You can get extra credit by listening to Firestarter by The Prodigy while reading this week’s update. Additional bonus points are available for anyone who gets their hair cut like the lead singer did in the music video and shows us a picture of it!
To be a bit more serious, I managed to finish one measly miniature and a bit of progress on Minerva that isn’t substantial enough to show off. Ignus is a man ablaze and unfortunately, he’s not as good of a character design or sculpt as the previous Kingdom Rush minis I’ve been painting. In fact, I think the game design would be hard to match on the miniature so I didn’t try. Instead, I just tried to paint him as if he’s on fire. Here’s the in-game art and what I came up with.
To be honest, this is not my best work which I never like to have happen. The problem here is that the sculpt makes it hard to paint fire realistically. You’re supposed to paint the innermost parts the lightest and the outer parts darkest but that isn’t easy with this miniature. My paint job doesn’t really match the game art either. Finally, you want smooth blends to make fire look good and the sculpt wasn’t good enough to justify spending 2-3 more hours smoothing things out, especially on the back. So in the interest of saving time and putting that energy into something more worth it, I stopped where I did even if that kind of irritates me at the same time.
This brings me a point I’d like to make and I promise I won’t be talking painting techniques and theories every week. I’ve tried to convince Faust of this and maybe others but I haven’t been able to explain it as well as I’d like in the comments section. Ignus illustrates the point perfectly as well. When you paint miniatures, your canvas, the sculpt itself, matters a lot more than you might think. A bad or difficult canvas very often will limit the ceiling on what you can achieve with your paint work. Let me show you a crappy chart I made to explain this a little more.
So in this chart, the red is the quality of the paint job that the painter achieved and the black line indicates the quality of the sculpt and what someone can conceivably get out of it. While its certainly possible for the paint job to exceed the sculpt, let’s assume that doesn’t happen here because its not common. 1 and 2 in the chart are meant to represent lower quality miniatures. Board game quality or sculpts that have some kind of issue that takes away from your ability to paint it. 1 could really represent Ignus. I could have put more energy into that miniature and gotten it up to where 2 is but I didn’t bother so there is clearly room where it could be improved, though you can also see that the Sculpt Ceiling would almost definitely put a limit to what I can accomplish with the miniature.
3 represents a well-designed Games Workshop mini or a bust or larger scale mini that has a high quality sculpt and plenty of details to really stand out and impress people. As you can see, even if I paint a miniature like this and I don’t reach the full potential of the sculpt, it is still noticeably better than 1 or 2. That is because the canvas is better and it gives you more opportunities to make it look nice. Ignus, a lower quality sculpt, is a one-note miniature. Its basically just fire in a vaguely human form. A better quality miniature, for example, has surfaces that look really impressive when done well (metal) and there is a greater variety of textures/surfaces which make it more visually interesting and hopefully give you a chance to play around with different colors. There are more factors than what I’m describing but that’s a high level overview anyway.
I share this because I had a friend who tried to convince me of this for several years when I was painting lower quality Lord of the Rings miniatures (technically they’re GW but I was painting a lot of older and metal minis which are definitely not 3’s in my chart above) because I love LOTR. At some point, I bought a Warhammer miniature, I’m not even sure which one, and tried to push my skills and then I finally realized what he was saying. If you want to paint your best and see how far your skills can go, you have to give yourself chances to grow with high quality sculpts. That is not to say, there’s anything wrong with painting mostly lower quality sculpts though either. Heck, I painted one this week! Its more that the best way to get better is seek out a 3 and give it your best shot. I personally mix in the two because I like variety in my hobby queue.
Whew, that was a lot more discussion than that miniature probably deserved. Here is a look at the three heroes I’ve finished thus far for Kingdom Rush.
I need to paint some militia for the game which are much smaller than these but I realized that all of my metallic paints in steel and silver colors are shot. Never leave your paints neglected for 3-4 years is the moral of the story here and they weren’t all Citadel either! Regardless, I’ve got some Vallejo Game Color metallic paint coming so some tiny soldiers will get done soon enough.
Last week, I said that I was going to focus on Star Wars comics that Marvel created and well, I reread the first two and realized that they’re so over the top and go against the previous continuity which is exactly why I fell out of love with them in first place. As a result, we’ll skip that idea and I’ll figure out something else for the next Comics Corner.
Instead, I saw a couple tantalizing larger scale miniatures that got teased this week so I thought I’d share those instead.
