Quietness on the modelling front...

Normally is spend several hours every week on modelling but the last couple of months I couldn't find time to paint or sculpt, which explains the quietness on my blog. I'm still busy with several projects but due to the latest development in my private live this has come to a hold. The reason for this is that me and my family had the opportunity to immigrate to Spain. This was always what we wanted but you can imagine it was a difficult decision due to the crisis in Europe and in this uncertain times giving up the secure live is not that easy. But this was a opportunity you don't get everyday so we decided to take our changes. The last months there were some positive developments which has speed up the project. In about a month from now we are already moving to Girona which is the hometown of my wife. So we are going to a place that is already familiar to us with family and friends.

The positive aspect when it comes to modeling is that much more people here are painting or sculpting figures, not like in the Netherlands were only a few people are doing this. And in Enschede I was always far from other modellers and had to travel long distances to visit a figureshow. In the south of Europe much more shows are organized and are now in a much closer distance. But nevertheless I will miss my family and friends here so enough reason for a regular visit.

At the moment we are already packing and arranging all the paperwork. So the coming period I'm busy with packing so I there will be no time for modelling. Hopefully somewhere in October when we are settled I can pick it up again and get at least one figure done this year.

Cheers,
Marcel.

New pictures of the Standardbearer

The last two months it was so busy that I didn't had much time for painting or sculpting. There are a lot of changes lately soon I will post some more about this. In the mean time I took some new and better pictures of this older figure. It's the 54mm standardbearer from the Royal Guard Grenadeers from the Kingdom of Naples, 1812 from Romeo Models which I finished in 2008.

Cheers,

Marcel.

Painting Workshop

On 24 March another figure painting workshop was held after I was contacted by a modeler from the Twenot building group Utrecht. Most participants this day were armor modelers from the the Twenot building group Utrecht. The group was completed with some other modelers from other groups. After some coffee I started with a small presentation about Zenithal light and painting with acrylic paint. After a short break I continued with a painting demonstration, showing the basic principles of applying highlights and shadow on a figure. For the demonstration a 54mm Napoleonic figure from Alexandros Models was used, which was already cleaned and primed.

Preparing the paint

Starting with the paintwork

  

After the demonstration everybody started painting their own figures. After applying the rough highlights and shadow it was already time for lunch. Due to the great weather we could sit outside were we enjoyed our lunch. After the lunch I did the second part of the demonstration which was about blending the highlights and shadows. This is always difficult to explain on paper, so by showing it it's much easier to understand.

Hereafter the participants continued with their figures. Now and then there was some frustration when paint ended up in the wrong places but in general great progress was made during the day.

  

 

After some hours of painting, discussing, chatting and looking at each other's work it was already time to go home. It was great day and it's very nice to meet other Dutch modelers and show them principles of figure painting. Which hopefully is getting more popular in the Netherlands the coming years.

Cheers,
Marcel.

The face next step

The last week there was not much time to paint but I managed to get a bit of more progress on the right side of the face. I also corrected the eyes, but I'm still not totaly satisfied with the right eye. I have to some more work on some transitions and continue with blending of the left side of the face. Hopefully soon some more progress pictures.

Cheers,

Marcel.

Ramses II, Qadesh 1300 a.C.

This figure is from Art-Girona's Historical series. And it's sculpted by the talented hands of Adriano Laruccia. I started the face last year during the painting demo. Now most of my model time is dedicated to sculpting several new figures. So it's nice to do something different and spend some hours on painting figures. 

The paintwork is done a usual with acrylics, the rough shadows and highlights are applied. And I started blending the right side of the face. Which is mostly done now. Next I have to correct the eyes, paint the lips and blend the left side and the chin. Here two pictures of the progress.

Cheers,

Marcel.

  

Ransart 2012

On 28 and 29 of January the show "Pleins Feux sur le Maquettisme" was held again in Ransart Belgium. Because of the very soft winter until then I decided to go this year also. Unfortunately for me I became ill just a few days before the weekend. But with my bag loaded full of paracetamol and a box of figures I was prepared for the trip to Belgium. Me and the family left Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. After dropping of the family in Bergen op Zoom I continued my trip to Chareloi, were I arrived at 12:45. Luckily I found a parking spot and entered my figures into the contest. It's a big show with three floors for collectors, club and contest tables. The traders were located in a big botanic garden next to it.

Soon I came across the first dutch friends. After some chatting I met also other friends from Belgium and France. One of them was Stephane from Figurines TV who I always see in Girona at 'Soldat de Plom'. He was so kind to introduce me to Roberto Chaudon a great sculptor from Mexico, who is sculpting for companies like Pegaso and Knight models. He was giving a sculpting demonstration and it was instructive to see him at work and to be able to ask some questions. Time was flying and after visiting the fair in the botanic garden it was already time to leave to Bergen op zoom were we stayed for the night. Before I arrived on Sunday a lot of time was already lost. When I arrived I started making pictures of the figures in contest. But soon this was impossible because the room was filled with people for presentation of the prizes. For me it was very hard to follow because all was done in french and my french isn't that good.

All I could figure out were some names of the different classes. At a certain moment I heard my name and I found out that I won a bronze medal in transformation. After the ceremony was finished I picked up my figures and soon we on our way back home. After some delay were we arrived home around 10 o'clock in the evening and went to bed. The end of nice weekend.

The rest of the pictures I could take can be found on my facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3157326216562.153546.1367446367&type=1&l=b75ccb7374

Cheers,
Marcel.

Outlook 2012

Now with 2011 left behind it's time to look at the projects I'm going to work on in 2012. I'm planning to dedicate some more time to modeling and hopefully this will result in some more output this year. The last years it was always a bit problematic to find the time for modeling due to other important obligations I have like family, work and other hobby's. 

The first new project for this year is together with Fernando Ruiz. I will be sculpting an he will take care of the paintwork. When the project is finished we will publish the pictures, before that no progress pictures will be shown. I'm really looking forward to get the project going.

Another small project that I started during Christmas is sculpting a face. Until now I never sculpted a face myself and when I found the manual from Alan Ball I thought it would be a good exercise.

The carved the basic shape and now I have to sculpt the eyes, redo the mouth and refine some places.

I don't know if I'm ever going to use this face for a figure but still it's a good exercise. 

I also started another sculpting project recently which will be a fantasy subject, but for the moment this doesn't have a high priority. And then there are the projects I already started. This year I planning to finish sculpting and painting Joseph Steck. Hopefully get some more work done on the crusader vignette and finish some painting projects including the 1/72 projects. Next to this I'm planning to visit some shows the first will be Ransart this weekend. I hope to see you there.

Cheers,

Marcel.