What do you look for in a sculpt?

[Ritual]

The main criterion for me is that the mini is well sculpted. I usually spend lots of time on each mini and I can\'t be bothered to do that unless I feel that the sculpt is top notch craftsmanship. Thus, I have no interest in old stuff! Sculpting today is generally miles ahead of what anyone did 15 years ago (at least in the smaller scales).

Theme wise, I tend to favour stuff that is twisted in some way. Morbid, grotesque, naughty or bizarre... But, there is plenty of other stuff that I like as well. As long as the sculpting quality is good I can paint pretty much anything...

 

[uberdark]

when i began painting miniatures i loved everything GW and especially the cartoonistic style of the orcs and goblins. the old goblins have loads of character and worked quite well for me at the time. as my palette began to improve with the brush i began to wander around looking for sculpts that didnt require much to sculpt into or convert..... so i began to look at privateer press and fell in love with felix panigua\'s sculpts. his slightly exaggerated use of muscles on his trollbloods were what drew me to PP. Then i began to look at models that have a more vertical approach to them. for me a model that is squat and short lacks the feeling of movement that i see in things like the nightbringer and st. celestine. lately i have begun to look at the new resin sculpts done by scibor and particularly the dwarf slayer.

i find as i go further into painting that the 54 mm pieces appeal to me a bit more because i can add more detail as i go.

i dont know this is a topic that will have many varied answers. my advice: do something vertical and thats 54 mm. hope it helps.

 

[fieldarchy]

So what is the ultimate fascination with GW though? I\'ve noticed a lot of people on here paint those minis. Is it just because there\'s a market since people play the games.

Personally most of the GW models I\'ve seen haven\'t been worth the money they are asking. I am dreading buying the LOTR minis I need for GD entries just because of the price tag. I can easily get twice as much metal from Reaper for the same price.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

GW is simply the biggest player in the market. For most people their stuff is the first introduction to miniatures because they have a physical presence through their shop fronts.

 

[uberdark]

Originally posted by fieldarchy
So what is the ultimate fascination with GW though? I\'ve noticed a lot of people on here paint those minis. Is it just because there\'s a market since people play the games.


Personally most of the GW models I\'ve seen haven\'t been worth the money they are asking. I am dreading buying the LOTR minis I need for GD entries just because of the price tag. I can easily get twice as much metal from Reaper for the same price.

initially the first fascination for me was being able to paint a huge army and have them all prim and proper and finished and being able to say \"hey i did that.\" now its more about individual sculpts. i used to just paint an army at a time. so i generally did two full gw armies a year. right now i have somthing like 4 armies and 3 finished.

dwarfs, tau, orcs, ogres.
just started the ogres

 

[rosac]

Originally posted by DrEvilmonki
GW is simply the biggest player in the market. For most people their stuff is the first introduction to miniatures because they have a physical presence through their shop fronts.

This is pretty much the only reason why I buy GW stuff exclusively- its far easier to get! I do look for conversion ideas with a mini, so if it looks difficult to convert, i reject it straight away. just my way I suppose.

rosac

 

[generulpoleaxe]

gw shot my dog lol :drunk:

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by fieldarchy
So what is the ultimate fascination with GW though? I\'ve noticed a lot of people on here paint those minis. Is it just because there\'s a market since people play the games.

i like the conversion possibilities with some of it and their universe is superb. i like making stuff from that universe. don\'t get me wrong some of their stuff is utter shite. they do some of the best and some of the worst plastics out there

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Originally posted by generulpoleaxe
gw shot my dog lol :drunk:

and ran off with my wife! :flame:

 

[generulpoleaxe]

Originally posted by freakinacage

Originally posted by fieldarchy
So what is the ultimate fascination with GW though? I\'ve noticed a lot of people on here paint those minis. Is it just because there\'s a market since people play the games.

