PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE

Alpine Miniatures - Panzerschütze LSSAH Kursk 1943

2012-01-12T10:23:00.003+08:00

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Placing aside the Landser bust for the moment, my evenings from the past two weeks have been preoccupied with a new painting assignment from Alpine Miniatures. It's almost an irresistible urge for me not to inaugurate the new year with this upcoming offering sculpted by a new Korean sculptor Lee Sang Min. All components of the figure came together perfectly during the dry fitting. For ease of painting, I opted to leave the right arm and hands detached.

This project also marks a landmark attempt to render intricate camouflage patterns using Jo Sonja acrylics; which I must say handles just as well as Vallejo. The paramount focus is to control the fluidity and opacity of the paint so that a homogeneous spread of paint can be achieve for a smooth finish. That is where the acrylic retarder comes in handy in improving the paint flow and extending the working time of the paint.

The oak leaf camouflage pattern was painted with a brown color base before indicating the key regions with medium green. Dark green was then carefully applied to define the contours of the pattern, giving it its trademark appearance. The bass cartridge of the projectile round was simulated by airbrushing clear orange followed by clear blue over a silver base.

That is all of the work that's been done so far on the first figure with only the P-38 holster left to be attached at the waist. Hopefully I could furnish some updates on the second figure when circumstances permit.

Cheers,

Calvin

Hello 2012!!!

2012-01-05T23:26:00.007+08:00

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Here's wishing everyone a happy 2012 and here's an update to the progress of Landser bust from Young Miniatures to kick start the new year.

For curious minds, here's a pictorial description on how the helmet decal was painted by hand.

The boundary of the shield was indicated with dots before filling in the solid color.

A modicum of paint retarder was mixed to improve paint flow. The eagle motif was painted with light grey onto the wet surface of the black. This allows a certain degree of "mucking" around until the desired tones and shapes are achieved. I've found that this method also helps to reduce the build-up of paint, creating a smoother finish.

The final result.

On another note, Fernando Ruiz has posted a short write-up (in Spanish) on my trip to Girona last November over at his blog HERE.
I must say that it was a wonderful weekend to spend with some of the figure modelers from El Baluard and especially for Fernando Ruiz to host my visit in Barcelona and Girona. Muchas Gracis for sus hospitalidad.

Cheers,

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - Razvedchik, Operation Bagration, 1944

2011-10-25T22:28:00.002+08:00

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Concluding the box art assignment on the Razvedchik pair for Alpine Miniatures, here is the first installment on the low down of the painting process.

A base coat of Gunze Sanyo Flat Black was airbrushed on followed by a light over-spray of Jo Sonja Prussian Blue to cut the harsh appearance of the black.

Next, a solution of water and paint retarder was applied.

A mixture of Jo Sonja Carbon Black, Red Violet and Cadmium Orange for the brown sections of the camouflage was applied over the wet ground. The extended drying of the paint retarder solution reduces brush strokes as it allows the paint to evenly level out.

The color for the olive-green sections of the amoeba camouflage were mixed from Titanium White, Hookers Green, Cadmium Orange and Red Violet. They were painted in whilst the brown sections were wet. This not only allowed corrections to be made within a single layer, reducing an unnecessary build-up of paint, but also helped simulate both dirt and shadows in that same step. Other colors such as Prussian Blue and Cadmium Orange were also dabbed on straight from the tube and mingled in (alla prima) to create more subtle variation of tones and hues.

"Any way you want it to be, that's just right. "
Bob Ross

Notice the smooth transitional build-up of paint despite having amendments made to the camouflage pattern.

Further progress on the painting of the camouflage overalls after repeated applications. Notice the hints of blue, brown and green randomly applied throughout, adding subtle tonal variety and hue contrast to an otherwise flat appearance of a drab color scheme. I've chosen to paint the MP-40 magazine pouch in Luftwaffe Blue as a nice contrast to the olive green. Storm Blue from Jo Sonya was the perfect color for this. The Gymnasterka was painted with a mixture of Yellow Ochre, Flat Brown and Medium Grey whereas the leather belt was painted with a mix of Red Violet and Cadmium Orange.

This is all for now. Until the next installment.

Cheers,

Calvin

IT IS A BOY!!!!!!

