Defining ourselves ..

[Mark S]

Whenever I'm preparing, building ,converting, painting and mounting figures or historical miniatures I find it's something that's very difficult to explain to anyone unfamiliar with the hobby.
Even when I do bother to go to great lengths and details I'm usually confronted by an open mouth, followed by a slight nod of a bewildered head whilst they take a couple of careful steps backwards.
So I don't bother much.
The trouble with historical figure modeller is it sounds like you only do models of great figures of history, if you say historical miniaturist it could mean small steam engines.
Painting is a core element of what we do so it should be part of the description, such as figure painter or model figure painter, I reckon.

But when I'm just modelling swimwear I simply call myself a model.

 

[gordy]

Whenever I'm preparing, building ,converting, painting and mounting figures or historical miniatures I find it's something that's very difficult to explain to anyone unfamiliar with the hobby.
Even when I do bother to go to great lengths and details I'm usually confronted by an open mouth, followed by a slight nod of a bewildered head whilst they take a couple of careful steps backwards.
So I don't bother much.
The trouble with historical figure modeller is it sounds like you only do models of great figures of history, if you say historical miniaturist it could mean small steam engines.
Painting is a core element of what we do so it should be part of the description, such as figure painter or model figure painter, I reckon.

But when I'm just modelling swimwear I simply call myself a model.

LOL, nice

It does get weary trying to explain to non-figurists what it is we do, I recall the initial uneasy look of family members upon seeing my half-dozen heads on toothpicks..

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I just call myself "sexbomb"!

Also it annoys the rest of the modellers if you as I do, as often as possible, claims that figurepainter are the true Aristocrats of the hobby.

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[Dan Morton]

Ernesto - I understand what you're saying definitely. I've been modelling since I was more or less 12 off and on, but only got into figures about 8 or 9 years ago and into sculpting even more recently. When I was younger lots of people put me down for being a modeller. [When I was a lot younger, for having long hair and playing in bands and other stuff too!] As I've gotten older, my hide has just gotten thicker and I've learned to ignore the ignorant opinions of the vast majority of mankind. Hang in there! I agree with Anders completely cos I've seen your stuff also. You ARE an artist. Don't let anybody tell you different! Cheers!

All the best,
Dan

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ah, you poor guys! My heart bleeds for you! I'm just back into figure painting, but for years I have been a keeper/breeder of praying mantises. And if you breed mantises seriously, then you also breed cockroaches for food, and house flies --I just got in 20G of pupae from SpiderPharm. Yum!
At least you can leave your figures safely at home when you go on vacation, and don't have to worry about staring down 100 hungry, reproachful eyes when you get home.
I rather like that Greek term, "φιγουράδες", and I'll probably start using that once I've worked out how to pronounce it.

 

[Ernest]

Ernesto - I understand what you're saying definitely. I've been modelling since I was more or less 12 off and on, but only got into figures about 8 or 9 years ago and into sculpting even more recently. When I was younger lots of people put me down for being a modeller. [When I was a lot younger, for having long hair and playing in bands and other stuff too!] As I've gotten older, my hide has just gotten thicker and I've learned to ignore the ignorant opinions of the vast majority of mankind. Hang in there! I agree with Anders completely cos I've seen your stuff also. You ARE an artist. Don't let anybody tell you different! Cheers!

All the best,
Dan

LOL I also used to have long hair and I play the guitar, also loves heavy metal

 

[Glen]

I generally stick to 54mm medieval foot figures with the occasional 30mm gaming mini thrown in as a change of pace. I have always just used the term 'figure painter'. It pretty much covers the entire range from small scale gaming minis up to large scale resin anime/manga figures. I even use it to describe flats.

 

[Christosjager]

Philip don't worry about the word, it is very easy to pronounce it because it is the same word, just like your Greek name Philip (Φίλιππος).
Kind regards,
Christos

 

[TWOMOONS]

I call myself Little Big Man.
Or figure maker.
Or Kinewashota, which means "one who makes little people from something wierd"...
Or Phil (lover of horses)...

 

[ATTİLA the HUN]

In my country the figure painters are like a green dog, very rare and too few, the majority goes to model aircraft and tankers too much tankers, also cars and bikes.

I agree Ernest. Great words.

 

[Barke02]

Green dog?

Am I missing something here?

You lot are crazy!

 

[khorgor]

I used to say I paint models, but after one too many fools leapt to the conclusion I painted real girls, I turned to say I paint miniatures.

 

[theBaron]

I paint toy soldiers, so there!

Prost!
Brad

 

[captfue]

I'm an artist who sculpts and paints military miniture figures.

 

[FigureLover]

HEHE, I explain to non-modellers that I do scale modelling or paint scale figures, and as some have said, you get some weird looks, show some photos and they suddenly go "WOW, you make these????"

My wife just calls me a nerd

Ben

 

[gordy]

My wife just calls me a nerd

LOL, Same here!

 

[Ernest]

Green dog?

Am I missing something here?

You lot are crazy!

LOL, in my country we used to say that to rare or bizarre things "more wierd than a green dog..." could you ever saw a green dog in your life? XD

 

[Major_Goose]

Well i mostly likme to call myself "Lucky" to be engaged with this hobby . Other than this i think that "Miniature Painter" is what i use most !

Costas

P.S. "Green Dog " ? ...hmm i must consider using this one also !!!! LOL

 

[megroot]

I call myself miniature figure painter.

marc

 

[Jamie Stokes]

To fill in the blank, I'd usually say figures....

some days I disguise it as "stuff"
Usually I get described as "slightly odd" or "creative", depending on how polite people wish to be.......


goodness knows what I get called when not in earshot.......


(and years from now, I will probably be described by my neighbors as 'a quiet man, friendly, kept to himself, mostly....')