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Storytelling in Scale
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Welcome to Pigments & Putty - a website dedicated to the art of modeling.
Once upon a time, long before the breadth of human knowledge could be accessed from the palm of your hand, most boys built models. We didn't have PC's that guided us to create vast digital worlds, so we created the worlds we read about, or dreamed of, with our own hands. Some of us built the cars we dreamed of driving. Others the jets we watched fly overhead and some even the monsters featured in ABC's daily "4:30 Movie". Before the dawn of even the first Atari system, or Nintendo, there were games - games like Dungeons and Dragons that required imagination and creativity, and in some cases, painted miniatures. Our interests in subject may have varied, but the common thread was creativity. Many of us began this journey long before we ever called ourselves "artists". As kids, we sat at kitchen tables or bedroom floors, carefully snapping parts from sprues, brushing on thick enamel paint, inhaling the sweet fumes of model glue and feeling a spark we didn’t quite have a full appreciation for. Those early kits — tanks, soldiers, planes, monsters, whatever captured our imagination — were more than toys. They were our first attempts at shaping a world with our own hands and through our own effort. As we grew older, the spark didn't fade, it just usually took a back seat to the other discoveries of youth. Once we settled into adulthood and the siren call of party hopping subsided (a bit) some of us rediscovered the satisfaction of manual creativity, the experimentation, learning and improvement. What was once simple model building slowly evolved into something deeper: a desire to create pieces that were uniquely ours, that told a story - about a place, a moment in history, or a completely invented mythology. While we were practicing a hobby, we (subconsciously) stumbled onto an art form. |
We learned to paint with intention, to study light, color, anatomy, and history. When a commercially available kit didn't fit the story we wanted to tell, we learned to convert, or to sculpt from scratch. The plastic kits of childhood became the foundation for one‑of‑a‑kind works of art — pieces that carried our voice, our style, and our stories. Today, many of us look back and realize that those early moments weren’t just hobbies; they were the beginning of a lifelong creative path. Many who once built models on rainy afternoons are now artists who craft characters, scenes, and narratives in miniature. Each piece is a continuation of that same childhood wonder — only now shaped by skill, patience, and a deeper understanding of the stories we want to tell. While this site is my own personal journey, my own story so to speak, I also intend to share the stories of the vast talent that exists today - the people who create some of the most incredibly intricate, and visually stunning pieces produced. Beyond the technical skill, there’s another special kind of magic in this hobby — a blend of creativity and camaraderie that’s hard to find anywhere else. What begins as a solitary act of sculpting, painting, or modeling has often become the bridge to genuine, lifelong friendships. We gather around tables at shows, share techniques, swap stories, and cheer each other on as our skills grow. Over time, the hobby stops being just about the pieces we create and becomes just as much about the people who inspire us, challenge us, and celebrate the journey with us. In miniature art, the friendships are as handcrafted as the pieces themselves — built slowly, shaped with care, and cherished for a lifetime. |
