KK Castings 75mm Indian Maid

[Rob]

My first non wargame scale full figure for about 20 years. Old 1990s resin casting from the long gone KK Castings, original sculpt by Pete Barnacle. Painted mainly with craft paint acrylics. Crappy cellphone pictures unfortunately (it's all I have) taken under normal room lighting.

My intent was naturalistic hand dyed colours for the fabrics with a coarse woollen texture to the blanket. I added the feather earrings but otherwise it is a stock piece. The model is loosely based on this CM Russell painting;
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/indian-maid-at-the-stockade-charles-marion-russell.html

The girl in actual size:

Closer images:

Overall I am happy with her as a first go, my thoughts are;
The colours worked as I hoped but the paint application is rough, I fell into layer painting suited to a wargame figure rather than any blending.
I failed to achieve a texture to the blanket and my attempt to shown the random stripes of brown and orange in the red didn't really come off, especially on the lower bac section, it looks more like a highlighting error than a fabric pattern.
I over glazed the face and eliminated much of the tonal differences and my beadwork is a bit dull, the turquoise lacks vibrancy.

Any thoughts welcomed,

 

[Mike Stevens]

It’s an interesting kit. The pose is natural and the sculpting looks decent.

The skin tones seem lack significant variation. Women’s flesh tone should be softer, more refined. I think the shadows under the eyes are a little too stark, but that the painter preference. I would have highlighted her bust more.

The white in the shirt should use variation at well. Painting whites is one of the hardest tone for me. A warm white would accentuate the sculpt. Green and blacks in the shadows. Create that contrast.

For craft paints you got good color variation and good coverage.

The red blanket has interesting possibilities. It looks like your highlights are all the same value and some appear to be misplaced. The idea is to create contrast and different blues to please the eye.

Overall I think it’s a solid effort that needs to be fine tuned.

Good luck in your endeavors and welcome back to the hobby.

 

[Nap]

Hi Rob

Well done on completing the first figure , not the easiest of subjects with the female flesh .....I agree with Mikes comments ref that area

I too would push the contrast on the shirt

All credit to you for seeing what's not as you want ...it's all about learning with each piece


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Thanks for sharing

Look forward to seeing more from you

ENJOY the hobby

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Rob]

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts.
My pictures are a bit over exposed so some of the depth is washed out but I can absolutely see your points re adding more contrast. As a primarily wargame painter I naturally run to an "over contrasted" style which I tried to avoid on this one, I realised I went too far on the face but not the shirt. It is going to need some work for me to find the balance.

Mike you are spot on about the blue on the blanket, it is the same highlight level all round (and it is where my layering technique hurt most).

I will need to find a better way of taking photos too.

Rob

 

[Mike Stevens]

Hi Rob,

My (personal surveillance device) cell phone’s camera does just fine for WIP pictures and use it quite a bit during the painting process. For Final photos I use a whole different set of equipment as most of us do.

Taking photos is hard, you have so many considerations. I’ll tell you, I’m lucky to get one good photo out ten.

Have fun with the hobby!