What is \"miniature\"

[Klute]

I\'ve noticed that users are posting more and more larger scale figures on the site.

Now don\'t get me wrong I absolutely love to look at these figures and regularly vote very high on them.

Its just got me thinking what everyone considers to be \"miniature\" as far as mini painting is concerned.
Personally I consider it to be 54mm scale and below.

What do you lot think???

For the sake of argument the sizes are from sole of foot to eye level of a 6ft male human.

 

[Ritual]

I would say a miniature is something in smaller scale than 1:1. In the documentaries on the extended LOTR dvds they call every single model a miniature even if it was in scale 1:3. Of course, they came up with the name \'bigatures\' for those, but they were nevertheless defined as miniatures.

 

[Ritual]

BTW, that\'s a particularly disturbing new avatar you\'ve got there, Mark! :|~ lol

 

[Modderrhu]

Good question!

Perhaps my idea of \'miniature\' is smaller than most. With the release of their dragons, McFarlane got some interest from me, and Little Red Riding Hood is definitely one to be painted up - lots of flesh. But at 6\" high, is it really a miniature?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Modderrhu
Perhaps my idea of \'miniature\' is smaller than most. With the release of their dragons, McFarlane got some interest from me, and Little Red Riding Hood is definitely one to be painted up - lots of flesh. But at 6\" high, is it really a miniature?

Yes!
How many 6\" high people do you see in the street?

Surely a miniature is just a representation of a person/item/mythical creature, which is in a reduced scale with the original or the imagined original.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Nice one Mike...in a nutshell Let\'s not split hairs; small is miniature, and small is anything not as big as what it represents

 

[tidoco2222]

As already said miniature to me is anything less than actual size, I have painted minis from 6mm scale up to my biggest project to date which is the IK Warmachine Deneghra resin wich is about 72mm scale.
I have recently found it more pleasing to paint larger scale minis just because I find them kinder on the eyes.

 

[Modderrhu]

I dunno, somehow I\'m just not all too comfortable with a miniature being anything less than actual size. If I painted a 5\' high sculpt of me, there is no way I\'d consider that to be a miniature. Just not gonna happen! Perhaps I\'m just too used to the idea of my little pieces of metal being miniatures.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by tidoco2222
...
I have recently found it more pleasing to paint larger scale minis just because I find them kinder on the eyes.

It don\'t get any easier as you get older.
I\'m need reading glasses for seeing anything inside 3 foot range. (Which is a swine when you are looking to swap jumper switches on a motherboard.)
As for the really small detail on a miniature, Clip on magnifiers.

But really when we talk about scale we mean scaled down, therefore everything we end up painting is a miniature.

 

[Klute]

It looks to me like it depends on what everyone percieves as \"miniature\".
Myself this means much smaller than actual size.

Quote from askOxford.com

miniature

• adjective of a much smaller size than normal.

• noun 1 a thing that is much smaller than normal. 2 a very small and minutely detailed portrait. 3 a picture or decorated letter in an illuminated manuscript.

— DERIVATIVES miniaturize (also miniaturise) verb.

— ORIGIN from Latin minium ‘red lead, vermilion’ (which was used to mark particular words in manuscripts).



@Mike.....jumper switches.Its not the eyes but the fat fingers I have trouble with.
@Anders....why thank you my good sir.Im sure it will appeal to some.

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by Klute
It looks to me like it depends on what everyone percieves as \"miniature\".
Myself this means much smaller than actual size.

I\'ve just had a look at some whisky miniatures, they\'re 50ml, compared to a full 750ml. Therefore, my definition of miniature will include everything from 1:15 and smaller. What a reference! lol

 

[airhead]

Radio Control airplane guys fly \'quarter scale\' stuff. Big model airplanes, but still models.

There are miniature trains that use steam or electric or combustion engines thaty you can load up the neighborhood kids and ride around the yard.

Also there is a guy here in FL that makes homebuilt kits that are half scale takeoffs of WW2 fighters. Single seaters - way cool.

 

[Infidel Castro]

So we\'re all correct. What a surprising outcome

Another corner of cyber-space filled up!

 

[Galante]

For me a miniature, in the context of this site, is 54mm and below.
I also tend to rate bigger minis with lower scores, because I don\'t think it\'s more difficult to paint the eyes on a 72mm mini than on a 28mm one.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Galante
I also tend to rate bigger minis with lower scores, because I don\'t think it\'s more difficult to paint the eyes on a 72mm mini than on a 28mm one.

But it\'s harder to do smooth transitions! Heck even a flat colour is harder to do flawlessly. You also have to tackle the whole shading procedure differently to get a pleasing result.

Einion

 

[supervike]

I\'m not as much worried about the actual size of the mini, but rather the scale it represents..

I am \'into\' the 28-32 mm scale and think that everything that is based of this scale (even a 8 inch Giant) is a miniature.

Everything else is just somebodys weird hobby.lol

 

[Klute]

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by Galante
I also tend to rate bigger minis with lower scores, because I don\'t think it\'s more difficult to paint the eyes on a 72mm mini than on a 28mm one.

But it\'s harder to do smooth transitions! Heck even a flat colour is harder to do flawlessly. You also have to tackle the whole shading procedure differently to get a pleasing result.

Einion

Very true......especially when close up macro shots are done for this site.Paintjobs on the larger scale stuff have to be flawless to look good.

 

[Naukhel]

We could have this debate for a long time.
For myself, miniature is anything that has little itty-bitty belt buckles that I have to squint, hunch, twist to get the light back on it, get hand cramps, wrist cramps, and then wind up getting out the paint stripper to start over because I sneezed at exactly the wrong moment, and left a great long Chainmail stripe across my painstakingly careful work to make a green cloak look fabulous (or as close to fabulous as I can get).

I voted for 54-70mm, though. Why? Because it had the least votes.
Always a sucker for the underdog...

 

[Legacy Account]

Miniature: adj. Used to describe the average monthly income of intergalactic chimps...

 

[provoke_me]

for me a miniature is anything smaller then life size.
so an ant miniature would be very hard to paint