PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE: February 2013

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. .

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, Tunisia, 1943

Labels: Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment Tunisia 1943 Posted by Calvin Tan at 22:40

I've managed to capitalize on the Lunar New Year holidays to make the final push to render this project complete.

Despite the limited color scheme of the subject matter this proved to be quite an enjoyable exercise to further my exploration and experimentation in color (undoubtedly inspired from a recent trip to the the Musée d'Orsay in Paris). I forewent on polish and tried to mimic the bold and loose brush strokes of the Impressionists to impart a more dramatic visual effect when viewed in the flesh. I also employed hues of Phthalo Green, Purple Madder and Prussian Blue - applied straight from the tube a la Matisse/Gauguin to provide a stronger illumination for the shadows regions. This was kept to a conservative minimum as the intent was to generate additional value contrast via the difference in hue saturation in tandem with monochromatic value - overdoing this might betray the appearance of the local color. Take for example the intermediate shadow regions of the sand-yellow helmet. I employed glazes of Pine Green in favor of Light Brown as I wanted to create the impression of a bluish shadow - inferred from the work of several notable Impressionist like Monet and Pissarro. I find that this produces a much convincing effect of shadow as brown potentially has a higher tendency to portray dirt.

I also painted the surrounding environment onto the goggle lens to imply the reflective surface - which naturally works better in context with the scenic backdrop than that of the magenta.

Cheers,

Calvin

Sunday, 10 February 2013

Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, Tunisia, 1943

Labels: Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment Tunisia 1943 Posted by Calvin Tan at 22:12

The month of January has been rather hectic for me. Realizing that I do not need the additional frustration caused by the painting of vertical strokes on the splinter pattern camouflage, I decided to place that on a short hiatus and indulge myself in this short recreational project on this DAK bust from Young Miniatures over the past week.

I would currently place this at 90% completed - with some areas needing minor refinements. Being a recreational project, I also attempted to depict the reflective surface of the goggle lens by projecting the nearby surroundings onto it.