New Style vs. Old Style MINIATURES

First of all - Ta for the shout out :) I personally just like good miniatures - good here meaning "I think it looks cool". There are things I dislike about digital miniatures, and I have a special dislike for miniatures that have been designed without any consideration of whether they can actually survive as real life object. But I also dislike lumpy putty sculpts with putty globbed on without any attempt at detail. Despite producing everything by hand, I'm really hopeful for the push towards 3d printing and distribution as it A-democratizes the whole hobby and allows sculptors to be paid fairly for their work and B- pushes a much needed industrial upgrade across the hobby, as many of the small to mid size companies (especially in the UK) are using ex industrial machinery that they bought second hand 50 years ago during the plastic boom (so you'll find most miniature companies are using centrifugal casting systems from long defunct companies, held together with spit and hope) or are producing with methodologies that are no longer taught and can only survive for as long as the remaining practitioners stay in the industry (plastic production from a 3 up is a great example.) So it's good for the longevity of the hobby. A large part of the shift also comes from the fact that arts education has largely been mothballed in favor of digitally focused design, as the former is expansive and messy whilst the latter needs a few computers and a couple of 3d printers and can then run with minimal upkeep cost. This does mean that where miniature making was once a great way to sneak a practical and artistic skill into unsuspecting nerds, It now simply exists within the same digital space as everything else. the overlap between miniature production and fine art sculpture production was basically a circle until a few years ago (outside of GW) but now the overlap is more with video game character design and digital FX. Again, Not a bad thing, But one that's going to be interesting to see as time goes on. Someone in the comments below made a comparison to movies and the oversaturation of VFX post 2000 - And perhaps that's the case, that we're heading for a bit of a miniature Michael bay moment where the freedom to do things outpaces the critical language needed to do it well. But if that's the path we're following then maybe it's something the industry just needs to get out of it's system? many great shows and films now have returned to 3d models and sets with VFX enhancement to great effect, And maybe that's something the world of miniature making will lean into in the coming years.

"diamond tips and thingies" this is why I come back. Uncle atom's rich and varied lexicon and outright professionalism. I come from a family who would hold "you know jobby, does the thing with the gubbins down what's it street" conversations and you would know what that person said.

I have to admit that I really enjoy the style and character from old models. And I was born in 1994, so no nostalgia for me. But them Rogue Trader up to 3rd Edition Minis, I just adore

My biggest problem with the new style is the models end up alot of time being over design and a pain to paint for a whole army

I love digital stuff, both at 28mm but bigger and smaller as well. I think that digital sculpting can lead to over complicated models that become less fun to paint. But when you get the level of detail right (thinking of aeronautica Imperialis) they're a pleasure to paint and wonderfully simple

As a painter for fun rather than for playing I love the old sculpts. The newer digital versions are just a bit too crisp and I think they suffer from lack of character. However I have scuffed them up a bit and that helps.

When it's the work of a talented and imaginative sculptor, there's no question that hand sculpted minis are my favorite. Works by WlhelMiniatures, Andrew May, Boris Woloszyn, Ana Polanšćak for a few examples.

"It's not a tumor " Almost as fun as: "Get to the Choppa." Nice video as always. For me, I like the new plastic miniatures, because the details are great (look at the "new" sisters of battle vs The old metal ones) and the material allows for easier converting.

I like both. I like the clean, modern miniatures with lots of nice detail for contrast paint to make look great for minimal effort. But I also like the hand-sculpted range of super-characterful cat rangers that, for example, Northumbrian Tin Soldier does. Like you say, truly a golden age!

I only paint GW miniatures (and only been doing it for a few years), so I'm limited in knowledge. I've painted a few dozen primaris marines before I switched to a box of tactical marines. I think this current box of tac marines is digitally sculpted, but they were still done in an old way of thinking, and I've found myself enjoying painting those more than the new marines. And old marines felt easier to paint too. My biggest gripe with this modern GW minies is when they slice openly visible flat surfaces in half so it will fit the sprues. Some easy to build kits do this (and it is kind of understandable there), but for the life of me I can't understand why the sisters of battle shoulderpads had to be cut in half for example, instead of being a separate piece of the kits.

Well as someone who makes my own stuff digitally, I've always been partial to digital. It's my preferred method of kitbashing too, pre-printing, or printing accessories, spare heads and such. And there's nothing stopping these two from meeting in the middle. Raging Heroes digitally sculpts their models, and then does some after care to the minis before casting them. You can see layer lines left in the casts in parts that will be covered by another piece, but the other surfaces lack the grainy texture completely. You can easily print out a "basic" model and then sculpt on top of that the details by hand. And like you said, with digital there's nothing stopping you from doing the unevenness of handsculpting. While there are tools for mirror symmetry and clean geometric shaped, you can also just start from a blob and pull and add to make it into the shape you want, and without symmetry it will be uneven. Nothing stops you from making soulful and character rich models digitally. And luckily the more competition there is, the more it is required. Quality of STLs available has skyrocketed in the past three years to insane levels by comparison, as everyone and their dog is able to release models if they so desire. Can't do perfectly symmetrical and clinical poses no more if you wish to sell your models.

