Malowanie figurek – Aim High Magazine #71: The Art Of Painting… Miniatures

Zimno na dworze… brrr! Mamy jednak nadzieję, iż niedługo zawita wiosna i dlatego pozwalamy sobie zainicjować serię artykułów, które ukażą się właśnie we wiosennym wydaniu magazynu AimHigh. Pierwszy tekst został napisany przez Michała Oziembłowskiego z klasy 4a, którego pasją jest malowanie figurek – poczytajmy o tym!

===================

The Art Of Painting… Miniatures

Do you like paintings? I’m sure most of you do! There’s a ton of art made by hand: from the wonderful „Creation of Adam” made by Michelangelo, through realistic depiction of „Storks” by Józef Chełmoński, to Pablo Picasso’s „Guernica”, which… exists. Although some are picturesque and some are less, one thing goes without saying – they’re all in 2D, so one can’t enjoy watching them from any direction they want. The same applies to drawings. And that’s where miniatures with 3-dimensional structures come into action. If you don’t have an idea what it is, then relax and enjoy examining a world of plastic and metal figures.

Let’s clarify: having miniatures is not the cheapest hobby, especially when you aim to complete entire armies for wargaming, but that’s a topic for another time. What we want to focus on is the painting itself and the activities preceding it.

As can be guessed, miniatures bought in public shops (like Bolter) are most likely to be brand new. Unless you purchased from a private seller who is getting rid of their collection, miniatures will come unfolded and unpainted. While glueing every part of a single trooper or vehicle doesn’t seem to be challenging, it becomes time-consuming in the long run when doing the whole team or even a platoon.

After the full squad has been constructed and the glue is dried, it is needed to spray them in one specific colour (I hope you don’t try to use pink for Imperial stormtroopers!) – not only does it make miniatures already feel like they’re partially painted, but also massively reduces the chance of wearing off later applied paint.

Speaking of the devil, we have come to the point where the most work is being done. But be warned – painting might be exhausting and in some cases, it requires extraordinary precision to have a satisfying result. Also, it’s the most costly step – you have to address the fact that some of your savings are gonna be spent to obtain various paints and brushes, depending on which scale is your model and what elements you want to cover in colour. For example: to paint a Sherman tank on a 1:100 scale, first of all, you need olive drab dye for camouflage, corvus black for tracks and machine guns, and one of the smaller miniature paint brushes.

Last but not least, we need to make our miniature shine… or not, it depends on you. Oil washes are a perfect tool for that job – use them wisely. Those liquids are also great for making figures look battle-hardened, but when abused, they may look oversaturated in the end. All you need to do is to cover an entire model with wash reasonably. As a bonus step, it is recommended to add artificial grass or small pebbles to the miniature stand. Congratulations, your little art is done!

As has been said previously, painting miniatures is not an easy task. Do you see the picture of this article? Doing those two speeder bikes from start to finish and fixing mistakes took me almost three days. Of course, if you don’t mind details, then it can be a way shorter process.

At the end of the day, it’s not a hobby for everyone. A lot of patience and money is needed, that’s for sure. Some may agree and some not, but in my opinion it’s one of the most rewarding activities of all time – there’s nothing better than to see your final product in its full glory after hours or even days of struggling put into it.

Michał Oziembłowski (4a)