2011-09-27T23:14:00.005+08:00

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Late morning of 23 September marked the latest addition to our family, Trajan. Just when I'm squeezing more time to paint, it's back to diaper detail and baby sitting once again.

Calvin

Alla Prima (Wet-on-Wet) with Acrylic Paints

2011-09-17T23:49:00.007+08:00

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You might probably think that family and work has been kind to me to allow more painting and blog updates on this project. The truth is that this extra time provision has been a consequence of some revolutionary developments and revisions made to my acrylic painting techniques. Having gained some experience from using acrylic retarders, I decided that it will be helpful to formalize a short pictorial demonstration of how the oil painting technique Alla Prima or 'wet-on-wet' could be employed in acrylic painting.

To begin, a moist ground consisting of a 50/50 mixture of retarder and water was applied with an airbrush. This solution saturates the porous matt base color to prevent conspicuous stains to occur when the opaque colors are next applied.

Prussian Blue, Deep Orange, Flesh and Black in their original state (with no prior thinning needed) are dabbed over the moist ground. Note how the colors diffuse and mingle with each other like in water color painting.

These colors are carefully mingled together. Keep in mind that the purpose of using ingredient colors is to generate tonal variety and over working will therefore result in a flat homogeneous tone.

The extended drying time also permits the highlight color to be concurrently applied.

The sfumato effect could be created by blending the boundaries together with a dry brush (a la Bob Ross).

The finished result with smooth tonal and color transitions and the pièce de résistance, no silvering and watermarks!

I have no doubts that while some might find this relevant, my intention however was aimed towards oil and enamel painters, who at one point in time tried to make the switch but were unable to adapt to the mandates of the acrylic paint medium. Therefore what I'm hoping to achieve is to perhaps close the divide between the two mediums, expand the potential of the acrylic medium and idealistically offer seasoned oil and enamel painters another crack at painting with acrylics.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Landser, Ostfront 1942

2011-09-15T22:44:00.004+08:00

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A little more work done early this week on the scarf and greatcoat.

The leather webbing was painted with a 50/50 mix of sap green and red acrylic inks over a dark blue base. Acrylic air-brush inks were used as they dried to a satin finish; aptly replicating the effect of leather. Again, a modicum of retarder was added to increase the paint's working time.

A color mixture of field grey, flesh and orange was dabbed along the edges of the Y-straps before the inks completely set to convey the effects of chafe. The slow drying also allowed the latter color to naturally diffuse and merge with the inks, creating a smoother transition of tones and values.

Texture of the woolen greatcoat was painstakingly recreated through intricate stippling.

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Landser, Ostfront 1942

2011-09-10T21:06:00.011+08:00

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Some progress on the painting this week with more refinements added to the face and preliminary highlights and shade rendered onto the great coat.

The local color for the great coat was mixed from Flat Flesh, Scarlet, Prussian Blue, Black and Park Green (with a small amount of paint retarder added for longevity).

The ingredient colors were subsequently used to create the tones for highlights and shadows. Because their mixing ratio vary from time to time, this in part allows more tonal variety to be conveyed.

As previously mentioned, the incorporation of acrylic paint retarders allows the wet on wet technique normally associated with oil painting to be conducted using acrylic paints because of the extended drying time and the reduced surface tension. Observe that the consistency of a 50/50 solution of water and retarder is similar to that of turpentine and Liquin. It is applied as a ground prior to the application of paint.

Immediately after, shadows and highlight colors are gently brushed over and because of of the moist even ground, a soft diffused effect is naturally created without further intervention.

The final blending of colors drying to a flat finish after repeated processes.

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Landser, Ostfront 1942

2011-09-06T09:09:00.004+08:00

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I've been fortunate this week to be granted some spare time to commence on another bust by Young Miniatures. Struck by the addictive fun of hearing the parts go "click" as they come together (a reminiscence of the Magnalock feature in Starcom toys from the 1980's), magnetic interfaces were implanted to all the adjoining components of the kit.

This has many convenient implications. For general spraying, the parts were attached to the side of a metal lid, allowing a safe distance away from the hand holding up the lid.

For detailed painting, parts were attached to a metal rod for greater flexibility and articulation.

