The 5 Ws of Painting Pt. 2

Hi everyone! For those who tuned in yesterday for the first part of this, thanks for sticking with me. I will try and be a little less long winded this edition. If anyone is reading the blog for the first time, please go back and read yesterday's post. It will explain where I am going with this dicussion and will catch you up with today's topic. So without any further ado, let's get this started

"What?"

Today we are talking about the second of the five Ws. The concept of what "What?" is in my opinion is describing a moment in time. If you look at your project, the "what" is the pose. What is this character doing? Are they posing in some bad-ass way, daring their foe to attack? Or are they charging into battle, sword drawn with rage in their eyes. What motion, if any that miniature is doing can tell you how to paint it and even base it.

For instance,  if you look at the Malifaux 2nd Edition version of Rasputina and the Children of December box set. You can see she that she is standing in a position of power. Almost daring anyone to try and take on her crew. It could also be seen as a victory pose after a battle.

http://wyrd-games.net/shop/images/P/WYR20303-ChildrenOfDecember.jpg

Von Schill on the other hand has his gun drawn and appears to be in an aiming stance. This can be interrupted as a pre battle stance or mid battle. If you decide that this is a mid-battle stance, then he could have splatters of blood  on his tunic. Or his gun could have scorch marks  near the muzzle of the gun.  If it's pre battle, then his clothes and weaponry will be cleaner but not factory new.
Just from looking at the pose on the box art itself, you can draw these conclusions.

http://wyrd-games.net/shop/images/P/WYR20502-HiredGuns.jpg

If you want to add to the scene and I am sure I will go over this again when I talk about "Where" on my next post, is to add distinct basing. If you want to paint a picture of a battle, then you can add  a fallen victim with a bullet wound  or a sword slash on their body. You can add wounds, burn marks or other small details to your character to show that they in the midst of something fierce and are showing the wounds of war.

You will see me saying this a lot during this, that your imagination is key. If you can translate what is in your mind's eye to the miniature than anyone looking at it can see the same thing with little or no explanation. "What?" is a powerful idea, it can tell a story without any motion or words. So next time you are about to paint something, look at it and ask yourself. "What is this character doing?". When you have an clear idea of that, you now know who your character is and what they are doing. And that my friends is a strong foundation to any project.

So with that thought I will leave you for today. I promised myself that I would try and be less long winded this time around and hopefully still as informative and engaging. As always, if you liked it, please comment below and share. If you didn't like it, tell me why in the comments.

Until next time,

Mystix