US Tank Crew, 2nd Armoured Div, ETO 1944-45

Took some time over the last two days to finish up the painting double for the filming of Calvin Tan's Basic Guide to Figure Painting DVD. The face and uniform are painted with Vallejo Acrylics and Andrea Colour according to the methods depicted in the DVD.

In this variant, I did not hand paint the the Armoured Division shoulder patch, but instead used the ones made by Archer Transfers. I adopted what I now call a "low depth of field" approach to painting; meaning to only direct the viewer's focus toward a specific point and blurring out the rest. I did so in this particular piece to circumvent the main drawback of injection moulded figures by only raising the tonal contrast of the areas that registers the best definition of details. Regions lacking in definition were rendered with darker analogous colours and low tonal contrast to reduce their visibility. A good example would be the use of Vallejo SS Camouflage Black Brown and Andrea Slate Grey to create the mud stains on the bottom of the overalls. This harmonizes the figure with the ground work to enhance the atmospheric perspective of the entire composition.

Cheers,

Calvin

DVD Reviews of Calvin Tan's Basic Guide to Figure Painting

Dear All,

I would like to share some reviews of my basic guide to figure painting. First up is an extensive review by Adam Norindrnbergen posted on his website The Modelling News. 

The second has been out for quite sometime and it is a video review by Brian Stanley.

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for Adam and Brian for taking the time to provide us their honest opinions on the DVD.

Cheers,

Calvin

10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg, Holland 1944

Here it is, the SS Panzer Artillery crew all done.  Apart from some minor enhancements on the trouser pocket flap and shoulder boards, the rest of the figure is stock. I used the insignias from ARCHER Transfers to convert it to a 10th SS Pz-Div, 'Frundsberg' Rottenführer. The figure is painted with a mixture of Andrea Color and Vallejo Acrylics. The 10.5 cm leFH18 hollow charge shells came along with the sprue, whereas the zeltbahn is sculpted from epoxy putty to add some variation to the groundwork.

It was immensely enjoyable figure to paint given the fact that this figure was realistically created from live digital 3D scans. Moving forward I think it would be a wonderful idea if Tamiya could apply the same technology to re-tool their older releases like the 88cm Flak crew or even the German Panzer grenadiers. 

I would like to extend a special thank you to Nobuo Yoshioka of Tamiya for providing me the sample sprue to create this piece during the 2018 Shizuoka Show. 

Finally here is a light hearted meme to conclude this post.

Cheers,

Calvin

The Passing of a Fine Mentor

On December 1, 2018, with a heavy heart I announce the passing of a passionate artist, great friend and mentor, Paul Quek. 

I first knew of Paul through his work displayed at a local model shop when I was 13 years old. back in my secondary days together with my old friend Julian Yap. When I finally got to meet him in person, I remembered how excited I was to have him critique my work. He responded with honesty, warmth and patience. He was the finest mentor a 13 year boy could ask for. Paul did not teach me how to build scale models; he showed me the love of scale modelling. 

He was a tremendous influence in my life and perhaps one of the reasons what I gravitated towards an education in Fine Arts. In 1998 he approached me to start a range of 1/16 scale historical figures. The range was to be called Dog Tag Fighting Men under his company Miniature Alliance. This was where I began to cut my teeth as a commercial miniature sculptor. A year later in the September of 1999, we would be travelling to Euro Militaire - the first of many overseas shows we would attend together. 

At England. Folkestone,2000.

Meeting the legendary Bill Horan in Rome World Model Expo 2002. 

In Penang, 2016.

Calvin