Completed Greco-Persian Wars 75mm

[Nap]

Call me late for supper, but this is the first time I've seen any SBS showing the use of metallic oils, awesome! I've never considered nor ever thought about it. I think I'll have to add a set of metallics to my paint locker.


Phil, that's pretty brave sketching that shield design with oils, woof. I like how the shading has come out, looks good.

Ruck On, Bby!

Just totally agree there Stevie

Excellent to see the SBS and explanations....pics are great as are the results

Got to say this is one of the best V bench threads I've seen

Following with much interest and enjoying every update

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[phil_h]

Call me late for supper, but this is the first time I've seen any SBS showing the use of metallic oils, awesome! I've never considered nor ever thought about it. I think I'll have to add a set of metallics to my paint locker.


Phil, that's pretty brave sketching that shield design with oils, woof. I like how the shading has come out, looks good.

Ruck On, Bby!

Thanks Steve! Yeah, Metallic oils are fantastic and totally worth checking out. Be careful though, depending on which brand/color you get, some of them don't cover in the same way that acrylic or other metallic paints do (as with all oil paints); they can get a little getting used to. A good place to start would definitely be with Williamsburg's Iridescent Bronze. It covers really well, and looks fantastic.

 

[phil_h]

Just totally agree there Stevie

Excellent to see the SBS and explanations....pics are great as are the results

Got to say this is one of the best V bench threads I've seen

Following with much interest and enjoying every update

Happy benchtime

Nap

Thanks so much for the kind words Nap - they're really appreciated and I'm very glad you're appreciating the SBS!

 

[phil_h]

Hello everybody,

The last update was the freehand on the shield, today we're doing the scratches and weathering. A shorter post than most, but hopefully enjoyable .

First, here are the paints used:

Left to right we have:

• Raw Umber
• Burnt Umber
• Terre Verte
• Antique Gold
• Iridescent White
• Iridescent Bronze

So we want to paint some scratches/dents/chips on the shield. This consists of painting very thin lines on the shield where we want the scratches. The first step is to paint dark lines. We do this using either Raw or Burnt Umber (I like to go back and forth between the two for some variety). I just paint different size lines of varying widths randomly around the shield. A good trick is to turn the figure or shield so that you're always painting the lines from top to bottom. This will help a lot. This is what it looks like:

Next, to add some depth to the scratches, we'll highlight them. We do this by drawing another thin line right next to the dark lines we made. This line will consists of a mix of Antique Gold and Iridescent White. The lines are drawn on the bottom of each of the darker lines. For lines that are oriented so they have no bottom, draw the highlight on the side opposite to where your light source is coming from, but honestly, you can put them on either side. One trick to make them look a little more realistic is to break up the highlight line along the darker line as opposed to just one long continuous matching line. Here is what this looks like:

With the scratches in, the final part is to do some staining, some paint wear and tear, and some other scratches behind the paint. Unfortunately, I don't have shot by shot photos of each of these different steps, but the process was:

• Thin down Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, and Terre Verte to almost a wash consistency, and then stipple it on various areas of the shield alternating between the different colors.
• I then mixed Iridescent Bronze and Antique gold, and stippled that or made random lines over various areas of the freehand. This make it look like the paint of the symbol has worn off or has seen some wear and tear.

Here is the final product:

With the shield all finished, this finishes off the figure. The very last thing needed is to matte varnish the skirt, cloak, and helmet crest (essentially all the fabrics). While not doing an SBS for the second figure in the diorama, there has been some decent progress made on him a well.

Once the whole thing is done, I'll make a final post here.

Thanks everybody!!
Regards,
Phil

 

[NigelR]

Fabulous stuff and as always, thanks for the SBS.

 

[Redcap]

This is better than most 'how to' painting books I have bought over the years. A superb tutorial and explanation of techniques and colour use.

Thank you!

Gary

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks for the oils intel, Phil, got it written down. Shield looks good from here.

 

[Nap]

Fabulous stuff and as always, thanks for the SBS.

Totally agree ..excellent thread Phil really appreciated

Cuts and scratches look good , I know some modellers that actually cut using a modelling knife and the paint up

Teasing with the 2nd figure eh ...lol

Look forward to seeing more on this and on your next project

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[phil_h]

Hey guys,

Once again, thanks for the really kind words - they're very appreciated. I'm looking forward to writing up some of my future projects as well. Here is a pick of the progress on the second figure; just finishing up the freehand pattern on the pants, but there is a ton left to go:

Thanks again guys!!

 

[Russ]

HC!! Ok, how'd you get the lines and corners so crisp freehand??

 

[Nap]

HC!! Ok, how'd you get the lines and corners so crisp freehand??

Great question Russ

Interesting trouser pattern as well .......is this based on a reference or illustration Phil ?

Cheers for pics

Look forward to more

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[phil_h]

HC!! Ok, how'd you get the lines and corners so crisp freehand??

Great question Russ

Interesting trouser pattern as well .......is this based on a reference or illustration Phil ?

