Alpine Miniatures - Panzerschütze LSSAH Kursk 1943

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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!!!

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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

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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!!!!!!

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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

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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

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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

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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