Grown up with hand sculpted. I think that well sculpted figures with clean lines stand out irrespective of their creation media. In seeking to overcome manufacturing issues there has been a door opened to enthusiastic addition of smaller details/parts resulting in an 'accurate' but 'fussy' or complex figure. To be fair this is more a result of company esthetic than individual design decisions.

I'd love to see more of a mix of both techniques in a single model, where maybe the model was hand sculpted but then cleaned up digitally. Or the other way around. As a kitbasher, I appreciate hand sculpting particularly but can always get a lot of use out of a great digital mini.

Essentially the same thing happens in music production; I started making ambient electronic music through a daw, with plug-ins and midi, and i had to code in "organic" sounding patches and movements in the "instruments" I was using in the piece. As soon as I switched to an analog synth and some guitar effect pedals, I could effortlessly get that character and organic feel, because I was actually controlling the sound waves organically. Its easier to get everything perfect electronically, but if you want things to feel hand crafted you've gotta go to the source. Really cool to think about!

I think it’s no accident John Blanche is the most influential designer through Games Workshop history. His style has a huge range to it but I would say it prioritises character theme and design over clean lines. The best models have these things as well. Precision is great but not at the price of character.

Even though I've been building plastic models since 1959 when I was five, there was a time I would not buy a plastic figure, all the time cursing how much work the metal parts-prep was. I loved the heft of metal figures, and it felt like more value for money. A finished metal figure was an object d' art. For a long time I considered metal figures more durable, but their mass sometimes betrayed them--A dent in metal can be much harder to restore than a clean break in plastic. The astonishing ways digitally-designed pieces can fit together, hiding major seams, is utterly brilliant, and kit-bashing in plastic is such a joy. Today, I normally build to display, and I collect all ages of figures, except for the wretched Finecast ones, of course. Creating a display showing the evolution of a recent release, or restoring a batch of old monkey-painted minis, is a great joy.

I think our hobby is undergoing a paradigm shift with digital sculpting. Whilst I totally agree, that hand-sculpted miniatures can have a certain charm, they can also be a major PIA to put together and require oftentimes many corrective measures (mould lines, gap filling, kit bashing). Digitally sculpted miniatures, particularly the ones that are sold as printable files, have certainly a more clean look from the get go to them, but have a number of undeniable advantages. 1. They are immediately available and can be printed rapidly. Most digital sculptors provide already assembled miniatures with pre-supports that are ready to be printed as well as bits to be printed separately and then assembled as one sees fit. 2. Digital kit bashing is a thing and relatively easy to do. I got into 3D-printing only a couple of months ago, but having a blast digitally kit bashing my own models. That way, I can give them more character, if I want to, without fear that sculpting or kit bashing will ruin pretty expensive models I bought. 3. With some free tools available on the market, I can easily remix sculpts on my own (for my personal use) and modify them to my liking. Even with digital bits from another sculpt. All it needs is a little time. No more than "old school" kit bashing would take. That way, I can give them the character I want the to have. 4. If you break a piece of a 3D sculpt during assembly, that's not a biggie anymore. Just print another one and you are golden. 5. I find I am more willing to experiment when painting with printed minis. As a standard troop mini costs me only a few cents to print instead of at least a couple of Euros to buy, well, if a certain paint-scheme or technique did not work, I am not kicking myself as much, but merely print another mini. I like both worlds, but tend more and more towards 3D printing as my knowledge in transforming digital sculpts myself increases.

As a Warhammer player, and an avid 3D print enthusiast, I have access to thousands of "proxy" models as well as official ones. This has helped me come to appreciate the model and the sculpt itself. Sometimes, when I don't like GW's sculpt of a dragon, I'll print someone else's that has done it better. And sometimes, I buy GW because they do some things better. It's a brave new world and I love it.

I recently purchased the old ork commandos and I'm in love with them, so much more character than the new ones

I've been futzing around with miniatures for D&D and Warhammer/40k since the 80s. The old style metal miniatures hold a lot of nostalgia for me, and there are examples of them I'll always have in my collection. Through the decades the hands-on sculpting got better, as did the means of producing them, and that was a joy. In the past 10 or so years, digital sculpting and 3D printing has opened up a whole new arena of detail and range of subjects for miniature producers to utilize in expanding our hobby and putting into our hands what was only in our imaginations. This too is exciting and relevant. I don't poo-poo any medium an artist decides to use to bring life to our hobby, and I think each process has it's benefits and pitfalls. There will always be something special about a miniature meticulously handcrafted by a sculptor, and there is something awe inspiring about the amount of detail that can be achieved through digital rendering. I can't say I have a favorite. I welcome it all!