First up, we have a vampire render from Big Child Creatives. Normally, I wouldn’t share a render because it isn’t the actual plastic/resin which matters a lot more. However, Big Child Creatives have a track record of excellent miniatures so I feel comfortable showing this
One of the things they’re doing with their busts is that they aren’t the typical, static head and shoulders busts of the past. They’re more dynamic and immersive. I also really like how they incorporated all the gothic lace into her dress. That is something that I think is missing from smaller scale minis and so I’m excited to see it here. I’m imagining there are a lot of cool things you can do with this miniature which also makes it appealing. A definite 3 if we’re still thinking about the chart above!
Not to be outdone, Kimera will release this one eventually since it is in their most recent Kickstarter. I like how this one includes a scenic base, along with lots of intricate metal details. There are three different head options as well so 2024 looks to be a great year for vampire fans like myself.
Next up we have a Chaos Dwarf. GW doesn’t want to make them so other companies will! This picture is a bit small but you can get an idea of what’s going on with it anyway. The Chaos Dwarves were in Warhammer before my time but I do think they’re cool looking and this bust is proof of that! There is also a helmeted version that will be available but I like this one better personally. I think it’d be a great challenge for me to paint and I’ve been itching to paint something dwarven for a while too.
Do I have any business getting more display projects when I’m working on one, no, of course not! But there are a lot of high quality miniatures in these larger scales that are appealing so it is going to be hard to resist, especially with Adepticon two months away!
Kuribo's Painting 
Completely agree with you there. I can add a third axis to your chart which is motivation, those low quality sculpts are just not as inspiring and fun to paint as the nicer ones. So it’s both harder to get a nice result and less rewarding to paint which means I tend to phone in those poor quality sculpts and move on with my life!
Love the look of that dwarf bust, keen to see some painted examples!
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You’re absolutely spot-on! Maybe this should have been a double bar chart or something along those lines to show motivation 🙂 The weaker the sculpt is, the harder motivation is. Truthfully, I had more motivation when working on the front of Ignus but once I got the back, that melted away. Since the worst painting is on the back of the mini, the sculpt isn’t great, and it would have taken a couple hours to improve, I knew it wasn’t worth it.
Totally agree on the Chaos Dwarf. It is a pretty busy miniature so seeing it painted would help me visualize its potential even more. If you like a nicely painted Chaos Dwarf, this one by David Colwell is really as good as it gets in my book: https://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/40239. I might be wrong but I think he is Australian as well and if so, he’s probably among the best painters on your island, I would guess 🙂
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That dwarf is pretty amazing! I follow Dave’s work but I hadn’t seen that one before. He’s from/in Melbourne I believe so other side of the country!
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I’m going to counter here, in that nothing will burn me out more than painting a bunch of GW minis with a ton of straps. GRRRRRR!
As I’m working through the base coats, I start to get the feeling that I’m nearly done. Then it’s like a cold shower when I realize I have so many belts and miscellaneous crap to still get through!
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I’m not sure who you’re countering (probably me!) but GW minis are definitely not all created equal. You have to paint ones that fit your style and interest because they pretty much have something for everyone. There are minis that aren’t covered in straps though there are plenty of those out there too for belt enthusiasts 🙂
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Countering that time to complete/losing interest in a mini isn’t necessarily related to the quality of the sculpt. If you’re not interested in a high (or poor) quality sculpt, it’s not going to make the process any better. I really detest the GW minis I’ve worked on that seemingly have added ornamentation just to make them look ‘more complex or cooler’. Some people might really like that, so it’s definitely a matter of taste.
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Absolutely. You should pick whatever minis you like and want to paint. I used GW as an example because everybody knows what their minis are like and the quality but there are other mini manufacturers that are close to their level. So by no means do you HAVE to paint GW. I do think you can’t generally go wrong with GW, especially anything in hard plastic. Those are generally easy to work with outside of some models being fragile.
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Well, as far as I’m concerned, Ignus is not “one measly miniature”! I think he looks great (I rarely use “great”, “brilliant” more often, but maybe “incandescent” would be better)! 🙂 I really like him! I did listen to Firestarter (I have a few albums by The Prodigy) but my hair isn’t long enough to get the right look with it I’m afraid!
I like, and understand, your graphs! I’m going to stick to poor quality minis so that I can realise my full potential on them – that made me laugh because, in theory, it means I can paint better than you! 😉
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You’re too kind, John! I don’t think Ignus will go down as one of my better miniatures but I’m glad you like him all the same. I’m chuffed that you know The Prodigy and my receding hairline definitely can’t make that look work either. It is a shame the lead singer of The Prodigy died as well. The Prodigy were a big deal in the 90’s and made quite a splash in the States which is no small thing!
