Kharkov Diorama - Figure #1 Part 2

In an earlier post I talked about how much I was going for a certain feel to this piece that I hoped would come across in the paint choices for the figures, tank and the groundwork. Amongst the photos that I have chosen as reference material along the way is the one reproduced above. Along the lines of this photo I hope you will begin to see the effect show in the in-progress pictures below. As the details are eventually worked, the dirty coloration achieved now will show through.

I began painting the jacket using a mixture of raw umber and titanium white. Once painted on the figure and while still wet, I added touches more raw umber in the shadow areas and blended upward. This is done to the overall figure without regard for folds or details. At this point I am thinking of the figure like one big shape with no detail.

Once dry I began applying rough shadows with a mixture of raw umber and Mars black. This mixture is "scrubbed" into shadow areas acting as a glaze over the original color. After reading various descriptions of the coloring for these jackets and looking at photos of the actual jackets, I have found that colors vary and as you could see in the black and white picture at the beginning of this post they quickly became filthy as time in the field took it's toll. The look at this point is still brownish grey (actually appearing more brown in these pics than in real life). This will moderate more as the highlight and detail shadows are accomplished in the next steps. More to come as the week progresses hopefully.