The future of miniature painting

[Captain Hwarang]

Hey peeps,

 

This thread is meant to be a general question/discussion on the evolution of miniature painting and where's it headed next. The tools and techniques have come such a long way since the late 80s and early 90s, and some of the models being produced now are simply unbelievable. Head over to The Yellow One's, Artur's, Bohun's, or a host of other amazing galleries at CMON and you'll see what I mean.

 

A good resource to demonstrate what I'm talking about is Demonwinnerfree.fr. Browse through the galleries if you never have, and compare the stuff from the early 90s to today. In my opinion, the difference is striking. What would have won a golden demon decades ago is now, in my opinion, only a great paint job.

 

From my experiences, layering and drybrushing were the staples of our medium, but there are so many techniques now that have propelled the standard of miniature painting to mindblowing levels.

 

I may have my chronology wrong, so please feel free to correct me, but one of the first new things I remember is wet on wet blending. Suddenly everyone is doing wet-on-wet blending. Then there was the NMM craze, which has now become a staple of the elite painters and commission artists. Then there was one-source lighting all over the place, from eye lenses to plasma guns, to hand flamers blasting a killa kan in the face. One of the newer things I've noticed is SENMM, or Sky Earth Non-Metallic Metals, superbly demonstrated by this Marneus Calgar by Joseph Tomaszewski. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.) This technique uses the NMM theory on colors we don't normally think of as metal, such as blue or red. Currently, I think the big trend is weathering and gritty realism, and this has given us weathering powders and textures, not to mention the "hair spray" and "salt" techniques.

 

Am I missing other techniques that are far outside the average painters toolkit?

 

But my real question is: what's next? What technique or effect will be the next big thing to revolutionize miniature painting for the next 4 to 5 years? I'm sure 20 years ago, the majority of painters assumed our medium had reached its peak, but the strides have been huge and undeniable. Any ideas what's coming next?

[henrywalker]

I have very little to input but think this is a brilliant topic and will be watching closely.

[Kierdale]

I remember as child being introduced to the concept of dry-brushing and it revolutionizing my painting (hey, I was a kid! ;)). Then more recently coming back to the hobby after a decade break and things had advanced so much more (OSL, NMM, etc).

 

No idea what'll be next. I'm still frantically playing catch-up! :D

[UselesswizarD]

While they are already fairly prevalent, I think airbrushes will continue to gain more and more ground in the hobby allowing paintjobs like the carapace onAwesomepainjob's Talos to become more and more prevalent. As more people continue to experiment with airbrushes on the miniature scale I fully expect to see more and more complex effects and techniques to become common.

 

I also expect to see a wider use of pigments in our hobby, not just in weathering but also used in place or in addition to washes and shades. The sheer amount of control that the use of pigments allows is too important to not be explored and developed further.

 

Overall, I expect to see more and more use of various forms of mixed media in painting high level miniatures such as oils, pigments, etc. We're already seeing this, but I fully expect to see it continue.

[winterdyne]

Yeah, I think airbrushing will come in more and more, especially as the kit is becoming more affordable. I don't think it'll greatky affect the style of what you see now as GW minis (and many other manufacturers) are deliberately 'arty'. These don't lend themselves particularly well to a photorealistic style, so much as something more realistically proportioned like, for example, Dust Tactics.

[Captain Hwarang]

I agree that the airbrush will continue to impact the way in which models are painted, and we have yet to see what an airbrush is truly capable of in the hands of a master. I will say though that some of the examples I've seen of airbrush work already border on photorealism. Aspects of some of your own work, Winterdyne, have already achieved that effect, such as the weathering and cracked armor on your dread. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like that was airbrushed, and you still achieved the effect.

 

I think we're seeing a general trend toward smoother and smoother gradients, and airbrush is definitely a means to that end. I have been having mild success recently with oil paint, although I have not yet defeated leaving behind brush strokes. An airbrush would eliminate that problem for sure.

 

I think if there was a way to easily change colors with an airbrush, they would see a lot more use. Right now though, I can't see myself cleaning out the thing every time I want to change colors.

 

I might be inclined to say that the trend is heading more and more toward photorealism, despite the unrealistic universe in which our hobby takes place. Every new technique that has been developed has been with the intent of getting things to look more and more "real." I believe weathering has has the same effect.

 

Is there anything anyone can think of that can be achieved with paint and a bush that hasn't been yet? I remember the first time I saw NMM, I didn't even look twice: I just assumed it was silver paint. I was floored when I found out it was painted with a grayscale gradient. What's the next thing that's gonna do that? Perhaps painting things to look transparent? A stained-glass effect maybe? Limited palette (the few models that I've seen here that utilize this technique have been simply stunning.) Or perhaps two-tone painting?

 

ANy other thoughts?

 

-CH

[winterdyne]

'Sheer fabric' is one of the effects that's being brought in by some of the top end folks. It's a hand blending effect. Don't see it on marines really. Yeah, transparent / refractive / crystal effects are also becoming more sophisticated artistically.

[GumbaFish]

I'd say look to other similar hobbies and see what things they have been doing for years that we will steal! Well maybe steal is harsh but incorporate. It seems the NMM stuff probably came from comics or the like and all of the weathering effects are taken right from military modelling. Maybe the inclusion of more miniatures painted in oils like some of the larger scale historicals? I have some water based oils ( I know it sounds strange) so who knows maybe someone will come out of a line like that for miniatures that promotes blending because of long dry times.

[Captain Hwarang]

I think you're definitely right about the oil paint thing. There is a lot we can with them on miniatures, and I know some of the higher end artists use them. I have a set of Windsor and Newton Artisan Oils, which are water based as you mentioned, and I love them. I'm still in the experimental stage so far, but I really love how they can be blended so easily. I have the most trouble with thinning them to a more familiar consistency; right now it's like moving around tiny pieces of butter over the model. But, it is working. The other problem is producing colors that are similar to the GW or Vallejo range. I'm no expert at mixing colors yet, acrylic or not. Everyone I have ever talked to about oils has always told me, don't even bother, they're a pain to work with. But the water based oils are actually easier to work with than acrylics, in my opinion, and the cleanup is faster too.

 

The weathering effects are taken straight from military modeling, as you say, and I sure am glad we've incorporated them. They've really added a whole new dimension to our hobby in my opinion. On the topic of military modeling techniques, I find it interesting that dipping is generally frowned upon in our hobby, but it is apparently a mainstay in 15mm military modeling, where it's simply impractical layer. However, I don't think that technique can really add anything beside ease of completion.

 

I thought it would be cool to have extremely reflective armor on something like a grey knight perhaps, that reflected the face of a close combat enemy. That would be something to see.