Time for my close up

 In the current age of internet hobbying, there are countless images and videos of the highest quality painted models, photographed super close in the highest resolution. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing them and have the greatest of respect for these talented people. This is their hobby (or their job) and I don't want to disregard that at all. I myself also get enjoyment in painting something to my highest quality and sharing it, on this blog of course as well as an social media. With that in mind though, I sometimes need to remind myself of the other reason I paint models, to play games. 

When you get your models on the table and roll some dice, no-one is looking at whether the eyes are perfectly painted, or five shades of highlight have been applied to the nose of each model. You spend the entire time looking at the back of your entire army, until they start retreating that is. When I first started painting, it was purely to get models on the table. I once painted 60 Skaven rat slaves in one evening to get them ready for a battle for the next day. (Spray brown, paint noses black, paint spear points metallic and paint the bases green. Done)

So I would like to spend a blog post talking about those models not painted so well. This is all done with love, I never want any reader to think I am mocking anyone, or judging their painting skills. I just want to share with you one of my hobbies, browsing Ebay and taking close up screen shots of model faces. Please note, these are not my painting and I would share the artists details (yes I consider them artists, all art is art regardless of the "quality") but I feel it would be less kind to credit rather than not.

We start with Mephiston. A great close up. I suspect on the table this actually looks really great, I love what they were going for with the white and grey. In close up he does look like a member of Kiss. It's better painted than I did this model back in the 90's. 

I love these guardsmen. They were described as "Schmo Painted", I'm not sure what that means and yet I kind of do. They are actually quite well painted and would probably look great on the table. I just love the expressions in close up so I had to share.

This one really just suffers from the photography, a Sister of Battle with no shading whatsoever. The dots for eyes are at least level.

Unlike Mr Space Marine Scout here who was described as "Pro Painted". A description on E-bay that makes me laugh for many reasons. Technically I guess, anyone who has painted a model for someone else and cash has exchanged hands could describe themselves as a "Pro Painter". This definition is why my idea of having separate categories for Pro Painters in painting competitions is an impractical solution for giving us less talented painters a chance. 

This little dude, probably looks great on the table surrounded by a thundering charge of cavalry. Close up he looks like he has just done a whoopsie in his lower armour.

I love this one, clearly someone has not thinned their paints and just dumped it on. I suspect a younger painter. You know what though? I think it is great that they have had a go. The colours are defined and they have that nice neat line of blue on the piping. This Ultramarine does need a Biostrip bath though to reach his full potential.

Now, this Commissar does look great, in fact I would say they have done a better job than I would have done. Again though it has been listed as Pro Painted, a description I think is pushing it a little. I'd love the number of his dentist.

Another Pro Painted, which to be fair, on the table probably looks super great. I would suggest investing in a nice soft brush for dusting down the model before photographing though. I love the weird negative eyes.

I'm sharing this one because the seller listed it as "Badly Painted" a description that was probably not required, but I admire the embracing of it.

This Space Marine scout is I suspect a victim of a combination of lack of undercoat and some terrible storage. I love the haunted look he now has though, the horrors he has seen, rattling around in a cheap Woolworths toolbox with his fellow squad. He has definitely been well loved and had some great battles, rolling a 4 up for all results and not worrying too much about the rules of the game. Oh, and props to the artist for the addition of flock for camo. He is a scout after all.

The blue, the blur, the red, the grey eyebrows. There is so much to unpack here. To be honest the photo probably doesn't show it but I think there is probably some cool highlighting/shading there. Why should all Space Marines be white?

I'm totally getting some Manga vibes here. I have super respect for the artist though for getting that fine straight eyebrow and that thin mouth line. I think this is a Captain Tycho model, if it isn't, that is a very thick chunk of gold paint splashed across one side of his face.

Ol' blue eyes here is a Dark Angel Space marine I think. A great example of why I hardly ever even attempt painting eyes. 

Finally my favourite. A Gretchin from the Space Crusade board game. The artist has chosen to ignore the standard greenskin colouring that most painters go for. Instead, they chose a thick layer of flesh coloured paint that makes the model look like he is wearing a halloween mask. The black dots for eyes are perfectly placed, which makes it look even creepier. They were listing a whole set of these with the accompanying Orks, which means they never regretted this colour scheme. Love it.

In the interest of fairness then, here is a close up of a model i have painted.

That sideways glance is hilarious. I think I was just glad I got them looking the same way. Yes he is a halfling, but that is some deep red blusher.

So, don't fret too much about what your model looks like in a close up photo. Unless you are a "Pro Painter", you just need to make it look good enough for the table. If you are painting up large companies of men, the spectacle will be enough to look great. Of course if you want to spend an a long time painting one model, you do that too. That is one of the great things about this hobby, you can take a completely different approach to the hobby to the next person. I hope no-one takes offense at my brief reviews of the above models, it is all done with love. The people that painted them are all artists in my view and I applaud them all for their efforts and hopefully the joy it brought to them. They put some paint on them. A far better thing that fielding unpainted armies. After all, we all know the greatest crime is fielding an unpainted army!