Tools Of The Trade: Drawing Paper and Size Refs
In addition to "The Art Of" series of artists whose work I find inspiring, I'm also going to start a series of blog posts on tools of the trade, those things I use day-to-day to keep the ball rolling around here.
First up is my standard drawing paper, a background that most of my clients are familiar with seeing.
Think of it as Waldo (my 3D reference figure, as shown in the Destroid posts) in 2D, with a 1/100th scale running along the left hand side of the paper.
Image compression and whatnot will probably make the image not the same size as the physical paper I work on, but there are guidelines farther down for making your own.
I've also included markings for the scale heights in feet, as well as inches. In 1/100th scale, 1 inch equals 8.333 scale feet. 10 scale feet equals 1.2 inches. The above illustration should help give an idea of what I'm talking about.
The sizes may not be exact, as this was a whipped-together graphic for a client I made years ago (the honorable Mike Hardy and I were going to do ground warfare for Cold Navy, but it fell through), but the math should be right in the scaling.
For those of you who are contemplating getting into the 1/100th scale design realm, it's quite easy to do. For a reference figure, just draw a little guy who is just a shade under 3/4 inches tall, or .72 inches tall (around 18mm for you metric types).
That will give you a frame of reference for a 6 foot tall man. Make a similar height scale like the one I made in the first drawing, and maybe even an identical length gauge if you're feeling fancy, and you're good to go.
If drawing on graph paper is your thing, go to an office supply or art supply store. If you can find it, there is usually 5x5 grid-per-inch graph paper there. 10x10 grid-per-inch is also good. 1.2 inches (10 scale feet) is easier to mark on this than conventional 4x4 graph paper.
Metric graph paper works much easier, if you're used to meters, but it's harder to find in the States.
Well, that's a starter post for this new ongoing series. Stay tuned.
Best,
JBR
First up is my standard drawing paper, a background that most of my clients are familiar with seeing.
Think of it as Waldo (my 3D reference figure, as shown in the Destroid posts) in 2D, with a 1/100th scale running along the left hand side of the paper.
Image compression and whatnot will probably make the image not the same size as the physical paper I work on, but there are guidelines farther down for making your own.
I've also included markings for the scale heights in feet, as well as inches. In 1/100th scale, 1 inch equals 8.333 scale feet. 10 scale feet equals 1.2 inches. The above illustration should help give an idea of what I'm talking about.
The sizes may not be exact, as this was a whipped-together graphic for a client I made years ago (the honorable Mike Hardy and I were going to do ground warfare for Cold Navy, but it fell through), but the math should be right in the scaling.
For those of you who are contemplating getting into the 1/100th scale design realm, it's quite easy to do. For a reference figure, just draw a little guy who is just a shade under 3/4 inches tall, or .72 inches tall (around 18mm for you metric types).
That will give you a frame of reference for a 6 foot tall man. Make a similar height scale like the one I made in the first drawing, and maybe even an identical length gauge if you're feeling fancy, and you're good to go.
If drawing on graph paper is your thing, go to an office supply or art supply store. If you can find it, there is usually 5x5 grid-per-inch graph paper there. 10x10 grid-per-inch is also good. 1.2 inches (10 scale feet) is easier to mark on this than conventional 4x4 graph paper.
Metric graph paper works much easier, if you're used to meters, but it's harder to find in the States.
Well, that's a starter post for this new ongoing series. Stay tuned.
Best,
JBR
Comments
I've seen 10mm and 15mm scale, mostly via Flames of War. They do not, however, use a rapid prototyping system for their models.
Since you've done both, I'm wondering if you could tell me the main advantage of 15mm over 6mm? Neither are heroic scale, so there isn't enough detail to be "heroes" as you would see in the Warhammer or War Machine series.
However, 6mm allows for substantially larger units to be represented (an AC-130 gunship, for example) whereas 15mm seems to have all the drawbacks of epic scale (limited detail) but none of the advantages (large scale battles and specialized models).
Is the increase in size a substantial boon to model design efficiency? I understand 3d printers are still somewhat limited in resolution, so I could see where larger models might be easier to detail for printing.
Anyway, just curious about the design philosophy.
Semper Fi
Anybody who wonders why many so called 15MM human troopers are often actually 18 to 20MM high.
Thanks for posting.
Joseph
1/100th (the numeric formalization of 15mm scale) has always struck me as a size that offers a balance. Some things it does well. Some it doesn't. I'll explain...
15mm (1/100th) enables vehicles, infantry, and special units like mechs, VTOLS, and superhumans to all be manageable on the same tabletop.
Large armies can be fielded on a smaller budget, but low-budget teams of just a few character figures can also be used to play out role-playing or scenario-dependent encounters.
Tank or mech battles can be done on the right size tabletop, and scenery doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Allow me to quote myself from back in the year 2001, when I had a small start-up game company called Hellion Productions...
"...why 15mm, you say? Well, to start, an average infantryman doesn’t cost $5 apiece. Your "army" is bigger than a couple platoons. One tank or mecha won’t dominate the entire battlefield table (unless it’s one bad mother-hush-your-mouth). You don’t have to start sticking up convenience stores to finance your hobby. You can do some actual maneuvering on the battlefield, not just "bonk" your oversized army into the opposing side’s swarm of miniatures and end up in inevitable close combat. There are a lot of reasons, but most importantly, we didn’t want the detail to suffer at the price of reduced retail cost. 15mm-scale strikes the right balance between being tiny, but the detail of the figure isn’t swallowed up. A sculptor can still carve a recognizable face on a character. Weapons can still be distinguished, as well as details like body armor, pockets, holsters, pouches, and the like. Not as much material is used, so you don’t have to pay as much. Your army still looks cool, and you don’t go broke."
The pocket/holster/pouch argument also carries over to vehicles. I can outfit tanks with different pintle weapons, reactive armor, or main gun barrels, and they are able to be distinguished from their compatriots at a glance. That ability to convert and customize is tougher to do in smaller scales.
I've always liked 15mm. I'm certainly not the inventor of it, but I am a big advocate. It's just a personal and professional choice that some folks seem to agree with.
6mm is nice, and has its place (I started with Epic and Space Marine, and still do the occasional 6mm project), especially for macro-sized units like you mentioned.
For man-versus-tank-versus-superhuman-versus-mech tabletop warfare, though, 1/100th floats my boat. It's not for everyone, I know. I'm just trying to offer what I like to others. No worries.
And Semper Fi to you, too, sir.
Best,
JBR
Thanks for reading, sir. Glad it helps.
Best,
JBR
Best,
JBR
However, Flames of War is rather new, and their caster doesn't seem to be very good.
Still, model lines smaller than 35mm or heroic scale seem to be just returning to play. I think Classic Battletech was the last game I saw, prior to Flames of War, to successfully use a smaller system. It never really gained much popularity as a strategy game though. This might be due to the fact that it is more of an RPG than a war game.
Ultimately, I'm hoping that smaller scales do take off and become more popular than they have been. There is something about fielding a regiment sized force that is highly appealing.