What do you look for in a sculpt?

[fieldarchy]

This is going off of my other thread regarding scoring. So apparently not many people around here like Herr Klocke\'s sculpts or as commented people like my painting but not necessarily the minis I choose.

So I pose to you these questions . . . what do you look for in a sculpt? What lines do you like? What sculptors? What do you look for in poses? Why do you pick the minis you pick.

I pick Werner because I like that his faces are uniform. Means I know how to paint them but I also have learned I can vary them a great deal even though it\'s practically the same sculpt.

But I don\'t like the hands he sculpts. Other people have noted big heads or the minis always looking down. I don\'t notice this but everyone has their own ideas of what makes a sculpt cool. So, what do you look for?

Just curious and wanting to broaden my horizons.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Boobs...

Can I say that? Are we live here?!

It\'s more dynamic and detail I like most, I can\'t say much more than that lol. If it looks good without paint you can imagine how awesome it would look with a good job! It kina gives me the vision I need to get motivated.

 

[Naukhel]

Mostly, it depends on my mood when I\'m buying.
If I\'m in the mood to work on skintones, I buy something showing skin.
If I want to experiment with freaky colour schemes, I buy some kind of monster.
I generally prefer painting female models with good proportions, and if possible, a
good, dynamic pose.
At this moment, and for some months, actually, my absolute favourite sculpt
is Privateer Press\'s Harbinger of Menoth.
No, the proportions aren\'t quite right, but it\'s a very pretty model, and I have 2 of them.
One for the gaming table, and one that I\'ve been painting and stripping repeatedly for almost a year, trying to do it justice.

I\'m getting closer.

 

[fieldarchy]

hmm well maybe I need to put klockenbooty down for a bit. I do have other models in my cache. I\'m working on one Werner model right now and still waiting for the third queen.

I\'m also going to be practicing some major basing fu!

 

[lizcam]

I look for sculpts that fit in the scene I\'m creating. I was given a pack of Hasselfree Kids a while back and now I look for sculpts that would make eye contact with them. One of the ones I\'ve chosen happens to be a Klocke sculpt. The woman with the bottles. IT\'s fairly new.

I feel even a clunky classic GW sculpt can be painted well. Others may not like them but if it fits what I\'m doing I\'ll use it. Actually, if I\'m going for a humorous scene I\'ll actually look for those clunky things because of the cartoon quality they have.

nNot much help, I know, but there you go.

 

[fieldarchy]

hey it helps liz! I just want to know what people go after.

Now do y\'all have favorite sculptors?

Speaking of painting I must dash for a bit and do some!

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I don\'t look for specific things. I look at a figure and decide if I think it looks good and will be fun to paint I may get it (doesn\'t mean I will paint it).

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Originally posted by fieldarchy

Now do y\'all have favorite sculptors?

To be honest I simply don\'t follow this side of the hobby to much anymore. Back in the day I would get anything Jes Goodwin did (except harlequins - yuck) but he doesn\'t sculpt to much anymore.

I like the enigma stuff for the most part (got a couple) and Degra\'s stuff (but haven\'t even looked for production stuff of his)

 

[Sand Rat]

Something that fits the theme I\'m working with at the time.

Or something that really looks dead sexy.lol

 

[Hinton]

I like minis that have character to them, which is why I like Wyrd minis so much. Most of them just ooze character.

Mostly if something grabs my attention, whether it\'s the character of the mini or if there\'s just something about it, then I\'ll get it and try to paint it.

Other than that, I just look for minis that will fit projects that I have going on.

 

[Friar]

One artist I absolutely love is Tom Meier at Thunderbolt Mountain I really love the sense of realism and detail he brings to fantasy, his fairies are prob my favs since there are so few nifty minis for em, his arthurian stuff is incredible as well. I havn\'t been buyin minis for a long time 99% of the stuff I got to paint is from the early 90\'s and just bout all of it is GW. but but but :innocent: if I was gonna go out buying alot of the rackham minis are sweet (shame they are a pain to get atm) alot of the folk in the cool mini shop are swank, fontegris has some unique stuff, Pili Pili does some lovely historical minis, Metal Modeles does some great stuff as well, theres tons of swank minis out there. But most importantly paint what you enjoy (unless it\'s a commision ) in the end this is a hobby thats suposed to bring ya enjoyment do what makes ya happy and if folk don\'t like it, well then tell em to eat a fart sandwich :]

 

[generulpoleaxe]

i prefer minis that don\'t have lots of clutter on them (marines with all of the bling for example)

i prefer to add all the extra detail (blood stains etc) myself to add atmosphere to the model i\'m working on.

i don\'t have a specific sculpter that will buy from as such.
i do prefer realistic proportions tho, as a lot of the heroic proportion stuff on the market is just getting silly (there starting to look like old glory minis!)

i\'m also prefering larger scale nowadays as well (partly due to eye sight) as they are generaly in better proportion.

