Young Miniatures - Unterfeldwebel, Kampfgeschwader 54, 1940

.

As a final wrap up to this painting assignment, here are some of my personal shots of the completed bust.

 

 
Cheers,

Calvin

Rendering the Kapok Vest

This installment recounts the wet-on-wet technique employed for a localized rendering of the kapok vest towards the build-up of chroma for the highlights and shadows.

To prevent the greying of the highlights from the dark shadow colors. Only the parts in shadow were moistened with the water and retarder solution and dabbed with small amounts of Storm Blue.

The Storm Blue was blended  downwards. However, sensing a lack of warmth, a small amount of Cadmium Orange was dabbed on and blended upwards to create a transitional gradient between the yellow base color and blue/green shadow.

The same process was repeated using Naples Yellow for the highlights.

Realizing later that the incline of the flared collar and the final attachment of the head would result in a darker appearance, Light Yellow was applied over to darken the highlight.

In summary, this pretty much concludes the techniques applied in the painting of this masterful sculpt by Mike Good. On accounts of the high quality casting, the ease of assembly and beautiful design,  I must say that it has been a fun filled experience tackling this highly refreshing WW2 German subject matter. I do hope that the pick-up for this piece will be encouraging for Young Miniatures to warrant another collaboration with Mike Good in the near future.

Cheers,

Calvin

Painting the Helmet

Coinciding with the leap year, this installment illustrates the wet-on-wet approach used to render the Luftwaffe helmet.

To enhance the spread of paint and diffusion of color, the surface is moisturized with a spray of the retarder and water solution before an intermediate highlight color mix of Storm Blue and Titanium White is applied.

Next,  colors complementary to blue were randomly applied in sparing quantities over a moist layer of water and retarder solution.

These colors were swirled around, generating a myriad of tertiary tones.

In part due to the retarder, the paint coagulates to a buttery consistency as it dries. This makes it ideal to employ the feathering(sfumato) technique - accomplished by using a fresh dry brush - in light and gentle strokes - to merge the stark boundaries between the different colors.

The muddy appearance from mixing complementary colors resulted in a lost of chroma and contrast. These qualities were reclaimed by incorporating a few specs Prussian Blue for chroma and Titanium White for contrast and highlight.

Again, the feathering(sfumato) technique was employed to smooth out the transitions along the color boundaries.

Taking advantage of the slow drying, effects of wear and chafe were simulated black paint dabbed with a sponge.

This allows all unsatisfactory areas to be touched up with Storm Blue and blemishes subsequently smoothed out using the feathering technique.

Some processes was repeated over a couple times in the single session before arriving to the satisfactory result. Finally, the helmet decal and Luftwaffe eagle was painted in by hand completing the paintwork for the helmet.

cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Unterfeldwebel, Kampfgeschwader 54, 1940

 .

Moving on to the rest of the bust, the backing for the parachute bag is undercoated with Gunze Sanyo Lacquer-based silver paint.

It is painted with a color mixture of Hookers Green, Cadmium Orange and Carbon Black and set aside to dry.

A solution of water and retarder is applied and the chafe effects were created by scratching the paint off with a toothpick.

 

The seams on the sleeves are highlighted with Naples Yellow and deep shadows outlined with a mixture of Hookers Green, Cadmium Orange, Storm Blue and Black. The shoulder patch was undercoated with a mix of Raw Sienna, Earth Brown and Naples Yellow. Storm Blue was added to the mix, providing the colors for shadow.

The gull wings on the shoulder patch are undercoated with a mixture consisting of Naples Yellow, Storm Blue and Titanium White.

The high points of the gull wings are highlighted with Titanium White, completing the painting of the shoulder patch.

The Sfumato technique was employed to mediate the stark boundaries between intermediate colors. The diffused effect is achieved by evenly "scrubbing" on a very small amount paint across the surface producing a soft and faint impression of the color. This is relatively easier to accomplish with oils with its slow drying and thicker paint body.

With acrylics, the drying is prolonged with the addition of the paint retarder. The retarder also coagulates the paint as it dries, giving it the thick buttery paint body ideal for this purpose. 

The surface is prepared with a retarder and water solution.

 

Next, a small amount of intermediate shadow color is brushed on and worked around in a scrubbing motion, producing a cloud like effect.

 The same procedure follows towards the application of the highlights. 

The parachute harness was painted with a mix of Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, Hookers Green and Titanium White. Subtle tonal variations are created with light washes of Earth Brown and Storm Blue. 

Cheers,

Calvin

DIY Decals

.

One day while printing some family pictures on my Canon Selphy printer did I realize that this printing method could be used to create to custom decals. I deducted that since the ink is not printed directly on the paper, but rather on a thin cellophane-like paper laminate, it could be lifted out like a water slide decal. I decided to put to test this hunch and arrived to the following outcome.

The inscriptions were created on Photoshop and printed with the Canon Selphy printer on their proprietary postcard paper. A water brush pen loaded with a solution of water and retarder was used to wet the surface to position the cellophane film before affixing it with Vallejo gloss varnish.

The printed cut-out was soaked in water for about an hour to separate the cellophane film from the paper. My deduction proved correct as the print was made onto the cellophane film instead of the paper and thus the Canon Selphy postcard print works exactly like a regular water-slide decal.

The film is positioned with a pair of tweezers and brush and affixed with a water-based gloss varnish from Vallejo. Excess film is trimmed with a scalpel blade and irregularities touched up with silver paint.

The main drawback I conclude is that the CMY print cartridge of the Selphy printer does not print black - making the darkest tones appear as a very dark blue. Needless to mention, CMY printing does not print white - which means that this will have to be filled in by hand.  Considering the type of quality for that inexpensive cost of print and the added convenience of doing it from your home computer, I must comment that the result is still rather delightful. Do give this a try and let me know what you guys think.

Until next time...

Calvin