Dante bust - Hell yeah

[Mongo Mel]

Hi folks,
I've been working on a new piece and wanted to share some photos.
It's the big bust of Dante by United Empire Miniatures.
I fell in love with this piece the first time I saw a picture of it.The face has great character and the size is just what I like in a bust...BIG!
It's a whopping 4 3/4" tall
I did a few things different when I painted the face and I'd like to hear what you think of it so far. I think I still need to reinforce the highest highlights and deepest shadows and add some color to the lips.
Thanks,
Craig

 

[renarts]

Face looks like it has a granular finish to it. Is this in the resin or the paint?

Other than that it looks like you are off to a strong start and an awsome project.

 

[tonydawe]

Craig

You're off to a good start mate.

I agree with Mike, the skin surface does look a bit grainy in these pics!

It will look even better when the highlights and shadows (and the eyes) are finished. Keep up the good work.

Cheers

 

[Normo]

Hi Craig
I agree this bust is a cracker!
Santa is bringing me this soon and I hope I make a good a job of this as you have done
Good start mate what kind of paints are you using?
Keep us informed as to your progress
Cheers
John

 

[megroot]

Craig,
You did a good start on this. What is going on with the surface of the resin??

marc

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the feedback. Really appreciated.
About the skin texture...
When I began the piece, I noticed a small amount skin texture sculpted into the face. And at this scale it looked okay to me. After all, this is a big piece. I think that what you see in these pictures just looks exaggerated for some reason.
It's not that prominent looking in person. One possible explanation I can think of is that I shot the pictures at extremely high resolution and then reduced them down for posting on line. Also, I shot them under two daylight lamps (like Ott Lights). That may be making things look more harsh.
For you photos buffs...does that sound reasonable?

Thanks again guys,
Craig

 

[Hammond_Lord]

Great work, Craig, it seems this is going to be another of your fantastic paintworks, you really BUSTED this one!.

Is this one of your regular oil paint mixes for skin tones, or is this something new?

Regards,

Nemanja

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Nemanja,
Here's what I did differently...
First I covered the face with Burnt Sienna and lightly wiped it off with a brush, leaving a heavy stain. Then I started adding my normal base flesh mix (with a little less burnt Sienna than normal) and blending on the face. This left it looking a lot darker and more intense than normal. After it dried I did my usual shadow and highlighting and let dry. Then I applied a glaze of my usual base color mix to the entire piece. This toned down the intensity and lightened the over all look of the skin plus it smoothed the transition of the colors. I've done some additional highlighting but as I said, I think it needs some more.
Thanks,
Craig
PS: "you really BUSTED this one!" hehehe... good one

 

[renarts]

It's not that prominent looking in person. One possible explanation I can think of is that I shot the pictures at extremely high resolution and then reduced them down for posting on line. Also, I shot them under two daylight lamps (like Ott Lights). That may be making things look more harsh.
For you photos buffs...does that sound reasonable?

Actually...it does. Thanks. Testifies to the usefulness of a digital camera as a finishing aid. There may be some pixel degradation and noise as a result of the resize and resolution from original to screen.

Good luck with the rest of this.

 

[vergilius]

extremely nice bust !!

 

[Calvin]

Hey Craig, that is one of my preferred pieces, I simply love it. I painted it more than once and it was thanks to that kit I decided to switch to large scales, holding in your hands such a big kit is not the same feeling you got with a 54mm, it is way better at least for me.

Craig is right, the face has a lot of (different) texture, it is not a casting issue or whatever, the automatic resize of the posted pictures and the lighting used while taking pics give him a wrong look, it does not look so in the flesh.

Considering how the face has been sculpted and that Dante was also a man with a lot of ups and downs I think the piece will look great if rendered as an old, tired man instead of the usual prosaic look, just a thought.

 

[Mongo Mel]

Thanks guys.

Mike,
Thanks for the info about the photos.

Luca,
Thanks for the comments about the texture on the skin. If anyone should know, you should
Do I understand you correctly here...you think the face should be painted to lok more pale, like an old man? I had thought of that but the face is so strong looking that I wanted him to look less "old" and more "well traveled".
If that makes sense to you.
Thanks again for your feedback guys
Craig

 

[Hammond_Lord]

Thanks for explaining me your new approach on painting faces, Craig, hope to see Mr Dante finished soon!

Regards,

Nemanja

 

[Calvin]

you think the face should be painted to lok more pale, like an old man?

Exactly my thought.

 

[Calvin]

To give you an idea of what I mean take a look at the palette used by Caravaggio for his skintones.

Here some pics of the unpainted resin to show you how the texture reproduces the skin of an old man. John (Lea) has a copy painted as faux bronze where the texture is clearly visible. I told him to put it on his table while at show but he is a very stubborn man and replyed me he will not do it cause the fear to get the paintjob damaged...