What IS a mini?

[Chrome]

There's probably been a bunch of threads like this one already but I want to hear what people think today.

I'm a simple guy, to me a miniature is a sculpture of anything that is scaled 1:>1 so I kind of flinch every time I see expressions like "bigature" or "That's no mini!" Now, Of course I know that expressions like that are mostly for kicks and laughs but it made me curious, what defines a miniature for you?

 

[cassar]

being into the "bigatures" my opinion may be flawed but my rational would be anything thats used for gaming purposes from grots to titans etc its just you lot are mostly that good at throwing the slap around that the gaming pieces become art.
oooh getting deep cant feel the bottom with my toes! time for something shallow lol
have a gleek down yer trunks lol.

 

[TrystanGST]

Hmm...thankfully I've never seen "bigature", but I have to agree that technically anything less than 1:1 is miniature. But once your chosen project starts taking up copious amounts of real estate, then you're leaving the realm of what is generally considered minis (which is probably the 25-54mm range).

 

[Torn blue sky]

A mini is anything smaller than the thing it's recreating. Easier to figure on that than all this bigature/largature/tinyature/ninjature/flanature/badassature, bollocks.

 

[supervike]

Yep, I agree anything smaller than a 1:1 ratio is a 'miniature' in my eyes.

It's all the same exact hobby, although techniques, styles, and purpose are vastly different.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Hmnn what if you're making a miniature of a miniature... Then what if you make a miniature of the miniature miniature... *head explodes*

 

[freakinacage]

i would go with less that 1:1 is a mini. anything that can't be held easily is too big though!

 

[noneedforaname]

I always see bigature as a conjoining of big and miniature. In essence a subject that is huge but rendered in miniature, this means that while the item itself may be huge its scale is less than 1:1

 

[IdofEntity]

It seems that everyone has posted a pretty common sense approach to it all. Well, maybe not the guy whose head exploded. Anyways, I want to put forth an argument as the Miniature Devil's Advocate.

A miniature is anything that is a smaller sculptured representation of all of the naturally occuring dimensions of a particular subject. A "model" which is 90% of the average size of a knight in armor shouldn't be considered a miniature since a knight could naturally occur at 90% of the average dimensions. Since a knight cannot naturally be 5% of the size of an average knight, a 1/20th scale model of a knight would be a miniature.

It seems obvious, but there are some counterintuitive examples.

For instance, a 50% scale sculpture of a human might not be considered a miniature since there are humans that can be properly proportioned and in those dimensions. (variations of dwarfism)

A model of Paint Horse that is 1/10th the dimensions of the average Paint Horse might not be considered a miniature, as there are horses that small. Instead of calling it a Miniature Model Horse, it might be more accurate to say it is a Model of a Miniature Horse.

Defining a miniature as anything smaller than a 1:1 ratio is a poor definition since it cannot be applied in practice without defining the values. In other words, you can't say something is a miniature until you specify what 1, or 100%, is. If the specific knight you are making a model of is 73 inches tall you have defined 100% with a definite value, not a relative one. Thus, a sculptor who made a marble statue representative of the specific knight that was only 67 inches tall has created a miniature.

Fantastical creatures are a bit more difficult. Who is to say how tall a Gnome is? Unless you have documented in some way what size your subject is supposed to be you cannot state that the model you have sculpted is a miniature.

 

[supervike]

Yes, this is the type of pedantics we like to see!

However, I'd contend that the it's the SUBJECT, not the range of sizes that subject belongs to that should make the scale.

So, even if a particular human could be 50% of an average sized one....it doesn't matter as it's an individual being represented. So, lets say we are sculpting bill who stands a nice even 6 ft tall.

If a sculptor 'scales him down' 50% to a stubby 3 feet tall, that is a MINATURE Bill. Surely we know that there are 3 ft tall humans, but that is not what is represented with a 3 foot Bill.

Thus we have a miniature Bill.

