And Then Suddenly The Figure Came Alive

[MichaelStockin]

I decided that I should get on with painting that last unit even though the size of it daunts me, so here is where I am after a quick bit of skin work on the front row.







But then during the process something occurred to me.

Just like all the models, they get filed, and prepped, and primed, and I start with the face, cos if the face ain't right then the whole figure ain't right.

But every now and then once the face is done the figure suddenly turns from just a guy in the unit into a person.
Suddenly once the face is done I can imagine this persons life.









Suddenly Wilhelm appeared to me.


Having not painted anything but oldhammer models in 25mm is this unique to these old sculpts where they each had their own faces, they were not generic heads, but the faces have character, big noses, broken noses, big mouths, yelling, smiling, facial hair, scars, strong jaws, weak jaws, they all seem as if they could have easily be based on real people.

Do you find this with your own figures, once you do the face they suddenly become more than just a soldier in the unit?

 

[Citizen Sade]

I tend to agree with. You might want to largely steer clear of the Talisman range though as it's a bit Mister Benn.

 

[MichaelStockin]

Talisman range though as it's a bit Mister Benn.

Now I am intrigued!!
Is that the range based on Gary Chalk illustrations?

 

[Citizen Sade]

It is and they're Aly M. sculpts. Check 'em out and see if you agree with me.

 

[MichaelStockin]

I know them. I am not sure what you mean by looking Mister Benn though?

I do like the sculpts as standalone models, but I would not use them as troops in my games, maybe the odd one as a villager.

 

[Geroak II]

Yes, absolutely! Though I might not be the right person to answer this since not painting warbands, armies or anything such means I have total freedom to choose the exact minis I want to paint rather than having to paint something out of necessity to use in games.
Obviously this also means I tend to paint only miniatures that I already like - they have personal look or something else I really like going on (be it their face or some other element that I find interesting) or they lend themself for converting into something interesting.

Just like all the models, they get filed, and prepped, and primed, and I start with the face, cos if the face ain't right then the whole figure ain't right.

Same order of working for me: face sets the tone for rest of the paint job and either makes or breaks the mini. Something as minor as which way eyes have been painted to look at, painting on a slight smirk or an raised eyebrown can make a wildly big difference. In all honesty, if I was painting an army I wouldn't give this much thought to any single mini, though.

Here's a very wip pic of dwarf gambler I'm painting for Legacy Crew. Tried to paint eyes looking upwards, as he's probably trying to convince some human to have a round of cards with him:


And here's a bounty/treasure hunter with smirk/smile on her face (wip since before covid...):


Occasionally a defect with casting, or just being an old, handsculpted mini with its imperfections, gets my inspiration going, creating a story to go with that figure and taking it to whole different direction than I was originally going for.
This happened with dwarf I painted for 2023 Legacy Crew; poor guy had very uneven looking eyes that just seemed off (also no sculpted eyebrows, now what's with that?).
Instead of trying to fix one of his eyes with green stuff to better match the other, I painted him having a shiner (and bruising on his knuckles to show that he wasn't just a punching bag but was holding his own).
Fighting on ship would absolutely lead to a punishment, which got me thinking of circumstances that would affect severity of this punishment.
"Drunken sailor" (link to youtube) is a well-known sea shanty and was already one of the things on my "mental mood/ inspiration board" when painting this mini. It's not to be taken too seriously for sure, but there's a part in the lyrics that I thought could be painted on the mini:

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor?"
"-Shave his belly with a rusty razor."

Thus I painted some hair on the dwarf's belly to indicate at least he wasn't drunk when the fight happened!
Admittedly it looks rather stupid since I didn't paint any hair on his arms, but hey ho, live and learn.

 

[Citizen Sade]

I am not sure what you mean by looking Mister Benn though?

Same bloke, different outfits.

 

[MichaelStockin]

Aaah. I will have another butchers.

 

[MichaelStockin]

Duuuuude. Those eyes.
I mean everything is good, but the eyes. Sorcery.

 

[MichaelStockin]

Same bloke, different outfits.

Many of the faces do have a certain similarity about them now you mention it..

 

[Eric]

Here's a very wip pic of dwarf gambler I'm painting for Legacy Crew. Tried to paint eyes looking upwards, as he's probably trying to convince some human to have a round of cards with him:
View attachment 13624

And here's a bounty/treasure hunter with smirk/smile on her face (wip since before covid...):
View attachment 13625View attachment 13626

Wow and wow, stunning work - amazing character you've added to those faces. You certainly have a way with the old bristles.

Do you find this with your own figures, once you do the face they suddenly become more than just a soldier in the unit?