The overall bust was given a ground color of Prussian Blue applied with an airbrush. This is followed by orange for the face and some random areas around the great coat. Instead of unloading the orange from the paint reservoir of the airbrush, Park Green and Pastel Blue was added to create a suitable tone for the great coat.

A light mist purple was sprayed to cut the chroma of the orange.

A small amount (not exceeding 20%) of acrylic paint retarder was mixed into the paints to increase their working time. This lengthens the time frame for more colors to incorporated via the wet on wet technique. Prolonged drying also prompts the paint to spread more evenly resulting in a smoother finish. However the pièce de résistance will be its intervention in breaking the surface tension of water, greatly enhancing paint flow and adherence, reducing traces of brush strokes and water marks.

The right of the face demonstrates the smooth results from two passes of the retarder added paint over the darker ground color. The left side shows the opaque coverage obtained with repeated passes.

The opaque build up of colors, tones and shades.

The retarder also causes a slow coagulation of the paint as it dries, giving it a buttery like consistency ideal for feathering.

Calvin

Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944 [Webshots]

2011-08-30T21:09:58-07:00

Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944

by zyclyon4
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Young Miniatures - Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944

2011-08-09T09:55:00.004+08:00

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After three months of intermittent painting, I'm so glad to finally lay the finishing brush strokes to this recreational project. Unfortunately the lack of available time due to family commitments prevented me from documenting further sequences to the painting process prior to the finish. That's all the update for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get my gear back into sculpting the next time round.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944

2011-06-05T22:28:00.014+08:00

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I've decided to once again indulge myself with a recreational project compliments from Young Bok, proprietor and principal sculptor of Young Miniatures. Consisting of only five parts, clean-up and assembly took under an hour before it was christen with a veil of grey primer.

Continuing from the previous project of the MG-34 machine gunner bust, I interfaced each connecting part with magnets for easy handling during painting. This was achieved by drilling out a shallow cavity to accommodate the piece of magnet. Epoxy putty was used to both adhere and maneuver the magnet into alignment with its corresponding half. I got to admit that this eventually proved quite fun when I toyed with the parts as they "clicked" together.

Moving on to the painting, I employed a traditional approach used in classical painting known as painting on colored grounds.

"A toned ground can be used to create atmosphere or mood, to unify a composition, indicate lighting conditions, or to give sculptural form to an object by giving depth to shadows. A toned ground speeds the process of painting, allowing simpler modelling and killing the stark white that otherwise would confront the artist initially." Colour and Tone in Whistler's 'Nocturnes' and 'Harmonies' 1871-72" by Stephen Hackney. The Burlington Magazine Vol 136, No 1099 (Oct 1994), pp695-694.

As such red,blue,violet and orange were initially sprayed over a black undercoat before assigning the local colors.

I also tried to experiment with a "Wet on Wet" diffusion technique, similar to that used in watercolor painting. As this required a homogeneously damp surface in order for the different colors to mingle, water was sprayed over the surface with an airbrush before dabbing on the colors immediately after.

Complimentary colors for the face were subsequently introduced for added tonal variety and contrast.

The various stages to painting the face; from the blocking of tonal colors to the gradual refinements. As I do not have a linear work flow, this area will still be subjected to additions and changes as with the progress of the project.

The shovel was undercoated with gloss varnish before dry-brushing with silver enamel paint.

It was then painted over with an opaque coat of dark blue and allowed to dry.

A light mist of water from the airbrush provided the moist surface which allowed the dabs of orange to be randomly diffused across the shovel blade.

Effects of wear are simulated by carefully chafing the paint with a hard metal tool.

Progressive painting for the camouflage jump suit and accompanying accessories.

That's the work for now until opportunities at home allows.

Calvin

Obergefreiter, Operation Barbarossa, 1941 [Webshots]

2011-06-05T07:36:37-07:00

Obergefreiter, Operation Barbarossa, 1941

by zyclyon4
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Young Miniatures - Obergefreiter, Operation Barbarrossa, 1941

2011-05-16T14:44:00.007+08:00

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I just though I'll take a short break from sculpting (and everything else) to wet my brushes in the palette with this box art assignment from Young Miniatures. Sculpted by Ebroin, this extensively designed bust provided me the needed opportunity to further my studies into the impressionist concepts of color usage.

