Book list anyone?

[awong]

I\'ve been wondering if anyone has tried to compile a book list on this subject of miniature figure painting. I\'ve collected a few nice books and I was wondering if newer books or books published in other countries might be worth investing in. I\'ll start with my favorites.

Kalmbach publishes a nice collection of military related modeling books, but the techniques featured easily transfer.

Sheperd Paine\'s \"How to Build Dioramas\" is great as it goes into great lengths on his diorama as well as painting techniques.

I also have his \"Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles\", which is great for weathering and distressing equipment.

I also can recommend \"How to Paint Realistic Military Figures\" as it stresses acrylic painting (whereas S.Paine paints in oils), and talks about layering.

Osprey had/has a short series call Master Class, and one in that series featured works of Bill Horan, a really great figure painter and sculptor.

They also have a great book on armor called \"Panzer modeling\" which would be a great reference source for the larger equipment.

Osprey also has a \"Terrain\" book but I haven\'t checked that out yet...anyone own this? Recommend this?

I have a few more but I think I\'ll let some others chime in.

Thanks
AWhang

 

[Corvus]

Achtung Panzer!

When you\'re into modelling German WW2 armour (like I did before I started out with miniatures ) I can advice the \"Achtung Panzer\" line of books. They\'re in German, but contain a lot of photographs. Unfortunately they\'re also a bit expensive...

 

[Chrispy]

Fanitzation.com used to have a book (supposedly by Vallejo Paints) on miniature painting called \"Color Theory and Application\"
however, they say it\'s now out of print.. But they keep it on the website to taunt us!

 

[supervike]

terrain

I have the Osprey terrain book you refer to: Modellers Masterclass, Terrain Modelling.

If your interests run into more modelling than specific \'wargaming\' than this is a very good reference. It has an excellent section on trees, that is very informative.

I also have another Osprey book Ancient and Medieval Modelling, but it to deals with the more traditional model builders lines. Still very informative, and a great resource for ideas and overall techniques.

I think GW has some great books (if you can find them) for folks who want to stay within the wargaming mode. There are a few good painting books, and the \'making terrain\' is very highly recommended.

 

[RLobinske]

Kalmbach publishing also put out Shep Paine\'s \"Building and Painting Scale Figures\". Last I checked, this was OOP, but it is well worth trying to get your hands on.

 

[Nomis]

Apart from the GW books:

How to make wargames terrain
Collecting and painting wargames armies
Space Marines collectors guide
(am I a sucker for GW or what?)

I also have Albert Jackson and David Day\'s The Modelmaker\'s Handbook (1981 - OOP)

and I recently picked up at a second hand bookshop Roy Porter\'s Model Buildings Masterclass (1997 - OOP)

the Jackson/Day book is a brilliant introduction to a whole variety of modelling techniques although none in any great depth.

I\'ve only read the Porter book so far but it looks like it does what it says on the cover.

 

[wightzombie]

all that \'eavy metal stuff with mike mcvey collected into volumes is nice. any of thier masterclass stuff, terrain etc from GW.

 

[Sand Rat]

I\'ve got a couple of military modeling books by Verlindan - one has some good reference info like the Paine books - the other is just a showcase of Ideas.

 

[Errex]

Well, I got into this hobby because of a book called \"Heroes for Wargames\", by Stuart Parkinson, and published by Paper Tiger sometime in the mid 80\'s.

This is a great book on early miniatures (Citadel, mostly), and also a good overview of everything related to this hobby.

I find it funny that for the most part, the pics you see there would not rate much above 5 here, but at the time, i thought they were the coolest things on earth.

 

[awong]

I\'m getting the impression that nothing new has really hit the book scene (except for maybe the GW tomes). Looks like there\'s some room for new stuff...or...the market really doesn\'t support this specialized hobby (although I regularly see books on painting rock animals??!!)...or...maybe the internet and sites like these have displaced the book?
I don\'t know, how do people feel about \"how to\" books, especially in light of the internet and the more \"up-to-date\" and targeted questions and answers that sites like this offer.
I, sadly, still find myself hunting bookstores and libraries for books, knowing that I could, if I wanted to, always take up animal rock painting

 

[Sand Rat]

Just thought of another one - I haunt (god what an image - 6\'3\" 380 lbs of me floating a few inches off the floor emitting ectoplasm) used book stores and a few years ago I ran across a book on plastic model building put out by Airfix I think - absolutely useless except for basic concepts (like carefully cut the pieces from the plastic sprue kind of basic) but kind of a neat collector items.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Jon Blanche

When I was younger, I have memories of a book by Jon Blanche that covered the art of mini painting. It may or may not have been GW related (in fact i\'m thinking it wasn\'t), but my memories are that it was a fantastic book. It must have been made in the early 80\'s...loved it! Got it from the library after searching on the computer database.

