Chasseur à Pied Completed.

Well here is my completed Chasseur à pied. He is depicted  has the  Jon Smith Modellbau instructions suggest waiting an early version  of the horizon blue greatcoat.  I did contemplate  painting it French blue as per the early pattern greatcoat. In the end I opted to go with the horizon blue option because it offers a contract to the kepi.

The horizon blue was mixed in with grey, black, French blue and Prussian blue was mixed in varying amounts to represent dirt and grime engrained into the greatcoat.  The buttons  where painted  in U.S. grey and then high-lighted with pencil lead.  I feel the general look of the uniform is a bit too Confederate grey. I will come back to it later see if it blue is glaze would help it.

The kepi got the French blue treatment with shadow layered with a  touch of black. the piping was  painted with lemon yellow and then highland with pale sand with a touch of sand mixed in. Lots of patience and a fine rigger brush.  Knowing when to stop was a key in painting the piping.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this post I do hope you like the almost finished result. Please feel free to add your comments below.

Moustache for a Chasseur à Pied

I just spent the last two and a half hours painting a moustache. I think I should leave it alone now so's not to bugger it up.  To be fair, I also added the eyebrows and worked the hair also.   All in all a productive afternoon.

The colours used were German Camo Black Brown (70822) for the shadow,  Chocolate Brown (70872) for the  mid tones  and an orange mix with  Fire Red (71084) and Lemon Yellow (70952)   

Next job is the kepi.

Chasseur à Pied

This is the first effort at painting a bust. So it is a learning exercise. Over recent years I have grown keen on French Army Uniforms of the early part of the First World War.  I’ve had my eye on this Jon Smithmodellbau bust of a Chasseurs à pied for some time so decided to take the plunge.

Having never painted a bust before I referenced a couple of articles from Military Modelling August and September 2016 issues where Fernando Ruiz wrote up Jaume Ortiz’s technique for dealing with busts . What appealed to me as a beginner was the simplicity of the technique.  He uses only three colours to get the flesh tones. A sand brown (70.876) as the base coat and light flesh (70.928) for the highlights and finally a black red (70.859) to create the shadow.

After the undercoat was put down in around six thin layers I added in some of the light flesh in to the mix and started with the first highlight. Then once  that was dried I added a second  highlight before  moving on to block out the shadow  on a  mix of the  sand brown  base layer  and  a the red brown.

 From here I built up the different levels of shadow and light on the face with the appropriate mixes until I was happy with the balance. Following that I watered-down the paints further now between the consistency of milk and water in an attempt to blend together the different areas.  Currently this process   needs a bit more refining it looks a bit like badly applied foundation at the moment!

Most of a afternoon was spent on trying to get the eyes right. After having various misadventures with bleeds of different coloured pain and a disaster with gloss varnish I have reached the uneasy compromise of eyes which are all most there.

  I would love to hear any thoughts, tips or critics of this project so far.       

'Malatesta' Continued ...

…Using acrylics I've attempted to create a fine leather, but worn doublet with a golden silk lying over a pair of red hose. I've attempted to build the colour up in repeated coats of glazes.

I feel that the creases would benefit from a slight darkening of the recesses. I am hopeful this would add to the contrast particularly on his trousers.

 Additionally I feel the lining of the sleeves would benefit from a touch more depth to illustrate   this part is almost totally in shade. Shadows on light colours can be challenging in many respects.

Anyhow I am enjoying this project. Do let me know what you think.

'Malatesta'

Has you've possibly gathered I am much better at starting projects than I am at finishing them. Well with predictable constancy here's another start , in fact truth be told  its a restart.

Image from Elite Miniatures via Historex Agents http://www.historexagents.com

When Elite Miniatures ceased production I rushed to buy this figure, being enamored by the fluid all action pose.

Last week while away I had a second go at painting him. It is my first attempt at a 70mm figure. Although I've had plenty of practice with 1/35 and a bit with 120mm figures.   In any case I am really enjoying giving this guy a lick of paint. I used acrylic to paint the face and feel that I could do with a couple of fresh glazes over the face to bring the various shades together.  

“The Bannerman Way” Addendum #1

When I started this blog back in 2009 I envisaged it as a quick reference source for web pages that I may want to refer back to in the future, a kind of online "Delicious" with a touch of context.  In the subsequent time it has developed in to something more.  Nevertheless, when I examine the traffic statistics for the blog the most popular post by a long strech  is the one entitled  “Mark Bannerman”. It was my second post of April 2009 linking to an number of online articles Bannerman wrote on using oil paints to paint 1/35^th scale heads.

His face painting technique is a real god send for me and raised the level of my head painting skills beyond my natural ability. For this I am eternally to him. So in the interest of  responding to the trend of the Blogger statistics  I felt it would be an opportune moment to remark on a thread which is currently active  the Military Modelling website entitled:  “Painting 1/35 Scale Heads Using Oil Paints:” Attempting"The Bannerman Way”. This thread has been going some and has a great selection of heads by some very talented modellers.

In the meantime here are some examples of my heads painted the “Bannerman Way.”

Mark Bannerman

For many years now the work of Mark Bannerman has been a great inspiration to me. His technique in painting faces was instrumental in me developing my skills as a figure painter, however I still need to learn when to stop. Since I tend to over paint the faces. Here are a list of links to his articles on painting 1/35th faces in oil colours orginally published on the Missing Lynx website.

Painting 1/35th heads in 8 steps
"The Bannerman Way"
"The Bannerman Way Part 2"
Painting figures adding details
Painting Asian faces
Painting Black / African faces

All by Mark Bannerman