Painting Styles

[mollinary]

Sean,

I am in the camp of your current technique. I think the black undercoat gives all the shading I need. I think it is particularly important to leave a bit of black at the edges of belts to make them pop. Otherwise I rarely highlight, but if I do, it is basically a dab of a lighter colour on the arms. I tend to dry brush a tiny amount of white over hair and bearskins, but just the lightest of touches. I do gun barrels in gunmetal (surprise, surprise!) but bayonets and swords in silver. Hat lace (I do a lot of tricorns) I apply with the side of the brush to the edge of the hat. Then, when it is dry, I tidy it up with black.  Not very complicated, but I think it is effective. Finally, when I  think about it, is neatness. If you slop the paint over the detail, it is never a good look. If unsure, leave it black!

[Sean Clark]

Yep. You've described it in far more eloquent tones than me, but my philosophy exactly.

[FierceKitty]

Yep. You've described it in far more eloquent tones than me, but my philosophy exactly.

But tell me, Socrates, must it not be considered a mistake to call a roll "good" if at the same time the opposition calls it "bad"? Surely, by Zeus, a thing cannot have two conflicting attributes?

[Raider4]

But tell me, Socrates, must it not be considered a mistake to call a roll "good" if at the same time the opposition calls it "bad"? Surely, by Zeus, a thing cannot have two conflicting attributes?

Schrödinger's dice?

[mmcv]

I confess I have often started projects with the ambition of "painting them nicely" and start doing the belt buckles and socks and washes and the works. Then by a few more units in I'm back to just blocking in the main area and going with the "good enough from a distance" approach because there's too many projects to do, too many units to paint, too little time to do them and I don't have the patience of a certain well washed Antipodean we all know and love.

[FierceKitty]

Schrödinger's dice?

I'll give you a letter on introduction to Prof. Democritus.

[John Cook]

Was it?  OK.  That wasn't clear to me.
The style applied to figures depends on priorities.  I get as much pleasure from painting my figures as I do from the game.  I give them as much detail as I can see from 6 inches, because I can, and would get no satisfaction at all if I didn't do that.  Were I to go for the 3 foot rule approach, I'd go for 6mm figures I think, or even 2mm.  If the object was simply the game, I think pieces of coloured card would serve just as well.

[Sean Clark]

Was it?  OK.  That wasn't clear to me.
The style applied to figures depends on priorities.  I get as much pleasure from painting my figures as I do from the game.  I give them as much detail as I can see from 6 inches, because I can, and would get no satisfaction at all if I didn't do that.  Were I to go for the 3 foot rule approach, I'd go for 6mm figures I think, or even 2mm.  If the object was simply the game, I think pieces of coloured card would serve just as well.

I'm not sure pieces of card/blocks or lego would cut it for me. But then again if I'm painting 28mm I'm still goinf for tabletop quality.

But this is why we are in such a great hobby. You do your thing, I'll do mine, and we can both enjoy our own version without any rancour. I love to look at figures that have taken an hour, two hours, hell, three weeks to paint. There's nothing nicer to me than a beautifully painted French Old Guard Grenadier.

I do think that the paint job is more important than the figure in this instance. A wonderfully painted Mini Fig often looks better than a poorly painted Perry. But that's just my opinion. There are other opinions out there that I might not agree with, but I still respect.

[paulr]

One of my principles is to include sufficient detail and/or texture. When I look at models/figures I don't tend to see the detail, I see the overall effect

One thing that I particularly notice is lack of detail/texture, what I sometimes refer to as the toy soldier look


When well done these can look great and I have seen some great toy soldier games

What I'm looking for is something that looks/feels more natural/realistic and I find adding detail/washes/texture (dry brushing) even if the eye doesn't see it gives that feel

As many have said one of the greatest strengths of this hobby is the many diverse ways you can enjoy it

[FierceKitty]

I'll give you a letter on introduction to Prof. Democritus.

OF