AinuLainour
New member
What is at the heart of miniature painting? What is it that causes people to spend hundreds of hours and sometimes cram unbelievable amounts of time into small, carefully crafted pieces of pewter, plastic, and resin? Is it purely the end result, the enjoyment along the way, or is it something more?
It's all of this, and the artist's desire to improve on his or her skills to become the best that they can be. This year, practically every Slayer Sword was won by a CMoNer, the only exception that comes to mind is GD Atlanta's Wood Elf by Jeff Wilson. Could it be that the exposure this site brings to hobbyists from all around the world drives artists to get better at what they do? I certainly believe that miniature painters treat their hobby as more than a hobby, it is an art form that is meant to be perfected and shared with the world.
There are many, many miniatures that inspire us to break out the putty and plasticard, as well as the many more that drive us to work until we reach that level. And Banshee's Major Rawne from the "Gaunt's Ghost" novel series is one of those minis.
Everything is near perfection, the sculpting is all but flawless (even in the most minute nooks and crannies) and the paintjob is almost perfect, and interestingly blends a Sci-Fi miniature with a historical paintjob. Perhaps the outstanding features of Rawne are his skin, shirt and the camouflage design and execution. Heck, even the base is outstanding for its lack of anything too eye-popping, but it still creates a great feel.
Rawne's face is perfect in the manner that it exudes his pure loathing for Gaunt and the wary feel that the Major must be experiencing. It is also painted to an extremely high standard, which does the sculpt justice.
The shirt is so stunning to me because of the absolute realism, it LOOKS like fabric, it feels like Rawne will shift his position and the shirt will ripple with him. I find it hard to believe that Alfonso didn't just dress a 54mm mannequin in army clothing.
Lastly, there's the camo which is out of the ordinary due to the design, yet it looks fantastic and would likely work well if Rawne were a real person, due to its simplicity and the dull colours.
Now we come to my critique, of which I have only one. The lighting is correct for this whole piece, except for the top quarter of his pants. They are far too bright and appear to be made out of a reflective material (though the rest of the pants appear correctly rendered). If this area were only a little duller, then we would have a perfect ten on our hands.
Ainu's Mini of the Week: Major Rawne "Gaunt, watch your back" by Banshee receives 9.9/10.
Congratulations on your Slayer Swords this year, Alfonso.
And now on to the second part of the article, featuring the most well known Fantasy and Sci-Fi miniatures on CoolMiniorNot.com and the world.
I've 'researched' what minis on CMoN have the most comments, have been favourited the most amount of times, and that the forumers have listed in the "Most Important/Influential Mini to you?" thread.
"Victoria's Fiery Angel......Breathtaking. One of those are pieces where EVERYTHING comes together seamlessly - composition, fig's, pose, colors, subject. Alot of great fig's will have one or two of those done well. Her's had em' ALL."
- Shawn R.L.
Our first artist is the talented Victoria Lamb, who's "Fiery Angel" currently holds the top spot on CMoN's top ten, is the most favourited miniature, and has a grand total of 208 comments (the most of any miniature on CMoN). Her diorama, "The Rescue of Sister Joan", is credited with creating object source lighting (OSL) with 3-D miniatures. This single diorama changed the hobby forever, inspiring artists such as Shawn R.L., and many more, thus bringing them into the spotlight, no pun intended.
Two of her miniatures make the list of most inspirational/influential, "Fiery Angel", and the "Rescue of Sister Joan". Victoria is a winner of the prestigious Slayer Sword and has won a total of thirteen demons.
Our second miniature is "Magmatrax", painted by the Canadian wonder Vincent Hudon. For many people, this was the first time that they'd seen SENMM (like me) and Magmatrax inspired painters from all corners of the earth to try their hand at it and at OSL lava bases which are still quite popular.
Vincent showed the rest of the world that North Americans can paint just as well as the Europeans, Aussies, and Russians, and also that effort pays off (he'd been painting miniatures for under a year).
He followed up Magmatrax with the dynamic Chaos dreadnought "Hellblade", and was neck-to-neck with Scott Bowser for the Slayer Sword.
Vincent is the winner of the Slayer Sword, and multiple demons. He is also an active member of Team Montreal, a painting organization that teaches, competes, and is home to some of Canada's best painters.
The third miniature is Allan C's "Homme Bete", or "Beastman" in English. I could easily list 10 of Allan's miniatures here, but I opted to choose his highest rated one.
This beastman is entirely scratch-built and he has completely re-created the look of a Chaos beastman, colour and technique-wise, as well as with his sculpting. His whole gallery is so different and unique from so many other artists, and his beastman is no exception.
Allan is often cited as inspiration and heavy influence his with metallics, skin-tones, and sculpting. He has won many Demons all across Europe.
The last featured miniatures are Bragon's "Lans Quenelle De Barback" and his diorama "AD MAJOREM IMPERATORI GLORIA". Jeremie's (Bragon) work features extensive freehand often painted on the smallest surfaces (see "The Child of my Diorama" and his close-ups of the freehand of the rest of the diorama).
This, his precise painting skills and his sculpting skills combine to form a well-rounded miniature artist who has won twenty-seven Demons and three Slayer Swords in total. Bragon travels the world participating in different Golden Demons and teaching aspiring miniature painters as he moves along.
An interesting fact about his “Lans Quenelle De Barback” is that it was based heavily off of a model by the Greek painter and recent St. Vincent’s Best of Show winner Kosta Koriatellis.
