Since I haven't done mini gaming before that required painting I have been trying to learn about techniques and styles, primarily from tutorials on youtube. While I think that Sorastro and others do a fantastic job, I have noticed that Star Wars figures are generally painted to be a realistic as possible. When watching Sorastro's tutorials in particular, I noticed that I liked the look when he finished his basing. At this point, the figures seemed to have more of a stark contrast and almost a more cartoon-like appearance.

I have also been considering whether or not to paint my stormtroopers in something other than white - maybe silver and crimson - just so there is some variety on the table.

My questions for the group - How do you feel about less realistic or non-standard looks? What styles do you find interesting or would you consider other than canon appearances?

I bring my minis to the same level of detail as Sorastro (or at least try). Hes the best. But im also not afraid of changing things up. We generally see stormtrooper captains with an orange shoulder pauldron, but who says you can't do any color out there. Or even the armor, as you stated. Rebel outfits should be painted depending on terrain. As far as hero characters, I usually keep them canon. But theres no rules. Do what makes you happy. Red chrome troopers sound awesome.

Some things to keep in mind about watching stuff on youtube. First your monitor may not be color calibrated even if you think it looks good. A good trick is to put your pots of paint next to the screen when you see them in the video. Next the video color may be off and the bright lighting used may throw off colors further. Also the zoomed up view of the mini brings breaks out details you wouldn't notice with the necked eye. So what you see in the video may not be so accurate of what you would see in real life. That may make things look a little more cartoony.

The style used for most minis I guess you could call realistic however it is more accurate to say the painting job is trying to make something rather small look bigger than what it is. This is why all the shading and highlights are done. It is a trick of light to make the object look bigger, and there by, more realistic. Such small objects don't cast shadows the same way a larger object would and simply doesn't have the mass to look realistic. The painting is really more like that done on a 2D surface trying to make what is painted look 3D even though it is 2D. Cosplayers would never paint their costumes the same way we paint our minis.

You could do just a standard paint job and call it a day without all the highlights. You could go for very strong contrasts in the highlights which would really make things look cartoony. I guess you could go all Starry Night on the minis and have I don't even know what those would be.

Most people go with what looks best, which would be the 3D style painting on the minis to make them look bigger and more realistic.

I don't mind non-canon looks/colors, but personally, I wouldn't do anything outlandish like polka dot stormies or bright orange Vader. There has to be some tie to what could be considered "real" in the SW universe.

23 minutes ago, Mep said:

That may make things look a little more cartoony.

"Cartoon-like" may not have been the best description. I couldn't think of anything better. I just meant that some of the realistic depth and details were not present, which is just a different style.

25 minutes ago, Mep said:

I guess you could go all Starry Night on the minis

That would be cool to see.

Black, Gun Metal Gray (Vader's 501st), Red, Navy Blue and of course white are in various Canon/Legacy stories. There were also regular joe soldiers with grey uniforms and helmets .

I am going traditional White for the first go around and then see where expansions go from there.

Care to link to what you mean?

"More cartoony" to my mind kinda conjures up GW box art style, (i.e. multiple line highlights leading up to lighter and lighter colors); and [deadpan Keanu voice] Glazes. . . lots of glazes [/dKv] (DungimmeWong, I love this style)

Then there's "Eyeballing that CMON top artist gallery" ,... gradients, gradients everywhere? (Kidding, and certainly no disrespect to CoolMiniorNot top artists)

Then there's "I think I've finally got it!! Hang on, we're gonna play soon!" Which is basecoat, wash, drybrush..

Edit: Oh ok, just watched Sorastro's Legion Luke vid.

Honestly, I'm planning on doing some things with the stormtroopers not unlike the clone troopers in the clone wars cartoon. As for the rebels, the only one I know for certain is that the dude with the beard is totally going to be captain Rex. Period. End of discussion. No possible way to talk me out of that. As for yours... Doowhatchalike. They're your minis. Have fun

I plan to do normal white stormtroopers, sandtroopers with more weathered, sandy armor, and swamp troopers with green armor

I'm planning on painting my Stormtroopers a dark grey with red highlights. This will match how I've painted my SW Armada fleet. Vader may be painted to look the same. I'm not sure. I know he's Vader, but everyone is going to have a standard Vader. I'm considering dark grey armor with a red a cloak and red highlights to match the Stormtroopers. I'll be buying two core boxes, so I'll have two Vaders to play around with. I might paint one 'normal' and one to match my scheme.

I have no idea how I'm going to paint the Rebels. I'm debating between a ragtag, 'everyone is wearing something different look' and a uniform color scheme. If I got uniform, I'll probably avoid the camo look and instead go with some non-standard color combo that would look good on a relatively well populated planet. Have them posing as panetary defense troops or something.

This isn't a historical war game. There are no points for how accurately you match the movies.

I like the idea of both a standard and non-standard Vader if you buy two starters. Might as well have fun with the other one. I haven't figured out what to do with my rebels yet, either.

I am painting my figures as I did my figures SW Imperial Assault. My figures will have the look of the "Black Series" action figures. I like the look of the action figures and I want that on my table.

I will have a squad of Stormtroopers with a Shadowtrooper paint scheme. Black armor with silver trim.

Most of my squad of Rebels will have an Endor paint scheme and the others will be Rogue One inspired. (Browns, blues and greys.)