The Battle of Strasbourg - Update #1

Although these pictures are a few months old I wanted to post an update on the SBS for this vignette I have been working on. If you saw my first post you will remember that this will be a two figure vignette, one on foot and one mounted. Progress has been slow but this where we stand at the moment.

I began by painting the horse a basic mix of Mars Black and Burnt Umber. The armor was given an initial wash of Burnt Umber followed by a second wash of Burnt Umber with a bit of Mars Black added. The groundwork was given initial washes of Burnt Umber and Greenish Umber.

All of the leather was then painted with a mixture of Mars Brown and a touch of Yellow Ochre. The armor was lightly washed with Mars Black to further bring out the detail of the various plates.

The next step was to apply a thin wash of Burnt Umber to all of the leather. This ages the leather, tones down the bright base color and begins to pop out the stitching details. I have also applied some brown glazes to the horse to "warm" the tone a bit.

All of this work is designed to give a broad feel to the look of the horse and his armor. details will now begin to picked out and cleaned up. The armor plates will be NMM on these figures. A lot of my time has been taken up recently with experimentation using acrylics. This piece will be a mixture of both oils and acrylics as I try to hone some of my skills with the new medium. Cloth will be acrylic but the flesh and armor will all be oils. I have attached the rider's legs to the horse and my next post will show progress on him and the foot figure.

Something New - The Battle of Strasbourg 357 AD

 

My next little Roman project uses two Soldiers kits sculpted by Laruccia. The scene depicts two combatants at the Battle of Strasbourg (Argentoratum) in 357AD. The foot figure is SR49 a Roman Infantry Officer and the mounted figure is SR-63 a Roman  Cataphract (Scola Scutariorum Clibanariorum). The setting is just prior to the battle.

 

Strasbourg was a battle fought between the armies of Caesar Julian and the Alamanni tribal confederation under King Chnodomar in what is known today as Alsace France. The battle was a hard fought but decisive victory for the Roman Army. The Cataphract Cavalry didn't fare well in the battle so our cavalryman's smile will soon be gone.

 

This piece is just in it's infancy, especially with so many other projects on the burner (3 busts and two other figures). I am excited about this one though as I haven't completed a mounted figure in quite some time.

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Completed

 

Finished at last. As I said in my last post I had to replace the mile marker with a watering trough but I am very happy with the end results. Now on to finishing a few other in-progress pieces as well as starting a few new projects for the fall and winter.

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Update #7

 

The plaid cloak is finished and further detail work done as well. A step by step on this pattern technique is shown below. I am on the home stretch with this figure. A few more details and completion of the architectural feature to be added in the corner of the base. This has changed from my earlier idea of a mile marker which may not have been accurate for the time period, to a watering/drinking trough that will be the subject of my next post.

 

The plaid pattern is painted in oils and is a earthen toned pattern that was copied from a photo found by my friends over on the MedRom forum site. The red-brown lines were painted first using a mix of Brown Madder, Mars Yellow and Titanium White. Where the lines intersect, pure Brown Madder with a touch of Cad Red Deep was applied. Once dry every other line had a thin Indigo line applied, both vertically and horizontally. Lighter shades of Indigo were applied where the blue lines intersect and the whole was allowed to dry for a few days. A unifying neutral wash of Raw Umber, Mars Black and Burnt Sienna was applied overall to enhance the shadows. 

 

For those that may question the authenticity of my choice of pattern on this cloth, here is a link to my source material:

 

http://www.antiquities.org.il/t/item_en.aspx?CurrentPageKey=3&searchcond=and&mosaics_dict_id=471,457,373

 

The beginnings of the gold work on his greaves. Base and shadow, no highlights.

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Update #6

 

Summer is a slow time for painting figures, at least for me. With a new dog and work, summer weather slows the time for painting. However I am slowly making progress as can be seen above and below. Most of my work has been on the cloak and various small details of the figure.

 

The photo montage below shows the steps to this point in getting a convincing base tan cloak color as well as the movement on some of the finer details of the gladius scabbard, belts and armor. Now begins the process of creating a woven plaid pattern in the cloth.

Centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus - Update #5

So this is where our Roman friend stands at the moment. I have been plodding along getting the mix right and playing with a few ideas on the figure and felt it was time for an update. How I got to this point is shown below.

 

The armor had initially been given a dark wash to bring out the detail. Over this I applied a thin coat of Yellow Ochre to start the brass tones.

Additionally I began to paint the pants with Mars Yellow highlighted with Titanium White.

Yellow Ochre and Titanium White was then applied to the lower edges of the armor leaves to start bringing out the highlights.

Further highlighting with successively lighter shades of Yellow Ochre/Titanium White complete the effect as well as a few thin washes of Burnt Umber and Mars Black where the cloak will drape over the left arm and cover/shade the armor.

A glaze of Burnt Umber was applied to the pants to both create shadows and "dirty" the tone of the fabric. I was troubled by the similarity of the yellow pants and the armor. Mars Yellow and Titanium White with a wee tad of Burnt Umber were applied as highlight tones on the pants. Cadmium Red Deep and Extra Deep was mixed to start the cloth going from torque to torque around his collar.

Mars Brown was used to begin the armor's leather edging. A wash of Burnt Umber and Mars Black pull out the stitching details. The same mix was applied as a thin wash to the outline of the edges on his pteruges as well. The shoes started as Mars Orange, Mars Yellow and Burnt Sienna with Mars Black shading.

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).