"diamond tips and thingies" this is why I come back. Uncle atom's rich and varied lexicon and outright professionalism. I come from a family who would hold "you know jobby, does the thing with the gubbins down what's it street" conversations and you would know what that person said.

First of all - Ta for the shout out :) I personally just like good miniatures - good here meaning "I think it looks cool". There are things I dislike about digital miniatures, and I have a special dislike for miniatures that have been designed without any consideration of whether they can actually survive as real life object. But I also dislike lumpy putty sculpts with putty globbed on without any attempt at detail. Despite producing everything by hand, I'm really hopeful for the push towards 3d printing and distribution as it A-democratizes the whole hobby and allows sculptors to be paid fairly for their work and B- pushes a much needed industrial upgrade across the hobby, as many of the small to mid size companies (especially in the UK) are using ex industrial machinery that they bought second hand 50 years ago during the plastic boom (so you'll find most miniature companies are using centrifugal casting systems from long defunct companies, held together with spit and hope) or are producing with methodologies that are no longer taught and can only survive for as long as the remaining practitioners stay in the industry (plastic production from a 3 up is a great example.) So it's good for the longevity of the hobby. A large part of the shift also comes from the fact that arts education has largely been mothballed in favor of digitally focused design, as the former is expansive and messy whilst the latter needs a few computers and a couple of 3d printers and can then run with minimal upkeep cost. This does mean that where miniature making was once a great way to sneak a practical and artistic skill into unsuspecting nerds, It now simply exists within the same digital space as everything else. the overlap between miniature production and fine art sculpture production was basically a circle until a few years ago (outside of GW) but now the overlap is more with video game character design and digital FX. Again, Not a bad thing, But one that's going to be interesting to see as time goes on. Someone in the comments below made a comparison to movies and the oversaturation of VFX post 2000 - And perhaps that's the case, that we're heading for a bit of a miniature Michael bay moment where the freedom to do things outpaces the critical language needed to do it well. But if that's the path we're following then maybe it's something the industry just needs to get out of it's system? many great shows and films now have returned to 3d models and sets with VFX enhancement to great effect, And maybe that's something the world of miniature making will lean into in the coming years.

@ezakustam

2 жыл бұрын

That's a lot of interesting information. I largely agree. But since corporate plastic minis are typically made with injection molding and similar processes, spin casting has been FAR less expensive at smaller scale. True professional 3D printing isn't exactly cheap, either. So I would say spin casting is democratizing more than plastic production outside of hobbyist-level 3D printers. (Which are amazing and getting better and better, of course.) Also, though art education seems to have changed as you say, no amount of technical savvy can replace understanding of classical principles. It has to continue as a core part of the curriculum, or your students end up making junk. P.S. Didn't realize you're in the industry too when I wrote this. Do you know something about GW and WizKids production that I missed?

@bombarded15

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the post, that's a very well balanced view between fear of losing the past and hope for the future

I have to admit that I really enjoy the *style* and *character* from old models. And I was born in 1994, so no nostalgia for me. But them Rogue Trader up to 3rd Edition Minis, I just adore

"It's not a tumor " Almost as fun as: "Get to the Choppa." Nice video as always. For me, I like the new plastic miniatures, because the details are great (look at the "new" sisters of battle vs The old metal ones) and the material allows for easier converting.

@MentoliptusBanko

2 жыл бұрын

Schwartzi's lines are funny in any context 😁

@t0k3p0k3

2 жыл бұрын

I painted a bump on a space marine head as a mole. I did not know about service studs.

@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t

2 жыл бұрын

But it is getting so big, it's more like a three-mor. *jazz hands*

@lelionnoir4523

2 жыл бұрын

I had to pause the video to go down in the comments and laugh with you guys.

My biggest problem with the new style is the models end up alot of time being over design and a pain to paint for a whole army

@settispaghetti2273

2 жыл бұрын

I love digitally designed miniatures, but sometimes I feel like older miniatures let me take the mini in a direction of my choosing, while newer designs have so many different elements, details and intricate shapes that I'm solving a puzzle of how to get everything to mesh rather than pursuing a creative hobby. Older models with larger plain surfaces lets me add texture, freehand, decals and all sorts of other fun gubbins, while newer sculpts can be overwhelming. Obviously, the best digital sculps have all the character and creative freedom of the best handsculped minis, with all the advantages of digital, making them superior in every way.

I love digital stuff, both at 28mm but bigger and smaller as well. I think that digital sculpting can lead to over complicated models that become less fun to paint. But when you get the level of detail right (thinking of aeronautica Imperialis) they're a pleasure to paint and wonderfully simple

@ml6158

2 жыл бұрын

Exatcly my thought, digital sculpting feels like they are made to look nice on the box, and when you look at how people paint them, most struggle.

I think it’s no accident John Blanche is the most influential designer through Games Workshop history. His style has a huge range to it but I would say it prioritises character theme and design over clean lines. The best models have these things as well. Precision is great but not at the price of character.

