WIP Oda Nobunaga - 200mm Bust

[phil_h]

Hello Everybody...

First off, I hope everybody had a good holiday

For my next project I'll be doing DG Artwork's 200mm bust of Oda Nobunaga, the brutal warlord of 16th century Japan. From its HUGE shoulder armor, to the insane amount of detail just all over this thing, it's one very, very striking bust. It's incredibly sculpted. I should also mention, that it's also one of the nicest cast sculpts I've seen. After working on many busts with many casting issues (some quite serious), its been very refreshing to work on something that has been casted flawlessly.

Let's take a look at the kit before it's assembed:

After it was cleaned and prepped, I assembled some of the parts, and then blue tacked the rest together so I could prime it:

Of course, after the priming we need to get on with the painting... I should mention, that for many who have read my posts (and have outright asked), I've often sung the praises of Golden Artist Acrylics. In early November, I wound up getting most of my Goldens confiscated - compliments of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport TSA (part of a longer story). So, for this project I decided to buy all new paints. Since I live extremely close to what could only be described as a ludicrously huge art supply store, I went and bought a ton of new paints. I decided that since I'm painting a Japanese subject, why not buy some Japanese paints? Makes sense, right? So this project will be entirely painted using Holbein Heavy Body Fine Artist Acrylics - here are some of the colors (among others) I'll be using:

Now that the paint situation was squared away, I was able to make some progress. So here, is where we're at now:

Suffice to say, all the small details and whatnot that cover every square inch of this thing are going to make this one a fairly slow going process. (And, I'm guessing tedious too at times.) This bust is a monster, and hopefully I'll do it justice. Next up are the shoulder straps, chest and back armor...


Thanks for taking a look

Regards,
Phil

 

[kilsh]

Nice review and start Phil, I have this one waiting in the wings so will be interested how you go with it!

Cheers

Neil

 

[misfit151]

Great start Phil......looks a smashing bust..... Mike

 

[Viking Bob]

That is a monster Phil. Great review of parts. Looking forward to your journey on this mammoth painting task.

 

[frank h]

Hi
I have this bust....made a start on assembly..........It is a biggie....and as you say will take ages to paint
I have opted for the bare head too

Frank

 

[megroot]

looks a great start from something really good.

Marc

 

[Roland Meng]

Nice Start, and lovely Color choice!

Roland

 

[Perseas]

A highly detailed and very demanding bust!
I know that it will be another project i will watch it with great pleasure as always!
Excellent start Phil , it will be an inspiration and maybe i'll be tempted to buy it!!

 

[badger]

love it/badger

 

[phil_h]

Thanks so much for the very nice comments guys. They're very much appreciated.


I was able to make some more progress. Having painted a bit more of this, I can say the following:

• I knew there was a lot of detail, but holy sh*t - there is a lot of detail! Much, much more than I originally thought...
• I haven't even finished painting the chest armor, and already this bust will definitely fit into the "incredibly tedious to paint, but the final result will hopefully be so worth it" category.

(I will also add a couple more selected high lights to the face but that won't be until later on when I get to the hands and have the skin colors out again.)
Here we are

(I should add, that despite being subtly highlighted, the armor is a little darker than in the pictures)

Regards,
Phil

 

[loosehead]

This bust looks like a painters dream have been thinking of the purchase will keep watching and let the temptation grow
Cheers
ChrisW

 

[MarquisMini]

Wow Phil, i am just speechless at the amount of detail on this chap.
Thanks for the review and sbs on this bust.
You are a skilled artist

 

[Osebor]

This bust looks like a painters dream have been thinking of the purchase will keep watching and let the temptation grow
Cheers
ChrisW

But, at same time, an authentic nigthmare, with such detail llevel... Great work, and a Happy New Year.

 

[Oda]

Phil mate,what can I say?I do not like or own busts.The minute I saw this one on PF a few months back I ordered it immediatelly.It is an incredible work.It is remarkably sculpted and cast with an amazing amount of detail.What made it irresistable to me is the fact that it is probably the most historically accurate samurai in terms of armour I have ever seen (and yes I consider myself a rivet counter on that department and proud of it too) as well as the fact that it portrays my absolutely most favorite personality in Japanese history (as my alias clearly denotes).You have done a fantastic work so far mate and I intend to use it as reference material whenever I will manage to gather my courage and have a go at it (as I have said I've never done any busts and do not intend to do another after that).I will follow this with great interest and admiration for your work my friend.I wish you a happy new year full of artistic inspiration and creativity.