Anyone else know of this book or what it was called?

rev

 

[Errex]

Originally posted by reverend
When I was younger, I have memories of a book by Jon Blanche that covered the art of mini painting. It may or may not have been GW related (in fact i\'m thinking it wasn\'t), but my memories are that it was a fantastic book. It must have been made in the early 80\'s...loved it! Got it from the library after searching on the computer database.

Anyone else know of this book or what it was called?

rev

Are you positive it was a book by John Blanche?. I think it might be the book I mentioned, by Stuart Parkinson, cuz there is an awful lot of pics of minis done by him (Blanche), glossy sealer and all...

 

[awong]

Question about some Accion Press books...

Has anyone had a chance to look at this yet? It seems to be in line with what we do here. Just wondering if it\'s in English, goes over anything unique, its general usefulness...

DESC: MODELISMO APLICADO-PAINTING FANTASY FIGURES, HARDBACK BOOK, 100 PAGES, ALL COLOR PHOTOS

It\'s from Accion Press which publishes at least two nice \"How to paint in Acrylics\" volumes.
I have Vol. 2 which stresses overhead lighting on miniatures (mostly 54mm and up, but totally applicable, especially in \"light effects\" ) and I\'m ordering Vol 1.

Thanks
AWhang

 

[wightzombie]

Originally posted by awong
Has anyone had a chance to look at this yet? It seems to be in line with what we do here. Just wondering if it\'s in English, goes over anything unique, its general usefulness...

DESC: MODELISMO APLICADO-PAINTING FANTASY FIGURES, HARDBACK BOOK, 100 PAGES, ALL COLOR PHOTOS

It\'s from Accion Press which publishes at least two nice \"How to paint in Acrylics\" volumes.
I have Vol. 2 which stresses overhead lighting on miniatures (mostly 54mm and up, but totally applicable, especially in \"light effects\" ) and I\'m ordering Vol 1.

Thanks
AWhang

sounds cool. i wasnt able to see any pics of it when i searched online but it does sound huge. would be nice if it was in english but hey, pictures are worth a thousand words. i kinda wanted to do the same thing with a cmon book, nothing but tutorials that would rock.

 

[awong]

I found it.
Red Lancers (on line) has them (has a lot of monographs and books by Accion Press actually) and, unfortunately for me, the Fantasy Book is in Spanish. But, as you say, pictures are valuable...and I can always learn Spanish...in my mythical spare time
As for WZombie\'s idea for a CMON tutorial book...sign me up for 2

 

[borg]

I have been talking to Chern about that idea for a while. I want to come out with a CMON \"recipe book\". A book filled with different ways that different artirsts do certain techniques. I am sure everyone is interested in the paints that Jen Haley use for her NMM gold, but then I am sure you would want Verzani\'s formula, etc, etc, the list goes on. Different techniques and different fomulas from all the best artists in this community.

It is just at the planning stage right now. We still have to sell all the CMON annuals first, make sure that we do one next year and if WZ have the time to do yet another book...

 

[Tuubje]

Great idea Borg, I\'ll definitly buy one of those.

On topic then: Verlinden has severals books on all sorts of subjects concerning the hobby, lots of pictures and a great \"read\"

 

[awong]

I just received my copy of Euro Modelismo monograph Acrylic Painting:Overhead Lighting (Vol 1).

It\'s great.
It explains the layering concept fairly well.
It makes a distinction between washing crevases with shadow tones verses \"overhead lighting\" (e.g. concentrating the shadow tones on the upper side of creases), and it even does a little on Shep Paine\'s \"Stop Sign\" theory (although, in the US, Stop Signs are Octogonal while they use a Hexagonal cross section).
A face painting section and a Paint Key box with each example model outlining the paints and colors used, round out a very nice book...all for about $20.

Thanks
AWhang

 

[Ebonbuddha]

I have that book actually

Originally posted by Chrispy

Fanitzation.com used to have a book (supposedly by Vallejo Paints) on miniature painting called \"Color Theory and Application\"
however, they say it\'s now out of print.. But they keep it on the website to taunt us!

I have that book. It\'s not too bad. I got it free when I ordered two Vallejo boxsets and some brushes.