@terrydactyl2077

Жыл бұрын

New to miniatures. I saw this blokes name mentioned and sought out his artwork online and am in love with it. Did he also design the models themselves? Is there a doco on him at all?

I like both. I like the clean, modern miniatures with lots of nice detail for contrast paint to make look great for minimal effort. But I also like the hand-sculpted range of super-characterful cat rangers that, for example, Northumbrian Tin Soldier does. Like you say, truly a golden age!

Essentially the same thing happens in music production; I started making ambient electronic music through a daw, with plug-ins and midi, and i had to code in "organic" sounding patches and movements in the "instruments" I was using in the piece. As soon as I switched to an analog synth and some guitar effect pedals, I could effortlessly get that character and organic feel, because I was actually controlling the sound waves organically. Its easier to get everything perfect electronically, but if you want things to feel hand crafted you've gotta go to the source. Really cool to think about!

As a painter for fun rather than for playing I love the old sculpts. The newer digital versions are just a bit too crisp and I think they suffer from lack of character. However I have scuffed them up a bit and that helps.

I'd love to see more of a mix of both techniques in a single model, where maybe the model was hand sculpted but then cleaned up digitally. Or the other way around. As a kitbasher, I appreciate hand sculpting particularly but can always get a lot of use out of a great digital mini.

I recently purchased the old ork commandos and I'm in love with them, so much more character than the new ones

@Kallistosprom

2 жыл бұрын

But did you like the random placement on the sprue? I found it a whole new level of torture.

@ShotgunZodiax

2 жыл бұрын

@@Kallistosprom don't get me started, Oh let's have 35 and 36 on totally different sprues while 78 that is exactly like 36 is next to 35......

@Kallistosprom

2 жыл бұрын

@@ShotgunZodiax I’ve been collecting since Rogue Trader and it was the worst sprue I have ever seen. Great models awful sprue layout.

I prefer digitally sculpted models for sheer amount of details on them, however, some of them are difficult to build because their designer thought it is a good idea to cut a torso of a miniature into three parts and make it hollow (thus the miniature is lighter and the producer will save some material). Also, it is difficult to change their postures or to customize them by replacing a hand or head or a weapon. Fortunately, not all new Games Workshop models that are sculpted digitally are made that way - for example, the new Veteran Guardsmen (that are "funny" to build when you realise in the middle of the process that you can´t have some specialists as they share some parts) versus Cadian Shock Troops with new upgrade kit (that are still completely customizable).

@TheSarge23

2 жыл бұрын

That's where I am: I really LOVE the look and detail of modern minis. But sadly, some designers the go overboard and make them so damn hard to assemble with many parts that are almost impossible to reach by a brush without doing a sub-assembly prime and build (which then requires more planning and care or an airbrush-setup to achieve). And then you have stuff like GWs "To get this mini to hold a weapon, you get the torso, two arms, the weapon and perhaps a cable as well! Have fun fitting and gluing them together at the same time without making any errors!" ... I HATE this. :( Soured me on my IG Scions. Gave up midway through and stopped assembling/painting them alltogether.

@rmkarros

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheSarge23 um you just glue one arm to the gun first then do the rest also were you using plastic or super glue? because thay aren't that hard? but then again I built 60+ of them and was doing some serious kit bashing/converson work to get alternating poses. as there like 5 posses natively in that box which is stupid (and at least one of the poses I don't like that much ug)

Well as someone who makes my own stuff digitally, I've always been partial to digital. It's my preferred method of kitbashing too, pre-printing, or printing accessories, spare heads and such. And there's nothing stopping these two from meeting in the middle. Raging Heroes digitally sculpts their models, and then does some after care to the minis before casting them. You can see layer lines left in the casts in parts that will be covered by another piece, but the other surfaces lack the grainy texture completely. You can easily print out a "basic" model and then sculpt on top of that the details by hand. And like you said, with digital there's nothing stopping you from doing the unevenness of handsculpting. While there are tools for mirror symmetry and clean geometric shaped, you can also just start from a blob and pull and add to make it into the shape you want, and without symmetry it will be uneven. Nothing stops you from making soulful and character rich models digitally. And luckily the more competition there is, the more it is required. Quality of STLs available has skyrocketed in the past three years to insane levels by comparison, as everyone and their dog is able to release models if they so desire. Can't do perfectly symmetrical and clinical poses no more if you wish to sell your models.

I only paint GW miniatures (and only been doing it for a few years), so I'm limited in knowledge. I've painted a few dozen primaris marines before I switched to a box of tactical marines. I think this current box of tac marines is digitally sculpted, but they were still done in an old way of thinking, and I've found myself enjoying painting those more than the new marines. And old marines felt easier to paint too. My biggest gripe with this modern GW minies is when they slice openly visible flat surfaces in half so it will fit the sprues. Some easy to build kits do this (and it is kind of understandable there), but for the life of me I can't understand why the sisters of battle shoulderpads had to be cut in half for example, instead of being a separate piece of the kits.

