After choosing the pose for Glorian the final step in the commission phase of a miniature is determining the scale of a figure.
When talking about scale you need to know not only the height of a figure but also the proportions of a figure. Many sculptors use differerent measuring points for scale and while there are many differnt ways, no one way is better than the other. However, you should know the measuring point of the scale you want to fit into before you start.
The two measuring points are to the eyes or the top of the head. So to define that, a figure is 30mm either to the eyes, or the top of the head. Normally I use the second measuring point, top of the head. This would be the height of the figure from the tip of the toes to the top of the head. It is important to note that "top of the head" means to the scalp, not the hair, standing straight.
The reason I like the second method is simply that it is more exact to place where the top of the head is going to be on a armature than to determine where the eyes might be, this way you get exact scale and height. Scale is something that can`t really be fixed after the fact so you have to be sure that it is right.
The other consideration with scale is the proportions and style of a figure. Florian wants to be able to use his figure with his existing blood bowl minis so he sent me a sample so that I can make sure when I am sculpting his figure that is meshes with his other figures. Here is the blitzer he sent me:
So I will keep this figure handy when sculpting to refer to so I can "match" into it``s proportions. This is quite common in commercial sculpting, often clients will require a sculptor to match scale to existing lines or figures.
