Painting out of left field...

One thing I'd like to do once in a while is to show off minis by other painters that speak to me in one way or another. For the most part these tend not to be the 9.9 rated paintjobs on coolminiornot (though those are obviously very nice) but from painters who aren't afraid to paint in a style contrary to what we're used to. Today I'd like to talk about two painters who have a similar visual approach to minis. Both of these painters have approached their hobby with a look that somewhat echoes cel-shading, the style typically used in traditional 2d animation . They emphasise flat, bold tones and careful colour selection.

First up is my friend Tears of Envy, the deeply talented designer of the logo for my Eolith range of miniatures and also many other projects dear to our miniature hearts such as Black Scorpion Miniatures and various projects with Mr John Blanche. Her miniatures work is based upon scrupulous neatness and small colour palettes. I'm a particular fan of her Lamenters chapter Space Marines. Lovely little force. Plus I geeked out from her using original RTB01 plastic Marines. Anyway, let me introduce you to a few of her painted pieces...



Secondly I'd like to draw your attention to the work of Martin Whitmore, evil illustrator extraordinaire (and fan of zombies in general). Martin has a similar though slightly wilder approach to painting. Again the neat base tones and carefully chosen colours though, getting back to that zombie thing, there does tend to be a fair amount of red on them... or they're carrying a chainsaw. It's also curious to note that when comparing Martin's minis to his illustrations, they have a very similar look.



Both Tears of Envy and Martin Whitmore use the NMM technique for their metals. Normally I'm not a huge fan of this but I feel it works here. The greys and yellows used tend to evoke the 'comic book' style better than true metallic paints. I know when I've painted Judge Dredd miniatures in the past I always go NMM as I prefer yellow shoulder pads on him to gold.

It's also interesting to note that they share a similar line of work. Graphic Designer and Illustrator. I think this has probably contributed to their thinking outside of the box with regards to their chosen painting styles.

All in I love these figures for the completely different look they have to most of what we see these days and I always look forward to seeing the miniatures of these two painters.

The Tears of Envy website is at www.tearsofenvy.com and she operates a rather eclectic blog at tearsofenvysblog.blogspot.com You can find more of her miniatures and her thoughts about painting in this style on there.

Martin can be found at his site www.martinwhitmore.com which is chock-full of crazy awesomeness.

And the moral of this story (seriously, I'm tired and struggling to remember)? Well, probably something about not being afraid to try something a bit different. Yeah, that sounds good.