@cole8834

2 жыл бұрын

Tamiya plastic cement with the fine brush will fix problems like shoulderpads very easily. Just glue it together, then run the plastic cement brush down the seam lines on the model. Then file it down a little with a hobby knife. blam. perfectly smooth plastic shoulderpads (or other flat surface joints).

When it's the work of a talented and imaginative sculptor, there's no question that hand sculpted minis are my favorite. Works by WlhelMiniatures, Andrew May, Boris Woloszyn, Ana Polanšćak for a few examples.

Grown up with hand sculpted. I think that well sculpted figures with clean lines stand out irrespective of their creation media. In seeking to overcome manufacturing issues there has been a door opened to enthusiastic addition of smaller details/parts resulting in an 'accurate' but 'fussy' or complex figure. To be fair this is more a result of company esthetic than individual design decisions.

I find, as I go through my collection of minis going back 30+ years, that in general I prefer the modern styles for exactly the reasons you mentioned - the artist intent is clearer with what things are, more detail is available, etc. However, with some things, like monsters, it's less of a hindrance, and there, it can be a fun enhancement, without it being an obvious change.

@Seelenschmiede

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, my old style terminators & orks are nice for that warm fuzzy feeling they give me remembering the old days, but aestetically, I preffer the new ones with "realistic" proportions and clean lines.

I like both. I really adore the character and often times also the goofieness of old school sculpts. Also they are not overloaded with details which make them easier to paint. While the current GW kits are astonishing in the details it can be daunting to have like a million small extra details across the model. Especially for battle line infantry it's a pain in the butt I think. There are a couple 3d Artists with an old school feel though: Warp Minitatures, Red Nebular, Duncan Shadow comes to mind

Digital is a double edged sword. On the one hand you get the benefits of clearly defined detail as you mentioned in the video, no more confusion around what a part is meant to be. On the other, especially with GW, there’s a lot of obvious model re-use which makes ranges too “samey” and less interesting.

@captainweekend5276

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, for instance in the new eldar guardian kit, there's one pose that is literally just one of the other poses but mirrored.

@Andy__H

2 жыл бұрын

@@captainweekend5276 You can see it cross-range too. Compare AoS models with 40K ones. Some of them look like the same base model, reskinned to fit 40K. 🤷

@niklasgrosche3304

2 жыл бұрын

After painting a Death gaurd army, there is also a lot of copy paste, maybe resize literally bells and whistles, skulls, trinkets, spikes, tentacles..... no Hand sculptuer would do so much little thingies

@Andy__H

2 жыл бұрын

I guess it’s just a natural evolution of model design, re-use of components in a digital setting. It does make me question why I’m paying so much for some of the cookie-cutter GW models though as there’s less talent going in to those than from other vendors. 🤷

I'll always have a soft spot for hand sculpted models, they give you a connection with the artist who made them in a way that digital sculpts seem to lack for me at least. But it's all good!

@Ringduva

2 жыл бұрын

You should see my 3d sculpts then, they look even more hand sculpted than hand sculpted models ;)

Even though I've been building plastic models since 1959 when I was five, there was a time I would not buy a plastic figure, all the time cursing how much work the metal parts-prep was. I loved the heft of metal figures, and it felt like more value for money. A finished metal figure was an object d' art. For a long time I considered metal figures more durable, but their mass sometimes betrayed them--A dent in metal can be much harder to restore than a clean break in plastic. The astonishing ways digitally-designed pieces can fit together, hiding major seams, is utterly brilliant, and kit-bashing in plastic is such a joy. Today, I normally build to display, and I collect all ages of figures, except for the wretched Finecast ones, of course. Creating a display showing the evolution of a recent release, or restoring a batch of old monkey-painted minis, is a great joy.

My favorite models right now are Artisan Guild. And for all the love that I have for them, one of the very few niggles I could come up with is that you can find common design elements, textures, that kind of stuff, across the releases, to an amount that I find goes beyond tying the world together into noticeable repetition. That's something that comes with digitally modelling the sculpts, but the benefit is that we can get amazing minis, conveniently printed at home, for a great price, done by a tiny team (or now 1-person-operation) I believe. So yeah. The miniature ecosystem is evolving rapidly, and I firmly believe that when we have gone to virtually 100% 3D printing at home, sculptors will have professionalized and we'll see these kinds of nice imperfections deliberately added.

As a Warhammer player, and an avid 3D print enthusiast, I have access to thousands of "proxy" models as well as official ones. This has helped me come to appreciate the model and the sculpt itself. Sometimes, when I don't like GW's sculpt of a dragon, I'll print someone else's that has done it better. And sometimes, I buy GW because they do some things better. It's a brave new world and I love it.

