EMI 54mm Villanovan Warrior Completed

 Well, here he is, completed at last. I hope everyone likes the outcome as much as I do. I'll let him sit a few days and then revisit the completed figure. I'm sure I'll find spots that need a bit more touch-up. In the meantime, onward to the Saxons and Decurion.

EMI Villanovan Warrior - Final Assembly and Details

 Finally, the figure is attached to the base and the spear is located in the figures right hand. I first primed the spear with a thin coat of acrylic white paint. A glaze stain of Mars Brown was applied to the spear shaft and a gold base coat was applied to the spear tips.

After the first colors had dried (24 hours) I applied a wash of Burnt Umber to the spear tips and a glaze of the same color as a second stain coat on the spear shaft. After this had dried a further wash of Mars Black was applied to the spear points and full strength Burnt Umber and Mars Black applied to deeper shadows on the shaft such as around the hand and joins with the tips.

 One of the difficulties with this figure is the join between the hand and the shield. There is no locating pin on the hand and the shield would be very hard to get a good fitment simply with glue. During prep I drilled two small holes in the hand and inner shield boss. Two brass pins were glued to the hand with a rough surround to better adhere to the 5 minute epoxy I would use to attach the shield.

Here you can see the process of working from base color to finished product when painting bronze using metallic gold printers inks. The first picture is the base mix of gold ink and Burnt Umber. The second picture shows the spear with it's wash of Burnt Umber. The third shows the completed spear point after a wash of Mars Black and final highlights with pure gold inks. You can also see the progress of the spear shaft. Sometimes I use brass rod as with this figure while using actual wooden dowel, sanded to scale thickness, for larger scale figures. In that larger scale you can really see how the oil washes bring out the grain for added realism.

54mm Villanovan Update #6

A busy day here at the workbench, with the winter weather returning with vengeance. While it snowed and the wind blew outside, I was able to get a lot of detail work completed and there is light at the end of the tunnel for this wonderful little figure. The more I work on the figure, the more I appreciate the sculpting of all the little details. These figures give the painter so much to work with.

I began by working on the boots and belts. Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber along with a bit of Van Dyke Brown were lightened with Titanium White (separately, not all together) to begin working in "wear" on the boots. The use of these three tones vary the weathering to such an extent to add more realism to the finish. Using only one tone would have simply made the boots monochromatic to the eye. Further use of the Van Dyke Brown/White mix on the straps of the boots added further variation. After these photos were taken I edged the straps with pure Titanium White to make them more crisp. After the boots I edged the straps for the breastplate with Mars Brown and Tit. White followed by light wear cracks of Yellow Ochre and Tit. White. These are too faint and small to appear in the photos but they are there.

Finally I painted the ropes with Yellow Ochre and highlighted, followed by final highlighting of all the bronze armor and the funerary shield which I attached to the completed groundwork. All that remains is to attach the figure to the base after it dries, paint the spear and finish painting the shield. Various details remain but these can be painted once the figure is united with the base. I think it may well be completed by the end of next weekend. Enjoy!

54mm Villanovan Update - Clothing Details

I have spent the last few evenings working on the hem details of this figure as well as the shadows on the bronze armor. For the edging I started by painting the hem with thinned Cadmium Red Medium. The thinning of the paint gave a faded look to the color.

Once dry I spent yesterday evening painting all those little blue diamonds using W&N Indigo with a touch of Titanium White to lighten the color a tad. I will go in and highlight a bit before going any further as it is all a bit flat tonally at the moment.

I also completed all the shading of the bronze armor. Now I can begin to paint the boots, belting, details, and highlight all the bronze work.

54mm Villanovan - Update #4

While I am waiting for one of my other figures to dry a bit I thought it would be nice to work on this piece. It has been awhile and I have been hesitating due to my indecisive nature. I need to tackle the bands of color around the hem of the figures tunic. I have seen this figure most often painted with solid color ribbons but I would like to paint a geometric pattern as this appears in many references. The problem with painting figures from this far back in history is frequently a lack of reference on things such as this. Frequently the best way to proceed is to research decorative patterns on those items that do still exist, such as pottery, architecture or any other decorative art from the culture that has survived. If you find common patterns then it is usually a safe bet that they would have been used on clothing as well.

In the meantime I did further shading on the tunic, outlining belts and equipment with thinned Raw Umber. I then applied my bronze undercoat of gold printer inks mixed with Burnt Umber. Once dry this will receive further washes of Burnt Umber and Mars Black as well as specific shading in the darker areas with those same colors applied as a light shadow rub (thinned to a glaze but rubbed into shadows with a soft brush to filter the underlying colors).

