"54mm Württemberg light infantry, and advice needed." Topic

Hi guys

I consider myself a journeyman when it comes to painting, I have been painting seriously for 30 odd years, my strengths are being able to paint large batches of figures reasonably quickly to a pretty decent wargaming standard, I have started a 30 odd year dream of collecting a 54mm Napoleonic display figure collection, using 3D figures as the medium.

I am not a display figure painter, I don't have those natural artistic talents that many display modellers do, no Bill Horan, so this project will be an attempt at improving my display painting skills.

So, where to start? I did this first batch of figures using my typical wargaming painting style, with a little extra work on the faces, this is my baseline that I want to improve from, I have yet to add foliage to the bases, I'll do that tomorrow, so what advice would you give me to improve? Names of painting techniques, and links to tutorials are appreciated, what is your favourite technique, and paint medium? These were done with Vallejo acrylics, I have a huge collection of acrylic paints, so I would like to start there, but I am open to looking into other types of paint, I would prefer to stay away from airbrushing, I have an airbrush, but I find the set up and pack down too much of a deterrent, and only use it for large batches of vehicles.

Should I try and keep this style but improve on it? Or change techniques entirely? Looking forward to hearing your advise.

These are 54mm Napoleonic Württemberg light infantry figures, printed by myself, using piano wargames files, they are next to 28mm figs for size comparison, they were printed at 190%.

Next I will do a Bavarian gun and crew.
link

I think they're delightful and I can't see what the desire to change is. I can olny guess you want them to look more photo-realistic, but I for one prefer your painting style – the colour palette is convincingly real and the painting style with slightly exaggerated shading looks really good on these figures.

Personally, I think they look fantastic.

Best wishes,

Chris

I grew up admiring Bill Horans work, and he blows me off the park, I'd love to get even just a bit more like his level of realism.

Good god, man; they're fantastic.

These look pretty good to me, especially the faces. I find it hard to imagine what could be better.

I agree to the above, whole heartedly! They are super! Some of the "collector level" paint jobs seem to exaggerate the folds and shadows. You have painted a realistic level as BillyNM says. I look forward to seeing the Bavarians!

Those figures look beautiful. You underestimate your own talent.

Change nothing! Those are amazing!

I don't do display painting, so my advice may not fit – and I have admired your Napoleonics in the past, so don't feel that I am criticizing

To get to the next level, you would need to look at the art side – understanding how light falls on an object, and how that appears to the human eye

So, looking at the jacket, beautifully highlighted and shaded, but in real life, the highlights would fall off away from the light, and there would be more of a color shift in the shadows. Also the exact placement of highlights and shades in the folds is a little different from what you have

The other thing to play with, would be apparent transparency. If you take a lighter base color and then layer transparent darker color over the top. Easiest place to play with this is the muskets. You're already getting this to some extent. Consider also the leather of the boots and shako. The photos in Osprey books I have show a different tone between the base of the shako and the bands at the top and bottom

I love Marco Frissoni's You Toob videos. He's a lot of fun, but tends to get super enthusiastic about new paints etc. He has a lot of examples of color theory, airbrushing and oil paints. You don't need oils or airbrush to get the effects, but it makes it easier

I have the same experience with airbrush. Like the results, don't enjoy the process

Interesting to see how good those miniatures look at this scale

Good luck and looking forward to seeing the results

John

They are extremely good. Make what I paint look like I did it with my thumbs.

Thanks guys, I'll look Marco Frissoni up and give his videos a watch.

A realistic looking figure or scene is one where you believe it is a real person or landscape. You get lost in the moment. Think about CHRIS DODSON's Antietam visions. His figures aren't really painted that well, but his lighting, background, composition is very artistic.
So, the light has to be good. The above poster noted that it comes from one direction. I also should be bright enough that the details can be appreciated.
The base is a landscape that won't distract from the illusion. When I see all of those bottles and stuff (and the wee man), I'm distracted. Some people will put a building or a poster with sky/clouds/trees in the background to create the illusion.
Real people aren't outlined. Wargames figures are, to exaggerate their features. Look where your figure's pants enter his boots. It should be grey cloth and then leather. The cloth may become darker, but not black. The white leather belts and straps, where they cross each other, should not be blacklined top and bottom. There may be a slight shadow on the bottom of the belt, depending on the light source, but on top it should be lighter, if anything.
Just a few observations. I really like the paint jobs, but I think you were looking more for a critique than an 'atta-boy' to move to the next level.
I've long admired your skill in mass producing great looking wargame figures.

cheers!

"
A realistic looking figure or scene is one where you believe it is a real person or landscape. You get lost in the moment. Think about CHRIS DODSON's Antietam visions. His figures aren't really painted that well, but his lighting, background, composition is very artistic.
So, the light has to be good. The above poster noted that it comes from one direction. I also should be bright enough that the details can be appreciated.
The base is a landscape that won't distract from the illusion. When I see all of those bottles and stuff (and the wee man), I'm distracted. Some people will put a building or a poster with sky/clouds/trees in the background to create the illusion.
Real people aren't outlined. Wargames figures are, to exaggerate their features. Look where your figure's pants enter his boots. It should be grey cloth and then leather. The cloth may become darker, but not black. The white leather belts and straps, where they cross each other, should not be blacklined top and bottom. There may be a slight shadow on the bottom of the belt, depending on the light source, but on top it should be lighter, if anything.
Just a few observations. I really like the paint jobs, but I think you were looking more for a critique than an 'atta-boy' to move to the next level.
I've long admired your skill in mass producing great looking wargame figures.

cheers!"

Maybe I'll look at glazes instead of layer painting, it may soften those areas, cheers.