I think our hobby is undergoing a paradigm shift with digital sculpting. Whilst I totally agree, that hand-sculpted miniatures can have a certain charm, they can also be a major PIA to put together and require oftentimes many corrective measures (mould lines, gap filling, kit bashing). Digitally sculpted miniatures, particularly the ones that are sold as printable files, have certainly a more clean look from the get go to them, but have a number of undeniable advantages. 1. They are immediately available and can be printed rapidly. Most digital sculptors provide already assembled miniatures with pre-supports that are ready to be printed as well as bits to be printed separately and then assembled as one sees fit. 2. Digital kit bashing is a thing and relatively easy to do. I got into 3D-printing only a couple of months ago, but having a blast digitally kit bashing my own models. That way, I can give them more character, if I want to, without fear that sculpting or kit bashing will ruin pretty expensive models I bought. 3. With some free tools available on the market, I can easily remix sculpts on my own (for my personal use) and modify them to my liking. Even with digital bits from another sculpt. All it needs is a little time. No more than "old school" kit bashing would take. That way, I can give them the character I want the to have. 4. If you break a piece of a 3D sculpt during assembly, that's not a biggie anymore. Just print another one and you are golden. 5. I find I am more willing to experiment when painting with printed minis. As a standard troop mini costs me only a few cents to print instead of at least a couple of Euros to buy, well, if a certain paint-scheme or technique did not work, I am not kicking myself as much, but merely print another mini. I like both worlds, but tend more and more towards 3D printing as my knowledge in transforming digital sculpts myself increases.

For me, it's simple. As a guy who grew up in the 90's with metal minis...I don't miss them. However...the overwhelming majority of digital sculptors (particularly with companies like Games Workshop) get way too carried away. Models become busy, fussy, tough to build or transport, while offering nothing special. The digital sculptors who are able to "tone it down" and stop filling every single open space with an additional digitally sculpted element...they win the prize. They win my business. A good example is Fireforge Miniatures. Gorgeous plastic miniatures with enough detail to look amazing on the table, but with about 30% of the business/fuss that goes into a comparable GW miniature. A lot of digital sculptors on Etsy also get into the weeds...designing a miniature with details so precise they're invisible or breakable/flimsy at 28-32mm scale, etc. As with old Perry miniatures, I want a miniature that is designed with gaming in mind. Enough detail to look good, and simple enough to serve on the tabletop for 20+ years.

I've been futzing around with miniatures for D&D and Warhammer/40k since the 80s. The old style metal miniatures hold a lot of nostalgia for me, and there are examples of them I'll always have in my collection. Through the decades the hands-on sculpting got better, as did the means of producing them, and that was a joy. In the past 10 or so years, digital sculpting and 3D printing has opened up a whole new arena of detail and range of subjects for miniature producers to utilize in expanding our hobby and putting into our hands what was only in our imaginations. This too is exciting and relevant. I don't poo-poo any medium an artist decides to use to bring life to our hobby, and I think each process has it's benefits and pitfalls. There will always be something special about a miniature meticulously handcrafted by a sculptor, and there is something awe inspiring about the amount of detail that can be achieved through digital rendering. I can't say I have a favorite. I welcome it all!

i got myself a 3d printer for christmas and subbed to a patreon called Artisan Guild. i LOVE their style. what really sold me is their feathers. their sculpts are spectacular, but when their models have feathers, theyre stunning. in january, they did vampires, and the queen vamp warrior model had a giant owl steed. its beautiful. i really want to paint it well, so im taking some time and really trying to nail down the techniques i want to use to paint it.

I know part of my love comes from when I got started. I painted my first mini in 2010. Black reach and skull pass were on the shelf. And my favorite marine model is the Lord Executioner they're discontinuing. Theres both a character to them and a bit of a soul but also for me the right balance of stylization and attempt at realism. It reminds me of something that happened to a friend. She drew her grid on the canvas to get started and her art teacher looked at it and said, "your grid has emotion to it...how?" Plus an ease of building that just seems lost now. When I build the KT box is was miserable trying to hunt for the 1 part on the jumbled sprue where as I miss just cutting the parts all into a pile and just grab and go. I think I found painting easier and more fun on some of those older sculpts. Bigger areas to just paint up while allowing space to do your own thing. Some newer sculpts feel like trying to do a coloring book where the images are just too densely detailed.

Great video, great point of view. I am an enthusiast I suppose, if someone who looks in through a window is an enthusiast. I like new crisp sculpts. However, this may be like cotton candy - it's sweet for an instant, then all you're left with is a green tongue. Perhaps this is akin to CDs and vinyl. CDs were simply better. But later, when everyone had green tongues, there were some who wanted their vinyl back because of the imperfections. I think the "imperfections" that give hand-sculpted minis their character can only be removed; I don't think they can be added digitally. They are artifacts of hand-sculpting.

