Merry Christmas

I wish you all a very good christmas!

Bon Nadal, Prettige Kerstdagen, Feliz Navidad

     Cheers,

     Marcel.

Pinocho

The next figure I started painting is 'Pinocho' from Tale of War. It consist of two figures and one of the figures was primed already for almost a year but I never could find the time to make a start with the paintwork. Now in between sculpting I decided to paint this small fellow to keep my brushes wet. The figure is about 2.5 to 3 cm high. The belly is practically finished. I used goldbrown as a base color highlighted with white and shaded with brown. Next I started the green part on the left side using different tones of green. But there is still a lot of work to do here.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Continuing with ADC Joseph Steck

Now that I finished my last figure von Zieten. I decided to continue with this figure, which was standing already for a longtime on my desk. There were several things I was not satisfied about. So I decided to change as much as possible without destroying half of the figure. His left leg was located too far to the outside so I cut it and replaced it a few millimeters inwards. Also the folds on both arms were redone and look more natural now for my feeling. The last things that were corrected are the legs. Here some more volume was added and the height of one of the boots was adjusted. Some more refining still has to be done and I have to sculpt the rest of the details. Here the pictures.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Joachim von Zieten finished

This figure I finished some weeks ago. Just in time to enter in de contest of Soldat de Plom. But ever since I didn't took the time to shoot the final pictures and place them on my blog. 

One of the reasons was that I still wanted to make some corrections to the paintwork that was bothering me. Now that most corrections are done I shot yesterday evening some pictures of the figure. I'm still planning to add a few details in the future but in the coming weeks I first want to focus on some of my sculpting projects.

All the paintwork was done as always in acrylics, mainly Vallejo Model Color. And the horse was painted using an airbrush. As this was the first time I used an airbrush this was quite a challenge. Well here are the pictures of the figure.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Soldat de Plom 2011

From 21 until 23 October the 16th edition of Soldat de Plom was held again in Girona. Also this year I was present at the show which is always visited by many Spanish and French modelers.

 Me and the family arrived on Thursday morning in Girona after a night with almost no sleep. My figure still wasn't finished so I was painting until the last hour. On Friday evening the work was done and I brought my figures to the location of the show. I was directly welcomed by Fernando, Joan and Ignasi and was also introduced to Josep from el baluard and a great sculptor Diego Fernando Fortes. My first painted figure was from Art-Girona and was sculpted by him.

On Saturday and Sunday I visited several of the workshops and had a the opportunity to meet and chat with great people and artists Massimo, Pepa, Carles and Ramon. It was also great to meet Andrea Iotti again, who showed me the principles of sculpting. He also was so kindly to introduce me to Massimo Pasquali. On Sunday I was lucky to have a coffee with Fernando and the winning couple of Euromilitaire Gustavo Gil and Antonio Zapatero. 

 On the displays there were many high quality and stunning figures from master sculptors and painters from mainly Spain and France but also from Italy. The Best of Show Historic was won of course by the couple Gil and Zapatero. Well I had a great time and it was a great organized show. And it was a pleasure to meet and speak to so many great people.

The rest of the pictures can be seen via this link:
Pictures Soldat de Plom 2011

Cheers,
Marcel.

Painting day and night

Last two weeks I have spent a lot of time painting, hoping to get the figure finished before Soldat de Plom. There are only a few days left so I hope I can make it. Unfortunately painting process it's not going so smooth. The paint on the horse was not attaching very well and I had to strip the horse and start all over again. The figure is progressing well now. The upper body is almost finished. Still some work to do on the pelisse and then I'll move on to the legs. And the last part will be finishing the horse.

Cheers,

Marcel.

The face almost done

Now the face is almost done. I only have to paint a few corrections and finish painting the facial hair. The pupils are now a bit bigger which looks better in my opinion. The colpack is also finished. Furthermore I made a start painting the pelisse but it's not the coloretone I'm looking for so still some work to do here.
Next days I will work on the pelisse and jacket.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Starting with the paintwork

The last days I have made a start with the paintwork. First I tried to paint without using a primer. But this was a disaster. So after cleaning and priming the figure I started as usual with the face. After some layers of the base color Brownsand. I painted the highlights and shadows using basic skin tone and burnt cadmium red. Afterwards the highlights and shadows were blended using very diluted paint. Most of the blend work is done on the right side of the face. I'm still working on the left side. When the blend work is finished I will continue painting the hair and moustache. The hat is painted using a base english uniform which was highlighted with a sand color and shadows with black. The red are painted with  base color and some rough highlights. Soon another update.


Cheers,
Marcel.
 

The sculpt is finished

I had some weeks of a wel deserved vacation. After my vacation I continued working on this figure. There was not much time for modeling but I worked a few evenings until midnight to get the sculpture finished. The work that was done was adding the missing details on the jacket and sculpting the hair using a MS/Duro mix. Futhermore several parts were refined or smoothed a bit more. Next step is to clean the figure and start with the painting process.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Almost finished with sculpting

Despite my busy schedule I managed to get some progress. I cut one of the front legs and replaced it with a better copy. Furthermore the tail of the horse was fixed. I sculpted the remaining hand holding the sword and added the fur on the pelisse. Also some missing details were added and some areas were corrected. Finally the end of the sculpting phase is coming closer. Besides some corrections I still have to add the braid work on the pelisse, the fur on the sleeves, some hair and finally the reins have to be added. When this work is done I can continue with painting phase.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Some little progress

Due to the big amount of work that I had to finish for my job. There was not much time was left for sculpting the last weeks. During the few hours I worked on the figure I sculpted the horse ears, the outline of the pelisse. And made a start of adding the fur on the edges of the pelisse. The sabretache and the scabbard for the sword were carved from a styrene sheet. Small rings for the belts were attached with some glue.
Hopefully I can do some more sculpting the coming weeks.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Some corrections and progress

After a week of absence to visit my newborn cousin and nephew I continued with the figure. First I had to make some necessary corrections. The position of the riders legs ended up to far to the back. So the rider was repositioned  a few millimeter more to the front. Therefore I had to re-sculpt a piece of the saddle cloth. Next  I fixed the saddle cloth to the horse and re-sculpted the details with a mix of MS and Duro. I also wasn't satisfied with the left arm and after some comments on PF I decided to re-sculpt the folds of the left arm. Also a part of the hand was sculpted. Still have to sculpt the thumb. The last thing I added was the braid work on the jacket and some minor folds on the trousers.

Cheers,

Marcel.