Erich von Ludendorff bust - Update #1

I recently held one of my little figure painting classes at our local hobby shop "Section 8 Hobbies" here in Buffalo and as part of my demo I began painting this bust from Ulrich Puchala's line of portrait busts. I have been meaning to start on this for some time and this was the perfect opportunity.

 

As always a mix of Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Deep and W&N Permanent Red, with a touch of Yellow Ochre was made to start the flesh process. This is applied liberally to the face and hairline and the excess removed leaving a "stain" of the mixture on the white basecoat. Over this I began working my mid-tone highlights (Cadmium Yellow Deep and Titanium White) to begin blocking out the face. Shadows under the chin and around the eyes were started by stippling Indigo into the areas that require darkening. This indicates shadowing in the areas of facial hair growth as well as greying out the skin around his eyes. The results are in the first photos below.

 

After this had dried I began deepening the shadows using Burnt Umber and Brown Madder glazes along with a tiny touch of Alizarin Crimson in the cheeks. The Burnt Umber was also worked into the hair.

Further highlighting is done using glazes of Titanium White with a small amount of Cadmium Yellow Deep. These glazes both brighten the highlights and tone down the warmer tones of the base colors. The eyes were also started at this point. A mix of Titanium White, Mars Black and Burnt Umber was applied to the hair with each coat being made lighter by the white. This is applied in small lines, building texture and random highlighting.

The eyes are completed as well as further highlighting of the folds around his eyes. I also pulled back some of the whiter hairs in his moustache and eyebrows as he hadn't gone that far grey by the time of this portrait. Painting the uniform and Cap will help me to see if any further work needs to be done to get the desired flesh tones where I want them.

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Update #4

As always, once dry, highlight tones are added using a glaze of Titanium White and Cad Yellow Deep. Cadmium Red Deep with hints of Mars Black were applied to the base of the feathers and pure Cad Red Deep was applied to the remainder of the feathers. This provides the base tones over which the texture can be created with lighter tones of red.

 

 

A glaze of Mars Black was applied to the stonework and quickly wiped off with a bit of paper towel. This creates shadow tones, allows the warmer brown tones to show through and the rough texture of the paper towel creates a more natural appearance by also removing some of the brown paint in spots.

 

Further shadow and highlight work remains to be done as deeper shadows will be applied in a few spots with Brownish Madder. A bit of Burnt Umber and Alizarin Crimson was applied to the lips and highlighted with white.

 

The leather padding of the cheek-guards was outlined with Brownish Madder and deeper shadows applied. Additionally, black washes were applied to the medals on his phalarae and an initial shadow tone for the scale armor (also Brownish Madder).

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Update #3

The first of two updates as I work through the painting of our centurion's flesh tones. These first two photos show the basic flesh tones with mid-tone highlight and shadows done with wet-on-wet blending. As always, flesh is a mix of Burnt Sienna, Medium Cad Red and Cad Yellow Deep, with Cad Yellow Deep and Titanium White used as the highlight mix. Nothing new and innovative here, simply another great Laruccia sculpt.

 

 

The last two photos show the flesh with deeper shadowing applied. Burnt Umber was utilized as a glaze for this step.

 

An initial coat of Burnt Umber was applied to the road bed stones to set the tonal value. Additional coats of various colors will build a natural coloration in the stone which will develop as the figure progresses.