The Perfect Miniature: bring out the ingredients

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Margo

New member
@airhead: yes, I guess I didn\'t state my point clearly. I meant The Perfect Paintjob rather than the sculpt. But now that I think of it, perhaps, its better to address the successful combination of both!

@Sven: sounds reasonable, but I still think there are some distinct \"wow-factor\" trends.

@Evil Dave: you think scantily clad pictures help? Hmm, sounds like a tempting suggestion :D

@funnymouth: exactly what I mean!

@dauber22: I was laughing so hard, I think I woke up my neighbours! lol
 
E

EricJ

Active member
ok, I\'m going to go at the question from a different angle. We can go on about what techniques are prefered or not, etc...

However the ultimate goal of miniature painting is to create a convincing illusion of reality (even if a fantastic reality) at this scale which is captivating, interesting and hopefully original. So I would say the perfect miniature would do this perfectly.

Creating the illusion of reality requires a number of factors

1) No mistakes at all, nothing to break the illusion

2) Textures which acturately mimic reality. This means perfect blending on some surfaces, or gritty look on others which might require it for the illusion you\'re creating

3) Completely accurate use of light. This is a tough one, and most \"advanced techniques\" seem to revolve around it. But accurate the use of light, reflections, highlights and shading are vital in creating an illusion of reality.

4) No fear of freehand, but also no overuse either. It needs to be approprate to the illusion you are creating.

Ok, now that we have created an illusion of reality we\'re only half done, and arguably the easy half. Now to this concept you must breathe life, interest, captivation all with a twist of originality.

Just as the practice of completely lifelike canvas paintings went out of style 100+ years ago, I feel miniature painting must take that step beyond purely striving for creating illusions of lifelike reality. To really captivate your viewer there must be a sense of style and originality that they might not have seen before. This is built in addition to/on top of the illusion you\'ve created. Reality with style so to speak.

Now, once you\'ve mastered this...you might have something ;)

ok, well my ramble is through, I hope I managed to make a little sense, although I won\'t bet on it...
 
wiccanpony

wiccanpony

Official Freak Bar Witch
Originally posted by Evil Dave
Originally posted by airhead

Mini:
  • There are certain brands that seem to score better than others.
  • Dynamic pose. The one you linked to is kinda static.
  • As EArkham said, the number of times that people have seen it helps/hurts. It takes a pretty amazing space marine to impress me.
  • Boobs or lots of skin helps
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Funny, I was just about to say that.

It also helps, when you\'re female, to place scantily clad pictures of yourself on the forums to get a flock of drooling fanboys, and also direct all attention to yourself.

Walks away whistlinglol
Click to expand...

:eek:You do not want to see me scantily clad, I’m a good example of gravity winning.lollol:p
 
G

GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
That\'s one helluva thread.

I like the cynical view on voting, very realistic, anyway. So look like we need more NNM glowing BOOBS!

No matter how you look at it, voting is a subjective process, unless you really are a GD judge, based on first impression, like/dislike of the painter, personal preferences, and gut-feeling ( Hence the boob/skin effect.)

To achieve high scores, once you have the skills ( The author and most contributors on this thread definitely do.), think of psychology.
Most voter will vote on first impression, most of the score is settled before the pic finished loading, then by taking a closer look they will increment or decrement depending on psted comments, technique preference, obvious flaws and the picture quality.

If the first impression is a 9 ( Wow! a half naked elven chick on scenic base and NNM thong!!!) the end vote is not likely to be under 8, unless you give them reasons to lower it, like a big flaw.

Without the wow effect, you are based on a
6-7 and need to provide reasons to higher it, the perfect details on the face or something else.

So quite often, a miniature so-so painted with a lot of WOW effects will score better than one with perfect painting but a low-profile look.

This can be frustrating, but human nature will dictate the scores more than skill or quality.
Now, before someone quotes me and tells me how I am wrong, I precise that I was generalising about the casual voters, and that I think much better of most forum denizens:innocent:
 
D

dauber22

New member
Originally posted by EricJ

Just as the practice of completely lifelike canvas paintings went out of style 100+ years ago, I feel miniature painting must take that step beyond purely striving for creating illusions of lifelike reality.
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As soon as we get to the \"Jackson Pollack\" era I\'m all set :D I can DO abstract expressionist minis :idea: lol
 
O

Ogrebane

Active member
Who cares what the score is. paint what you like. Listen to the constructive critism and try to better yourself.

I think margo that you tried something different and some people didnt get what you were doing. No biggy It was a great paint job and you enjoyed painting it so you win.

If you paint to chase a score then you have to ask why you are painting. I dont paint to please other people (although I do try to make minis that other people will like) I paint cause thats what I like to do. I try to get better (and I think I have improved over the last year) and thats why I post so you great painters and Supervike can tell me how to do it better. I understand that what people say is only thier opinion but sometimes it makes sense and I use it and move on.

Now onto you posting scantilly clad pictures of yourself margo. Give me the link and I will be your fanboy forever.
 
automaton

automaton

New member
Hi everyone,

at last year\'s australian GD (2005), I had a conversation with one of the judges that relates to some of the things that have been said. I was interested in the way he had distinguished between two miniatures - my own, and another which was excellent but which had ranked below mine. Now, I admit that I was guilty of perhaps over-the-top freehand on my entry, but there was also significant amounts of freehand on the other entry as well. So why was mine chosen over the other? The answer was, essentially, that there was no way to distinguish between the two miniatures - they were both of an equal skill level - but my model had more surfaces, and therefore more opportunities to show off freehand and other techniques etc., and was therefore better!

