Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!
—000—
A straight forward figure this week, a little Hasslefree chap who goes by the name of “Finn”. Nothing much to say, just another figure from the pile of lead that I have been working my way through. Originally intended for a diorama which I lost interest in but a nice little figure in its own right. Images make his jeans look a little to glossy but having taken another look they are quite matt in the flesh so not sure what has happend there.
—000—
Well It Made Me Laugh …
—000—
Perfection or Imperfection?
When I buy a new pair of Levi jeans they are perfect. They have never been worn and they are stiff and unfaded. Perfect but I don’t like them. Only when they have been worn in, become less stiff and more than a little faded do they become perfect as far as I am concerned.
And so it is with figures that I paint.
I could, if I choose to, paint all my figures in nice sharp colours and end up with the modelling equivalent of a new pair of Levi’s but would it look right? In some cases the answer is yes. For example a soldier on the parade ground would probably look imaculate but in a combat situation would that still be the case? For me the answer is no but I accept that some people like the figures unweathered, I just don’t happen to be one of those people.
Personally I like weathering as it adds realism to the figure subject of course to composition and basing. Perfection in imperfection is how I see it, like a nice worn in pair of jeans.
—000—
The End of the Lead Pile!
My lead pile is no more.
No I haven’t finished all the models that I have and if I am being honest I never will. Nor before anyone asks I haven’t given them all away either. Instead I have simply renamed these never to be painted (by me) figures the “Investment Pile”.
The way I see it, left unpainted and kept safe and hidden for a number of years, they will one day be worth a small fortune. One day future figure painters tired of 3D printed plastic will spend their cash to acquire old metal figures. Think vinyl records.
Am I being delusional? Almost certainly but for now at least I no longer have a lead pile.
—000—
This week TIM has been listening to …
“Morning Glory” by Oasis. Been a while since I listened to this album and had forgotten how good it was.
—000—
This week TIM has been watching…
“The Fall” series 1, 2 and 3 starring Gillian Anderson. Missed this series first time around but caught up on it on Netflix. An excellent programme and well worth a watch.
—000—
Remember…
If a book hits you on the head you may have only your shelf to blame.
—000—
TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
Nice mini! 🙂 The jeans look spot on! I agree with you on a weathered look for figures – Although I weather tanks, I don’t weather minis, probably because I think I’d make a hash of it! If I painted single figures, I’d maybe give it a go, but if I did a unit and it came out wrong, I’d probably give up on them there and then! Then again, for my 20mm figures, it’s only really evident on those wearing a lot of white on their uniforms, so no more than 5% of all my figures!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I hadn’t really considered scale John but you make a very good point. I’ll have to take a closer look at Steve’s 6mm figures to see what corners he is cutting! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
As usual great work on Finn there. Completely in agreement with you regarding perfection vs imperfection. To me the aim of painting a miniature is to capture the character that figure represents. From time to time you’ll get a soldier on a parade ground or a high elf noble that hasn’t been within a hundred miles of some dirt, but usually the figures we paint need a bit of grim and weathering to help them look alive. I take the same view when it comes to imperfections in the paintjob itself, of course I’m not advocating for sloppily or poorly painted models but much like with live music or a painting on canvas the occasional imperfection or clear brush stroke helps to connect us to the artist and, without wishing to sound too arty-farty, shows us something of the spirit behind the finished piece.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Couldn’t agree more. Even when dealing in fantasy and futuristic worlds I prefer to see a sense of authenticity and realism every time. Figures like a guard on duty is one thing but most figures are in action poses so a certain element of wethering feels to me like a must.
LikeLiked by 3 people
You are spot on with the investment. Look at GW-stuff. Especially discontinued Forgeworld miniatures or most of the Oldhammer collections. Not only that even the rather recent stuff. If you buy a car, it loses roughly 50% of its value at the moment of being purchased, because it stops being “new” (Not talking about oldtimers, that are really old).
As for most of the more brand-intensive minis or that look fitting for said brands they not only hold their value after being pre-owned usually they go up 2, 3 and even 10 times in worth as they fade out of production. While we talk about rather small amounts of money to begin with – a car costs 10-200k and a miniature 2-100 depending on the model, the procentual value growth is ridiculous. Have you tried getting yourself a Marienburg Landship? It originally cost something about 200 Pounds or a bit more, which was at the time robbery. Right now, good luck finding even one and if you do find a real one be prepared for 600-1000. Same goes for something as obscure as the riding Reiksguard from Marauder, good luck finding those chaps for under 100 a piece. While you probably won’t become rich by trading in old minis, if you don’t have 100 Landships, their investment-return capabilities easily dwarf most (reasonable) stocks. On that note – I should have invested in GW stocks actually…
Finn shows off Hasslefree’s quality as usual, looking espeically at his hair and his sport shoes. And your painting complements it very well. I especially like his hoodie. Might I ask what diorama he was supposed to star in?
LikeLiked by 3 people
With little interest to be earnt these days then alternative investments are more attractive so why not models and figures? One day they may be worth something but the key of course is to identify the collectable of the future today. Not sure I have many that would fall into that category I am sorry to say. The dirorama I had planned was a zombie apocalypse type thing but I struggled to get my head around it which happens every now and then. At some point I will revisit the idea for sure and then buy all the figures onace again! 😊
LikeLiked by 3 people
Apart from dividends there is basically no interest to get if you aren’t even paying for banking your money, that’s the sad thing. Problem here is at least, if you’d do this more on a grand scale you’d be ushered with turnover tax, on a smaller scale it is alright though. I had the same thought with Magic Cards, who has a growing investment community actually, though it wouldn’t work here very well.
