Something I've noticed on this site compared to several others I frequent (general hobby, not LotR) is that the prevalent style on here seems to be rather different than elsewhere. There seems to be a general trend towards the following things: (and please note, this is in no way a criticism, just an obervation)

Bright, strong colours, with lots of 'sharp edge' highlighting
Eyes being painted whevever possible
A general lack of 'weathering' on many models
Bright, grass coloured bases.
Looking at the 'hiow long do you take to paint a mini' thread, folks on here seem to spend longer per figure than elsewhere.

Elsewhere, and particularly on forums more dedicated to 40k and WFB, I see a rather different trend, with lots of gritty, dark and heavily weathered models. and darker, more 'natural' basing. I also notice a lot of people don't tend to paint eyes on their minis, rather choosing to use shading to fill them in.

Which brings me to the question, what stylistic directions do you like to see any why? Personally, I'm all for dark, gritty and minimally highlighted schemes over hard edges and bright colours. I also don't generally like eyes on 28mm minis, I find they throw off the scale of the face unless done perfectly, and at the kind of distance you're viewing from, you typically wouldn't see a person's eyes anyway.

So what do you think?

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The kind of distance your viewing a model from depends on what you have the model for. I don't game at all and my models just sit in a glass case.

When I think of middle earth I don't think of Mordor and ash clouds and fire and brimstone or even war. I think of the bigger picture. The open fields, trees and forests , flowers and rivers - the beautiful side that Tolkien described so well. Nothing wrong with some good old skulls and rib cages either.

This forum is different for sure. It has the best clientele haha

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I honestly appreciate both styles. A gritty style tends to look more realistic, focusing more on familiar "real-life" colors. What is nice about this style is that it is often very lifelike, and doesn't necessarily draw the eye too many places.

However, I also enjoy the bright styles. 40k is full of many bright colors. Imperial Fists, State Troops, and many sorts of objects in GW's flagships have very bright uniforms. To me, this overtly-saturated coloration gives off a sense of Fantasy, or at least the fantastical. Colors like this don't occur with such frequency, and even the older models of the 80's (GW's infamous "Red Era" have a certain quality to it.

As for painting in eyes, I don't think there's a right or wrong to it. Making them work well is really a feat on the artist's part. While I tend to lean toward not painting eyes (takes too long for entire armies), I'll paint them in for characters if I feel up to the challenge.

I like the pop fantasy you sometimes see in War Hammer Fantasy, even some Reaper and Hordes figures. As I follow many of the top talents in the painting and sculpting fields on Facebook, I get to see many styles.
What I see here most often is earthy and natural tones used a lot. I find that many people lean toward realism here. Dark colors to me doesn't say "real" as much as it tells me the person is leaning toward a darker pallet or even less lighting with dark backgrounds in photographs. I see a lot of WWII painters as well and again they use natural tones and of course the correct colors for the uniforms, but I don't consider this dark or grunge but just accurate. I find 40K and WHF to be the brightest and least realistic models painted in the hobby on a regular basis, but the Pop art of it is still fantastic and I enjoy seeing great painters tackle models from those systems.
Weathering is not always a constant but I also don't find much weathering on models to be accurate, dirt on a cloak that never drags in the dirt doesn't make sense (boot though yes), rust on polished new armor in a city doesn't make sense either. I would think mud and dirt would be on the but of every trouser and the same area on the cloak where the guy sits down, the hem would only be that way if it was dragging, yet look at how people place dirt on cloaks. Also if we painted brown splashes on the but of pants people would not think it was weathering (but still an accurate assessment of a MT warriors trousers when they see the extent of Mordor's army).
As for eyes, I like to see them painted. Not everyone paints eyes well but I would rather they tried than not. It can look bad. But I think just shading the eye socket looks worse, IMO, so I choose to try to paint the eye small and tight as I can manage.

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Interesting replies, folks. Keep them coming!

Good point about the brighter colours giving a sense of the fantastical, I guess that's a lot to do with why I prefer darker colours, to get away from that and into 'real' territory.

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I agree with some of those points completely. A lot of people here are more hobbyists, and less gamers.

I dont like to post how I paint stuff because I make it generally table top ready looking decent from a birds eye view. It decent and my stuff is always weathered pretty much.

The only thing I wont weather are units like Galadhrim and others. Otherwis, Rohan, Isengard, Mordor, Dwarves....they should all be weathered because mine only display on the battlefield.....

My basing is all more realistic looking and rarely has tufts and flowers which to me gets a little bit overboard sometimes. When I see an orc with a flower on his base I lose my mind a little.

Furthermore, yeah....way too many bright colors, eyes, and all that.

Dont get me wrong. A lot of it looks gorgous. DMS for example paints and bases his for a specific reason, and its amazing.

Personally though, I only play so my stuff will usually have dirty armor because to me its the battles, when things are at its worst that define the heroics in middle earth, and show who really are heroes in actual life. Therefore, I want my figures to look like that. I may post a pic or two in the future, but I am not near most of my collection.

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Interesting topic. So much of this is subjective. Some extremely skilled painters do nothing for me personally, but you can obviously recognize talent. Others then are not so skilled but manage to pull off things that work well.

My preferred style is generally realism, muted tones with a bit of clever and subtle contrasting. Not overly fussed on super details or freehands- while they do take some skill I think it sort of detracts from the minis. It becomes obvious that they are tiny and imperfect in scale. Not big on mmm either or the fetishiztation of eyes. Do them right or not at all. I thunk a subtle touch serves the range best.

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I prefer somewhat "realistic" ie generally darker more muted colours. However, bearing in mind it's a fantasy world, painting reds and brighter blue units etc adds more visual appeal to an army.

(its why many samurai gamers love a red unit of sanada troops although uncommon!)

Eyes - hmm not for me, shaded usually. Why ? Takes, too long, majority of painters don't get them right, and it spoils the whole figure, also at this scale they'd be pretty much unnoticeable.

I aim for a respectable, decent wargaming standard, but this is mainly a time consideration. As someone who has been collecting figures for over 40 years, the unpainted piles are huge. Also bear in mind that once you get older your eye sight starts going!!!

Personally, I would rather a couple thousand well panted figures than 50 superb pieces. Having said that, I do use the pics and commentary here to get inspiration and improve my overall painting.

So it's horses for courses. I think in general the standard here is very high and very supportive of those trying to achieve the highest standard they can.

BTW even my simpler painting makes most visitors jaws drop when they ask how can you paint anything that small !

I don't tell them about the 6mm......

We like to paint our models in the bright "fantastical" style. Sharp bright edge highlights, strong contrasts in colours and layering etc. At least that's our method at the moment, you tend to find method changes with time and purpose. We find this one very appealing for us though, as it makes the miniature really "pop" out on details, and we are very satisfied when we're done a paint job.

I always paint eyes wherever possible. Elrohir only paints eyes on special characters and troops.

We love to weather our models! Rust, mud, grease, blood, chips on armour, dust on tunics, etc!

With bases our approach varies based on the terrain we imagine our models on. Sometimes it's elaborate, other times it's plain.

And yes we do take ages to paint! But quality is important for us and we both really enjoy the painting aspect of the hobby.

The "natural" style is also awesome. It can be really cool! We like both methods and can appreciate a painters skill and artistic eye for beauty in either. Different styles for different people!

Elladan

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