Old minis definitely have a quaint charm to them and I enjoy collecting them, even as I drool over the new stuff. Like, I was so excited when the Chaos Marine models started getting updated. The better proportions and extra details on them are so cool! I was ready to throw my old army up on eBay to fund getting the new stuff. Then my dad pointed out that we used to game with these guys who had old Eldar and Guard and Space Marine armies they had been building since second and third edition, this sweet retro stuff that had a history about it, and that my dorky Chaos Marines were gonna be that someday. Really changed the way I looked at older models and made me appreciate them, even in their silliness. (I mean, honestly. The horns on these helmets as as tall as their torsos!) Still need to get 'em on new, bigger bases though...

I started playing D&D back in late 70's. In the 80's I started collecting Ral Partha metal models. Loving the improvements over the years and still collecting. All Hail the You Tube Algorithm Gods...

I’ve never actually bought a hand sculpted mini before. Very cool vid

I recently painted a Warhammer Fantasy Empire captain model (the one with the halberd and the eye patch), and it was a lot of fun. Granted, there were a few parts that had me scratching my head. But returning to that style of miniature after years of digitally oversculpted plastics, it's not just nostalgia talking. I was able to paint it in a fraction of the time and achieve a result, that while not as detailed, is far more striking at tabletop distance. Metal armor, boots, sash, weapon, head. It was designed to look good from a few feet away instead of up close ultra detail, and hand sculpting lends itself to that style in a way that current digitally sculpted miniatures just can't hope to pull off.

I think you may have just lit a new spark in me, i now know what must do, sculpt my next mini

I don’t have the space or time to have the ability of a 3D printer to print miniatures so the abundance of miniature designers, people willing to print and sell them, and having a wide range of choice makes the whole hobby better. I think both have a place in it and each their own artistic merits. I like to see details but also thoughtful design , if something is difficult to build, that means it requires more skill and attention for those that deeply enjoy the art hobby. Army builders have different needs than character/display builders, so this will ultimately decide how you go about getting and painting miniatures.

Love the Kindergarten Cop reference.

I love both equally! Like Battletech for exemple you have the same model sperated by 30 years and both on sale today... One is plastic and is pretty much from a linsiced video game the other the orignal or one of the orignals still being made today.

Honestly, I love both kinds of miniatures. I have the older static poses for my Bolt Action armies, newer 40k sculpts and even some 3D prints I ordered for a skirmish game, Black Powder Red Earth. I think each has it's own style and uses for games.

I'm happy to say that I like ALL Warhammer miniatures without exception. All I bought is a treasure in my curiously assembled Collection, and I love it. I don't see any discrepancy between the "old" and "new" models. Neither in size nor in style. I especially take care that the old models get modern bases of the correct size. A special point of my pride is the old fantasy miniatures on round and oval bases for Age of Sigmar. They benefit infinitely from this.

As someone who does their own 3D model sculpting for printing I have a bunch of reference minis on hand to keep the hand-sculpted feel. In Zbrush you can start with a lump of clay and use simulations of more traditional tools and can even simulate their shape by controlling the brush settings. So I guess I love the ease of 3D sculpting but the look and feel of hand sculpting. We can have our cake and eat it with 3D printing at home.

I only got into the hobby a year ago, but after painting a tiring amount of primaris space marines and resin characters, I stumbled across somebody selling a pile of OG metal vostroyans. Between printed plastic, forgeeorld resin, finecast, and metal, I REALLY prefer and enjoy the pewter metal models. (Speaking of which, if anybody reading this has Mordian Iron Guard or Elysian Drop troops theyre willing to part with, PLEASE contact me)

I like how we have the options :)

Great topic. Newer stuff tends to be my preference but I like plenty of older models.

Loved the simplicity of the older models, particularly the RTB01 Space Marines. I suppose a lot of what l like about them is the nostalgia that connects me to a time l was truly fascinated with them.

The new stuff, without a doubt! I have been 3D printing recently and its great as well. Were in a great time to be a gamer of this hobby! I mean lets be real here, who misses having to scrape super thick mold lines!? With the new tech mold lines are so feint or the mold lines are hidden in the construction of the mini. I'm bummed out about the loss of pose-ability of things like the space marines, my first kit of Primaris Hellblasters took me forever to build because I lost track of witch backpack/gun arm combo was correct for the body I was using because, like a dingus, I cut most of the sprew apart before I started. The poses and detail on the new stuff is so sublime, I can forgive the loss of some modularity.

@Seelenschmiede

2 жыл бұрын

But thats more a thing of "monopose" than 3d sculpting

I've been messing with some metal models from the 80s and I love the charm, but I greatly appreciate the ease of use that comes with modern plastic models.