 

[PegaZus]

Huh? A sculptor does them?! I thought they just all came out of GW\'s collective ass!

Seriously, I don\'t really look too closely when I\'m buying. Not counting army sets, I\'ve bought more online than in person. I\'ve painted so little I really don\'t look for one particular sculptor style, unless you consider \"eclectic\" a style.

Boiled down, I guess I buy minis that look interesting to me. I\'ve seen a couple in the bargain bin that I wouldn\'t have paid full price for. Had a handful of ugly minis in my hand at Christmas ($2 each) but then got rid of three of them to buy a nice... ... what the hell did I buy? Hold on, I have to check.

Reaper\'s Angel of Shadow at full and an ugly NZ Games\' Troll Renegade at discount. But he\'s supposed to be a bit ugly, so I don\'t care.

Although now that I look closely, Angel\'s not that pretty. Well, nothing a little painted makeup can\'t fix. In someone else\'s hands. She\'ll probably wind up ugly.

Wait, wait. I\'m rambling.

I\'d try to edit the above, but I\'m tired. So, one last attempt:

I look for something different in a sculpt. A knight? Boring. A knight with an eagle crest? More interesting. A witch? Meh. A witch \"riding\" a pumpkin? I\'m in! But do I look at the quality of the sculpt? Suppose so, but it only matters if its a bad sculpt. So-so sculpts would probably still get my money.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by DrEvilmonki
I don\'t look for specific things. I look at a figure and decide if I think it looks good and will be fun to paint I may get it (doesn\'t mean I will paint it).

ditto. i tend to prefer sci-fi or cool monsters. i like things to be grounded by reality - ie limbs and muscles that look like they could work. gritty sci-fi, especially stuff that has a gothic or ww2 esqe feel to it. servitors and inquisition stuff. i like stuff with nice, sharp detail. and most importantly, character

 

[JesterzUSMC]

Honestly, I either buy for my army, buy it cause it looks cool/inspires me, or I buy it because I want to hack part/s of it off for use elsewhere.

I could care less WHO did it. I didn\'t, and I don\'t know any sculptors personally so I buy what I hope to get around to painting.

And since the only people I know nearby that play ANYTHING play 40k, I pretty much stick to that, my only other option is to teach/convince the VGI/ADD 10 year old a different game, hard enough to get him off the computer long enough for 40k when the lads come over.
lollollol

 

[Dragonsreach]

It has to be:-
Pewter

or

Resin

or

Plastic.

Basically when it comes to mini\'s I\'m a Slut. There are very few mini\'s that I\'m not interested in.

Doesn\'t mean to say that I\'m ever gonna paint them all.

Meg: If you are loking for someting different have a look at Perry Miniatures

 

[fieldarchy]

Cool DR! Thanks for the heads up. I\'ll send it to my dad. He\'s a historical American CW enthusiast and I told him to pick out a mini that I can paint for MMSI in 2009

 

[ZaPhOd]

Well now, I don\'t know if it is a case of people not like WK sculpts... There are some I totally dig (Elladen from Reaper for example), but I can understand two things: His faces with their giant eyes *do* tend to look similar and if you paint mainly sculpts by him, some may find the selection boring after a while. Of course, ultimately, you paint what you like and you paint well (of course).

For me, if I am painting something fo rme (as opposed to sales), then it has to be something that really catches my eye. Some of my fav minis are done by all different companies and sculptors. The classic Asurmen (Eldar) is a GW fig I enjoy, yet I also like many of the old Ral Partha figs... The Jabberwok comes to mind. I haven\'t painted him up yet though. Like I said, I also enjoy many WK sculpts, and Kev White from Hasslefree too. Just so many to choose from!

 

[treide]

Nostalgia probably drives me more than anything else. Minis that capture the feel of 1st ed. D&D that I knew as a kid interest me more than the \"new and improved\" versions of those same monsters/characters put out by Reaper and GW.

Any minis based on film/books/series that I enjoyed also catch my interest. This ties into the nostalgia thing. So even though the old \"Aliens\" minis are clunky, I would love to paint some! I must say I would pass on the Zardoz mini, though.

Lastly, I like sculpts that I haven\'t seen 20 versions of already in the galleries. That is another reason I favor older OOP sculpts. I have nothing against the new ones, but I don\'t get as excited about painting what everyone else is painting.

Oh, I agree that the Thunderbolt Mt. minis are amazing. I am afraid to paint them!

Julie Guthrie is probably my favorite \"old school\" sculptor.

 

[Yetie]

I like mini\'s that make a good 1st impression if I don\'t like it when I 1st look at it, it ain\'t getting bought.

I also buy mini\'s which I get my creative cogs going, if I see a mini that I think a scene can be built around I\'m usually drawn to it like a moth to a light bulb.

As for sculptors I couldn\'t name 1 I\'m afraid I don\'t have a clue when it comes to who\'s work is who\'s.