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which_chickI have previously discussed the fact that I think the world needs more satiric research papers. It's been an idea that I've liked for, wow, about sixteen years. No, really. I honestly have been thinking about this idea for a while.. While I still think that A Longitudinal Study of Idealized Heteronormative Sexual Experiences, as Limned By Romance Novels, 1980-2008 is a fantastic idea for a research paper, I will probably never write it. This is the acceptance of reality that comes with middle age, I guess. I like the idea of satiric research papers a lot more than the actual writing of them.
The Evolution of Painting Styles for WH40K Minis will probably never be written about a field that will likely never be sufficiently studied. BUT, yo, people take this shit quite seriously and also there are lots of youtubes about how to do it better or more realistically and there are instas and awards and artistic critique and the styles of painting (and the styles of painting that are rewarded within the field) for this shit have seriously changed over time. I feel like discussing how WH40K painting styles have changed over time is a subject worthy of a semi-satiric research paper. Because, oh lord, they have changed.
WH40K, for non-initiates, is short for "Warhammer 40,000" and it's a sprawling and largely grimdark fantasy universe with Space Travel where, near as I can tell, everybody is some sort of religious zealot and they all fight each other in hellish neverending war. It's got something for everyone -- assorted human factions, orks, space elves, egyptian-themed skeletal undead, pirates (sorry, "Rogue Traders"), etc. I am simplifying abit lot, but this is not an unfair thumbnail of the thing if you are coming in cold. If you're coming in hot, feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments section. :)
WH40K exists, near as I can tell, to provide a reason for people to buy kits of plastic some-assembly-required miniatures that they can then assemble and paint and put on a tabletop to represent their... space marines or space war nuns or space orks or whatever. (As noted above, there are very many factions in WH40K and they pretty much all fight each other. Now, an outsider might feel that this vast and sprawling group of factions exists primarily so that if you have any leanings at all towards this hobby, you can find a faction within the 'verse that matches your aesthetic, battle style, and artistic vision. But I digress. If you feel you would like to know more about factions within the WH40K universe, please refer to this video for the human-based factions or Part 2 for the non-human factions. This is two hours of effing content where someone is explaining to you the various factions in WH40K. Two hours. It's just an overview, is why it's so short.) And then, with the help of dice and the codeces (rulebooks) for the wargame system, the people doing this hobby for the wargaming part battle other players and *their* assorted plastic armies.
Now, I suppose that a total killjoy could remark at this juncture that the wargame system, the dice and rulebooks, could totally be used with, say, a bucket of green army guys or poker chips or something that you color-code to make affordable markers for your units of... space marines or whatever. Assuming that the guys you were tabletopping with were on board, there's no reason you couldn't use slips of paper, even. However, I get the general impression that engaging in this sort of thinking is more heretical than not believing in the God-Emperor.
WH40K has been around since the late 1980's. Aside from its own codeces (used to explain the rules of the wargaming and the stats and whatnot for each army or faction) and minis, WH40K supports an ecosystem of related media like videogames and books and other pertinent merch. And, I guess, a sizeable portion of the Miniature Painting Industry rests on the broad shoulders of WH40K. The 'verse also has rather a lot of Lore, which interested people like to explain to the world at large via, for example, YouTube. (See links above.)
I get the feeling, from watching assorted youtubers, that this hobby consists of people who are (a) there for the minis because they like building and painting and customizing models (b) there for the tabletop combat because they like dice and charts and rules lawyering or (c) there for the lore or (d) there for some combination of the first three in varying intensities. But anyway, we are here for the mini painting at the moment. (I do not paint minis. I do not wargame. I don't read WH40K books or play the videogames. I was youtubing and fell into WH40K content by accident... and now, so have you.)
As a side note, if you've ever, in your nerd life, heard or read the phrase Blood for the Blood God, that's WH40K.
So you sayeth unto me, "But which_chick, how can painting small plastic fantasy army guys possibly be a subject complicated enough to be worthy of a research paper?" And I sayeth unto you that this universe of ours is fractal in nature and the closer you look at anything, the more parts it has. (This is certainly true of the model kit sprue trees, anyway.) WH40K mini painting is fractal, too.
Okay, look. It's... the minis are expensive because they're detailed. They're a lot better than a bucket of plastic army men. They have a good aesthetic and they look awesome if you like that kind of thing, which apparently, a lot of people do.
Also this is not basic painting, here. There are awards for painting. The leading WH40K painting competition stuff claims to be the Golden Demons. There's a website with pictures. You can check out pinterest or instagram or even etsy (people sell their work or will work-to-a-commission) for more. There are also actual companies that will paint minis for you and have websites and employees and such. An example. And another. I could do this all day, from very fancy to omg, a twelve year old could do better, but you get the idea.
This is not your 1990's miniatures painting. But, if you want to do 1990's miniatures painting, the internet is here to help with a fairly substantial range of "retro" WH40K schemes and colors and advice. Here's an example. People do intentionally retro squads. Like, that's a thing.
Have you looked at any of the links? Have you? No, you haven't. Fine. I have stolen some images for you now so that your lazy ass doesn't have to go look at links.
Here is SRM's Retro 2nd Edition Ultramarines squad in era-appropriate paint:
Here is a darkbunny (commercial painter linked above) squad of space marines in a more modern technique:
As you can see, standards have... changed. Not JUST the color schemes, which have gone from comic-book bright to grimdark, but also the level of detail, expectations of shading and highlights, realism quality of the bases, yadda yadda yadda.