I like modern and old, but I find I enjoy fixing up and painting older metal models they just have charm and I love the weight of moving them on table top

Being new to this hobby (your videos finally made me take the plunge in late 2017) I’m a huge fan of digitally sculpted miniatures. The details and clarity are stunning and while they can sometimes be fiddle to build, I like that adult Lego challenge haha

Loving the fact that you are wearing a Tenhundred shirt!! On topic, new digi sculpts blow my mind, especially on larger than 28mm, i just feel that proportions tend to be better and details are clearer, that said every sculpt is judged on its own merits, sometimes digital just goes too far and it becomes a hardcore challenge just to paint something.

I was drinking when you said “it’s not a tumor” and about choked laughing.

Very interesting video. Keep up the good work.

I’ll always be a big fan of hand sculpted minis, they’re what I grew up with and I adore painting them.

It's great that we have both old hand sculpted figures and digitaly sculpted ones. Me personally I have a soft spot for the hand crafted. That's because they have the sculptors style. For instance I'm a fan of Colin Patten's minis. I can tell that a mini was sculpted by the guy not matter if it's truscale or heroic. With digital I'm not sure weather I'm looking at a Wargames Atlantic sculpt of Victrix.

I like both. I just finished a pewter mini from reaper actually. I like the new clean highly detailed new minis but I have a soft spot in my heart for the older classic hand sculpted pewter minis. It's nostalgic and it's the minis I started painting when I was a kid.

There is something about the old days of GW. When I look at old White Dwarf magazines and army books, I love the "punk rock" aesthetic. I don't know if it is paint or the molds, but it would be nice to have a cool retro range for Warhammer. Basically, I like both. Great video!

Definitely the golden age of miniatures. I design, cast and paint my own mini's nowadays and even sell the STL's for some pocket change to buy more materials, which is incredible. :D

There are two things I dislike about digitally sculpted models. It seems to have given the sculptors the compulsive need to put something on every surface. Sculpted decorations on banners, sculpted coats of arms on shields, sculpted texture... It sometimes restricts your options for customisation, and makes painting take longer because there's a little thing on every square millimetre. The other thing is that the way they separate the models into pieces nowadays (*especially* on GW "easy to build" stuff) makes it much harder to do some small conversions, or to use leftover parts elsewhere. It's quite easy to swap out pieces when the torso, head and arms are all separate, but when the head, left arm and right shin (but not foot and calf) are all on the same piece, this becomes much harder. Other than that I much prefer the digitally sculpted models though. Gone are the days of janky proportions and derpy faces. Mostly.

I'm a Sucker for hand sculpted minis and that goes for all crafts, I want to see the hand of the artist in the things I collect whether its furniture trinkets or minis.

always loved the old style and still look for them at adepticon!! Mostly old imperial guard stuff

Ive been in the hobby since 1995 and for me I love the older 90s metals for the "traditional" look and feel of the miniatures. I like the smoothness and ease of painting with the modern 3D printed miniatures too but ive noticed whenever I go shopping online I tend to go looking for the original older sculpts. I guess that just makes me an older generational gamer? For games like D&D etc i tend to be fine with the modern miniatures for the varieties of class/race that are available nowadays. For games like Stargrave or Reign in Hell I tend to reuse a lot of my older metal or ancient plastic miniatures but even in that I've noticed some of the more modern but cheaper plastic kits (like from Mantic Games etc) are coming more into their own in those smaller scales of skirmish games.

The newer digital minis can be so detailed that they go beyond my ability (age/eyesight) to paint effectively. I still find details i missed on my Death Guard marines

"it's not a tumor" Grandfather Nurgle disagrees

The name of the system for making steel moulds from physical masters is a pantograph machine - perry miniatures still produce from a physical master via renedra plastics. However, it's a dying skill - it's an engineering system that has been outpaced by digital methods of production and really only exists in the wargaming world.

I love the look of old hammer.

I love the old Ral Partha , Reaper, Grenadier, and Citadel metals. Yes, the older lead ones are a bit lumpy but towards the mid-late 80's, early 90's they had perfected the process and many of them have amazing detail (without being fiddly) and more importantly old school charm. I have a backlog of around 1000 of these to paint, its a problem.

1st place - modern GW models, 2nd place - Relicblade models, 3rd place - Northstar and Perry minis...the 2nd and 3rd place have more charm and personal touch to them...but i'm most satified with painting and collecting the fancy new gen GW stuff, since it is just since a marvel and great ease to paint.

I enjoy both. I started with goofy metal minis from Ral Patha and Mega Minis (RIP) years ago. Then after being out of the hobby I started painting board game minis and some of the early CGL Battle Tech stuff. That led to my first foray into GW stuff and I was blown away at the detail. I still think the 90's Ork Boyz box is one my my favorite miniatures sets of all time since it had a lot of character and a lot of customization. Newer digital sets really bring the detail, but the way they slice the models to put them on the sprue is not user friendly. but thats not always the case. My Abhorrent Arch Regent was a pain, but the new Ghazkul was just a joy to assemble. everything has its quirks. I find the old metal lines from Battle Tech and Vor full of charm and character. I'll take my goofy metal Urbanmech over the surprisingly badass new sculpt any day.

