The size of busts

[cdukino]

Not meaning female breasts here but busts as in head, shoulders and a part of the torso as miniature.

What are the usual sizes for busts in the miniature world?

And more specifically: I am thinking about doing a few busts for Magpie miniatures. For the main reason of me wanting to do them (I like making the heads). They will be metal busts (as I don't have a resin casting option but should be able to arrange metal castings in time). But I want them not to expensive either for potentional buyers. That means not big like the andrea busts and all that, both for production costs and for the fact i am gonna make them in procreate/greenstuff and such (vulcanisable for the metal moulding). But what would a nice size be?

All the busts I am planning to make should be in about the same scale, so I need to decide on it before I start them. Which bust sizes would you guys/girls be intrested in?

I did make an bust for my necromancer which is 10 mm high head alone and 18 mm total hight. This is a pleasant size to sculpt, is large enough to put in a lot of detail with painting and sculpting, and would keep productioncosts such that the selling price would be friendly too (around 6-8 euro's each as I suspect to sell less of them then off the normal figures who will be 4,50 euro likely (don't have the costs clear yet)) They won't come with a standard though. But they might stand on their own.
But would this be a intresting size for people to buy? It won't fit any excisting range (then again neither does most of magpie, and busts are pretty stand alone usually anyway)

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics11/img461233c115fb7.jpg

[matty1001]

I would say about 50mm max from chest to top the the head (excluding the stand/base)
Though im partial to bigger busts.

[Ritual]

Look at http://www.sculptart31.com! There you will find busts at different sizes that I think are quite common. I have the Don Quijote bust and it is about 75-80 mm high.

[cdukino]

I like the bigger ones a lot too myself. Probabaly more then the small ones, save their pricetag. They are expensive.
But they have no chance of survival for a small company like Magpie. The costs involved will be just to big by far and I doubt they will earn themselves back, let alone make a profit worth mentioning. And bigger busts also would call for another mould likely and i would prefer then into a mould with other regular Magpie pieces.

So the question really is. Would small busts be intresting for people to buy if the price if friendly as well compared to the bigger boys?

The busts Ritual linked to are usually to big for me to have produced, not to mention to expensive. And they are resin too for various reasons. I don't have that option. I like that size and might concider if I could do resin and work in fimo or something instead of greenstuff. But no can't do that now.

I think 50 mm in total hight would be the max I can do. Still that would make the price higher too... about the 15 euro likely which sculptart31 quoted (maybe more depending on metal weight and needed mould)

[Ritual]

I think smaller busts would be quite a new market, as busts traditionally have mainly been of the sizes sculptart31 makes. That doesn't mean that there won't be a market for smaller busts, but I think it's hard to forsee what demand there is for such products. I know I would be interested in painting some, but not if they're too small. Then I would much rather paint me a full 54 mm or 90 mm miniature. I'd say about 40-50 mm in height would be minimum for what I would be interested in. But that's only my opinion.

[cdukino]

I'm asking opinions so "only your opinion" is much appreciated. I need more of those. Honest ones. There could aways come the conclusion that I need to go resin somehow to have the 40-60mm sized busts. If that's the case so be it. I might or might not be able to arrange it, but that would be of later concern. Worst thing that can happen is that they aren't intresting to produce and I'm left with one off's for myself.

[caffeinated]

I think as long as you do a sizable grouping of busts that are of the same scale & genre the specific size you choose won't be as important. If you plan on just doing the occasional one-off, then I would try to match into the scale of something else that you like. I collect a lot of fully painted busts & I like to display them together for the most part. That works best when they match in scale-wise when they are of the same genre.
I'm particularly fond of 1/12th scale busts which is a scale I previously sculpted some pirate busts in. This would be the scale used for 6 inch action figures such as most of the McFarlane figures.

[SteveB]

It's an interesting point. I've thought about sculpting mini-busts before myself. I personally love the idea as they'd be great for painting high quality in a short period with all the attention being given to the facial character.

Only reason I've never done so is not really thinking they'd sell.

The size you've chosen is around the equivalent of a 70mm figure. Nice size.

Personally, thumbs up from me as a painter.

[Lordfishbane]

I think that as long as they are unique and interesting, I don't think the scale would be an issue, especially for painters. A small price tag would help the sale, and who knows, you may even start a trend with a "off scale" product. Heck the gaming industry moved from 25mm, to 28mm, Heroic 28mm and now they are starting to move into 32mm.
If you produced your necromancer bust I would buy it, if the other busts are to the level and quality of that one ( No question or doubt ), I think you would sell a good deal of them.

[Wren]

I think the smaller busts (and their smaller price tags) sound interesting. I've looked at larger ones a bit, and most of the prices I saw put me off. Not so much just for the price alone, but the risk in buying a product that I might not be able to paint well or enjoy painting, then it would feel like a big chunk of wasted money. The small busts would be a way to experiment with something new without a big risk.

I guess one question would be whether it'd be financial feasible if this product appeals primarily to Magpie customers, or would it have to be able to interest the existing market of bust buyers to be workable money-wise?

[cdukino]

I am looking at making it worthwile enough for me to take the risk Magpie wise. I am not searching to compete with the bust market as it is. It is more a whim from my part, something I'd like to do. But moulding isn't cheap, let alone easy for me. So I need to weigh my options and chances.

I like to make busts. I like the size like the Argus one for reasons Steve mentioned (which would make a 70-80 mm tall figure if it weren't just a bust)). They aren't as timeconsuming as the big ones either. And I can toss them into the mould with the other Magpie things if I order a mould.

I would need to sell about 40 - 50 of them for 7-8 euro's to justify a productionmould place taken up by it (I need the higher price to make up for the most likely less sales) each to make it acceptable for me to swap a place in the mould for a regular Magpie fig for a bust instead and put in my time.

This can only be done with small busts. The risk is small as they just go with the mould I am making anyway and will have the same productioncosts (only less sales likley). If they crash and burn sales wise I can swallow my losses and just call it a failed but fun project and not make any new ones for production.

When we are talking about 40-60 mm busts or even larger it becomes another story all together. I need different moulds, a higher pricetag for me and the costumer is in order (going way up) and it definatly isn't a matter of just slipping in a trail bust in a mould. I would need to take it on as a complete new project with everything involved. And if that fails I have a lot more problem swallowing my losses time and financially wise.

I think I might just take the gamble and make 3 of the Argus sized busts (Argus isn't gonna be produced... painted the green ;) ) and just slip them in in a future mould (whenever that might be). And then just see if it works. Might not be everyones cup of tea. But I hope they might be for about 50 people.

The busts would be the quality of the Argus one or better