Dante bust finished at last!

OK folks here it is! The Figuralia Dante bust. I have to admit, when I started this project I was bit out of my element. Not a part of history or literature I was particularly flamiliar with for sure. But I must admit, this is one fantastic kit! It has to be one of the cleanest, best cast kits I have ever come across. Not one seam line to fix and Luca has prepped all, and I mean all casting blocks so there is absolutely no clean-up whatsoever. I was able to jump right in.

As some of you may know the kit comes with a large, beautifully cast and engineered pillar base. I, however, cannot leave well enough alone! So I made one slight creative change, I scratch-built the books for the base. I really wanted to emphasize the litirary theme of the piece, and thought these would add the right touch. They are made from Evergreen sheet, tubes and flat stock. I then used putty to sculpt the pages (pressing a straight razor into the putty before it dried) and lead foil for the corner reinforcements on the top book. It's all done in oils, and mounted on a Thomas Art Base.

Speaking of leaving well enough alone, I had to be a bit creative with his garments as well. I have attached a painting of Dante that I used for inspiration and that Luca was kind enough to forward to me as reference (by the looks of it I think he's tryin' to cat-call and pick up some chicks there along the canals in Venice). I went a step further than just the green and black and decided to make his undergarment a dark eggplant purple as a compliment to the green cloak. I wanted to add just a bit more punch to my version, yet keep the colors from being too garish.

I can't say enough good things about this gem. Once you start to paint the classically sculpted folds and drapery come to life! A real joy to paint. I highly recomend this one for a great change of pace from military subjects. Luca, my friend, many thanks and keep 'em coming! Thanks for looking, any and all comments are welcome.

Jay H.
OKC













Had to have some fun in Photoshop of course!


This is the pic I used for color inspiration.

Friggin Awesome Jay...................wow.............you have really taken the bust to another direction and well done too. Love the colors and shading as well as the books. How many pages are in each? Beautiful work on scratch building the books.

Hi,good painting
georges

Very smooth painting, Jay!! Nice skintones!!

Lovely idea with the books, it gives a personel touch!

Cheers,

Eddy.

Jay, many thanks for the nice words about the piece. Your painted version turned out really great.

What I like of your painting style is the smoothed final look you give to your pieces without turning them off. What I mean is that they have a soft look without loosing contrast or definition, which is not so easy to achieve, I think. The idea for the new basement, using those scratchbuilded books, is simply brillant. If you do not mind, I would like to add your rendition on my web site. If you have the high res pictures, send them to my email address, if not I will use the ones you posted here.

I like the photoshop'ed version too. I see you placed a lens effect on the right upper corner. If you want to achieve a zenithal light effect, there is another way too. First of all select the level on which you want to put the light effect (or duplicate the image if you are working with the .jpg file). Next go to the 'Filter'->'Rendering' menu but instead of choosing the lens reflection effect, click on the 'Light effect' entry.

Move that floating circle to set up the light effect as you prefer, but before closing the dialog make sure to select as a texture channel the level on which you want to put the effect.

That way you will able to achieve a more smoothed and blended light effect, as shown here.

As said above, really nice one.

l kike your painting vey much,eespecialy the face.good work

Jay, looks fantastic, really looks good.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Roc.

Top stuff mate, I like it. Let me know what differences you found in painting in a larger scale

Jay,
It has all been said. Great work. I find your base rocking. Personally touch. Awesome work.

marc

Marc, Rocco, Kenan, Anthony, Eddy Georges, Guy......et-all,
thank you very much for the kind words! Always an inspiration to receive praises from this talented bunch. BTW, Guy, there are about 200 pages in the top book, and about 250 in the lower one......these are what my kids call "chapter books". Lots of words and not many pictures! :lol:

Luca, it would be my pleasure if you wish to use the images. I will forward them to you as soon as I get a minute. Actually, truth-be-known, I did use the render tool to add a lighting affect to the Photoshoped version. I just kept it kinda subtle. That ends up being the point of light where I decided to render the lense flare from! Thanks for the hints.

Again, thanks to all. I'll say it again, it was the sculpt on this one that reallly sings when you go to work on it!

Jay H.
OKC

Anthony,
sorry forgot to answer your question mate! This bust comes out to basically 200mm, I don't know if you were thinking of the 1/4 scale piece from United Empire or not. As far as scale goes, I seem to really take a shine to this larger scale. I think my painting style lends itself to the bigger areas. I really like the act of "blending" the colors while shading and the larger scales allow me this due to the sheer surface area! Hope this answers your question. If not, hit me over the head and ask again!

Jay H.
OKC

Jay, Great job on the bust. i really like it. The books are just awesome and you did not spare the expense of detailing them either. Too cool.~Gary

Gary,thanks for the compliments! I really enjoyed building the books. It was a challenge but I think it added a nice creative touch to the over all piece. I'm glad you like the details, I wanted to give them a older "used" look to compliment the subject. Thanks again!

Jay H.
OKC

Jay,

You have really created the mood and done an outstanding job on both the bust and the base. I really like it and look forward to one day seeing your work in person.

Joe

Joe, you are too kind! I don't know if you have plans for Atlanta or not, but I will be there next year and have this and other pieces with me. If not, I will certainly have it with me in Tulsa. I'll be sure to wander over and introduce myself! Thanks for the kind words.

Jay H.
OKC

Jay,
This is one very cool looking bust
Great shading my friend.
Always looking forward to your new projects
Cheers,
A.

Hi Jay,

The entire presentation is very unique. Nice work!!!

Allan