The 5 Ws of painting pt. 4

Hey all, thanks for sticking with me through this. Tomorrow will be the last day of this discussion. So thank you to all who read it. I promise no long intro today. Lets go!

"When"

Yesterday I spoke about the idea of "where" and how it ties into miniature painting. That and today's topic "When" Are pretty inter-twined. Everything happens somewhere along a timeline, whether its in an age like the Middle Ages  or if you measure it millennia,  like the 41st millennium. Whatever you are painting belongs to some point in time. Like how I spoke yesterday about where something happens affects your color pallet so does "When". If you are painting an ancient roman, some colors were more available and had certain meanings and that concept in some way still affects how we dress today.

In the past reds, blues, purples were all seen as colors for royalty and nobility because they were so hard to come by either because they came from a certain insect or rare flower at the time. Even today, the concept of the Power Tie is usually red. So being familiar with the time period that your miniature is supposed to be from and what certain colors meant adds some realism to your already beautifully painted piece.

Not only are colors important when taking into they killed. One soldier can have the finest crafted steel in all of the land, while another hunts account what time period your model is from but material is as well. While one culture may be thriving with silk and cotton and the finest wares money can buy, another may be wearing wool, and skins from the animals with sticks and sharpened stones. If you choose to go the route of realism, make sure you know what materials were available to that person at that time.

Like I said yesterday, knowing when as well as where are equally as important and should be considered at the same time and with the same weight. You can't have one without the other. Remember when you are painting something, you are painting a frozen moment in time but in miniature form. The Who, What, Where and When are the corner stones of the creative process.
And with that I leave you until tomorrow. Tomorrow's thought is "Why?" and it's not going to be the same kind of post as these past few days. I will be talking about Why would you go through all this trouble for a tiny little metal or plastic figure and I promise not to be judgmental in any way.

So until next time,

Mystix