I love both for my Space Marines it's clean cut plastic, for burrows and Badgers or Reign In Hell give me rough and character full hand sculpted!

If I’m doing a display piece in 75mm or a bust I prefer hand sculpted. Those will be a one off model to paint and I can really make the most out of he uniqueness of the sculpt. But for tiny army men the clean lines and ease of assembly usually make speed painting easier

Love the video, thanks for showing how things have changed in sculpting! Do you think digital sculptings take away that character from hand sculpting you talked about? Also is that a Ten Hundred shirt?

Hi, I begun painting minis, with white metal, old Ral-Partha, 54mm Amati, 75mm, Verlinden 120mm were expensive, but wonderful, then I discovered white metal GW minis, and, Imho, they still are gorgeus, every single mini was a masterpiece, you could have ten minis, and no one like the other, of course the price were different, but they worth the purchase, sure there were some firms, and they still are, that produced lower quality minis, but I still remember some of the old pieces, mutated chaos warriors, angry giant orks, Emperor will bringing space marine captains, the new sprues are awesome, of course, but that outstanding pieces are unreachable, I love the new resin cast pieces, who doesn't, but I miss the old glories

I have no preferences technology wise, but I do prefer the simpler cleaner sculpts that came out of the old techniques. I do not love detail for detail's sake, I feel like it blurs the lines and character of the mini. I think this is a result not just of new technology but also better photography and the tendancy to photograph minis much larger than how they actually appear on the table. The cleaner sculpts look better on the table. The highly detailed sculpts have more interest in exploded photos. So many minis, too often GW minis, are like bristling porcupines. I do have to say though that I love the floating ethereal look of the Idoneth Deepkin and the Night haunts sculpts I assume that were made possible by the new techniques. But this is really a style and aesthetic preference not one related to sculpting techniques.

Great topic! this is not something I had really thought of before. I will admit that I can be a bit slow to accept change in the miniature hobby. I (now this will date me a bit) remember when the industry switched from lead to pewter back in the 80's and I was sure that this would ruin miniatures. Argh! Hard meatal vs the soft lead! No way that will be any good! I was wrong of course and my beloved sculpts by Julie Gutherie (the greatest mini sculptor ever IMHO!) were just fine. Now many years later we've moved to digi vs hand sculpts. My hands shake and I find that the digi sculpts make it a tad bit easier to paint because I know exactly what is what on the model. So on that hand I enjoy the digital sculpts along with their increased detail and realization of perhaps impossible to make minis. BUT! Putting together these models are a pain in the butt! My hands shake as I said and putting together those models sucks at time. (It took my weeks to put together my Sylvaneth start collecting box because of the tiny pieces, etc.) So on that hand I enjoy a simple one, two or three piece model because it frustrates me less.

I prefer digital, but would be lying if I didn't admit that I was in love with the Burrows and Badgers line of anthropomorphic animals. One piece white metal minis that are a joy to work with and paint.

Digital sculpts are a bit harder to alter. Like, I kitbashed Lady Credo from Necromunda to turn her into a Vampire Lord, but the arm I gave her, doesn't fit neatly onto the shoulder, so I decided to sculpt a little piece of cloth out of green stuff, that obscures the mismatched area. On a handsculpted model, my (far from perfect) sculpt might have worked better than it does now, because the rest of this Forge World resin model is so mathematically perfect, no matter how good my attempt at handcrafting that cloth were, it would clash.

To me, digital sculpting had the same effect on the miniature industry that CGI had on the movie industry. It used to be something to applaud when a movie had great special effect back in the days but now it's kind of the norm and is to be expected. And it makes the bad ones stand out even worse. It also tends to give creators the chance to overdo it and often makes you long for the days of practical effects. I personally really like the improvement that digital sculpting brought but I'm not a fan of the amount of details that some models now have, especially for troops. If I take the Death Guards you used in your video, the very detailed sculpts make it very obvious that my squad of 20 is actually 4 times the same 5 models or so because of the amount of details on those sculpts.

I don't like blowing my own trumpet being a modest kind of chap. But I like to think my digital sculpts bridge the old putty to digital gap. It was more by accident that my messy sculpting style in digital gives a look of the traditional ways. Of course not everyone likes what I do but everyone has a different taste. I try to think of the painter why I sculpt. Keeping things relatively simple and pop in interesting bits and bobs to paint. But yeah with digital you can have the best of both worlds.

@evansn79

2 жыл бұрын

I was about to sing your praises as an example of a hybrid digital/hand done style.

As much as I love crispy modern sculpts and all the joy of painting those bring, my favorite minis of all time are the old 3rd edition horrors of tzeentch. I doubt digitally sculpted minis will be able to capture that same feeling of hand sculpted minis anytime soon but I would love to be proven wrong

I like both I got started in this hobby with the LOTR sbg and loved the look of the old metal minis I even got some old minis from the 80s made by citadel before they did sbg but I’ve also got into 40k recently and love the ability to do so many dynamic poses and options that the newer models provide. I will say both do have their down sides such and older models having obscured details that makes it difficult to tell what is is and how to paint it but the newer models can get a bit annoying to assemble when a simple leg for a space marine can have 2-3 parts just for a subassembly.

