Sublime work OP. Love the sheen control, the glossy coffee.
Since they're clearly a warhammer 40k fan, a recent discovery of mine for mini painting: artist gouache or artist watercolor are awesome for pin-lining and recess shading the way oil paint or enamels are often used for those tasks, but only water is needed instead of white spirit. And they're indefinitely "editable" with a damp brush / qtip. The only downside is that you need to varnish to seal the watercolor before painting over it. A black and a burnt umber alone will get you really far. Make sure the gouache or watercolor use a gum arabic binder.
I have one kit from Rolife half-assembled for over an year, and I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon. But, man, they look so beautiful. Even more when built carefully, like this one.
Unrelated:
> My to-go order is always just an Americano.
Yep, same for me. But not because I like it, it's because most places around the world call themselves "coffee shops" and don't know how to brew any kind of drip coffee. I've been to a few coffee shops that had drip coffee makers on display and they told me "we don't know how to use it" or "it takes too long to brew, so we don't use it".
When I was a child I'd spend many hours building, painting, and then distressing Airfix models, and then I went on to make my own spaceships from scraps. Ugh, how many times I would accidentally cut myself with a scalpel, lol, or drive my mum crazy with needing more of those little pots of paint.
Just typing it out brings back such fond memories. None of my grandchildren are interested in such things :-(
I'm sure you know Thomas Demand, the German artist who works with miniature models of crime scenes. if not check him out. Also the Austrian artist Bernd Oppl works with miniature architecture, but he uses the models for his videos and installations
Ah neat, my daughter likes to do this too, with Rolife. I let her borrow our camera with our 105mm macro lens to take artsy shots of her builds, and it was a fun learning and creative experience together. Highly recommend.
Also, dust and hair at that scale looks hilariously huge, so you might want a cleanroom. :-/
The tiny newspaper and individually assembled tulips got me. There is a strange amount of joy in details that almost nobody will ever notice unless they stop and look closely.
The miniatures come prepainted but as tiny bits, like a croissant, or a lamp, or a sofa. So it's not so much about painting them as it is gluing tiny magnets to them and making small installations that are repluggable.
Some of the items have tiny electrics inside, e.g. an actual tiny LED lamp.
The "scenery" (much like Warhammer battlefields) are then made from cardboard and hobby materials. You can also buy them pre-assembled, but they're much less impressive (usually one color, generic, e.g. "doll house" or "house sliced halfway"). There's a subgenre for 3D printing the scenery.
My wife uses small glass jars upside down. so the items live on the jar's lid. Looks very cute with a small LED lamp and lights off.
I think none of this is rare, but surely some items are more unusual than others.
The rarity comes from this being a hobby that not many know about.
Ah this makes more sense. I was wondering how on earth they were making this stuff because a lot of it looked like injection moulded plastic that would be just too hard to make at home.
Do you know what this stuff is called specifically? I wanna see what kinda items you can get.
Sublime work OP. Love the sheen control, the glossy coffee.
Since they're clearly a warhammer 40k fan, a recent discovery of mine for mini painting: artist gouache or artist watercolor are awesome for pin-lining and recess shading the way oil paint or enamels are often used for those tasks, but only water is needed instead of white spirit. And they're indefinitely "editable" with a damp brush / qtip. The only downside is that you need to varnish to seal the watercolor before painting over it. A black and a burnt umber alone will get you really far. Make sure the gouache or watercolor use a gum arabic binder.
Demo of the technique from 3:30 - 5:20 (strong Italian accent warning, closed captions help me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vHDq3NJj4E
Been painting for years and not come across that one. Thank you kindly.
Can you expand on needing to varnish? Why is that?
I guess acrylic won’t set on top of it?
I have one kit from Rolife half-assembled for over an year, and I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon. But, man, they look so beautiful. Even more when built carefully, like this one.
Unrelated:
> My to-go order is always just an Americano.
Yep, same for me. But not because I like it, it's because most places around the world call themselves "coffee shops" and don't know how to brew any kind of drip coffee. I've been to a few coffee shops that had drip coffee makers on display and they told me "we don't know how to use it" or "it takes too long to brew, so we don't use it".
Not directly related, but one of the more impressive artists I've seen along these lines. Each photo has a bit of a story to it:
https://bsky.app/profile/maggiemice.bsky.social/post/3mqty4y...
https://bsky.app/profile/maggiemice.bsky.social/post/3mpqrsc...
https://www.maggierudy.com/making-mouseland
Pretty cool. Would love for her to somehow work with the people who make the Mausritter RPG :D
Wow, these are excellent. I clicked for the miniature craft and ended up staying for the tiny mouse drama
Lovely work and photos :-)
When I was a child I'd spend many hours building, painting, and then distressing Airfix models, and then I went on to make my own spaceships from scraps. Ugh, how many times I would accidentally cut myself with a scalpel, lol, or drive my mum crazy with needing more of those little pots of paint.
Just typing it out brings back such fond memories. None of my grandchildren are interested in such things :-(
I'm sure you know Thomas Demand, the German artist who works with miniature models of crime scenes. if not check him out. Also the Austrian artist Bernd Oppl works with miniature architecture, but he uses the models for his videos and installations
Ah neat, my daughter likes to do this too, with Rolife. I let her borrow our camera with our 105mm macro lens to take artsy shots of her builds, and it was a fun learning and creative experience together. Highly recommend.
Also, dust and hair at that scale looks hilariously huge, so you might want a cleanroom. :-/
The tiny newspaper and individually assembled tulips got me. There is a strange amount of joy in details that almost nobody will ever notice unless they stop and look closely.
Very nice. I love the "mirror shot" and the one with the two stools in the foreground. Very fair prices for the coffee :D
My personal litmus test is a pourover not an americano because I usually don't go for the espresso-based drinks.
My wife collects and resells these miniatures.
It is quite fascinating. It's kind of like Warhammer.
They buy them assembled? or rare versions or something?
The miniatures come prepainted but as tiny bits, like a croissant, or a lamp, or a sofa. So it's not so much about painting them as it is gluing tiny magnets to them and making small installations that are repluggable.
Some of the items have tiny electrics inside, e.g. an actual tiny LED lamp.
The "scenery" (much like Warhammer battlefields) are then made from cardboard and hobby materials. You can also buy them pre-assembled, but they're much less impressive (usually one color, generic, e.g. "doll house" or "house sliced halfway"). There's a subgenre for 3D printing the scenery.
My wife uses small glass jars upside down. so the items live on the jar's lid. Looks very cute with a small LED lamp and lights off.
I think none of this is rare, but surely some items are more unusual than others.
The rarity comes from this being a hobby that not many know about.
Tiny magnets seems to be the item you run out of.
Ah this makes more sense. I was wondering how on earth they were making this stuff because a lot of it looked like injection moulded plastic that would be just too hard to make at home.
Do you know what this stuff is called specifically? I wanna see what kinda items you can get.
Ah thank you, I get it now. She is making original pieces instead of rolife and such. That's a nice hobby. Maybe you could share a picture or two? :-)
I just bought the other day a fully smol garden/green house! It also comes with tiny lamps and a battery.
There should be some scale for comparison just to wow people more. I think that most of us underappreciate how really tiny models are.
Japanese mangas are stored just behind the model. They are Tankōbon format which is 17cm high.
Definitely needs the traditional banana for scale, although in this case the banana might occupy half the cafe (just a joke, sorry (just in case))
Great to see a hobby AI can't do yet.
Super cool. Love these kinds of posts.