Young Miniatures Roman Signifer Bust - Update #5

Final highlighting of the arm and hand was done last night using the same techniques as usual. I mixed a small amount of Cad. Yellow Deep with Titanium White and added a bit of thinner to create a glaze which once applied and blended outward, developed the lighter highlighting of muscles, skin folds, knuckles, etc. Fingernails were first outlined with Van Dyke Brown and then painted with a mix of White and Burnt Sienna, further highlighting with more Titanium White. All of this was done wet-on-wet for subtle blending. Once dry, I will lightly highlight the ends of the nails with more white. The larger the scale, the more important small details like this are to the finished piece's overall realism. Once everything has had time to completely cure, I will begin to attempt arm hair. If the piece isn't completely dry the colors could be muddied and more importantly, if I wasn't happy with the results, removal with thinners could lift my previous work.

 

 

The chin scales were attached next. These items had previously been primed white and the insides painted Mars Black. The leather pads were painted using a mixture of Van Dyke Brown and Burnt Sienna and highlighted with Titanium White. The next three photos show the steps to getting my initial tones of metallic finish.

 

1.) A mix of Silver printers ink and Mars Black is applied to the edges of the chin scales, taking care not to get any paint on the leather cheek pads.

 

2.) Raw Silver ink and Mars Black were applied as shown below, in patches of color that will then be blended together with a soft brush.

 

These areas are blended together and additional black is worked into the natural shadow zones. I also applied some thinned black in a few spots and after sitting for a few minutes, blended with a stippling motion from a soft brush. There are a number of gilt details that will be painted in the next step.