Best Sculptor in the World: Post 3...

So far, JAG and Brian Nelson have made my three best list and there's one spot left. Who gets the final spot. Well, for me, the final spot had to go to someone whose work constantly astounds me. Ladies and Gents, I give you MIKH.

I watched a Miniature Mentor video of MIKH at work and he shares the secret of his amazingly precise and refined work. It's not a trick though, he just takes the time to make it perfect. From what I hear, often a long time and the results show in his work. I also love that in the modern minis world of that constant striving for total realism, MIKH's work maintains a character and exist as an extension of the old-school styles of mini sculpting; Classical but on a totally different level. I see these works and it makes me want to weep at times...



This forst example of his works is a Templar Knight type from the game Hell Dorado. It's a wonderfully characterful miniature and it screams with drama without resorting to any cheap tricks or fudging of details. Plus it shows something that still baffles me. I've tried sculpting in Fimo as MIKH does and I have found, as most others have, that it's nearly impossible to sculpt chainmail in the material. I think there's one reason why Rackham avoided it like the plague on their figures. But here it is. Perfectly sculpted chainmail in Fimo and, not only that, it's over the curved surface of his head. That's brutally awkward to get looking right. I own this figure and it's truly lovely. And, shockingly, smaller than it looks.



Here we have an Orc from Warcraft. Now the Warcraft style isn't something I'm especially interested in but look at the craftsmanship and the clean lines. There are just no cut corners here. In other views there is detail on the hammer than looks like it was milled by machine such is the level of precision.



This figure from the boardgame Claustrophobia shows that MIKH is never hiding the sound fundamentals of sculpting behind a facade of details. It's a simple sculpt but has a finish and character that is rarely equalled (check out the work on the arms).



Finally, take a look at this closeup of MIKH's sculpt for John Blanche's Femme Militant line. I'm glad I never saw this before sculpting my addition as I'd probably have been too scared to participate (actually that's not true. I'd still have sculpted the figure but the thought would have occurred). There's just so much going on here. Textures, details and silky smooth skin. My only disappointment n this figure is that, to my knowledge, she never saw production as I'd love to have grabbed one. And then been scared to paint it (and then I'd better read my old post on fear miniatures).

Really, I only have one problem with MIKH's work at all, and it's not really a problem as such. For the most part MIKH has worked on projects that don't really interest me especially. I'm not really into straight sci fi so Infinity never appealed, nor Warcraft. Hell Dorado had some interesting pieces and I have the Templar as mentioned. So, my biggest problem is I haven't seen MIKH sculpting on the ranges I'm into. I'm sure the time will come...

So, that's my three best. I'll be following up with a post talking in brief about the many sculptors whose work I love but didn't make my final list. Because it could easily have been my twenty favourite sculptors, but that would have gone on forever...