With the exception of attaching the right wrist and MG sling to the MG-34,
the assembly for this kit was rather straightforward. I resolved the alignment issues during the test fitting phase by interfacing connecting parts with magnets before committing the super glue.

This process also made handling of sub assemblies much convenient as they could easily be attached to a "helping hand" during the various processes of painting.

There was no significant departure to my usual process of airbrushing on the local colors over a dark undercoat(in this case dark violet). My palette consisted of limited colors; mainly consisting of primaries and secondaries. Most of the shades and tones of the field grey tunic were mixed from magenta, orange, pastel blue and park green. Glazes of violet and blue were used in lieu of black for the shadows, with an occasional dash of orange to create the impression of brown dirt. The key reason of rejecting stock-mixed colors was to also create more reiterations of a singe tone as a result of inconsistent mixing of their parent colors. This inadvertently allows more subtle tonal variations to occur whereby no single tone will be exactly the same throughout.

Special attention however was devoted to the effects of bounced light onto lighter colored surfaces for greater atmospheric effect.

This concludes my recreational assignment from Young Miniatures and hopefully the next update will be on the long protracted sculpt for Alpine Miniatures.

Calvin

1/16 US Marine Recon, 1970

2011-01-04T22:02:00.000+08:00

A happy belated new year to all and what better way to usher the new year with a 1/16 scale sculpt based on the head study. There are obvious plans for a commercial release of this sculpt by Alpine Miniatures but not anytime soon due to other personal and work commitments.

With the exception of the hands and boots (done in epoxy putty), the entire figure is sculpted from a 50/50 compound of Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm. There's still a long way to go before it finds its way into the rubber mold. Many details such as the canteens, grenades, K-Bar fighting knife and the tropical rucksack will needs to be fabricated and features such as the hands will need additional attention.

As mentioned, it's still a work in progress and do feel free to furnish whatever opinions of the sculpt.

cheers,

Calvin

A New Head Sculpt

2010-08-16T13:47:00.012+08:00

Here's a quick 1/16 scale head study realized in a compound of Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm on a resin mannequin spare. A needle inserted through the ears helps gauge the symmetry as I sculpt. It's still a work-in-progress as I usually use such photos taken of the sculpt to identify mistakes and blemishes. The dots for the iris are placeholders and will be worked over before curing under a 60W lamp.
I've no idea what final form this will assume but I'm probably guessing an M-16 will be implicated ;)

Calvin

SS-Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

2010-08-04T11:56:00.000+08:00

I've finally laid on the crowning touches to this protracted commission over last weekend. Hopefully I could squeeze in some time to do some sculpting before the start of fall.

Calvin

Helmet Cover Completed.

2010-07-28T17:50:00.003+08:00

Since the last update, I've finally made some headway in completing the helmet cover. Moving on to finishing up the rest of the figure and groundwork as I write.

Calvin

Collar Tabs and Groundwork

2010-07-03T15:15:00.003+08:00

I managed to get moving on the collar tabs early last week. Rather then sculpting them together with rest of the figure, I figured earlier that I could save some time on painting by sculpting the details by dying the epoxy putty with their respective colors and later homogenizing the stark appearance with a thin glaze of paint. Not only did this approach save me some time but also allowed me to attain better relief and finesse with the runes and embroidered piping.

Preliminary painting for the groundwork was also accomplished during this period in tandem with the rest of the figure so as to ensure an consistency and harmony. To echo the colors of the figure, I worked in hues of violet and blue to the shadow of the groundwork. I might have gotten carried away with the blue and now it looks too cold for my preference. Reckon I'll lay some ocher tones over to balance the temperature.

Calvin

Coming Along Slowly....

2010-06-13T10:32:00.008+08:00

Finding time during the past two weeks was particularly tough especially when my daughter is growing her first set of teeth. As of this week, I could only manage to get most part of the painting done for the back.

cheers,

Calvin

This week's progress.

2010-05-22T21:54:00.008+08:00

Managed to accomplish some refinements to the pattern on the shoulder sleeve throughout this week. Progress is slow but at least it's going somewhere :P

Calvin

More intermittent painting this week

2010-05-19T05:10:00.005+08:00

More definition to the palm pattern on the front left shoulder and sleeve.