This answer did not seem at all satisfying to me; when I said that it didn\'t seem right that the competition seemed to be forcing entrants into covering every surface with gratuitous freehand and detail, and that there should be more weight on the subtleties and blending etc. such as are exhibited by the true master painters, I received quizzical, puzzled and perhaps disapproving looks, so I thought I had better shut up before I ruined my chances in the future! But the more I think about it, the more I feel that this year I will tone down my entries and concentrate on less crowd-pleasing but more interesting methods of painting. After all, that is more fun and more satisying in the end; so I guess what I am saying, is that I agree with others that one should paint according to their own standards and pleasures, and not be governed by what others deem to be the \'best\' way of painting. Although I am sure we are all guilty of pandering to the CMON or competitions styles a bit now and then!
 
Z

Zordana

Member
Your honesty is refreshing sebastian :)
It will be interesting to see how you fare this year, my money will be on you regardless of whether you tone down the freehand factor. That said you never know what the judges are thinking. If someone wins over you because of freehand, though, I will laugh. Wouldn\'t surprise me though, to be honest :D

Anyway, back to the initial post, I try not to put too much stock in freehand. After all, most of the time it isn\'t done well anyway. You could get a 10 from me and have not a lick of freehand on the entire miniature.

I do like the high contrast style, but I also like the subtler style if its done well. I want to be able to see that there are actually highlights on the miniature. If the highlights are so subtle that the miniature looks flat then it isn\'t a good paintjob imo.

My big issue is with what you referred to as Matte NMM. In my opinion if the reflections and glares on the nmm aren\'t painted bright enough then it doesn\'t look like metal.
If they are hardly painted at all (you know that really, really matte nmm some people do) then it isn\'t nmm, its just highlighted grey paint.

So, yep, I can be more critical of nmm (even though my own leaves a whooole lot to be desired lol) but that\'s only because I seem to see a lot of highlighted-greys passing as nmm these days and it just doesn\'t look anything like metal to me.

The most important things to me are smooth blending and the highlighting has to be visible oh and neatness is probably the most important. Then you have the wow factor which can\'t really be explained.
 
V

vincenti

Member
The WOW! factor

Having recently arrived from the parallel universe of Military figures its not surprising that though the Minis subject matter is different the same eternal conundrums and questions abound. In the small and often petty world from which I come from I have risen to the giddy heights of international judge(stop yawning at the back! ).A decades worth of experience leads me to the conclusion that all great minis have the WOW ! factor, irrespective of detail ,size or genre.One look is usually all it takes and almost immediately you know its a gold or a 10 .However as with all rules there are exceptions, in our universe they are called SLEEPERS. these babies are tough ones to spot.At initial glance you think ,oh just another elf or space marine ,but the closer you look and the more you scrutinize the more you realise you almost over looked a masterpiece.{ That is why its crucial to have a team of Experieced International Judges covering each class.}Obviously that doesnt happen on CMON were the individual ,regardless of expertise gets to vote, but even so the WOW factor still seems to work looking at the top 50.Sadly however the sleepers do slip by, so be ever vigilant one and all !.Finaly how does one create something that has the WOW ! factor ,I think PASSION is the key ingredient.If its a mini you are bursting to paint or sculpt or your burning to make come alive your half way there, a lot of the other stuff can be learnt and passed on .With every mini try to improve,every project push yourself and always try and learn from those who are better than you.Thankfully this site has people who are willing to share their expertise, remember the words of the great prophet Frank Spencer \"every day in every way i am getting better and better, Betty\". GOD bless ....... VINCENTI
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
\"Socially acceptable minis\" painted in \"well known techiques\"?

Bollocks. If a mini is painted well and looks good, it\'ll get a high score! There\'s nothing more in depth than that.

It\'s condescending to assume that just because people don\'t like a paintjob, \'they don\'t understand it\'.

\"It\'s FLAT!\"

\"No, it\'s PEARLESCENT!!!!\" :D

There are only so many ways paint can be applied to a miniature and I think most of them have already been \'discovered\'...lol
 
S

StarFyre

Active member
*giggles*

*working hard in his secret lab, finds a new way to apply paint to a models*

*hides secret from Scott, but tells rest of the known art universe*

:D

Sanjay
 
R

Ritual

New member
Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Has anyone enema painted a miniature yet?
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I don\'t think the miniature painting community has crawled that far up its own arse yet! lol In the world of REAL art however, that would hardly be considered original or even shocking anymore... :rolleyes:
 
Infidel Castro

Infidel Castro

New member
Out on the otherside, no figure becomes socially acceptable until it has several great comments and then one made by a jealous rival along the lines of Oh, really nice work, but the [insert pointless, nit-picky tiny, almost irrelevant detail here] really spoils it for me that is also scored a good couple of points down from the others. That, on top of all the rest of the painting practices required and posting in Discuss Submissions for extra points, THAT is the one moment when everything fits gor me. Acceptable; perfect even :D
 
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