ARTIST STATEMENT
In the words of Wilbur Smith "War is the game played by old men with the lives of the young". The pawn in this game is the combat soldier, represented by the miniature toy soldier; an insignificant being on the battlefield. Combat is the most intense moment of war, where life and death balances on a knife's edge. The results are terrifying and reveal the worst part of our human nature. Conversely, there are moments when it exudes the best of our human spirit. Most of the miniatures you see here are diligently researched from historical sources and handcrafted between scales of 1/35 to 1/16 (approx 50mm to 120mm). The intricate rendition of human expression and fine details not only demonstrates the level of craftsmanship but also serves as a reminder of the fragile nature of human life. I represent no political bias though my miniature creations. My aim is to portray humanity through the chronicles of military history and thus it is my pleasure that I present to you my weblog Perspectives in Miniature.
WWII GERMAN UNIFORMS - PERSONAL MIXES BY CALVIN TAN
In conjunction with AK Interactive, this exclusive Gen 3 acrylic paint set is specially composed with the essential colours that I use to render WWII German Uniforms. It contains 18 colours and a small pamphlet with my personal colour mixes. If you are keen to acquire all the colours on my palette to paint a field grey tunic, a splinter pattern zeltbahn, an oak-leaf pattern smock or the Kharkov anorak, look no further, this is the set for you to get started.
Do check out my Podcast interview with Barry Biediger and Jim DeRogatis at Box Dioramas.com
CALVIN TAN'S BASIC GUIDE TO FIGURE PAINTING
This instructional DVD published by Model Art magazine was primarily developed for the beginner armour and diorama modeller in mind. The video presentation will feature a variety of easy to master techniques used to render a 1/35 scale plastic injected moulded figure.Topics include proper paint application techniques, choice of brushes as well as some little tricks for painting fine detail. It is fundamentally a showcase of some of my methods and techniques for painting military figures and I am certain it will prove beneficial for any modeller who wishes to improve on figure painting. It is currently available in both Japanese and English.
CALVIN TAN'S INTERMEDIATE GUIDE TO FIGURE PAINTING
This video presentation documents the process of rendering a highly detailed 1/35 scale after-market resin figure. Watch as I take the viewer through the process of rendering of leather, uniform insignia as well as camouflage patterns using the techniques and materials presented in the beginner's guide to achieve convincing results. It is available in both Japanese and English.
CALVIN TAN'S GUIDE TO CONVERTING AND PAINTING FIGURES
In this third instalment, I will share my techniques and materials to customize and detail an inexpensive stock plastic figure. Watch as I take you through the steps on how I modify a pose, model details such as hands, belts and webbing and insignias. Learn about working effectively with epoxy putty as well as plastic styrene and paper. As a continuation from my first two DVDs, I will demonstrate how to model and paint a simple groundwork as well as an alternate approach using a monochromatic underpainting to render both a field grey tunic and the World War 2 German Splinter Camouflage pattern on a helmet cover. If you have enjoyed and benefitted from those previous titles, this edition will be a welcome addition to your journey in scale figure modelling – regardless of your current skill level. It is my sincere hope that this could inspire you to embark on your own creative adventure in this fantastic hobby. .
THE M WORKSHOP
2 comments:
Compliments on such an authentic, lifelike paint job, especially the soft lighting of the leathers. I can't wait to get my hands on these figures. Reading your book, I find the head painting article useful, but would benefit from some larger images. Do you have any such images? I get a bit lost between the first highlights and shadow glazes.
MfG
Martin
Hi Martin,
thanks for your compliments. The leather effect was surprisingly easy to attain (just to handle for the box art at least). It was done with glazes of acrylic inks, the same type featured in my Osprey book.
The key solution to ease the transition between the first highlights and shadows is to first acquire a suitable mid tone colour and applying them in glazes in between the two zones. There are two essential points to take note when applying the glaze. First the consistency of the paint; it has to be heavily thinned with water for greater translucency. Opacity can be built from repeated glazes of colour. Second point is that the brush must not be overloaded with paint. Always test it against a piece of paper to check its consistency. This will determine the discharge of paint from the brush to the surface that's to be painted. Since I paint from a black undercoat, it makes perfect sense for me to test it against a sheet of matt black paper. HTH
Calvin
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