Calvin

The "Palm-Tree" pattern Smock

2010-05-13T12:17:00.011+08:00

Snail-paced progress on the "Palm Tree" pattern smock for the past week. Despite my fourth outing with this intricate pattern, I'm nonetheless attempting a refreshed approach by employing primary and secondary colors to concoct my palette; which in tandem to the summer theme, be eventually dominated by saturated warm colors.
Bearing the hallmarks of my "Impressionist phase", notice that the shadows for the smock are rendered with varying warm tones of violet instead of cold shades of dark brown. I'm also in the process of purging pure black from my palette as well; opting for alternative dark colors such as Deep Purple and Maroon.

That's all for now til the weekend arrives.

Calvin

SS-Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

2010-05-02T17:07:00.008+08:00

Over the past fortnight, I laid some garnishing touches to the groundwork with some shrubs before sealing everything with a mist of grey primer.

I proceeded to undercoat the figure with a dark maroon base before assigning the respective base colors. The sculpt of the smock was kept minimally clean so as not to pose to much conflict as I paint the elaborate Palm Tree with Clumps Pattern. I've only managed so far on the rendering of the face during the past week and hopefully I can squeeze in more bench time in the coming weeks.

Calvin

SS- Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

2010-04-23T20:22:00.002+08:00

After numerous distractions and interruptions, I've finally added the final details and christened it onto the groundwork. Here's hoping to move on to the painting this weekend.

cheers,

Calvin

SS- Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

2010-04-04T20:40:00.004+08:00

Here's another quick update on the sculpt. Thanks for all the constructive comments and as you can see some alterations were made. I decided to spread the digits of the left hand for a more natural appearance as the original cupped hand felt rather contrived. Also I had to lengthen the barrel of the Luger as it was almost a scale inch too short. The belt buckle and stick grenade were castings made by Taesung Harmms from my originals. I'm pretty much happy at this point with the overall look of the figure and I do hope to proceed to creating the groundwork as soon as the refinements are in place.

Also completed is a scratch-built 1/16 scale M-16A1 rifle built whilst waiting for my castings to arrive back from Taesung. I almost forgot how painful it was to scratch-build firearms. And yes, there are plans to use it with a figure ;)

Calvin

SS- Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

2010-02-07T19:24:00.008+08:00

Today has provided me with another fruitful progress to the 1/32 sculpt. Sorry to disappoint but there are no plans for this to be a commercial sculpt as this is long overdue single figure commission for a collector I promised a long while back.
Another WW2 German nonetheless; I wanted to depict haugthiness of an SS officer embolden by the successes of Blitzkrieg and the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa.
The clay is still soft at this moment and I reckon I will commence the first round of baking(with the heat gun) when most of the primary folds and surface details are established.
I'm still having some issues with the posing of the hand holding the artillery Luger and judging from the pics I feel that it needs to be slightly angled medially. Apart from that, everything seems to A-ok for now.

cheers,

Calvin

Finally back to doing some sculpting

2010-01-28T15:16:00.004+08:00

With most painting assignments behind, I just thought I'll get back into the groove of sculpting this week by picking up the pace of a 1/32 scale single figure project that was placed in hiatus for a long while.

The head is a complete re-sculpt of an old Verlinden head sculpted by Roger Saunders. The helmet came from the series of Gen-2 figures by DML with the helmet cover sculpted from epoxy putty. The grenade is from Alpine Miniatures which I felt was a tad too large for 1/35 but somehow just apt for 1/32. The rest of the figure is modeled using Kato Clay over a wire and epoxy putty armature. A lot more needs to be done on the back of the smock as well as the riding breeches but in all I'm quite satisfied with how everything is progressing for the moment.

Calvin

SS-Scharfï¿½hrer, Das Reich, 1945 [Webshots]

2009-02-27T05:45:14-08:00

SS-Scharfï¿½hrer, Das Reich, 1945

by zyclyon4
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SS-BrigadeFuhrer [Webshots]

2008-12-21T17:49:37-08:00

SS-BrigadeFuhrer

by zyclyon4
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Alpine Miniatures - KG Peiper, Ardennes 1944, [Webshots]

2008-11-20T17:56:06-08:00

Alpine Miniatures - KG Peiper, Ardennes 1944,

by zyclyon4
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