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.

Erich von Ludendorff bust by Ulrich Puchala

I have prepped the next bust in my on-going series of busts portraying famous individuals from Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary during the First World War. This bust portrays Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff in his role as "Quartermaster General" (appointed by von Hindenburg in 1916). This is a very nice bust sculpted by Ulrich Puchala and part of his wonderful line from this time period. I have included three portraits below that I feel depict his steely, sullen, sober and downright intimidating demeanor. The eyes are piercing and they would have made most officers and men wilt under their gaze. My challenge is to capture that look in the painting of this bust. I want harsh, crisp highlights and shadows to rule the tone of the piece as this will contribute to the strength of the portrait in my opinion.

 

 

 

The bust consists of three pieces, head and torso as well as the usual iron cross base. I tend not to use these bases as I think they are novel but distracting from the bust itself. The three photos below show the prepped and primed bust ready to start receiving paint.

Alfred von Tirpitz - Completed

The second newly completed piece is this portrait bust of Grossadmiral Alfred von Tirpitz in his summer naval uniform, also by Ulrich Puchala. I have to admit that of the two busts this was my favorite. I am sure that some of that is the subject matter but also the character in the face. I can see the thoughtful, soulful gaze of the seafarer in his gaze and the worn, aged look of his skin. I hope you all enjoy the completed piece as much as I do.

 

The one touch that I missed until posting these pictures is that there should be a gold embroidered crown just above the cuff stripes. This will be added tonight as it is a big missing error. You always discover something once the photos have been done.

 

 

 

I have added the following detail shots of the face and binoculars to assist those interested in painting this piece or any similar subject matter. The binoculars were copied from examples found on the internet and I was surprised to find something other than simple black when I did my research. A touch of olivey green with worn brass details and a brown leather case rather than black leather add a touch of unexpected color to the palette of blue, black, grey and white.

Alfred von Tirpitz - Ulrich Puchala Bust

I had recently completed prep work on the latest box art for Ulrich Puchala. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz in his blue Naval Uniform and distinctive forked beard. Painting has begun but I wanted to give a bit of background and show the raw kit primed.

Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (born March 19, 1849 - died March 6, 1930) was a German Admiral and Secretary of State for the Imperial German Naval Office. His greatest claim to fame is taking a relatively weak German Navy and begining in the 1890's began developing it into one that could possibly stand against the British Royal Navy. The closest he came was a draw with Britain at the Battle of Jutland. He did however begin the German U-boat force that would become the thorn in the side of shipping from WWI right through WWII.

Detail is very nice throughout and the likeness has been captured to a tee. The kit consists of six pieces: Head, Torso, Left forearm with binoculars. binocular case and two part base column with iron cross motif. There were some areas that needed refining and a few air bubbles that needed filling. Ulrich's masters are quite nice and are occasionally let down by casting quality. None of these are issues that should ever stop someone from buying these kits as they are singularly distinct subjects that are a wonderful project once completed. I chose to assemble only two pieces (torso and binocular case), leaving the the remaining items to be painted seperately and assembled later.

Hans Goerth, Marine Feld Jasta III - Completed

I can now say that this bust is completed. A real gem from the hands of Mike Good, this piece was a joy to paint. Mike has always had a way with details and the last photo showing the pilot's badge proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Bravo Mike! As ststed before, my nameplates are created on the computer using Microsoft Publisher and printed on sheets of sticker paper. Enjoy.

Hans Goerth - Update

A quick update on the progress of this bust from Mike Good and DML.  One of the beauties of the subject is the variation of a German Naval Uniform worn by our subject in the previously posted photo. I have no access to a color photo of the uniform or for that matter any color illustration. I have looked at a number of versions of this bust and one of my favorites painted by Lee Chandler back when the kit first came out was my primary inspiration.

I started with the shirt, by painting a mixture of Raw Umber and Titanium White with some patches of pure Raw Umber in the shadow areas. This was blended wet-on-wet and the highlights worked with more Titanium White. Once dry I started on the jacket. A mixture of Lamp Black, Titanium White and a dab of Van Dyke Brown (for warmth) was painted over the whole jacket with patches of Van Dyke Brown and Mars Black applied in the shadow areas. This was stippled with a soft brush to blend the "panels" of color together. Once done I began to work the highlights with pure Titanium White until I had created all of my mid tones (shadow thru to highlight).

After drying, both shirt and jacket were worked over with thinned glazes of Titanium White to bring out the crisper highlights. These techniques are similar to the controlled work of acrylic painters these days but I dind that if thinned properly, the oils are even more effective for this technique. Lamp Black and Mars Black were used to paint the base tones of the cap bill and bow tie. Burnt Umber and Mars Black were mixed to make a base coat for the cap badge and pilots badge. Final details are next so stay tuned for the finished piece with a very cool little thematic name plate created on my computer.

Hans Goerth, Marine Feld Jasta I - DML 1/12th

In addition to my 54mm Roman project I have started another bust to add to the Imperial German collection. I have had the DML busts sculpted by Mike Good in my collection for years and finally figured I could do his sculpting some justice. The subject of this bust comes from the photo below.

Hans Goerth was a German Naval pilot who achieved his seven victories flying an Albatros D.Va and a Fokker D.VII. Interestingly his portrait standing in front of a Fokker D.VIII or E.V is the impetus of the inclusion in the same DML 1/48th kit of this bust. The kit is great but the bust was my reason for buying the kit in the first place. Hans appears quite dapper in his light grey jacket, black bow-tie and Naval peaked cap.

After assembly, prep and priming I started as always with the face. Using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cad Red Medium as a base tone for the flesh. Chrome Green and Indigo were used to play with initial shadow tones by applying hints in areas of the cheek hollows and underneath the chin (green) and in the facial hair areas (Indigo). These tonal values should be extremely subtle. Over this, highlights were started with Titanium White and Cadmium Yellow, mixed. This was allowed to dry before going on to final highlights and shadows. The face at this stage is seen in two photos below.

The following four photos show how we stand as of this evening. Yesterday morning I used W&N Brown Madder as a glaze to deepen the shadows of the face. Tonight Titanium White and a hint of Cadmium Yellow Medium were used to brighten the facial highlights, again as a thinned glaze. The eyes are Indigo with white worked in to lighten the blue. Further white and Indigo were applied after drying to bring out the desired steel blue-grey. A dot of black for the pupil and a tiny white catch-light complete the eyes. The lips were "flesh mixture" with a tiny bit of Alizarin Crimson mixed in. The top lip is in shadow so Brown Madder was used over the Crimson/Flesh. Tiny lines of the white were used to highlight the lips. Hair is Yellow Ochre over Burnt Umber with touches of White and Yellow Ochre mixed to pick out the lighter hairs. It was the style of the times to have what we call "whitewall" sides and back, meaning shaved smooth. I wanted the flesh to come through but with a slight hint of hair color so these colors were slight rubbed into the sides and back, just below the hat to change the skin tint and indicate the hair color.

Naval Uniform cloth was a deep Navy Blue, nearing black. I have started the hat by using W&N Indigo with subtle white wet-on-wet highlighting. Once this dries completely I will use Indigo and black to pull out the shadows further. The band and bill will be gloss black. The jacket starts next......

Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst v. Sachsen-Weimar - Completed

I have finally completed my third bust from Ulrich Puchala's line of Imperial German subjects. These have been quite fun to work on and this one was my favorite of the three. There is a lot going on with the uniform and the colors work well together. Enjoy!

Here are all three busts together in a group photo. I now have Admiral Tirpitz and General Ludendorff as my next two in the line to tackle. Tirpitz is quite a nice little sculpt.