But I can definitely see at least Oldhammer being a premium collectable, because of the brand awareness. Other than that painted items would fetch a bit of money as well as generic fantasy or sci-fi actually, as the roleplaying market is also growing fast. And modern day p&p has to have minis for everything, so I could see them being a decent investment as well.
Of course this discussion is only half-serious, as we know, we probably don’t want to give our lead/plastic/resin-crack away in the next few days. 😉
I actually had him taken for a Miami Vice guy, but I can see him even better as a Zombie survivor especially remembering that Dead Island II trailer.
Maybe you can try resin master then, if you buy them again. haha
LikeLiked by 3 people
Let’s keep the idea of hording mini’s just between ourselves. This time next year we will both be millionaires 😉.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice pose on the miniature and great painting too.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks Steve.
LikeLiked by 2 people
great looking model dave, nicely painted. Pleased you have cleansed yourself of the lead pile, i will be interested to see what you move onto and the style/type you pick..
LikeLiked by 3 people
Cheers Steve. Toying with plenty of ideas at the moment all very varied. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great work there.
Cheers,
Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think whatever makes you feel better for collecting a pile of toys is fine mate haha. The main thing is to never admit that you’re a miniature hoarder!!! Weather has to be my favourite step in painting, I love it. I don’t do clean and pristine unless I’m going to a wedding or funeral haha. When I was in sales I always had to present well of course but the tattoos always have me a slight “ex-con” kind of look haha. My Dad told me that when he bought his first leather jacket as a teenager he kicked it around a gravel driveway for an hour before he dared wearing it in public haha. It had to be worn and scuffed. Nice figure. Have we seen him before? He looks really familiar.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Once again we are like minded and I like the leather jacket story. As for the figure this one was a first for me so you must have seen something else where I reckon. 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hmm? I recognise the hair haha
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice work on the little fella! Still haven’t watched “The Fall”, but my “to watch” list is not unlike my “to paint” pile, so you know how that goes…
As for weathering, I’m on the fence. Some models get it, and others don’t – it depends a lot on what they are, so historical models and certain fantasy or sci-fi forces that I’m trying to make look a little more “realistic”, vehicles, terrain – definitely. Other more “clean” forces (like elves) and those models that have so much fine detail that I’ve painted and don’t want to cover with “dirt”… well, to tell you the truth, that’s a lot of it.
On the other extreme, a lot of people simple drybrush the shit out of their models with greys, metallics and browns over the relatively dull colours they painted their models (and often call it “Blacnchitsu-style” – to much praise, I might add) and while the truth is that they DO look a *lot* more “realistic” than mine if you were to see a Space Marine or whatever approaching from across the road down at the corner – at the distance they’d need to be away to appear in your eyeline at the size of a 28/32mm model, they often also look a bit shit. There are a lot of aesthetics that work, but having models that look so indistinct defeats the purpose of the hobby to me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Finn looks great and has a lot of character as well. I think jeans are one of those sneaky hard things to paint and many people don’t realize it until they try to paint them. I have a Fallout mini that has denim overalls and I’ve been thinking about how I want to paint so talking about denim is very timely!
In terms of weathering, I think it is a technique that is presented to less skilled painters as the way to cover up any and all mistakes and the reality is that you can overdo it if you’re not careful. Light weathering tends to look better than something that is overdone. What Azazel says above is completely right too. I’ve seen people who try to paint a grim style, especially with Warhammer 40,000 and to be honest, the results are crap. The minis literally looks like crap (everything is a dark brown and blackish color) and there is little to no technique or skill used. That probably makes me sound like a snob but you need to utilize both skill and some attention to realism when it comes to weathering to get great results. My bias is a bit more towards clean painting though so take everything I said with a grain of salt 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
It is very much each to their own and like so many topics within the hobby there is no true right and wrong. What matters most is that the painter is pleased with what they have achieved. Personally my aim is to achieve realism as I see it. Sometimes that will require none to a high degree of wethering and everything in between of course. Easily under done or over done but then that’s why we practice and continue to learn and hopefully have fun. 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
Absolutely! Fun is the most important thing and if people like that style and think it looks good, then they should absolutely go for it. I fear that the style is probably handicapping their growth as a painter at times but that is something for them to decide on their hobby journey. I should also add that your weathering is always tasteful and skillful, I think, and never over done 🙂 For example, I like that when you paint a post-apocalypse model, it looks like they’ve been on the road for a bit which is how it should be!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I completley agree with you. I think I have established my own style now, well 80% or so, and am happy with it. As for the other 20% am still trying to improve, still learning and still making mistakes along the way!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Really randomly myself and the missies finished binge watching the fall on Friday. Really enjoyed the first 2 seasons and the 3rd was OK but I thought the end was a bit of a copout.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a fair conclussion and pretty much sums up my thoughts too. Talk I think of a fourth series apparently.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The strangest thing for me about the series was the main doctor in the Belfast hospital also played the ‘weird’ friend in the series coupling. I just couldn’t take him seriously 😁.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s the thing with some actors/actresses/gender neutrals who act (see how I did that to be PC) is it can be difficult to see them in other rolls sometimes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
AHHH = an “investment pile”! Genius!! I am a wealthy man – don’t even need alchemy to turn lead into gold!
As for Finn, nice work. Jeans look great. I am with Az on the weathering – sometimes its good, sometimes not. Depends on what you are trying to achieve.
Luckily for me so far I have not yet needed to weather jeans for my Aztecs, retro-sci-fi, or tanks, so I’m safe there!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ll be able to retire comfortably now then Mark 😉.
LikeLike