WIP Critique New bust - Francois Fournier Sarlovese

[ChaosCossack]

Looking good my friend... Great coiff on this guy. Could be my next haircut

Colin

 

[Colin_Fraser]

It wouldn't suit you....not Cossacky enough. My wife says he has Elvis hair....told her the back story of Fournier deliberately insulting ladies so he could duel with their husbands and now she is definitely in the non-fan club. Guess she is not alone.

Colin

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Liberace hair is more like it ,that would get me killed
Seriously this is looking great Colin

Ron

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Best pistol shot in the army, dandy, utter bastard and friend of LaSalle and Junot. Need I say more? Thanks Ron.

Colin

 

[ChaosCossack]

Oh yeah...
you haven't seen my new haircut. The long tresses are gone. Now it's very "cossacky".

Colin

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Shako complete except for chinscales and plume/holder.

Based on Gros and the Rigo plate on Fournier. I have 2 issues with the Rigo plate - firstly the cockade should be gold, not tri-colour; secondly the peak placement makes no sense given other surviving examples; common sense and looks to be inconsistent with Gros' painting.

Shako is a solid piece of sculpey with the top and bottom recesses sanded and drilled with a dremel. The inner bag with drawstring lining is based on recreations from Empire Costumes, a great site for in-depth research on Napoleonic senior officer uniforms.

http://en.empirecostume.com/

Colin

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Question Colin
How do you get the cylindrical shape for the Shako.

Ron

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Ron - basically it's a large ball of sculpey, measured against his head, then rolled on a Lino oil painting palette to get the sides right, dremeled down to get the flat top and recessed bottom with various attachments. Lots of hand sanding on the sides too. The dremel is key to the process not taking days. Sculpey firm is hard enough to be durable but soft enough to sand easily and quickly.

Colin

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Ron - basically it's a large ball of sculpey, measured against his head, then rolled on a Lino oil painting palette to get the sides right, dremeled down to get the flat top and recessed bottom with various attachments. Lots of hand sanding on the sides too. The dremel is key to the process not taking days. Sculpey firm is hard enough to be durable but soft enough to sand easily and quickly.

Colin

Got the Dremmel got the sculpey ,just looking for the skill

 

[pmfs]

Great movie (The Duellists) and great work Colin.

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[tiberius57]

"The Duelists" - Oh, Boy! my favorite movie! Friend of LaSalle & Junot, eh? What a gang! No wonder they ravaged the whole Europe.
Awesome work, Colin! Looking forward to see this gem!
Cheers, my friend!
Zeno

 

[Nap]

Hi Colin,

Fine work on the shako ....I agree with your thoughts on the Rigo plate ..I have something on his uniform ..if I can find it as I have redone my library!!!!!

This is going to be another wonderful SBS with an outstanding final result ....bring it on

Thanks again for sharing

...getting my jaw ready to be dropped as this progresses

Nap

 

[bistray]

Hi Colin, great work and such a large scale, it will make a very fine piece when painted, i hope you dont mind me throwing a very small spanner in the works, and this is just my opinion, but i think his ears are a bit small and to low down, normally ears are lined up so that the bottom part is level with the bottom of the nose and the top part about eyebrow height

other wise brilliant stuff

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Thanks Paul. His ears are indeed too far down. I disagree on size but that is judgment. I won't be changing them as there is always something I notice at a stage when correcting would be a major pain in the arse. If I kept going back I would never move forward and finish anything. That's also why I don't do commercial work. I try to take note and not repeat the error in my next project. On the positive side I have seen people with ears set lower than the norm. Also it is one of those faults exaggerated in photography. It's harder to see in real life.

Thanks

Colin

 

[garyjd]

Colin, Very nice. Though I can still sculpt relatively small I do like doing larger busts. They're also require a LOT less eye strain. These larger busts also lend themselves well with the amount of detail some of these Napoleonic uniforms had.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Gary - I agree. I can pound in a lot more detail when working in this larger size. Also I think the visual impact if the finished piece is greater, especially to non-miniaturists. I could do a great job on a 54mm and a lot of my friends and family would say nice toy soldier. A large scale bust blows them away when they find hits is original. Just one reason I like large pieces but it's not an insignificant one.

Colin

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Shako basically finished. Perhaps some more texture on his plume once cooked.

Colin

 

[pmfs]

Shako basically finished. Perhaps some more texture on his plume once cooked.

Colin

Yes, I think you should do some rework.

Cheers,
Pedro.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Thanks Pedro. Fournier's plume would have been a bunch of egret feathers, not your standard shako plume of short feathers worn by battalion officers. I considered using real simulated feathers but decided to use putty. Hence the long lines in the putty.

Colin

 

[garyjd]

I understand that the costuming for the two principle actors was valued at $77,000. Amazing considering that was in 1977!