54mm Villanovan Etruscan - Update #3

Work has begun on the tunic. These items could have been made of wool or other natural cloth and typically undyed. I have chosen to build the white up from a base of Raw Umber mixed with Titanium white with the hems being purer white. The hem bands will be painted with geometric designs.

At this point my greatest frustration lies with the decorative canteen that should hang on the figures right hip. I seem to have misplaced it and no amount of looking has turned it up. I have a vague fear of where it may be and that means that I will have to wait for a thaw in the weather (possibly springtime). When I primed the figure and it's components, I did so out doors. The parts were on a big sheet of card stock and as I went to bring them in a gust of wind blew the sheet off the table and the parts went flying on the cement patio. At the time I was sure that I had gotten everything but obviously not. This being Buffalo, I now have a ton of snow and ice that must melt before I get on my hands and knees to search. If all else fails I will have to buy another kit to finish the figure as the detail on that piece is far too elaborate to duplicate. Oh well, the joys of our hobby......and usually it's the tiny bits lost in carpet.

EMI 54mm Villanovan Etruscan - Update #2

These pictures were taken earlier this evening after application of the first thin filter layer of shadows. These were applied using W&N Burnt Umber oils which are a very transparent color, allowing the warmth of the undertones to come through. Additional washes of Burnt Umber were applied to the hair and an outline of color at the sleeves, hems and boots to more clearly delineate the flesh from the clothing. After this is dry I will apply a further shadow coat with Brown Madder Alizarin and move onto the stronger highlight tones. In the meantime I can now start to paint the clothes and armor.

Here is the groundwork as it was looking Sunday night. I have worked all the deep browns and greens with one more shadow tone left to go before beginning to pick out highlights and details. I always like to paint the groundwork simultaneously with the figure to maintain consistent tonal value, usually with the figure attached. In this case the tree trunks wouldn't have allowed for good brush access so the two are painted separately.

EMI 54mm Etruscan Villanovan - First Step, Flesh

I started the Villanovan 54mm figure from EMI over the weekend. As with most all of my figures, a base color mix of Burnt Sienna with a bit of Cadmium Red Medium and Cadmium Yellow as well as a slight touch of Yellow Ochre, was applied overall and initial highlights applied with Titanium White and Cadmium Yellow. This is all done "wet-on-wet" using oils to achieve soft blended tones. That was on Saturday night. Sunday I worked on the groundwork a bit to allow the figure to dry and tonight I went to the next step of initial shading. That is for the next update.

Two completed Projects - Clearing Space For New Projects

It's always nice to get done with a project, especially one that has been on the bench for what seems an eternity. I managed to get two things completed and in the case while starting two more projects.

The first item is the Gladiator vignette that has been "in progress" for years. This really was done a few months ago but just sat there waiting for a few small detail touches and the addition of the sword blade on the Retiarius. I finally took the time to get it done after realizing I needed the space for my new projects. The second was the completion of King David from Art Girona's "Historical" line.

Both pieces were very nice projects that have allowed me to test some new techniques for metallic finishes, controlling the sheen of oil paints as well as creating nameplates using Microsoft Office Publisher. I am now printing these onto bright white sticker sheets and applying them to the completed base. I'm pretty happy with how they have turned out.

EMI 54mm Etruscan Warrior VIII Cent. BC

Here we have one of the last figures that EMI released in their "Gladius" series, an Etruscan Warrior from the VIII century BC. This is one of two such studies of this subject released by EMI. The first was a very nice figure (also by Laruccia) showing a warrior celebrating over a funerary pit. This release shows how Laruccia has matured as a sculptor with amazing detail and personality. This is a wonderful figure that comes with two separate shield and spear choices. One shield is oval and leather covered, the second is round, bronze and highly detailed. The later was chosen for this figure. Unfortunately the more elaborate spear was damaged beyond repair in packaging and shipping (Why I like the steel weapons from Alive History's new kits) so I am forced to use the more simple spear. The figure has been primed and is shown resting in it's mounting holes. I will be painting the figure on a separate working base as the groundwork would preclude access to the back of the figure. Lots of Earthen Red and Bronze on this figure so it will be quite dynamic and colorful. The groundwork was created using some of the twigs I have gathered on outings locally, epoxy putty, a stone or two from the garden and primed for paint.