Oda.

 

[phil_h]

This bust looks like a painters dream have been thinking of the purchase will keep watching and let the temptation grow
Cheers
ChrisW

Thanks Chris - yes it is a painter's dream, but it is also an exercise in repetition. As incredible as the armor is sculpted, it's starting to get very tedious to paint...

 

[phil_h]

Wow Phil, i am just speechless at the amount of detail on this chap.
Thanks for the review and sbs on this bust.
You are a skilled artist

Thanks for the kind words Daniel

 

[phil_h]

But, at same time, an authentic nigthmare, with such detail llevel... Great work, and a Happy New Year.

Thanks - and Happy New Year to you as well Osebor. And yes, definitely nightmarish, but I think it'll be well worth it in the end!
Phil

 

[phil_h]

Phil mate,what can I say?I do not like or own busts.The minute I saw this one on PF a few months back I ordered it immediatelly.It is an incredible work.It is remarkably sculpted and cast with an amazing amount of detail.What made it irresistable to me is the fact that it is probably the most historically accurate samurai in terms of armour I have ever seen (and yes I consider myself a rivet counter on that department and proud of it too) as well as the fact that it portrays my absolutely most favorite personality in Japanese history (as my alias clearly denotes).You have done a fantastic work so far mate and I intend to use it as reference material whenever I will manage to gather my courage and have a go at it (as I have said I've never done any busts and do not intend to do another after that).I will follow this with great interest and admiration for your work my friend.I wish you a happy new year full of artistic inspiration and creativity.

Oda.

Thanks so much for the kind words my friend! I hope you had a good New Years as well . I'm glad you're happy with the progress so far - especially knowing how knowledgeable you are with this particular subject! I'll try not to let you down
Phil

 

[anstontyke]

wow, yet another stunning start and sbs. i love your freehand work and skintones. i will be following with great interest as usual.
happy new year and happy painting.

tony

 

[phil_h]

Hey guys...

I had time to make some progress this weekend - enough where I though it might warrant another posting. Also, because some have expressed an interest, I'll give a little bit more detail on both the skin tones and the armor.

Here are the colors used for all the skin tones

They are from left to right

• Mars Violet
• Anthraquinone Red
• Phthalo Turquoise
• Raw Sienna
• Marigold
• Naples Yellow
• Titanium White
• Burnt Umber

The base and primary tone consists of a mix of Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, and very, very small amounts of Marigold and Anthraquinone Red. The highlights were made by adding more Naples Yellow and Titanium White into the base mix. The the base shadow tone was a mix of Mars Violet and Burnt Umber, and this was then mixed into the primary tone to create shadows of various depth. The Anth Red, Mars Violet, and Phthalo Turquoise where all used as glazes at various points to add some additional color to certain areas (under the eyes, cheeks, 5 o'clock shadow areas, etc...). Here are some of these tones laid out onto the palette.

And here are the colors used for the armor

From left to right they are

• Primary Black
• Phthalo Turquoise
• Aqua Blue
• Grey V-8 (a warm grey - it's white with a little bit of black and yellow ochre mixed into it)
• Titanium White

Not pictured is Dioxazine Purple ink from Liquitex.
The "black" used as the primary color for the armor, is actually Dioxazine Purple ink with some of the Primary Black mixed into it. All the small black laminate bands were painted with this. The edges of these plates where highlighted with the Grey V-8 and a little bit of the black base mix added into it. This results in a very light grey/purple color that I liked a lot. For the blue ropes and banding, the base mix was a mix of the Phthalo Turquoise and Aqua Blue in roughly 50/50 proportions. This was then highlighted using pure Aqua Blue, then Aqua Blue and Titanium White, and then in some cases pure Titanium White.
With all that said, here is the progress made this weekend

I'm glad to say now that I'm finally heading into what I think are the final stages. There is the one arm left, the sword, and finally of course, the rather large shoulder armor.
Regards,
Phil