(Antonio Pepe)

Realistic Vignettes of Life

by Pam North

Antonio Pepe is a 37-year-old Italian model maker whose specialty is realistic miniature scenes. He doesn’t work in any particular scale, letting it depend on what he wants to create or what he is asked to build. If it’s something in a certain size framework, he selects the right scale to fit that space. If he had to choose a favorite scale, however, he says it would be 1:20.
Since he was a child, he always was interested in art, and loved to draw. He liked book illustrations and stop motion animation movies, in particular those with an eerie atmosphere. Nativity scenes also have inspired him, as he explained, “In Italy we call them ‘presepi’. I remember being seated on the floor playing with the figures and watching my father carefully creating the nativity scene with cardboard on the table.” With no formal training in the miniature field, Antonio started to build miniatures himself at home in his twenties. “My wife and son support me a lot! I am really a lucky man!”
The inspiration for his realistic scenes comes from various sources, such as seeing something on the streets, or putting several ideas or memories together. Sometimes it can be a replica of an image that someone sent to him as a commission; other times it is based solely on his own imagination. He usually builds everything himself: windows, doors, street lamps, and all the other assorted elements, but he occasionally may buy small objects that catch his attention and mesh with the overall effect for which he is striving.
He shared his techniques for creating his pieces. To build the house or building facades like the work portrayed in his photos, he first chooses the proper scale. then basically uses polystyrene, cutting it with a foam cutter machine. Wood, balsa wood, cardboard, and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic sheets are implemented to make doors and windows. He uses plaster to simulate the outer surfaces such as rocks, stones, bricks, wood, etc., depending on what kind of texture he wishes to achieve, sometimes even using real little stones, and adds architectural details with a pointed object. He also uses PVC sheets to make metallic or plastic parts when necessary. 
Acetate is used to create the look of glass, and if the glass needs to appear dirty, he uses pigments and watercolors to achieve that effect. 
His favorite part is the texturing and weathering process. He mixes acrylic colors to achieve the tones and shades he needs to paint the various  effects that impart the incredible realism that each of his scenes entails. Both drybrush and airbrush techniques are implemented, and watercolors and crayons also are used for certain details as well. He favors colors such as raw umber, raw sienna, yellow ochre, and titanium for painting the stones and other textures. “When I was a child, and I traveled by car with my parents, I always was fascinated at looking at the stone and medieval ruins in the countryside of Bari. The sunlight accented all the textures and shades of the stone and plaster.”
Antonio commented that the hardest aspect about making his miniature scenes is finding enough time to create them. “There never seems to be enough! I always find something that could be done better because every day I learn something new. I’m very critical about my work, and I make changes over time as I find better ways to do it.”  
Antonio works by commissions, with his price range based on the dimensions, scale, and details of each. He sells his products mostly in America and Europe, and shares his works on Instagram (his page is: @tonypepe_miniatures).
Antonio loves everything about miniatures. “I feel good when I work, continuing for  hours and hours, and go to sleep thinking about what I will have to do the next day.
I believe that model making as an art form always will have something to say. If you want to launch and share a message, you can do it through miniatures just like you do through painting, sculpture, photography, and so on. I dream to display some of my pieces with other miniaturists, or to create a scene together someday. My next project is to recreate a miniature cabin from the 1980s era that will be displayed along with other items in an exhibition about the movie.”