joedog | 05 Jan 2020 6:14 p.m. PST |
Today's blog post was inspired by a discussion over at BOLS, where someone stated that GW needs to add more human races/ethnicities to the figure line. Here's my solution, painting a variety of skin tones and hair colors. using some classic SM scouts as examples. link |
joedog | 05 Jan 2020 6:15 p.m. PST |
Please feel free to post some of your ideas and techniques for painting different skin tones. |
Frederick | 05 Jan 2020 8:01 p.m. PST |
I have a number of different skin tones in my Imperial Guard Army – this is a scratch built recon squad that I did a few years back coolminiornot.com/361490 |
von Schwartz | 05 Jan 2020 8:09 p.m. PST |
Already been there, I was the first kid on my block to build and paint the French 7th Regiment. This was a colonial regiment consisting solely of black soldiers. Reputedly the worst regiment in French service, they were transferred to Neopolitan service where they were proclaimed as the best Neopolitan regiment, go figure. |
USAFpilot | 05 Jan 2020 9:50 p.m. PST |
How about just making your soldier's skin tone historically accurate. If it's a fictional army than knock your socks off, maybe even add in a few purple skin theys (being gender neutral too). |
Asteroid X | 05 Jan 2020 11:02 p.m. PST |
I agree with USAFpilot. I'm not sure one can even tell "ethnic differences" at 28mm, to be honest. Maybe they really mean more elves, halflings, etc? I do find the new Contrast Paint flesh tones give great variance in flesh tones, especially when the colour of the primer used is taken into account! (I painted some ancient Germans with a grey primer and they turned out very dark, like Indians. It was interesting to note and will definitely help with historically accurate skin tones, when needed.) link |
Coyotepunc and Hatshepsuut | 05 Jan 2020 11:39 p.m. PST |
I've noticed that a lot of my miniatures seem to have darker skin tones these days…
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nickinsomerset | 06 Jan 2020 4:50 a.m. PST |
Not for diversity's sake, but where historical it is quite apt. I have a Neapolitan Bn in 15mm painted and a 20 plastic ACW unit, beautiful sculpts and properly ethnic. In a Cold War British army in 20mm a scattering of diversity is good, except in the Guards, Household Cavalry and Scottish Regts. I forget which Regt it was but one chap recalls an entire Crew team in the 80s who deployed with a large boogy box! Tally Ho! |
robert piepenbrink | 06 Jan 2020 5:12 a.m. PST |
With USAFpilot. But of course you must also be sure to include the right ratios of different hair colors among your Caucasian figures, and eye colors in 28mm and larger. |
Bigby Wolf | 06 Jan 2020 5:28 a.m. PST |
@Nick: Exactly! The Spring '83 Royal Artillery intake at Woolwich had just 1x black guy and IIRC no other minorities at all. Plus 1x mixed-race drill pig. The actual RHA regt I was then in throughout the 80s had 2x black guys total and again IIRC no other minorities at all. That's 3x gun batteries, RHQ and attached REME element. |
Insomniac | 06 Jan 2020 6:15 a.m. PST |
I mix and match skin colours through most of my armies… have done for years. If nothing else, it adds variety to an overall uniform theme. It's worth doing for a bit of painting relief as well… painting the same colours for an entire army can get very boring. |
Trebian | 06 Jan 2020 7:32 a.m. PST |
It can be a matter of choice. If you are painting XIVth army you can choose British county regiments, Indian Army or West Africans. Mostly you see British county regiments on the tabletop. In my latest project (1879 Pacific War) I found that freed slaves formed significant elements of some regiments, but didn't appear in the photos or illustrations. British Army regiments raised in the UK in WW2 would tend to be all white as high levels of immigration from the new Commonwealth didn't start until the 1950s. Prior to that West Indian/African or Asian subcontinent troops would be in their own regiments, based on where they were formed. Of course, that rule isn't hard and fast.Walter Tull was an officer in a British Country Regiment in WW1 (if you don't know who he is, go look him up). So, for earlier periods in respect of the British Army as I said above, it is a choice whether you ignore the thousands of non-white troops or include them. |
Legion 4 | 06 Jan 2020 7:37 a.m. PST |
I paint my Orks in different shapes of green ! And yes even some of my human/abhumans have various skin tones. However at 6mm the colors sometimes have to be a bit "extreme" to see it. E.g. some of my "Vietnam" themed Ogryn …
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mrwigglesworth | 06 Jan 2020 7:43 a.m. PST |