Haha, I think there’s nothing wrong with knowing what you do well and sticking to it so I respect your goal! I reckon you’d have a “home field advantage” with a 20mm historical mini over me too 😀
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I can almost do that hairstyle, since I have almost nothing on the top. All I have to do is grow the hair on the side and stick it straight up. Oh my Wife, is going to love this one….!! 😉
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Oh, I’m sure it would go over well with my wife too. I think a club is starting to form here over hair loss too 🙂
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The Hair Loss Club for Men! You can be our President!! Hahahaha!
Well my Wife isn’t crazy about me growing out my beard right now, so that haircut would definitely be the last straw! Oh wait…if I grow my sideburns out long…I could pull them up on the sides for that haircut style….!!
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Haha, I was thinking something along the lines of “Guys so cool, they don’t need all that hair club”. Its a little long but it feels a little better for anyone with a fragile ego 😀
Wives can be picky about those things. I constantly alternate between a beard and being clean shaven and sometimes I hear some grumbling about it. They’re just never happy!
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Well if all goes quiet on your blog suddenly we’ll know your wife’s seen your closing remark! 🙂
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Haha, I’m very fortunate she doesn’t read this 😀
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LOL, that club name is hilarious! I can’t say I blame my Wife totally, but at least she puts up with me. 😀
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Same here! I have no complaints and anything that sounds like one is done in jest 🙂
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With the sculpt you had to work with, I think it’s turned out well, and as Azazael would say at least it’s done, and can move onto something else ! LOL When it comes to sculpting fire as well, there is two types gaseous and liquid ( normal log fire would be gaseous, a flame thrower would be liquid) as the flame behaves very differently on both, which can totally change the look as well.
Not surprised you left the Star Wars comics, as I still remember the six foot tall green rabbit Jaxx that appeared after they had run the original movie ! LOL
Some very nice busts and large scale models, and there’s no harm in looking what the next project may be, as long as you get the one you have, done first ! LOL
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Yes, I think Azazel is spot on with his philosophy here! Fire is not easy to sculpt or paint so I think they had a tough one to get right.
I have heard about Jaxx. I’m sure the rabbit goes alongside the Holiday Special in “all-time Star Wars greats”!
For me, the biggest danger of all these cool new sculpts is making my backlog even worse. I’m pretty disciplined and wouldn’t try to start a new display project until Minerva is done. Even I’m not crazy enough to attempt it! 🙂
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Yea, that’s one takeaway I got from Azazel’s blog too. I remember thinking “If a guy who paints as well as he does and as minis as he does can just say GOOD ENOUGH!, maybe I can too!?”. Though his “good enough” exceeds my own!
Nice reminder on the different types of flame as well!
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When painting for gaming, its always a good idea to have a time or quality limit in mind and work towards it. You need to be able to use the thing eventually so good enough is perfectly acceptable!
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I like the little fire dude 🔥 personally I would be super chuffed with myself if I achieved that level.
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I appreciate your kind words and while I know what you mean, I think you’ve doing a great job with your painting as of late too!
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I like that little graph showing sculpt quality vs maximum painting quality! I quite like your little Firestarter, but I agree that there is only so much you can do with it. Still, it’s another one painted for the game and that’s nothing to be sniffed at.
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Cheers, mate! I wish the graph was a higher quality/better designed image but I’m glad it got my point across 🙂 I’m glad that Ignus is a hit with you too. I’m relieved to have it done and hopefully the rest of the Kingdom Rush minis are more fun to paint.
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That chart needs a time element attached with maybe size of unpainted mountain to deal with 😁
Regarding the chaos dwarf, I’m surprised he would let his chain be on top of his beard, it would make it hard to raise his head 😁
Two smiley faces as exceeded my limit.
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Haha, it does need time and motivation to be calculated for sure. We’re all up against those in this hobby!
And hey, nobody said being a chaos dwarf is easy 😀
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Great work as usual mate. I know there are two main schools of painting fire. One, with using the yellow on the edges with the darker red in the center and Two, using the brightest yellow for the center with reds/black at the edges. I tend to favor the second. But you make the first look good.
I understand your point about quality of the canvas. You have been telling me that for a long time. And I get it. I think you are right and I am a lot more discriminating in my choice of sculpts these days. This is why I recommend Victrix over Gripping Beast or Wargames Atlantic for example.
As for display pieces, trust your instincts.
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I usually go for the second method as well but I thought it would be too hard/annoying on this sculpt. I’m glad you like how it looks in spite of that!
I will tell anybody who will listen apparently 🙂 Some people are more receptive to it than others and I’m thrilled to have you aboard. For what its worth, I think your taste in miniature is excellent!
As for the last sentence, well, you sound like a wise old Jedi master! I will trust my instincts and use the force.
