WIP My first horse

Mariner · Feb 16, 2012

Hi all,
Here's the horse from Knight of the Holy Sepulchre that I'm tackling...one photo was taken in natural morning light without the saddle, and the second later the same afternoon. He's done in oils, I'm doing the knight in acrylics and hope to post more on the weekend.
Still lots to do on him but wanted you to see how he's coming along. Comments always appreciated.
Mary
PS Here's my inspiration and what I'm trying to achieve
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34274&highlight=knight+holy+sepulchre

housecarl · Feb 16, 2012

Looks a very promising start Mary. If you're going to be true to Ernesto's rendition, I think you could go a touch further with your highlights. The leather work looks well.
Carl.

arxo · Feb 16, 2012

This really looks very promising indeed...and for your first try, great work...

ChaosCossack · Feb 16, 2012

Nice start... your experience painting horses on canvas gives you a leg up. This is much easier as the musculature is there, you're just bringing it out and you're familiar with the colouring and markings.

Keep it up and keep us posted

Colin

John Bowery · Feb 16, 2012

Mary,
Looking good so far.
Cheers
john

Mariner · Feb 16, 2012

thanks, guys...I'm a sucker for punishment. This is a superb figure but takes a lot of patience...the only thing I can't find anywhere in the kit is the reins. Does anyone know if I have to make them myself?

tiberius57 · Feb 16, 2012

Mariner said:
thanks, guys...I'm a sucker for punishment. This is a superb figure but takes a lot of patience...

I'm tuned 100%. Enjoy the journey... just have fun.

ChaosCossack · Feb 16, 2012

Mariner said:
thanks, guys...I'm a sucker for punishment. This is a superb figure but takes a lot of patience...the only thing I can't find anywhere in the kit is the reins. Does anyone know if I have to make them myself?

Yep you do. There should have been a piece of foil in the kit to cut the reins from. There may be short cast pieces of reins with the buckles sculpted on them, then you extend them with the foil cut to length and width as required.
Now you've found the part of the hobby that makes you want to rip your hair out... Enjoy

Have fun

Colin

Mariner · Feb 16, 2012

Thanks Colin...I didn't see any foil but I'll figure something out. All I found was the brass rod for the standard.

ChaosCossack · Feb 16, 2012

Mariner said:
Thanks Colin...I didn't see any foil but I'll figure something out. All I found was the brass rod for the standard.

I'm assuming the reins are simple leather straps, that is to say, no scallops or ornaments. If so, they aren't too hard to make. If no foil was included, the next option is to buy it. That being said, I've found it very hard to find, even at well stocked shops.

One source I have found for "free" foil material is an empty toothpaste or cream tube (obviously not a plastic tube). Cut both ends off and slit it down the length, near the seam and spread it flat. Then once it's flat and cleaned out, you have a nice piece of malleable foil of a decent thickness.

Failing that, if your a wine drinker, that bit of foil at the top of the bottle can serve as well. Depending on the bottle, I find sometimes, the foil can be a little bit too thick and stiff. But though that might be less than suitable for reins it works for other applications just fine.

Hope this helps some

Colin

megroot · Feb 17, 2012

Very nice start on a difficult figure.
For the reins you can use leadfoil, (i use mostly as Colin wrote the foil of a winebottle). If you don't have it, some electric tape cut into the right sizes works also very good. (look at Bill Horan's work).
The only thing is to remove the glue.

marc

Edorta · Feb 17, 2012

... won´t be the last. Great start. I follow with interest.

http://www.mininet.tv/egminiatures.html

brian · Feb 17, 2012

A very nice painted horse Mary.
Brian

Markster · Feb 17, 2012

Nice job Mary.I like the subtle shading in the photo.

Mark

Akritas · Feb 17, 2012

Mary, best of luck on what looks like an excellent start

. Maybe a tad more highlights on the horse?

Like the fact that you use oils on the horse rather than acrylics as I believe the can render the shin / look of the horse's skin more faithfully than acrylics.

I'll definetely be following this with great interest and looking forward to the finished model:lol:

sam b · Feb 17, 2012

so far so good ...... following

kansas kid · Feb 17, 2012

Hello Mary:

I agree with Nicolas in Cyprus, and I also paint horses with oils for IMHO the
sheen you get from dried oils give the horse a natural look. And naturally,
oils are the most forgiving of all paint mediums; easiest to blend colours with.

I admire your courage Mary, as I see doing equestrian figures as oh so
difficult for actually you're doing two figures; the horse and the rider.

I use lead foil from Verlinden that I bought on line from Squadron in
Carrolton, Texas. I use a very sharp X-acto blade and a metal ruler to cut
the reins and the stirrups. Some times I paint the base leather colour on
first before gluing in position and sometimes I attach the lead foil strapes to
the figure before painting them — it depends on what "way" is the easiest
to get the paint brush to. (ah rather poor English, but I think you get what
I'm trying to say.

)

I wish you well with this presentation Ms. Mary and will hope to see more
SBS photos in the future.

Kind regards,

Rick Brownlee
a.k.a The Miami Jayhawk, Kansas Kid, resident Old Man

serafeim · Feb 17, 2012

very good start. My advice is to add a couple of tones of highlights, some black on the rear legs and some intermediate tones.

cheers from Crete
Serafeim

WIP My first horse

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