Painting one's miniature figures has always been a personal thing. Is always has and always should be! That's half the enjoyment of this hobby for most My Personal feelings are "There is not a right way, nor a wrong way to paint a figure .... only YOUR wayr, With that in mind, I always enjoy hearing about new discoveries by others when they achieve some "special effect". I love to see other's painting efforts because one can sometimes team a thing or two. in this spirit, I present to you a concept for you to consider; Painting for Effect. Painting for Effect is just what is says; painting units to look like they would in real life at a distance where they appear in the size they appear on the table. In fact, we will be looking at ways to help clarify this image in out mind's eye. The goal is to help make our miniature armies "look" better on the table.

Let's start by making some observations about the difference between the real and miniature worlds. You are in 1:1 scale. When viewing another person at a distance of one foot, you can clearly distinguish fine details. Eyes, wrinkles, freckles, suttle differences between the folds of their clothes, etc. Your miniatures are much smaller (Obviously!) and will require some adjustments in painting if made to "look" right for the table. Try this next time you are outside at a mall:

Hold your thumb and forefinger apart the distance of the size of figure you are most familiar with (ie: 25mm, l5mm, etc.). Next, find someone walking towards you that completely fills that space while holding your hand in front of your eye at arms length. Notice the following details:

1. The color of their clothes (the color intensity ... will be darker).
2. Their skin tone.
3. Can you see their eyes?
4. Notice where the sunlight hits their clothing (on top, crating shadows).

Look away for a while (you don't want anyone to think you're nuts, do you?) Watch as the person get closer. Notice the following:

1. The color intensity becomes brighter as they get larger. Perhaps even clothing details become visible.
2. Their skin tone becomes lighter. While before, eyes may not have been disquingishable, by now you should at least begin to see dark arm where the eyes should be.
3. Notice the distance (and size of the person inrelationship to before) when you begin to be able to see the "whites of their eyes".
4. Notice how shading of the clothing becomes less pronounced as the person closes in distance.

File this experience in your mind for future reference. This exercise is to help you train your mind as to what humans look like at a distance in terms that might mean something next time you pick up a paintbrush. Now, let's discuss what we have seen and how this seemingly silly exercise relates to your hobby.

How many of you purchase "flesh" colors by comparing the color of the jar of paint to your own skin? Remember, you are in 1: 1 scale! Does that shade of flesh closely resemble what you saw walking towards you when you had your arm extended? Why not try a darker shade, say dark orange or a darker shade of "flesh"? By applying a "wash" of dark brown (or even black) (allow to dry) and highlights of a lighter shade on the nose, cheeks in front of the eyes, and chin, you can more closely paint what what you saw. Please note, unless you are painting a much larger figure (54min on up), there is no real need to spend time on doing eyeballs! (Timesaver # I for some folks!)

The same thought pattern can be applied to everything else when choosing colors. Most should be darker than the 1: 1 shade. Ever wonder why washes of black and dark brown seem to add depth to your figures? Because they darken and artificially enhance the recesses and folds of clothing and equipment. Many stop there in their painting by applying a wash as the final step in painting. To ftirther enhance the figure, one additional step should be taken to enhance the highlights. This is done by drybrushing a much lighter shade of the color after the wash has totally dried. (If the wash is not totally dry, it will smear and give a "muddled" appearance.) This goes with the principle that "you cannot have dark with out light" (and visa versa). Remember what you saw in the exercise?

Why does this work so well? Simple; the larger the figure, the more surface area there is to paint When you have a larger surface area to paint, the subtitles of shading and highlighting must be slight to pull off transitions in color shades, convincingly. Smaller figures are easier and faster to do because of the lack of surface area. Stark contrasts actually work better on the smaller guys. Their size works to your advantage.

Sticking with our premise of Painting for Effect, much slow and painstaking detail work can be omitted and still produce a unit with the right "feel". If you could not see it in real life, why paint it? If your answer is "because it's there", then I suggest that you stick with larger figures. On the other hand, if you are Painting for Effect, you will have noticed that small details were not easily visible at a distance. When viewed en masse, our individual wargame figures tend to loose their individual identity. The eye will find it hard to zero in on a particular figure unless it either is standing alone or is painted much differently than the rest of the unit. This same holds true for details like straps and facing colors. By all means, paint cuffs when appropriate, but do you need to paint the collars? In many cases, the bedroll or pack will partially obscure the back of the collar and the face obscures to front. (The eye will tend to gravitate towards the "flesh" because it is a lighter patch of color than the rest of the figure.) A unit painted with such shortcuts will look just fine on the gametable when viewed from at LEAST an arm's length. (I don't know of anyone that moves their miniature units with their face only 6 inches away from their troops!, Do you?) Remember that we are going for the specific effect of what such a unit should look like in real life, at a distance commensurate with their size. Save the painstaking detail painting for the painting contests!

I enjoy Painting for Effect very much. It, in many ways, is more of a challenge to pull off effectively than detail painting. It has an added bonus; units get fielded faster! One can now afford to game in a smaller scale in both terms of cost of figures and time to "get them outfitted for battle". My companion article regarding the Command Status Stands should at least plant a desire to take a closer look at these smaller scales. They can enhance the visual effect of our tabletop games. For me, at least, that is why I do miniatures.