Soldier's Gunther von Schwarzburg - Update 4

I'm really not sure why it has taken me so long to post progress pics on this figure. I have been working on the piece, albeit slowly, and making steady progress. I guess when I looked at my Photobucket file I realized how many in progress pics were there and decided to play catch up. This is the first of two updates that I will post today on the helmet and figure, with an update on the completed "de Creck" in between.

The first step in painting the helm was to replicate the steps used to paint the bascinet helmet for the white metal bits and apply a brown base coat on the gilded lion crest. A first glaze of Prussian Green was applied to the peacock feathers as well. Lamp Black and white mix was applied to the helm and wet-on-wet tonal highlights were applied. Once dry a base of brown/black was applied to the front helmet crosspiece.

A second glaze of green and brown was applied to the feathers and crest followed by a wash of Mars Black to the whole helmet, crest and feathers. In the last few pics you will see that I applied a wash of Prussian Blue to the surcoat as well.

The next post will focus on highlighting the helm and painting the surcoat base color as well as a start to the rest of the armor.

Soldier's Gunther von Schwarzburg - Update 3

So here we have Gunther's head in it's latest stage. I have begun working the highlights and reflections on both the helm and nasal using thinned glazes of Titanium White. In the case of the nasal a bit of Yellow Ochre was tinted into the white.

At the front of the helmet I began by applying the white to the lower edge of the helmet as well as the nasal attachment and blending upward. This was followed by a final thin line of white to pop out the edge. A line of of white was then applied vertically to the front of the helm and blended out to the right. Two hot spots were slowly worked into the left side of the helm and a bright white highlight was applied to the top. This same white was lightly brushed onto the mail ad stronger white spots were applied randomly to highlight areas to add a fake sparkle. The same vertical line on the helmet was taken down through the nasal giving continuity to the helmet's shading.

After I paint the lacing and leather holding the mail aventail I will move on to the arms, helm and torso.

Soldier's Gunther von Schwarzburg - Update 2

Work continues on my experiment in nonmetallic painting with this figure. If you look back at my last post you will see that a basecoat of black had been applied to the bascinet and mail. In the photos above you can see the next step as I gradually worked from bottom to top of the helmet applying white to begin bringing up my mid tones. I also worked a bit more white into the lower rim of the helm. This tone should run in a line where the brightest light reflects off the helm at the same time it gets lighter moving up the helm. 

Once dry I began to apply some light washes of reflected color. Unlike chrome or a mirror you wouldn't see a true reflected image, simply hints of tonal values in the color of the steel. If you think about what would be reflected in the helm you would say maybe sky on top, reflections of the surrounding ground in the lower portions and any colors that might be in the immediate area on the figure itself. With that in mind I applied a light wash of Cerulean Blue on the crown/front of the helm to reflect a blue sky and keep with the cool tones that will be seen in the blue surcoat and green peacock feathers. A mixture of Cadmium Maroon and Van Dyke Brown was applied as a wash to indicate reflected ground and lastly a clear green wash was applied on the side of the helmet nearest the peacock feathers on the great helm in his right arm. I also worked a bit of that thin wash of green to the mail near the feathers as well as some of the blue on the left shoulder and back to hint at reflected sky again. As I begin to apply thinned white to pull out the reflected hot spots these thin colors should augment the color of the metal without reading as spots of color. If they begin to wash out I will apply more reflected colors.

At this point I also have begun working on the brass nasal piece by applying a bit of Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna with a few Titanium white spots blended into the highlights wet-on-wet.

Once dry I played up some dark reflections with a bit of Lamp Black applied in a vertical line to the left of the nasal and rubbed in to the surface. This was also applied to the shadow area on the lower back of the helmet. Additionally I used a Mars Black wash on the raised details  to pop them out more. Mars Black was also used on the nasal to apply shadows and separate it a bit more from the face. I also worked a bit more black into the areas of the mail that are under the chin.

Here is a photo of the whole figure so that you can see how the fence section and shield will fit on the base. The fence was made out of strip wood and washes of oil paint with some dry brushed highlights has been used to age and weather the fence. The Shield will be painted separately and fixed to the post at the end of the project. The fence has not been glued to the base so that I can easily paint the figure. It simply slides down onto a brass rod into a depression in the groundwork.

This is a fun project and I have to admit I am flying by the seat of my paints here. Once I get down to the great helm I should have the technique down a little better and the gold armor is something I've tackled before.

Andrea 54mm Sir John de Creke - Update #1

Progress continues on this little gem that has been in my collection for many years. A little side note here: I had to buy a second figure on Ebay to do the kit as I had used the hand and sword for another project 10 years ago. Rule #13.5 is always replace components lost/used elsewhere, immediately to avoid surprises later on.