i like the conversion possibilities with some of it and their universe is superb. i like making stuff from that universe. don\'t get me wrong some of their stuff is utter shite. they do some of the best and some of the worst plastics out there

their plastic stuff is over priced and not in the same league as dragon models, verlinden etc etc.
both for vehicles and figures.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by generulpoleaxe

their plastic stuff is over priced and not in the same league as dragon models, verlinden etc etc.
both for vehicles and figures.

i meant for sci fi and fantasy. no one comes close to the military stuff for quality and vfm

however, their shops often suck. those 2companies\' sites were difficult to navigate, one of them didn\'t seem to have an online store and the other didn\'t have pics.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Originally posted by generulpoleaxe

Originally posted by freakinacage

Originally posted by fieldarchy
So what is the ultimate fascination with GW though? I\'ve noticed a lot of people on here paint those minis. Is it just because there\'s a market since people play the games.

i like the conversion possibilities with some of it and their universe is superb. i like making stuff from that universe. don\'t get me wrong some of their stuff is utter shite. they do some of the best and some of the worst plastics out there

their plastic stuff is over priced and not in the same league as dragon models, verlinden etc etc.
both for vehicles and figures.

Over priced is completely an individual view point. Personally I am happy with the price and quality of GW\'s plastic.

I can\'t say that I was that impressed with the sculpts from verlinden and I have not seen any other fantasy or scifi company come out with better.

 

[Friar]

aye GW is alot of folks first introduction to mini\'s I know thats how I got started when I was a kid the comic shop I worked at started carrying warhammer fantasy an 40k, tho now an days theres alot of other stuff that catches mt eye far more then gw, they are kinda like the walmart of minis.

 

[flynn]

I personally don\'t like anything that GW has put out.

One of the reasons I will never win a golden demon is because I have absolutely no desire to paint their figures.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by flynn
I personally don\'t like anything that GW has put out.

One of the reasons I will never win a golden demon is because I have absolutely no desire to paint their figures.

i am very pro gw (although i disagree with some of their legal and pricing ideas) but i don\'t want to paint anything of theirs atm

 

[ZaPhOd]

Well I don\'t play ANY GW games, but that doesn\'t mean I don\'t like some of their figures... I went through a stage lik ethat, but it was really unfounded. Some of the individual figs are fantastic both detail wise and for the painting/converting possibilities. Take the Emperor\'s Champion for example... You don\'t need to be *into* 40K to paint him up really cool... I am going to one of these days in fact

 

[matty1001]

Resin always gets my first vote (there\'s a post about it on my blog detailing why) and about 80% of the stuff I paint now is resin.
Then simplicity, I like simple clean models, not overladen with details.
Well sculpted is also an issue to. And judging by the gallery on my site, fantasy is my port of call, although I\'v never really favored one genre other the other.

Sculptors I am pretty fond of are;
J.A.G,
Kev White,
Raul Latorre,
Allan Carrasco who now seems to be making a name for himself in sculpting with some decent Kraken stuff and some other bits here and there.
Edgar Skomorowski who will soon hopefully reach the end of casting issues and get his stuff released.
And Andy Foster, who isn\'t an amazing sculptor, but his minis are just full of character.

 

[Legacy Account]

Originally posted by DrEvilmonki

Originally posted by generulpoleaxe
gw shot my dog lol :drunk:

and ran off with my wife! :flame:

You don\'t want to know what they did to me when I dropped the soap in the shower.........

 

[mattrock]

I love most of Werner Klocke\'s stuff but you really have to be in the mood for it. They all certainly have a cartoony aspect to them in the proportions and it\'s true that I think the hands on a lot of his female models are hideous.

I also like a lot of the GW models and other than their higher prices, I\'m not really that sure what all the angst is about with them. Overall I think they really have a good business plan going (as evidenced by their size and longevity).

Also, I love just about everything Andrea does in 54 and 30mm on the fantasy side. Two of my favorite sculpts period are their 54mm Beelphegor and Leogante.

I look for sculpts with a lot of character (I LOVE Dragan D\'Orianthe from Rackham) or with really inspiring movement and dynamism. To be honest I\'m not sure I can classify what I look for, but when I see it, I know what it looks like.

How\'s that for a non-answer?