Reply To: Is there any point in a hobby lamp for army painting?

[horati0nosebl0wer 19648xp 1]

I agree with @avicenna on the aim of how you’re painting. The issue is the scale we paint at. We need to bring out the pop effect for small things because well… they’re small. The 4’/4″ issue is the detail level you work on. There have been pretty well painted minis of armor here on the boards that have the high contrast edge highlights that break the planes of the flat paneling and make the shapes seem more visible.

Last year as a gift to one of my brothers I picked up a Pz IV for Tanks and tried a desert camo pattern. It came out well enough but what made it pop was color. I see a dusting of field grime over the tank and it definitely is cool for larger model kits. That detail loses its punch in scale on the Pz I but you could kick it up with the alternating blue grey/brown pattern and then a light dust of grime around the tracks. Maybe some small bits of pulled pluck foam (in most any sue mini packaging) painted to look like foliage glued here and there could spice it up too without added cost for hobby materials.

I guess the lighting issue gets skirted with all this but its all in what we end up with on the tabletop. As I was taught in an art class years ago “If it looks wrong, it is wrong”. Here its paint to what makes you happy and be sure that you are able to see the parts that make your minis cool.