I have been painting with two or three skin tones for years but I think White Zulus is just silly. |
Jozis Tin Man | 06 Jan 2020 8:16 a.m. PST |
When I played Vietnam in 20mm 20 years ago, I painted my US Army platoon with about 60% Caucasian, 40% African American skin tones. These numbers may be wrong, but I think I looked up the correct ones at the time. Why? Not to be PC, but because it was more accurate and added an extra element of veracity. I will do something similar with my Korean War Project that is coming up, the integration of the US Army is not trivial from a military, historical or social aspect and should at least be represented on the table top. |
Dagwood | 06 Jan 2020 10:03 a.m. PST |
Even Caucasian troops should have a darker skin tone than is generally seen. All that time outdoors, they should all have a significant tan. And that's just in Europe ! (I nearly painted my naked Gauls with sun-burnt hands and faces, and pale legs and chests, but I chickened out in the end.) |
PzGeneral | 06 Jan 2020 12:02 p.m. PST |
When I painted my first 6mm project I did the AWI American Militia unit "The Bucks of America". A unit made up of "Free Men of Color". |
mildbill | 06 Jan 2020 12:03 p.m. PST |
Black drummers/musicians was common in horse and musket armies. |
Col Durnford | 06 Jan 2020 3:41 p.m. PST |
For me it depends on the period and unit. My Vietnam grunts are quite diverse but far less so with the elite units (like SEALs). I have three ultra modern forces, the US very diverse, French UN and a German group all very white. My Spanish American war units are segregated for the US and very diverse for the Cubans. |
Shagnasty | 06 Jan 2020 7:57 p.m. PST |
Historiocity determines diversity for me. |
Syrinx0 | 06 Jan 2020 8:57 p.m. PST |
+1 Insomniac. I vary the skin colors for most of my armies if only to add some variety to the similar poses and uniforms. It is definitely worth doing for a bit of painting relief. |
Legion 4 | 07 Jan 2020 9:03 a.m. PST |
My Vietnam grunts are quite diverse but far less so with the elite units (like SEALs). Yes, that is accurate historically … Historiocity determines diversity for me. Exactly … However in my example Sci-fi gives you a "broader" choice of colors … |
Bigby Wolf | 08 Jan 2020 6:24 a.m. PST |
Have to say I adore Legion's Ogryn diversity! |
Dn Jackson | 09 Jan 2020 12:37 a.m. PST |
Depends on being historically for me. I have the Rhode Island regiment about 60/40 and segregated by company for my AWI Americans. My AWI Hessians have black drummers. I have the black regiment for my Napoleonic Neapolitans. I have a black brigade for my ACW yanks. I have one black figure in my Confederate army. However, I have six different fur colors I use for my 15mm rat-men, and each unit of cat-men and dog-men are different. When I was in the Marine Reserves I went to Saudi Arabia/Kuwait during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. My unit was out of Richmond, Va. and close to 40% of the unit was black. A few years later I was living in Boston, Ma. We had one black guy in the entire company. We used to joke that drill weekend looked like a meeting of Aryan Nation. A bunch of white guys with crew cuts in camouflage. |
Uparmored | 09 Jan 2020 2:26 a.m. PST |
US field manual on Cuba tells me 1/4 of Cubans are black. So 1/4 of my Cubans are black. |
Legion 4 | 09 Jan 2020 9:26 a.m. PST |
Bigby +1 Dn Jackson – As a Rifle PL in the 101, '80-'81, most of my troopers were Black or Hispanic and even an American Indian. They used to keep stats on that back then. Only 8 of us were considered "white". But let me make clear to all, the race of my soldiers had nothing to do with effectiveness. I often said, we were not white or black … but all OD Green. As a side bar I heard in a recent discussion on CSPAN. It was noted that 50% of US Military comes from 7 of the Southern states. An interesting fact. But again it always comes down to effectiveness … |
Dn Jackson | 09 Jan 2020 10:18 p.m. PST |
When I was in the Corps all Marines were one color; green. We could be light green or dark green, but always green. The modern south is much more conservative/patriotic than most other parts of the country. Hence why the large percentage of serving military members, and why the constant attacks from the political left. |
Legion 4 | 10 Jan 2020 8:58 a.m. PST |
+1 |
Lion in the Stars | 13 Jan 2020 3:34 p.m. PST |
for painting ideas, there is the one big source: link I tend to split my modern US troops to ~50% white, 30% well-tanned/Hispanic, and ~20% black. |
dapeters | 14 Jan 2020 1:18 p.m. PST |
Interesting notion of patriotic? |