PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE: Well Done Malaysia!

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.

Calvin Tan

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.

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 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. .

Thursday, 4 October 2007

Well Done Malaysia!

Posted by CALVIN TAN at 20:01

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Taking a short break from the 1/35 sculpts, I met up with Malaysian modeller Allan Yong and proprietor of Miniature Allaince Paul Quek. (a certain armor modeller whose name I shall not mention was also due to join but had to "let go the aeroplane" at the last minute due to a domestic situation) Anyway, a little more than a week ago, Paul had submitted four of Allan's works for the Euro Militaire contest which bagged a whopping tally of four silver medals! Well done Allan!

So whilst he was in town today to pick up his works(and medals of course) from Paul, I thought that I will just go "kay-poh" a bit...

Allan together with his medal and prize-winning entries.

Close-up of Allan's winning entry "Captured". That's probably the best painted 1/35 chicken I've ever seen !

Cheers,

Calvin

5 comments:

Fusilier said...: Hi Calvin,

I've seen some of Allan's work on websites and they are absolutely brilliant. Well ddeserved I'm sure.

Did you enter anything this year? If you did would love to see you post some pics.

BTW - where do you get the Fimo and the Kato? ArtFriend?

Also, any plans to move beyond WWII stuff? Napoleanics or medievals? Would be great to see how you apply your techniques in those areas especially on metal figures. Know what else would be great? Seeing some WWI stuff from you :-) Then I can pick up some new ideas lah!

Thanks for sharing your work.

Cheers
Basil; 5 October 2007 at 01:47
YongA01 said...: Hi Calvin,Thanks for posting the pictures...A bit lucky in this year's Euro and certainly an encouragement for the hard work put in. Thanks again for all the tips you and Paul had been sharing to improve my work.. only with critiques one work can improve further. See you next time. Allan; 5 October 2007 at 14:52
Matt said...: Excellent work very inspirational! Well deserved awards too!

Cheers
Matt; 5 October 2007 at 16:39
CALVIN TAN said...: Basil,

nope I'm afraid that my works were not in contest at this year's Euro. I;m not sure where you could get the Kato or Fimo in Singapore as the ones that I'm using not are samples. You could get the Super Sculpey Firm from The M Workshop if you're eager to try out polymer clays.

Moving beyond WW2 stuff?..Yup maybe some local subjects but that will have to wait till I've cleared my commission works.

Calvin; 5 October 2007 at 22:05
CALVIN TAN said...: Hi Allan, looking forward to meeting up with you again the next time you're in town!

Calvin; 5 October 2007 at 22:06