This figure is admittedly stiff and boring in it's pose but I have always liked the figure and felt it had a certain presence. It also helps that the armor is very distinctive in style and accurately represents the burial brass of this individual. Comparing these two pictures with those found two posts back will show my progress. I darkened the armor with further washes of black, added further highlights and shadows to the blue surcoat, started the belting and leather work. More to come....

Soldier's Gunther von Schwarzburg 54mm - Update 1

Painting has begun on this great little figure. As I said in my last post this figure will be an "all paint" project for me. That is to say that no metallic oils or polished white metal will appear on this figure. I am attempting to rise to a challenge by Greg DeFranco to paint a knight in armor entirely in colors. I decided for my first attempt, (That is right, I am a glutton for punishment and I will do another attempt after this one - such commitment!) to work a piece that had limited areas of actual steel armor with areas of brass, leather, cloth, light, dark, rich and bold colors. This figure has a little something for everyone. The helm and bascinet are steel, along with the mail. The majority of the remaining armor is brass, red leather, cloth, etc. The surcoat is blue with gold/yellow lions rampant.

I began with the face, being the only bit of flesh on the figure and my usual starting point. I have explained my flesh mixture in depth before but quickly repeating; Burnt Sienna with a bit of medium cad red and medium cad yellow as well as a tiny touch of yellow ochre for the base color (seen above). wet on wet highlighting begins with med. cad. yellow and Titanium white, applied to create all of the basic mid tones.

This was then followed by final highlights and shadows created with glazes once the initial flesh had fully dried. For highlights a lighter mix of the yellow/white formula mentioned earlier was used after first creating shadows with Brown Madder. Further hot spots of highlight were added after the eyes were painted. As I look at the photo above it is easy to see the fact that one eye is slightly larger than the other. This is only a visual issue when the figure is blown up in photos (or when I am staring at it thru my Optivisor). In real size the difference is negligible.

I have also started the armor at this point. A black oil base color was applied to the mail coif and a lighter shade of Mars Black and Titanium White was painted on the bascinet. This was then highlighted wet on wet with more white. The rest of the tones will be created with successive layers of lighter and lighter tones to build up the highlights. These steps will be the subject of my next few posts.

I have also started the groundwork. The rod sticking up in the back is for a section of jousting fence that will be placed behind the figure with his shield hanging draped from the post. More to come.

Two new projects

I've got two newer projects on the bench at the moment along with the Saxons and two commissions as well as some box art. I thought I would share these figures as they are newer subjects and I am playing with two new techniques (at least for me). The first is Sir John de Creke a 54mm figure from Andrea that I have had for nearly 15 years in the drawer. The figure is based on an effigy that is fairly well known. As you can see in the photos below I am painting this figure over a hand painted colored basecoat which is something I never do. I was driven to try this on this particular figure as a more expedient method of basecoating than my method of masking the armor and spraying the figure white. Sometimes my masking agent can give me fits so I thought this might be quicker. So far, so good.

The second technique should be obvious to those looking at the figure below, especially for those who read my post immediately after MFCA. AS I said at that time, Greg DiFranco had challenged me to work on painting a knight in armor without the use of either metallic paints or polished kit metal so......that explains the total white primer coat. This project will be the source of many SBS posts so lets hope that all goes well (or at the very least is somewhat educational/entertaining). The figure I'm using is Gunther Von Schwarzburg a 54mm figure from Soldiers, sculpted by Stefano Borin. Should be fun.

Still Alive Out Here and A Blast From The Past!!

I know I have been quiet since coming back from MFCA. I'm still alive and I have been busy. I've primed a few figures, some are new and some are older commissions owed to two old friends. I will post the new projects in my next blog update. The pieces for others will show up a bit later on in their progress.

And now for a bit of news. As many of you may remember I was the guy behind Fort Duquesne Military Miniatures many years ago. Due to a drastic life change back then I sold the business off and took a leave of absence from life ( and some would say my senses ;-)). Much of the line was sold to someone here in the states and from what I see these days hasn't really seen much life. However part of the line was sold to a company in Japan with the hopes that it would see a new life in a burgeoning figure market that was just starting over there. In the end that part of the sale went horribly wrong and has colored part of my life ever since. 

I have spent the last year trying to get something of my old line back from the people that I sold the masters to years ago. Well after a lot of aggravation I have the samurai busts and figures back in my possession and I have found a new home for them that will remain a mystery until that individual decides to make his own announcement. Unfortunately all but two of the masters arrived back to me in some state of damage with the worst being the old mounted samurai kit. I have taken the responsibility of repair seriously which is slowing these beauties from getting to there final destination. However after ten years off the market I think a little more patience will be rewarded soon. I hope that this is as good a piece of news for some out there as it is for me. These kits were an important part of Augie and my life and getting them back has meant more to me than anybody out there will ever know.