I find this fascinating. All of it. I don't want to build or paint minis. I really don't. No desire there, but... the time and attention to detail and effort that people put into this is kind of amazing and their stuff looks impressive to boot.
The Evolution of Painting Styles for WH40K Minis will probably never be written about a field that will likely never be sufficiently studied. BUT, yo, people take this shit quite seriously and also there are lots of youtubes about how to do it better or more realistically and there are instas and awards and artistic critique and the styles of painting (and the styles of painting that are rewarded within the field) for this shit have seriously changed over time. I feel like discussing how WH40K painting styles have changed over time is a subject worthy of a semi-satiric research paper. Because, oh lord, they have changed.
WH40K, for non-initiates, is short for "Warhammer 40,000" and it's a sprawling and largely grimdark fantasy universe with Space Travel where, near as I can tell, everybody is some sort of religious zealot and they all fight each other in hellish neverending war. It's got something for everyone -- assorted human factions, orks, space elves, egyptian-themed skeletal undead, pirates (sorry, "Rogue Traders"), etc. I am simplifying a
WH40K exists, near as I can tell, to provide a reason for people to buy kits of plastic some-assembly-required miniatures that they can then assemble and paint and put on a tabletop to represent their... space marines or space war nuns or space orks or whatever. (As noted above, there are very many factions in WH40K and they pretty much all fight each other. Now, an outsider might feel that this vast and sprawling group of factions exists primarily so that if you have any leanings at all towards this hobby, you can find a faction within the 'verse that matches your aesthetic, battle style, and artistic vision. But I digress. If you feel you would like to know more about factions within the WH40K universe, please refer to this video for the human-based factions or Part 2 for the non-human factions. This is two hours of effing content where someone is explaining to you the various factions in WH40K. Two hours. It's just an overview, is why it's so short.) And then, with the help of dice and the codeces (rulebooks) for the wargame system, the people doing this hobby for the wargaming part battle other players and *their* assorted plastic armies.
Now, I suppose that a total killjoy could remark at this juncture that the wargame system, the dice and rulebooks, could totally be used with, say, a bucket of green army guys or poker chips or something that you color-code to make affordable markers for your units of... space marines or whatever. Assuming that the guys you were tabletopping with were on board, there's no reason you couldn't use slips of paper, even. However, I get the general impression that engaging in this sort of thinking is more heretical than not believing in the God-Emperor.
WH40K has been around since the late 1980's. Aside from its own codeces (used to explain the rules of the wargaming and the stats and whatnot for each army or faction) and minis, WH40K supports an ecosystem of related media like videogames and books and other pertinent merch. And, I guess, a sizeable portion of the Miniature Painting Industry rests on the broad shoulders of WH40K. The 'verse also has rather a lot of Lore, which interested people like to explain to the world at large via, for example, YouTube. (See links above.)
I get the feeling, from watching assorted youtubers, that this hobby consists of people who are (a) there for the minis because they like building and painting and customizing models (b) there for the tabletop combat because they like dice and charts and rules lawyering or (c) there for the lore or (d) there for some combination of the first three in varying intensities. But anyway, we are here for the mini painting at the moment. (I do not paint minis. I do not wargame. I don't read WH40K books or play the videogames. I was youtubing and fell into WH40K content by accident... and now, so have you.)
As a side note, if you've ever, in your nerd life, heard or read the phrase Blood for the Blood God, that's WH40K.
So you sayeth unto me, "But which_chick, how can painting small plastic fantasy army guys possibly be a subject complicated enough to be worthy of a research paper?" And I sayeth unto you that this universe of ours is fractal in nature and the closer you look at anything, the more parts it has. (This is certainly true of the model kit sprue trees, anyway.) WH40K mini painting is fractal, too.
Okay, look. It's... the minis are expensive because they're detailed. They're a lot better than a bucket of plastic army men. They have a good aesthetic and they look awesome if you like that kind of thing, which apparently, a lot of people do.
Also this is not basic painting, here. There are awards for painting. The leading WH40K painting competition stuff claims to be the Golden Demons. There's a website with pictures. You can check out pinterest or instagram or even etsy (people sell their work or will work-to-a-commission) for more. There are also actual companies that will paint minis for you and have websites and employees and such. An example. And another. I could do this all day, from very fancy to omg, a twelve year old could do better, but you get the idea.
This is not your 1990's miniatures painting. But, if you want to do 1990's miniatures painting, the internet is here to help with a fairly substantial range of "retro" WH40K schemes and colors and advice. Here's an example. People do intentionally retro squads. Like, that's a thing.
Have you looked at any of the links? Have you? No, you haven't. Fine. I have stolen some images for you now so that your lazy ass doesn't have to go look at links.
Here is SRM's Retro 2nd Edition Ultramarines squad in era-appropriate paint:
Here is a darkbunny (commercial painter linked above) squad of space marines in a more modern technique:
As you can see, standards have... changed. Not JUST the color schemes, which have gone from comic-book bright to grimdark, but also the level of detail, expectations of shading and highlights, realism quality of the bases, yadda yadda yadda.
I find this fascinating. All of it. I don't want to build or paint minis. I really don't. No desire there, but... the time and attention to detail and effort that people put into this is kind of amazing and their stuff looks impressive to boot.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-12 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-04-12 04:32 pm (UTC)