PAINTING:
Different Approaches

A wargames miniature is mostly going to be viewed on a table some distance away, not right up close to your face. This completely changes the way it is seen. There is really no need to paint fine detail.

In my opinion, the true test of a good paint job is to look at it, not close up, but on the table. A technically "well painted" figure with lots of fiddling detail can look terrible at arm's-length, while a much simpler figure with less subtle shading can look incredibly dramatic.

The eye will resolve the same object differently at different distances. As an object recedes into the distance, it covers a smaller area of the retina. A miniature soldier covers a small area, and represents a distant person covering the same area.

Go to a public place or look out a window, preferably on a bright sunny day. Hold your thumb and forefinger apart the height of your figure (25mm, 15mm... whatever) and hold your hand out at arm's-length to represent how you will see it on the table. Look between the thumb and finger, and try to find a person in the distance who will just exactly "fit" between the two, so covering the same area of your retina. This is what you want your figure to look like.

The shape of the person-in-the-distance is more defined by contrast than by colour. Very sharp contrast, almost from the basic colour straight to near-black, so paint flat colour leaving a dark undercoat showing. There is little in the way of highlights (except on the shoulders, face, and top-of-head), so you almost needn't bother. The face is defined by area of deep shadow for the eye-sockets (so don't bother with painting in the eyes) and under the chin, and highlights on the nose, cheeks and forehead.

I've seen the application of this theory works brilliantly on 15mm and 25mm. Your figures in situ will not only look better, they take less time and skill to paint. Unsubtle shading is the way to paint.

Before you drive youself nuts or start needing glasses, try this...

Take a figure in your hand so that it is standing between your thumb and forefinger. Now remove the figure, holding your fingers in position. Extend your arm and look down your arm and through your fingers. Hold your fingers so that they frame someone in the distance as if you were holding them like the figure....

...now tell me how much detail do you see. Do you see eyeballs? do you see details other than large areas of color? can you make out the face at all?...

There is something called scale effect though, so we paint in shadows, but little more than that is simply wasted effort.

A lot more people would be painting if they weren't intimidated by so-called super-painters. An army should (IMHO) look realistic on the table.