Galland bust completed

[Mongo Mel]

Hi gang,
Well, at long last, my Adolph Galland bust is pretty much completed. I wanted to get this done for my club meeting this Friday because we're having a D-Day theme contest. Just a few little things to do yet.

I sure got my monies worth out of this one. With the head getting damaged so that I had to strip, repair and repaint it, and having to redo both the uniform and the sheepskin collar because I didn't like how they turned out, I figure I've done this piece at least 2 1/2 times now

So, here's a link to a picture. Sorry that it's a little dark. I took it at 5:15AM and I wasn't fully awake yet :lol:

Completed bust

As always, I'd appreciate any comments or especially constructive criticism you have for me.

Thanks,
Craig

PS: I still can't manage to have my pictures show up here. They're located in my MSN Groups site and it doesn't seem to play well with planetFigure. Someone suggested I try shorter file names but the name that is generated by MSN for the picture is huge. Any ideas?

 

[Guy]

The bust turned out fabulous Craig.........well worth the 2 1/2 times to paint it. As for pictures......I use photobuck and kitpic, and love it, and their free

 

[Mongo Mel]

Guy,
Your idea reminded me that I'd tried using Webshots before without any luck. This time it seems to be working

Thanks for the suggestion Guy.

(Edit) And now it isn't Crap!

 

[garyjd]

Craig, Very nice my friend. When I post pics I do it by way of the 'browse" button below the area where you type your text. I hit that and it takes me to my picture file and I then go to the folder I need pictures from.~Gary

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Gary,
Hey, that worked! Great. I thought that was only for adding a text file, not for pictures. Thanks!

 

[KeithP]

Craig-
Glad to see you fought thru this one. Looks great and well worth the effort.

I enjoy your work.

Keith

 

[John Long]

Excellent Craig. I think the sheepskin turned out great.

 

[garyjd]

Craig, No problem. I'm far from being mediocre where computers are concerned and I found that way the easiest route for pics.~Gary

 

[Lepman]

Craig, really nice. Like the leather flight jacket. Looks very convincing. How did you achieve the leather look, if you don't mind me asking.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey Craig!

Great job man! He really turned out nice. Whats the next project?

 

[Mongo Mel]

Ken,
Thanks, I'm glad that you like it.
The leather is just 2 coats of Mars Brown so far (how embarassing to get caught)!
I haven't gotten to the shading and highlighting yet. I think that it looks ok because the picture is dark and because of the size of the piece. It's a 1/9th scale bust and mother nature is helping me out here .
I've used this before to paint leather and what I have done is shade it with Burnt Umber and highlight it with Mars Brown lightened some with Titanium White.

Hi Anders. Nice to hear from you again.
My next project is the young Dracula bust I bought at MFCA in May. He's prepped and primed and ready to go. And I'll probably start that Verlinden "Devine Wind" kamikaze bust again. It and the Galland bust both went sour on me within a week of each other. But it's in the same condition as the Dracula bust so I think I'll get it going again.

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I appreciate them. Even more, thanks for
all the help that you've given me with my figures. Some of the suggestions I've received here have really helped me out quite a bit .
Craig

 

[John Long]

Craig, consider highlighting with a mix of Mars Brown and Naples Yellow, or Yellow Ochre. I've found this adds a rich look to leather. The white has a tendency to make things look faded. Try it and see if you like it.

 

[yeo_64]

GOOD JOB on the bust,Craig ; I'm glad you finally got it sorted out ! Looking forward to the next project from your good self.Cheers.
Kenneth

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi John,
I recently added Naples Yellow to my stash of paints so I'll ahve to give that a try.
Thanks for the tip
Craig

 

[KeithP]

Try also looking at Roc's Roman SBS on his leather.

I recently tried his combos of Mars Brown+Brown Madder Alaz. and Winsor Blue for shadows. The highs were Mars Orange and Mars yellow. I was very please with my results (which I'll post shortly... I hope...)

Keith

 

[Mongo Mel]

Keith,
Do you have a link to that SBS for leather? I searched but couldn't find it.
I'd like to see it.
Thanks,
Craig

 

[KeithP]

Sure. But, just in case this doesn't work. It is in Rocco Alcaro's vBench for the Praetorian - leather belt. Sorry I guess I wasn't specific enough!

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1533

Keith

 

[Patrick Kirk]

Craig,
Looks great...my only recommendation would be to breakup the white collar against the blue uniform with a thin application of burnt umber (if you use oils). Then take a clean dry #3 brush and scrub the be-gezus outa of it and blend it in...the intent is to show a "natural" shadow between the two...make sense?

Excellent tone to the leather and sheep skin, too...really well done!

All the best

Patrick

 

[johnbrewer]

Craig nice job. The work you have put in has payed off.

 

[Lepman]

Thanks Craig and eveybody else with your suggustions on a suitable leather color. I have a project comming up that will require the use of a suitable leather color. Thanks Mike, Manfred looks very nice indeed.