Wow!!! Thanks a lot guys for all the nice words! Escpecially for all the comments about expression and story.
For me, a single figure is indeed like a small diorama, as telling a story is my first motivation for making models/figures. I am glad this is clear enough for you to see!
Hello Per Olav! Yes, I started the baloon vignette! I am making the basket from copper wire braidery, which is very time-consuming. Luckily, it has almost finished, and I can get on with the figures... I hope to takesome in-progress pics of it this weekend or during next week. How is yours coming along? Already painted? And the glider diorama?
Thanks again for all the help by the way!
Hello Matthew! Well, I still wouldn't mind learning some more about anatomy, balance, foldwork and some extra painting tricks from these guy before I would say that, but thanks anyway!
Hello Ross! The main uniform reference I used is the Osprey book on the Ottoman army 1914-1918, besides some extras from three big books describing the history of WW1. I don't know the authors or titles of these though (as I'm at the job now...). I hope to find more detailed references in the future for new Ottoman projects as my wife is Turkish!
Hello Luka! The colours are of course matched to be visually pleasing, but I did indeed avoid sharp contrast not to distract the viewer from the expression. As it is a key element in the story, the grenade is given a bright colour to emphasise this focus, as is the snake with the other figure. I think this kind of composition is very important, also with single figures.
The grenade is lying loosely is a shallow gulley that it dug out on impact. I imagined the ground to be rocky, but still loose material on the surface, certainly in that corner of the groundwork. I guess it looks more embedded because of the dust on its’ lower half... Anyway, a grenade expert might prove my imagination to be completely wrong indeed! :lol:
Hello Pascal! My wife made me take care ofthe “Turkish” look of the face indeed! Of course there is the skin tone and the moustache, but also the heavy eyebrows and the almond-shaped eyes.
I sleep at night, just like everybody else! :lol: The french soldiers, snakebite and this one are all made between half of december and the half of may. 4 figures is certainly not bad, but also by no means spectacular (look at Bill Horans’ output!!!). I try to get an average of 10 hours of modelling per week, but then again I don’t have kids yet...
Hello Stephen and Diego! I cannot make it to Boston myself, and there is no-one close enough to me to take it there... I would have loved to go, but it is impossible because of my job...
Will you guys go to Euromilitaire?
Diego, thanks a lot for the comments, I am a big fan of your work and they are very helpfull!
As I don’t consider myself an experienced sculptor, foldwork is still a lot of tryal and error for me (as it will probably always stay, but hopefully to a lesser degree!). While this figure was a great exercise in it (because of the simplicity of the uniform) ad I am happy with the figure in general, I am also not too happy about those areas you mention. The direction of the folds on that knee is also not very good... So thanks for mentioning them!
The hard lining is something I like because it often gives a good feeling of finesse when the figure is viewed in real. On these enlarged photos, it can sometimes look to evident. I am planning to use less hard shadowlines for the seams in the clothing in the future though to keep them more subtle, and I agree that the outlining on the leg-wrappings (puttees?) looks much too hard on this figure (because of a lack of finesse from me in the sculpting, which made it hard to paint them in a fine way...).
Thanks again everybody for all the comments!
Best wishes,
Marijn