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You have taken your first step into a much larger world.
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😀
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Though you’re kinda down on him, I think the flame dude looks good. Not every miniature needs to be the best, and even poor painters like know that there’s only so much one can do with a mediocre sculpt.
Guess I’m kinda lucky to painting whole armies; bc if the 7th Viking from the left isn’t that great, who’s gonna see? 😀
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Those are all good points. You’re mostly hearing the ranting and raving of an entitled miniature painter mostly 🙂 I think if I had put my maximum effort into the mini, I would have complained a lot less too truthfully.
Army painting is most definitely more forgiving though I find motivation is hard to sustain when you’re painting the same or similar miniatures over a long period of time. Having said that, I’d guess you’d counter by saying spending 1-3 months on a single miniature is no better! 😀
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Oh man, the argument is on now! Haha!
First off, the mini looks good. For what it is, I totally agree that you shouldn’t have put too much time into it. Sometimes you have to move on to the next thing. The only things I might have done (and only if the mini was super important to me), would be to push the yellow highlights a bit more and maybe try adding black to some of the tips for a smoky effect. But it looks good and should work well with your other game minis.
Sculpts vs Painting level. I agree to some extent. My stance has always been that it’s not necessarily the mini. I’ve seen some great artists turn a crappy mini into something even better. I think you would counter that they would turn a great mini into something more amazing, and that could certainly be true. I do think working on minis of ‘lesser quality’ is a better way to elevate your skills though. I often have to work much harder on some minis than I would have to with say a good GW sculpt (oh, and there are some BAD GW sculpts out there too, let me tell you!). The details might be softer, so I have to try to paint in those details. Certain parts might be flawed, so I have to de-emphasize those aspects. But I think it’s really good practice and has helped me a lot to get better as a painter.
For myself, I choose my minis not based off the minis sculpt quality, but for gaming. Specifically scale for our games. For someone who is looking to compete though, it makes perfect sense to choose the best sculpt possible.
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You’ve been called out publicly! This is one step away from doxxing and swatting 😉
The painting steps you described there are exactly what I would do if I invested further time into the miniature. I’m sure they’d make a difference but my motivation ran out as I’m sure you’ve seen discussed already 🙂
I can see that I’m not going to be able to persuade you on this point easily haha! Its true that some people can turn a crappy sculpt into something special but I encourage aspiring painters to not try to do that. Its really hard to do and you’re limiting your chance of growth and success by doing so. Mostly because of the sculpt ceiling like in the chart above.
I know of a painter who is talented but refuses to paint higher quality miniatures and his skills have mostly stagnated and while mine keep getting better and better (if I may say so). So I think if you’re looking to improve or do your best, the choice of sculpt really does matter and it can hold you back from being the best painter possible in some circumstances. That isn’t to say that I’m trying to push you to enter in Golden Demon or anything but you have a desire to learn and improve which can’t be coached. That is the most important trait in my success as a painter and so when I see it in others, I know they have a lot of potential!
With all that said, I would suggest trying to find the best quality sculpts you can for your games, especially since you’re playing a mini agnostic game. You need to like the miniature to do your best (see this mini for further proof of that…) and if the mini is also of a high quality, you’re giving yourself the best chance to make something great 🙂 You’ll have to paint some crappy sculpts for gaming purposes, like I did last week, but its not something to be in the habit of doing if you want to see growth and improvement in your skills.
I hope this makes sense and you find it encouraging. There’s no pressure to do anything differently from me. I know that I didn’t want to hear this argument about sculpt quality for 2-3 years before I finally listened and what a difference it has made! So that is why I made a public plea 🙂
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Wellllll……
I can see the point in the case that if you’re reaching for a higher level of painting it makes more sense to also paint minis of higher sculpt quality.
However, I still think both have their merits. Painting better sculpted minis is going to help in being able to hone your painting skills with said minis. But it won’t prepare you for those instances where you have to deal with imperfections on minis. For the longest time I did not know what to do with certain parts of a mini because I didn’t know how to workaround shortcomings of the mini. So, I would say it’s essential for any painter to try both. But I guess it depends on what you’re doing. If you’re a professional painter who is only given the highest quality sculpts to paint, there would be no need. But most of us mere hobbyists have to learn how to deal with all sorts of sculpts from various manufacturers.
Yep, once again. I’m limited by scale. I started with 28mm, but they are on a weird small side of 28mm, so there are a lot of minis that don’t look right next to what I got. If I want “This is the Daddy and this is the Baby” sized heroes, that would work…But not for me. I could pick a completely different line of minis, but that means years of painting all that stuff again. It would be a major waste overall. So I’m stuck where I am, but as long as I can keep working on minis that I enjoy gaming with, that’s good enough. “Never say Never” though. As the youngest gets older, there’s the possibility that I start getting interested in painting other things or stop painting altogether(!). Never know!
