards both in Australia and overseas.
When not brewing her next projects or doing commissions, she can be found in the depths of the DOTA 2 Australia servers, spamming Position 5 Skywrath Mage.
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She's also involved in numerous mental health promotion initiatives for scale modellers such as the Cerulean Project, and other scale modelling podcasts around the world."
Winner’s Interview
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what is your background? When did you start airbrushing and what was the learning process like for you?
I came from a small town named Solo in Indonesia. I first started modelling around the age of 7 (started with ships) before moving to civilian aircrafts and eventually to mecha. I didn’t start airbrushing until quite late, around 2012. Initially only used rattle cans and water-based paints due to budget constraints.
Airbrushing marked a steep learning curve for me, especially after moving up from single-action to dual-action. But I was lucky that I met a lot of likeminded modellers when I moved to Australia, most of which became my mentors in my early years of airbrushing.
2. Can you tell us a bit more about your winning entry piece? How / why did you choose it? How long did it take, and what inspired you?
I chose the Takumi Sinanju kit because it’s hailed as one of the “grail” third-party addition to Gundam kits by a lot of modellers. It has a lot of extra details that the original kit didn’t have.
It took me 2 months full-time to make the kit from start to finish, and I was inspired by the bright red candy works on racing cars. Not a lot of people have done a full candy finish on a Sinanju kit, let alone using the Takumi Sinanju conversion. So I was more than happy to take on the challenge.
3. What challenges did you encounter during the creation of this piece? What is your favorite part of the work, and why? What airbrush techniques did you use in this creation?
The most challenging part was to keep the candy work dust-free. I also own a cat, so there’s always risk for a rouge cat fur to destroy hours of work..
On top of that, I had to mask some of the candy paintwork to paint the smaller details, and there was a risk adhesive sticking to the candy paint if done incorrectly.
My favorite part of the work is definitely the backpack section. There’s just so much to look at and a ton of details. It also looks incredible. In terms of technique, it’s pretty straightforward! Candy works with tons of layering and lots of patience 😉
"...airbrushing in particular meant a lot to me... which ended up being a huge reason for the improvement of my mental health, and the reason I’m still here today."
4. What does airbrushing mean to you and what drives your passion for airbrushing and creating art? Also, how do you find the ideas for your other works?
Scale modelling has been my creative outlet all my life, but airbrushing in particular meant a lot to me, since when I first picked up airbrushing, I was going through one of the lowest points of my life. If I didn’t pick up airbrushing, I wouldn’t have connected with other modellers and joined mentoring groups, which ended up being a huge reason for the improvement of my mental health, and the reason I’m still here today. I love to browse racing color schemes or airline color schemes for inspiration, as well as looking at video game character models for a source of inspiration for my next works.
5. What are your goals / targets for airbrushing? What do you want to achieve?
My goal when airbrushing is to always try new and exciting colour combinations on my scale model kits. I would also like to get better at realism painting! Maybe one day, I will be able to killer skin tone shading…
6. Do you specialize or prefer to work on a specific surface?
I’ve done plastic modelling all my life, but recently dabbled more and more into resin modelling. Both of those mediums are best for me.
7. How would you describe your style(s) in airbrushing?
Interesting question and something I haven’t really thought about. I think my style is best described as “just having fun”, with an emphasis on details and a smooth finish.
8. Any advice to beginners looking to start airbrushing? What would you tell your young self?
Invest in a good airbrush setup, but don’t blow your budget. Make sure you have proper PPEs, especially if you’re working with lacquers or thinners.
I would tell my younger self to stop trying so hard! Imperfections in scale models are expected, what’s important is the end result.
9. Do you have a website or blog? How can people reach you on social media?
I only have Instagram - @winzfactor
All modellers and dinosaur lovers welcome!
