HI. As far as i know, there are few people who paint historical miniatures. Im going to paint Ithandir and i want to make him look realistic.. im looking for advices from people who paint large scale historical minis.. im especially interested in this, how to achieve visible but natural highlights and abaout what should i remember paintg metallics..
Painting\'historical\' miniatures
- Thread starter Simon123
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Einion is the man to ask I reckon. I\'m sure he\'ll have a few links for you 
Einion
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Er, gee, uhh, I hate being put under pressure... now I can\'t think of anything!
Okay, realistic shading/highlighting is a bit difficult to talk about generically, do you have any specific queries? One of the general \'rules\' for me is to try to keep the hue consistent from shadow through to highlight but that\'s not universal by any means, so I think it\'s mostly about careful blends, not quite as light on the highlights (normally, there are exceptions and the smaller the scale the more you really have to exaggerate for a model not to look flat) and maybe trying to keep the darkest shadows to only the right areas (inside deep creases; undersides of folds, not inside folds).
Other than the actual sculpts themselves being done in a more realistic manner, which sure doens\'t hurt, maybe an important thing might be not to have the overall effect be so \'clean\' - slight weathering in believable spots - worn edges on belts, scuffed toes/heels on boots; intricate brushwork to break up larger areas; 5 o\'clock shadow on faces, and generally a little more realistic fleshtones.
Metallics for historical figures don\'t have to be too different in principle to the way they\'re done on some fantasy minis, I\'m thinking of the newish \'shaded\' style (sorta like NMM but done using metallics) with a medium base, painted highlights and careful shading applied with washes/glazes.
Einion
Okay, realistic shading/highlighting is a bit difficult to talk about generically, do you have any specific queries? One of the general \'rules\' for me is to try to keep the hue consistent from shadow through to highlight but that\'s not universal by any means, so I think it\'s mostly about careful blends, not quite as light on the highlights (normally, there are exceptions and the smaller the scale the more you really have to exaggerate for a model not to look flat) and maybe trying to keep the darkest shadows to only the right areas (inside deep creases; undersides of folds, not inside folds).
Other than the actual sculpts themselves being done in a more realistic manner, which sure doens\'t hurt, maybe an important thing might be not to have the overall effect be so \'clean\' - slight weathering in believable spots - worn edges on belts, scuffed toes/heels on boots; intricate brushwork to break up larger areas; 5 o\'clock shadow on faces, and generally a little more realistic fleshtones.
Metallics for historical figures don\'t have to be too different in principle to the way they\'re done on some fantasy minis, I\'m thinking of the newish \'shaded\' style (sorta like NMM but done using metallics) with a medium base, painted highlights and careful shading applied with washes/glazes.
Einion
Yeah, thats the next problem- realistic skin.. how can i do this ? i know that you are using artist paints, butmaybe youcan tell me using Vallejo and Citadel chart ? Ialso think aboutmaking him blue-grey skin and white hair to make him look like Drow, how can i do this in \'realistic\' way ?
Einion
New member
Not really, but these links might help:
http://www.coloradominiatures.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=5
http://www.planetfigure.com/articles/jaume_face_eng.pdf
You\'re on your own there!
You\'d need to practice with specific paints to see what works well in your eyes - formulaic approaches have their limitations anyway and they can become a crutch if you rely on them too much, preventing you from learning things that you might find by trying this and that.Try to imagine there are no other painters who use the brand you do - you can get advice on how to thin, layer, glaze, all that good stuff - but nobody knows what your paints are like, how are you going to find out what works? Try stuff
Einion