I would like to thank everyone who has lent their feedback for my articles, be it through PM, or the forum, and all who have thanked me for their feature, as well as everyone who has read this whole monster of an article and voiced their opinion in my “Most Important/Influential Miniature to You” thread. Thank you.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy and safe New Year,
Ainu
http://www.coolminiornot.com/143272
It's all of this, and the artist's desire to improve on his or her skills to become the best that they can be. This year, practically every Slayer Sword was won by a CMoNer, the only exception that comes to mind is GD Atlanta's Wood Elf by Jeff Wilson. Could it be that the exposure this site brings to hobbyists from all around the world drives artists to get better at what they do? I certainly believe that miniature painters treat their hobby as more than a hobby, it is an art form that is meant to be perfected and shared with the world.
There are many, many miniatures that inspire us to break out the putty and plasticard, as well as the many more that drive us to work until we reach that level. And Banshee's Major Rawne from the "Gaunt's Ghost" novel series is one of those minis.
Everything is near perfection, the sculpting is all but flawless (even in the most minute nooks and crannies) and the paintjob is almost perfect, and interestingly blends a Sci-Fi miniature with a historical paintjob. Perhaps the outstanding features of Rawne are his skin, shirt and the camouflage design and execution. Heck, even the base is outstanding for its lack of anything too eye-popping, but it still creates a great feel.
Rawne's face is perfect in the manner that it exudes his pure loathing for Gaunt and the wary feel that the Major must be experiencing. It is also painted to an extremely high standard, which does the sculpt justice.
The shirt is so stunning to me because of the absolute realism, it LOOKS like fabric, it feels like Rawne will shift his position and the shirt will ripple with him. I find it hard to believe that Alfonso didn't just dress a 54mm mannequin in army clothing.
Lastly, there's the camo which is out of the ordinary due to the design, yet it looks fantastic and would likely work well if Rawne were a real person, due to its simplicity and the dull colours.
Now we come to my critique, of which I have only one. The lighting is correct for this whole piece, except for the top quarter of his pants. They are far too bright and appear to be made out of a reflective material (though the rest of the pants appear correctly rendered). If this area were only a little duller, then we would have a perfect ten on our hands.
Ainu's Mini of the Week: Major Rawne "Gaunt, watch your back" by Banshee receives 9.9/10.
Congratulations on your Slayer Swords this year, Alfonso.
And now on to the second part of the article, featuring the most well known Fantasy and Sci-Fi miniatures on CoolMiniorNot.com and the world.
I've 'researched' what minis on CMoN have the most comments, have been favourited the most amount of times, and that the forumers have listed in the "Most Important/Influential Mini to you?" thread.
"Victoria's Fiery Angel......Breathtaking. One of those are pieces where EVERYTHING comes together seamlessly - composition, fig's, pose, colors, subject. Alot of great fig's will have one or two of those done well. Her's had em' ALL."
- Shawn R.L.
Our first artist is the talented Victoria Lamb, who's "Fiery Angel" currently holds the top spot on CMoN's top ten, is the most favourited miniature, and has a grand total of 208 comments (the most of any miniature on CMoN). Her diorama, "The Rescue of Sister Joan", is credited with creating object source lighting (OSL) with 3-D miniatures. This single diorama changed the hobby forever, inspiring artists such as Shawn R.L., and many more, thus bringing them into the spotlight, no pun intended.
Two of her miniatures make the list of most inspirational/influential, "Fiery Angel", and the "Rescue of Sister Joan". Victoria is a winner of the prestigious Slayer Sword and has won a total of thirteen demons.
Our second miniature is "Magmatrax", painted by the Canadian wonder Vincent Hudon. For many people, this was the first time that they'd seen SENMM (like me) and Magmatrax inspired painters from all corners of the earth to try their hand at it and at OSL lava bases which are still quite popular.
Vincent showed the rest of the world that North Americans can paint just as well as the Europeans, Aussies, and Russians, and also that effort pays off (he'd been painting miniatures for under a year).
He followed up Magmatrax with the dynamic Chaos dreadnought "Hellblade", and was neck-to-neck with Scott Bowser for the Slayer Sword.
Vincent is the winner of the Slayer Sword, and multiple demons. He is also an active member of Team Montreal, a painting organization that teaches, competes, and is home to some of Canada's best painters.
The third miniature is Allan C's "Homme Bete", or "Beastman" in English. I could easily list 10 of Allan's miniatures here, but I opted to choose his highest rated one.
This beastman is entirely scratch-built and he has completely re-created the look of a Chaos beastman, colour and technique-wise, as well as with his sculpting. His whole gallery is so different and unique from so many other artists, and his beastman is no exception.
Allan is often cited as inspiration and heavy influence his with metallics, skin-tones, and sculpting. He has won many Demons all across Europe.
The last featured miniatures are Bragon's "Lans Quenelle De Barback" and his diorama "AD MAJOREM IMPERATORI GLORIA". Jeremie's (Bragon) work features extensive freehand often painted on the smallest surfaces (see "The Child of my Diorama" and his close-ups of the freehand of the rest of the diorama).
This, his precise painting skills and his sculpting skills combine to form a well-rounded miniature artist who has won twenty-seven Demons and three Slayer Swords in total. Bragon travels the world participating in different Golden Demons and teaching aspiring miniature painters as he moves along.
An interesting fact about his “Lans Quenelle De Barback” is that it was based heavily off of a model by the Greek painter and recent St. Vincent’s Best of Show winner Kosta Koriatellis.
I would like to thank everyone who has lent their feedback for my articles, be it through PM, or the forum, and all who have thanked me for their feature, as well as everyone who has read this whole monster of an article and voiced their opinion in my “Most Important/Influential Miniature to You” thread. Thank you.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy and safe New Year,
Ainu
