Best Book for Figure Modelling???? Please help

That was a great help to me as well, thanks guys!

Also try http://www.coolminiornot.com -- they have some good tutorials. Mostly towards fantasy, but the ideas are the same.

Dan

Ted,

My favorite book on figures is "The System" Volume 1: Figure Painting by Francois Verlinden and Bob Letterman. Their process describes painting a base coat and then using oil paints to to add shadows and highlights, and this has been working well for me since I started building figures. If you choose this particular route, I would recommend using Winsor and Newton oil paints.

Scott

Another good book if you you are going to use acrylics for painting is "Getting Started Painting Diorama Figures in Acrylics" by Brett Avants from Letterman Publications.

Thanks Glenn, what wonderful sites. This forum sure is a great collection of info and talent. Thanks for the posts. Those sites show me what I want to be when I grow up (even though I'm 34)

Ted

Oh...(awkward pause)...well, I can't help but feel that I should try and offer at least a little more than some things you already have access to. So at the risk of upsetting the web masters here, I'd like to recommend another forum site that deals exclusively with military miniatures/figures, even though THIS SITE IS EXCELLENT!
It's the TnT military Miniatures forum at;
http://forums.delphiforums.com/tntlinks/start/
Great advice available from the experts, and I do mean experts. These are the folks that are producing the Gold medal figures you might see in some of the leading figure and modeling magazines.
Also excellent is
www.planetfigure.com
Great gallery and it also features some forums as well.
Hope this serves as a good supplement to those fine books. Good Luck, and I look forward to seeing some your work posted here soon.
Glenn

Well, as luck would have it, I have all the books mentioned. I suppose it's time to start the studying process. Thanks for all the great help.

Ted

I have just the book for you Ted. "Military Modelling Masterclass" by Bill Horan, which is put out by Windrow & Greene publishing. Bill Horan is one of the most gifted artists to work in miniature, and has been recognized around the World for his skill. This book has it all from basic painting techniques to scratchbuilding and vignettes/dioramas. He works primarily in 54 mm which is 1/32, and that's pretty close to 1/35, so most of the lessons will apply. Besides, this book may make you want to start making figures the center of attention instead of the "add-ons" to an armour model. Trust me Ted, you need no other book, although I'm sure the other suggestions are fine as well.

I also reccommend How to Paint Realistic Military Figures by Kalmbach Pub. and Shep Paine's book Dioramas as well. Both are EXTREMELY helpful and should be in every modelers collection. I have very limited experience with figures and following the advice of these two books, my skills have improved greatly since their purchase. Good luck!
Ryan

another good one is How to Paint Realistic Military Figures by Lynn Kessler and Donald Winar. It's also from Kalmbach. really helpful. good luck

One of the best ones would be (in my opinion) is the How to Make Dioramas" by Shep Paine. It is a Kalmbach Book. Also, I would recommend getting a subscription to the magazine, Interational Figure by Andrea Miniatures sold by Squadron. Great reference and how-to's. I wish you well.