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The scale concern is legitimate. I can understand why you wouldn’t add GW minis with 28mm ones even though it would probably be good for you as a painter.
The argument about needing to be ready for bad minis doesn’t hold water for me because it feels like that logic would keep someone painting inferior sculpts when they may not have to. Also, if you paint higher quality minis, then you don’t need to be prepared for anything but to paint those as well as you want or can!
Having said all that, we’ve each got our own paths to walk and I certainly respect the one you’re taking. I do think that if you get the chance to paint some other things in the future that are larger and higher quality then you should take it and see what you can do 🙂
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Well, you basically argued the same point I made. If someone is only aiming for competition level painting, then they probably don’t need to learn how to paint minis with defects. If you’re painting for games and dealing with lots of minis from different manufacturers, I think it’s good to learn how to work around those defects. Now that I said that, I still think it could be useful on ‘top shelf’ minis too. If there is a part of a skirt that is too thick and you want it look thinner, then you’re going to need to de-emphasize it through shading. But I don’t know for sure, as I’ve never painted anything other than game minis. I guess you don’t feel like it’s a useful tool to develop, but in my work I strongly feel that way. I guess we’re at an impasse!
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I can’t recall ever de-emphasizing anything on a good sculpt though I do think it might be necessary on lesser sculpts. On Minerva, I’m mostly concerned with making the lighting as realistic as possible, having smooth blends, and trying to make the miniature look as cool as possible with the colors I choose. Regardless of this, I agree that I can’t convince you but one day, you may look back and see wisdom in what I’m saying or maybe not! 🙂
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I’d add to the points you’re both making here that painting lower quality models (or maybe “good but not amazing” would be fairer – models like this Cthulhu – https://azazelx.com/2023/10/05/zombicide-2nd-edition-abominations-cthulhu-the-mummy/ – or boardgame models, or the various Nolzur’s monsters and figures – they have a real and measurable value in improving your work.
Firstly, the models don’t really matter all that much. They’re a monster. Or maybe a D&D adventurer, or whatever. There’s a LOT of wiggle room for imperfections there. So they give the freedom to experiment. Experiment a lot.
Look at the hands and the various blends and textures there. if it wasn’t a model I don’t really truly care about, I would not have dared to try that sort of thing through fear of screwing it up. But I mean… it’s a boardgame model of a monster.
Even if I was unhappy wth it in the end it’d still be fit for purpose and nobody shy of the asshats on twitter would crap on it. Certainly IRL if the flesh transition experiments didn’t work by my own standards the model would be just as fine and nobody in my house would be looking at it and saying that it looked like crap.
That’s the thing about boardgame models and various models that aren’t top tier or intended as showcase models. They’re a perfect place for experiments, learning new techniques, and just loosening up and seeing what happens on low-stakes models that you’re not worried about messing up – and they’ll probably still look bloody great on a minis tabletop or boardgame board.
It’s the other side of “I’m going to paint a Custodes/Stormcast model to specifically push my NMM skills.” It’s the “what happens if I do this?” and “I wonder what that would look like?” questions being asked and answered while painting a model.
Directed pushing skills is valuable, but so is the meander
And even crappy models have their place for both – I’ve got one I just finished painting that will go up soon – a terrible model, but it’s got a leather coat that was a good place to play with simple weathering and scratching – and all the better place to play because the model is trash that I don’t care much about!
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I agree with everything you said, mate. I think it helps to be somewhat deliberate in that you pick miniatures that push you to do new things. If you only paint zombies all the time, you’ll only get good at those. Not all miniatures are made the same and some give you more things to mess around with too. A model that is all skin probably isn’t going to be as useful (unless you want to really improve that part of your painting) as something that’s got a bit more variety going on. So these are all good things to think about when you’re picking miniatures to paint, especially if you don’t have an impressive collection like yourself! 🙂
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Fire guy looks completely fine – he is totally fit for purpose.
As for that chart – it seems to remind me very much of some stuff I saw in your comments more than a few times last year about different sculpts only “deserving” a certain amount of effort based on their quality and purpose.
I wonder who wrote those insightful comments? 😀
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He does look fine and I like to see a higher standard than that, but you already know that 🙂 Your idea about what a mini deserves is valuable, especially for anyone painting gaming miniatures. If you want to push your skills, especially towards display painting, then you reference the chart above and buy accordingly 😉
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