Saturday, April 22, 2023

S is for... Several Things

There are quite a few terms relating to models and minis that start with "S," so let's just quick go through a list:

Stippling is a technique where you apply tiny dots of colour using a very fine brush. Varying the density and colour of the dots can produce a shading/highlighting effect, much like screen tones are used for shading in comic books.

Shading - we've covered this a few times, but shading basically means adding dark shadows/lowlights to create contrast. There are a few ways to do this: you can paint on shades darker than your basecoat; you can use a dark wash to fill in the recesses; or you can use a dark base coat and then drybrush or highlight with a brighter colour. I'm sure there are others as well, but these are the most common.

Scatter terrain is obstacles and decorative pieces that are "scattered" across the terrain or battle map for your tabletop game (you didn't think we just used tiny people by themselves, did you?). Common scatter terrain includes trees, rocks, and barricades for outdoors settings, or tables, chairs and barrels for indoors. They help set the scene as well as create interesting changes to the environment for the players to interact with or overcome.

Source: Me

Sprue is the plastic frame on which model pieces come attached. Often the first step to modeling, before the paint and gluing, is cutting these bits off the sprue. Many enterprising modelers will actually save their sprue scraps to make other models (especially handy for railings, pipes, antenna, etc).


Whew, made it through another week! Can I get through one more?

Hugs & Kisses,
-CDGK


4 comments:

Kristin said...

You can do it! Glad you use those extra little pieces of plastic for scenery addition.

PT Dilloway said...

I never knew those things holding the model pieces were called sprue. They were annoying if something didn't come off cleanly. One time I was trying to cut a chunk off an airplane model piece, the Xacto knife slipped, and cut my knee pretty deep. I had to get stitches at the urgent care. There's still a bit of a scar on my knee almost 30 years later.

Melanie Atherton Allen said...

okay, I just found this A to Z! I had no idea you were doing a mini-themed thing this year. That is exciting! Cutting things off the sprue is an art. And yes, sprue makes excellent base rubble and structural support. I haven't done any modelling for a little bit, but someday my Mechanicus army (or whatever it is called these days) will see the tabletop once more.

C. D. Gallant-King said...

I don't really do Warhammer - my models are all for tabletop RPGs, but there's a variety of D&D, Star Wars and zombies. So take a look around and see what you like! (And what I've screwed up!)

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