Anything less than a 1:1 of the subject of the sculpt = a mini (IMHO)

 

[A Luna]

I think 54 mm is the border for me. For me, anything bigger than that comes close to a doll

 

[Chrome]

A friend I just showed this thread to made a point I'm willing to consider, even though it isn't a miniature of the subject I still think I'd call an up-scaled model of a small creature a miniature to some degree...

 

[TrystanGST]

Ooh - good point. What do you call something that is larger than the original, like a model frog or a model dust mite?

 

[Tercha]

Thinking back to "Land of the giants" from my youth the people were shrunk, so could end up fighting ants and so forth - so a model depicting a human (shrunk) fighting an ant (normal size) but enlarged to a decent size to model the ant would be a bigiminiature?....ooooh my head hurts

 

[freakinacage]

Ooh - good point. What do you call something that is larger than the original, like a model frog or a model dust mite?

pointless...

 

[IdofEntity]

Yes, this is the type of pedantics we like to see!

However, I'd contend that the it's the SUBJECT, not the range of sizes that subject belongs to that should make the scale.

So, even if a particular human could be 50% of an average sized one....it doesn't matter as it's an individual being represented. So, lets say we are sculpting bill who stands a nice even 6 ft tall.

If a sculptor 'scales him down' 50% to a stubby 3 feet tall, that is a MINATURE Bill. Surely we know that there are 3 ft tall humans, but that is not what is represented with a 3 foot Bill.

Thus we have a miniature Bill.

Anything less than a 1:1 of the subject of the sculpt = a mini (IMHO)

And I would agree anything less than a 1:1 sculpt of a subject is a miniature, as long as the subject is clearly defined. Often times, it's not. There are statues of sheep at the local park. (why, I don't really know) They're cast in bronze, and are smaller than almost all breeds of sheep. However, they are not smaller than the smallest. They're actually a quite awkward size. The sheep in bronze don't have a clear set of distinguishing characteristics that would make their species identifiable. So while they are smaller than most conventional sizes of sheep, but not all, can we really say that they are a miniature? Those bronze sheep are unique to the artists vision, and have no direct correlation with a species or subject. Therefore, since the initial ratio of 1 is undefined we cannot claim these sheep are miniatures.

 

[kathrynloch]

A model of Paint Horse that is 1/10th the dimensions of the average Paint Horse might not be considered a miniature, as there are horses that small. Instead of calling it a Miniature Model Horse, it might be more accurate to say it is a Model of a Miniature Horse.

hehehe...remember Id...you started this. :devil:

A Miniature Horse is it's own breed, not just a smaller horse. The model horses I paint are assigned breeds when they are shown at competitions. There are models sculpted to fit that Paint Horse and there are ones sculpted to fit that Miniature Horse.

Neither are the same size as the Miniature Horse is much smaller but both are in 1:9 scale (also called Traditional scale, we have a series of scales in the industry) and their size is relative to each other.

Now I know some consider my Roaming Knight at 75mm and 1:32 scale is "barely" a mini, so I don't think my 1:9 scale Traditional horses would be considered minis, even though the model is clearly a mini of a real horse.

Here's one last thing to add to the mayhem.

Many times artists who sculpt resins in Traditional scale will release a mini in 1:32 scale.

The big horse is a 1:9 scale, Tennessee Walking Horse named Independence and he's a gelding. When the artist made the mini (a new sculpt not a scan), she also made it a mare and dubbed it Mini Indy...well that instantly became Mindy to the buying populace.

So, I think that means we have a mini of a mini...but not a Miniature Horse.

 

[vincegamer]

A model of Paint Horse that is 1/10th the dimensions of the average Paint Horse might not be considered a miniature, as there are horses that small.

yes, and they are called "miniature" horses - so even they are minis!

 

[Torn blue sky]

*flails, quacks and wipes brain matter on Id*

 

[IdofEntity]

*flails, quacks and wipes brain matter on Id*

As if I were worried. You'd have to find brain matter in Scotland before you could assault me with it.