Cheers for pics

Look forward to more

Happy benchtime

Nap

Thanks guys. So to answer your questions...

The illustration is based on the box art, which was confirmed to be based on a historical reference.

As to getting the freehand nice and crisp, this one is a little bit more difficult to answer . But since asked, I'll go into some details here; hopefully you'll find it useful.

Looking at the reference (the box art), the very first thing is that the pants are essentially a combination of two patterns - basic alternating horizontal stripes of blue & white (of two different widths), and then within those stripes, another pattern of vertical bars. So the first thing I did was determine the "order of operations" so to speak. The order you do the elements of the pattern in is crucial as it can make things considerably easier. With that in mind here was my approach:

• It is (especially with oils), easier to paint a darker color over a lighter color, so the very first thing done was to paint the entirety of the pants white. This includes all shading and highlighting as well. Then, and most importantly, wait for all of this to be completely dry! If using oils, wait at least 2-3 days. (White is also a very slow drying color, so I would recommend adding some kind of drying agent to the paint to make the process go by quicker.)
• Once the pants were finished (and honestly, if you wanted to just go for plain white pants, you could stop here) it was time to paint in the first of the blue horizontal stripes - the wider of the two. In order to make this easy, I looked for a brush that had a flat head of the same width of the stripes I wanted to paint (in this case it was a Da Vinci #2 Cosmotop-Spin Flat). This way, the brush literally does 95% of the work. The other 5% is looking very carefully after the stripe is complete and looking where the edges need to be "tightened" up. This is done in two different ways:
  • If the paint is "outside" the line, I used a small brush with a very nice point and with a little white spirit to "erase" the bit that is outside the line until the line is even. i find it's easy to do this if I keep the tip of the brush on a 45ish or so degree angle from stripe.
  • Where the the line needs to be filled in, I just take a small brush with a nice point, put a little bit of color on it, and try to fill it in. This usually results in me having to do the prior step as well.
  • Sometimes I liken this process to "chiseling" the line into place. Then you just rinse and repeat on all the stripes until things look nice and crisp.
• After this step, you should have some nice pants that consist of sharp alternating blue and white stripes. The next step is for each of the white stripes to paint a narrower blue horizontal stripe in the middle. So, as before, I looked for a brush whose size would closely match the width of the stripe I wanted to paint (here it was a Da Vinci #00 Nova Synthetic). I just eyeball where the center is and start painting. If the line is off-center somewhere, then following the same two "erasing" steps above, I go back and forth until the line edges are crips and the line itself is centered. After this is done, all the horizontal parts of the pattern are in place. Before moving on, wait for everything to be nice and dry.
• Next were the vertical stripes. These were done in exactly the same fashion as the horizontal stripes, just with A LOT more back and forth with the erasing and adjusting. Lots of white spirit was used, and much patience was exercised . Make no mistake here - the work was tedious and time consuming. The work probably took about 4-5 hours per pant leg.
• Combined with the above, probably the most useful tip I can offer when painting lines like this is to always paint them from TOP to BOTTOM. That means that you have to turn or orient your model so you're always painting the lines in this fashion. It's very, very difficult to get your lines straight if not painting them this way.
• Another tip I can offer is that if available, use an Optivisor or some other kind of magnification. It really helps amplify where the trouble spots are and makes everything easier when doing the clean up and adjustments. Trust me - if things look good when looking at them with an Optivisor on, they'll look great to the naked eye.

I hope this help!!
Regards,
Phil

 

[Wayneb]

Excellent SBS Phil...Very well presented...much information I will definitely use....Keep up the great work....

Wayne

 

[MalcC]

Very nice work, and thank you for taking time to take us through your procedures.


Malc

 

[phil_h]

Excellent SBS Phil...Very well presented...much information I will definitely use....Keep up the great work....

Wayne

Very nice work, and thank you for taking time to take us through your procedures.


Malc

Thanks gentleman. Lots of further progress has been made. Just a little more work left on the Persian's dude shield, and a little matte varnishing on the fabrics; then onto the groundwork.

 

[Redcap]

This is a fantastic 'hop aboard for the build' article. Cheers mate.
Gary

 

[Nap]

Hi Phil

Thanks so much for the very detailed and interesting to read your methods ...the results speak so much

The Persian is looking good , the Greek looks dangerous !

Thanks again for taking the time

Looking forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[phil_h]

This is a fantastic 'hop aboard for the build' article. Cheers mate.
Gary

Hi Phil

Thanks so much for the very detailed and interesting to read your methods ...the results speak so much

The Persian is looking good , the Greek looks dangerous !

Thanks again for taking the time

Looking forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime

Nap

Thanks guys!

The project is finally finished, here is a pic

More pics can be found here.

Regards,
Phil

 

[Nap]

Hi Phil

That looks just great ...THANK YOU for this excellent SBS

Look forward to seeing the next project

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Oda]

One more flawless SBS to be added to a long series by you Phil.Eagerly waiting for the next one.

Oda.