sculpting style: realistic or heroic?

[farseerlum]

i\'m looking at this book about human musculatre in sculpting. but the book is for larger sized sculpts, so the muscles are realistic.
yet in most minis (not the best just the most) they seem to like the heroic big bulgy but not accurate muscles.
so the question is should i use the simplistic approach and go hero. or should i try to use the more realistic human shape?
what do you guys prefer to paint?
i guess this question also covers any sculpting stlye. like the difference between the ikore, rackham, spyglass girls for example.

realistic or stylistic??

 

[Mengu]

My preference is definitely stylistic.

IMO, everything needs exaggeration in miniatures. Painters accomplish this using highlights and shadows. Sculptors need to do this with proportions.

When painting I like to see a slightly larger head than would be anatomically normal, because it\'s often the most prominent feature of a miniature, and I can pay more attention to detail on a larger face. Another exaggerated part is the thickness of layers of clothing. Some sculptors (Dennis Mize for one), like to use a more realistic thickness for clothing, jewelry, armor, etc. Again I personally don\'t prefer that. I think visually well separated surfaces look better when painted especially after some darklining.

So I prefer heroic fantasy proportions. That\'s not to say you shouldn\'t know your anatomy. The muscles still do need to look like they are placed naturally, and proportionate with respect to each other. Just not necessarily proportioned realistically.

 

[Errex]

Right on...

Heroic sculpt, all the way!!!

Mind, that, I\'m not talking about cartoony sculpts, but as Mengu pointed out, not as realistic as Mr. Mize\'s sculpts. On a side note, I find that minis on the 28-30 mm range do look better with a more naturalistic approach, but for the 25-28 mm range, I\'d certainly prefer the heroic style.

 

[frenchkid]

Yep me too, I think that the proportions need to be a litlle off, but still keeping the anatomy right. Some Wargod of Aegiptus minis are a very good exemple of this. The muscles look just right.
But this shouldn\'t be taken to an extreme it looks just ugly if the muscles are too big, just like those ugly catachan minis.

 

[Jkaen]

As mentioned by Errex I think the smaller the scale you go the more exagerated you need to make the features

 

[Hammershield]

Classical or realistic, not heroic.

Since I have mostly been inspired by Tolkien I have always been looking for miniatures which are realistic. For that reason I paint mostly Mithril miniatures but I think you agree with me that GW\'s Lord of the Rings line more realistic than heroic to. It takes more subtlety from both the sculpter and the painter to \"get it right\" and I appreciate that.

It is not that I cannot appreciate the heroic style to, especially the french Confrontation series, which are downright inspired. I personally do not think much of the other GW miniatures which are too cartoonish and toylike. It is apparent that I am pretty alone in thinking so.

 

[DennisMech]

no you are not alone.

I agree with Hammershield, as the LOTR minis prove, you don\'t need to be unrealistic to achieve a good mini. Sure, you can emphasize certain things, but keep the form and weapons in scale.

 

[freakinacage]

i think you have to get a mix of both. some minis are too ill proportioned and they look to cartooney. but some are well proportioned and they look dull. i like the confrontation stuff and the gw lotr stuff. but i like big herioic stuff in the right places. it\'s a tricky line. in the end you have to go with what you think looks right