Two Very Inspirational Blog Sites

I don't often promote other sites in a post unless I feel they have something unique to offer or are impressive at a level way beyond the norm. Two such blogs have recently struck my fancy. The first is a German blog by "Trull" (actual name unknown) entitled "Trulls Fantastische Welten". The focus here is on Architectural Models for fantasy gaming and dioramas and the work is absolutely brilliant. As an individual who feels that figures deserve more than simple basing to tell stories, this site appeals to me greatly. Check it out!

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The second site is a painter's blog like all the others but the work this individual is doing at the moment simply blows me away. "Praolo's World" focuses on the work of a Spanish painter (Alfonsito Prado?) as well as that of his friends and influences. His current project is Andrea's Henry VIII and I believe this to be the best version of Henry I have ever seen. Check it out!



Soldiers Gunther von Schwarzburg - Update 5

Well as you can see from the photo above, I have gotten a bit further with this project. This is where he is at today. I hope to get some painting time today and tomorrow so I should progress further on the red leather and gold armor.

In the first three pictures below you can see that I had begun to build the highlights on the helm as well as paint the surcoat base color of blue. Prussian Blue with a bit of Titanium white was used for the base with highlights of Cerulean Blue. I did tone the blue mix down with a bit of lamp black but it doesn't appear in the photos, that's for sure. Once dry I applied the base red trim color. My next painting session will be further shadowing the surcoat and applying some highlights to the red. Then the fun of painting little lions will begin.

Repeated layers of Titanium White glazes were applied to the steel of the helm to build the highlights. You can't see it in these photo angles but as with the bascinet helmet I applied some reflected blue to the steel where it is directly facing his surcoat. Once the lions are painted I will know whether there should be a bit of yellow as well (If a lion is close to the helm.). A final thin outline of black was applied and attention turned to the brass work on the facial cross and the lion crest.

The first highlights were Yellow Ochre and Titanium white lightened with more white each time I worked the brass. I didn't like the tone I was getting (too yellow), so I gave the whole thing a light thin wash of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna to redden the colors. Finally the crest and helm rivets were painted to the same coloration.

Finally a wash of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna was applied overall to the armor remaining, as this will be red leather with gold armor appliques. I have spent a long time looking at the helm trying to decide how to further develop my highlights and shadows. While doing so I repeatedly have looked at Igor Dzis' painting of this subject and have noticed that he chose to do the lion crest in what appears to be either red paint or covered with red velvet. I am leaning toward changing the crest to better match his painting even though other versions of this figure have been done in gold as well as a period memorial. Honesty will force me to admit that this is partially driven by my dissatisfaction with the appearance of the crest as it currently stands. I feel that I have lost the cylindrical transition in highlight and shadow tones, top to bottom and either way I choose to go I will have to do more work on the crest while I work on the peacock feathers.

Andrea 54mm Sir John de Creke - Completed

Well here he is in all his glory. This is a very simple figure in what many would consider a very static pose. I like the defiant stature and distinctive style of armor worn by the figure. My focus was simply on painting the piece so the groundwork is far more simplistic than I normally might like to work with. In the end I am happy with this simple little figure that starts the medieval shelf in my display case.

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....