I like both, but love the older metal minis more then some new resin or plastic kits. I think it's the character of the old minis that really draws me in

As a digital miniature sculptor, I'd prefer to sculpt digitally, as it provides tools that would make sculpting miniatures easier. I did try physical sculpting first, but It was too tedious and difficult for me. I already have trouble painting miniatures with my shaking hands, so just imagine me sculpting 28mm miniatures with those hands.

I wonder if it would be possible to achieve a kind of hybrid by developing certain elements each way - using a VR type program to manipulate the digital model ‘by hand’?

My man Sean Sutter of Relicblade fame sculpts digitally, but with a real 'hand made' feel to them. He is a painter himself and it shows. Now, while I appreciate the quality of Corvus Belli models I just don't like painting them much as I feel they have a tendency to be overloaded with (tiny) details...

if you think tau mechs are impressive I really suggest you grab yourself a gunpla kit. The engineering an mold prescision on those things is out of this world.

As impressive as modern models are, you can't deny there's something special about the connection between hobbyist and sculpture when it comes to older models. They have a bit of life to them that the "imperfections" add.

I love that 3d printing is bringing back the old styles via independent creators. Digital sculpting can give you the best of both worlds.

Both have merit and variety of choice is awesome! But I think k with hand sculpted and older minis a large part of the appeal for me is the nostalgia and the history that comes loaded with them

New and old styles are both great, but I'm very curious to see how the next few years go in digital sculpting. I'm always amazed by the amount of techniques they can develop, but I have definitely had some friends in the field mention that the natural irregularity is something they're trying to recreate.

Digital heads often bother me when not done well. But for amour uniformity it must save loads of time

I like how you slipped in "It's not a tumor" I like the old school minis best. Because well I'm old school. Still have my Orks from RT and 2nd edition 40k.

I've gone down the stl file route and love 3D printing. Relizing now it's a lot cheaper to have all the awsome sculps i could never afford over 85 gig's worth of files to print. I've just finished 3 chess sets Marvel 'DC and Villans next will be Star Wars then balking out my killteams and warcry models and getting more blood bowl teams together.

I've been inlove with 3d printing, there's nothing like wanting to play a new game or army and spending a week printing and painting, and boom! New stuff for a fraction of the price. Plus a lot of the company's makeing stl's creat such amazing models its almost always a joy to paint. Granted, you still get to deal with miss prints and the ups and downs of printer maintenance but I find the process worth it, at least for me. I still get some GW stuff if there's a model I particularly want

Werner Klocke is still making miniatures. I love them and you can mostly recognize them on first glance.

@steffenseifarth5058

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, have some Freebooter Minis here on my painting desk. They are great. 3 years ago i painted a 15mm Demonworld Army and i think they were also sculpted by Klocke, had a lot of fun.

I think in every conceivable metric 3D sculpted plastic minis are better. Sure some models will be fiddly to build but anybody that has had to build a metal mini that’s larger than an infantry model knows the true pain they are. Likewise large resin models have their own challenges. However, I have a huge soft spot for hand sculpted minis, most of my MESBG army is old hand sculpted orcs. I guess as a player base we all have our own preferences and we should really be revelling in the fact that we have SO many options.

Digitally sculpted can be good, but I find the recent GW digital sculpts are a nightmare of tiny details that break off, and jigsaw assembly that leaves a ton of gaps to be filled.

@DoomDiveryaha

2 жыл бұрын

This was going to be my comment. I think I probably prefer the newer digital stuff, but it's so easy to take it too far when it comes to details because you can end you end up with super busy models that actually become less fun to paint

@briansmith303

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, it's all great for special effects and super dynamic poses, until someone bumps the table and your robust spell becomes a dangly wire mobile vibrating in the breeze. Some of it goes way too far to the delicate side for plastics.

I think both traditional and CAD sculpts have their place, and it depends on what your expectations and requirements are, and of course, personal preference. Traditional sculpts have a charm and character of their own - you can see the hands-on skill of the sculptor in the final product and the little inconsistencies the human hand will inevitably produce. CAD sculpts are great for miniatures with lots of sharp angles and consistent shapes, organic forms are less convincing, but the technology and skill of this medium are improving all the time. It's like vinyl Vs CD - they both do the job, and I'm glad there's the option.

" It's not a TUMOR!"

I like both, and enjoy both. I think the hobby world has room for both depending on what you’re looking for. On a different note, with costs going up on all areas of the hobby I’m looking to scale back the amount of miniature games I’m invested in, any recommendations on how you feel someone should approach this?

Great stuff friend 👏 👍