Wilhelm looks good! Alas faces have always been very much a weak point in my painting and to be honest I'm always a bit afraid of doing them - so if I'm honest I'm not sure mine take on much more life after the face at least for me, but I don't think I've ever added as much narrative around my models. It's something reading posts on here that I'm surprised I've not done and I think I'm rather missing out!

 

[MichaelStockin]

but I don't think I've ever added as much narrative around my models. It's something reading posts on here that I'm surprised I've not done and I think I'm rather missing out!

Do you play much, does your place have a setting?

 

[Padre]

I cheat for my story pics. If there's a hair, a paint chip or a bit of flock on a posed figure, I edit it out. If the eyes are awful I will (sometimes) edit them, and importantly, if the figure's eyes are looking in entirely the wrong direction, I will edit them to look the correct way.

Example - in a very early video I made these brute gaurds look at the poor, bound prisoner instead of off into space ...



In my defence, this is not really 'cheating' as it is necessary for the story pictures to work. To keep repainting eyes would be madness, and lead to some bulging eyed characters whose condition only ever got worse and worse!

 

[MichaelStockin]

Yes, absolutely! Though I might not be the right person to answer this since not painting warbands, armies or anything such means I have total freedom to choose the exact minis I want to paint rather than having to paint something out of necessity to use in games.
Obviously this also means I tend to paint only miniatures that I already like - they have personal look or something else I really like going on (be it their face or some other element that I find interesting) or they lend themself for converting into something interesting.

Cool. Thanks for the detailed answer and glad to know I am not the only one!

 

[ManicMan]

I cheat for my story pics. If there's a hair, a paint chip or a bit of flock on a posed figure, I edit it out. If the eyes are awful I will (sometimes) edit them, and importantly, if the figure's eyes are looking in entirely the wrong direction, I will edit them to look the correct way.

Example - in a very early video I made these brute gaurds look at the poor, bound prisoner instead of off into space ...

View attachment 13630

In my defence, this is not really 'cheating' as it is necessary for the story pictures to work. To keep repainting eyes would be madness, and lead to some bulging eyed characters whose condition only ever got worse and worse!

Cheat! Eyeball Gate! You should be ashamed of yourself! We Believed in you! Give us back our Money!

hehe.. Anything I've missed? ^_^

anyway, yeah, you are doing a diorama story, I have no problems with the odd adjustment for that.

 

[Padre]

I should start using CGI and green screen and really go for it. The eyeball thing was just a gateway.

 

[Eric]

I cheat for my story pics. If there's a hair, a paint chip or a bit of flock on a posed figure, I edit it out. If the eyes are awful I will (sometimes) edit them, and importantly, if the figure's eyes are looking in entirely the wrong direction, I will edit them to look the correct way.

That seems fair enough from the king of miniature storytelling! I mean I'll edit out an annoying bit of dust on my camera sensor or something or tidy up something in the background if I managed to muck up say the edge of a backdrop and got something else in shot. Otherwise I try to limit myself to tweaking the exposure and occasionally tweaking the white balance a bit if I was being a bit slack on actually doing stuff in-camera.

Do you play much, does your place have a setting?

Hardly ever, I just don't find time to be honest. Work seems to eat far too much time. Finding the hours to play some WFB is a tough call - although of course to be fair I'm sure I could if I really really wanted to!

 

[dieselmonkey]

I start with the face, cos if the face ain't right then the whole figure ain't right.

I've never done this in my life, but now I've seen your photos I know exactly what you mean and I might have to give it a go!

 

[MichaelStockin]

I've never done this in my life, but now I've seen your photos I know exactly what you mean and I might have to give it a go!

Thanks!
I think?

I do think that a really average or boring figure can be elevated with a characterful face.
I also find faces the most challenging, so get the hardest and the most interesting bit done first and it can inspire me to paint the rest of the model.

I am not a fan of painting models but I do like the end result as another person comes to life in my setting.

Not all faces do this, maybe 1 in 10 once done comes alive and I can see the person in the model.
Generally a face is a face, but when they do come alive I find it rewarding and interesting.

 

[dieselmonkey]

Thanks!
I think?

I do think that a really average or boring figure can be elevated with a characterful face.
I also find faces the most challenging, so get the hardest and the most interesting bit done first and it can inspire me to paint the rest of the model.

I am not a fan of painting models but I do like the end result as another person comes to life in my setting.

Not all faces do this, maybe 1 in 10 once done comes alive and I can see the person in the model.
Generally a face is a face, but when they do come alive I find it rewarding and interesting.

Yeah, I totally see where you're coming from, and it definitely makes the figure come alive. I tend to struggle if I feel a colour scheme or model looks a bit 'dull', so i'll put it to one side and ignore it, occasionally for years, I have drawers full of half finished models!

If the face looks good then it might push me to get the rest of the model actually finished.