ODIN

[BRAN]

Hello Planeeters,
I will present my latest work in the form of a step-by-step. Not knowing if I will take enough photos to achieve it, I preferred for this first step-by-step, to finish the painting and post the photos of the progress, when I thought to take them.

This is the "Odin" bust from Black Crow Miniatures, in quality resin at a scale of 1/12. The sculptor is Alejandro Munoz based on an artwork by Juan Luis Landa.

The kit is composed of 5 pieces.

I particularly like ravens, by the way, "Bran" in Breton means "Raven". So I couldn't miss this bust which presents Odin's two ravens, "Hugin" and "Mugin".

Despite their appearance as common ravens, Odin gave them magical powers. Thus, they have the ability to go around the Earth in a single day and are able to understand and speak the language of men.

In Old Norse, Hugin means "Thought" and Munin "Memory" these two words being attached to wisdom. Hugin therefore reads the thoughts of men and Munin their memory. As a result, Odin is aware of everything that happens.

Odin is almost in one piece, the details are numerous and very well sculpted. To allow you to have a good visibility of the piece, I took some interesting details.

To be continued....

 

[VerSacrum]

I particularly like ravens, by the way, "Bran" in Breton means "Raven"

I've noticed you painting up several pieces with ravens. I definitely share your love of corvids and with your skills I'm sure this will end up looking magnificent.

 

[BRAN]

The arms fit easily into their slots. Odin's staff is in three parts, you have to make sure when gluing that it is well aligned. A first "dry" assembly allows me to see that one part is slightly twisted. I soak it for a few seconds in hot water and straighten it without difficulty. I then have to insert brass rods into the arms to hold them on drill holders that will allow me to paint them without touching them directly.

The arm will be positioned like this.

It is useful to know exactly the position of each element, because it allows me to correctly place the location of my shadows and lights, even if once the bust is completely glued, there will always be corrections to be made.

Other remarkable details, the location of the ravens. The legs are directly sculpted on Odin's coat.

All that remains is to drill the centers of the legs and insert small brass rods which will themselves be inserted into the legs of the ravens. This way, I am certain of the solidity, and it also allows me to paint the ravens on a support without holding them between my fingers.

To be continued...

 

[BRAN]

I've noticed you painting up several pieces with ravens. I definitely share your love of corvids and with your skills I'm sure this will end up looking magnificent.

Thank you trusting in my painting, I hope you will not be disappointed with the final result....

 

[phil_h]

This is going to be great; that's a great bust, and I am really looking forward to following this. I'm sure it will be very informative - thanks for sharing!

Regards,
-Phil

 

[BRAN]

This is going to be great; that's a great bust, and I am really looking forward to following this. I'm sure it will be very informative - thanks for sharing!

Regards,
-Phil

Thank you Phil. You're the one who made me want to put a step-by-step online, yours are so well done!! This is a bit special, I'll put a few photos every day, because my bust is finished, I just have to put it on a suitable base. On the other hand, the experience being interesting, I'm going to try to do my next painting also in step-by-step, but this time I'll post the photos as I progress....

 

[Briggsy]

The All Father, a wonderful figure to paint, I'll be watching this with great interest.

Cheers Simon

 

[Viking Bob]

Just found this and following with interest

 

[BRAN]

The All Father, a wonderful figure to paint, I'll be watching this with great interest.

Cheers Simon

Yes, Scandinavian mythology is a subject that fascinates me, so this bust is doubly a must-have for me.

 

[BRAN]

Just found this and following with interest

Thank you for your interest in my painting Bob.

 

[BRAN]

My first job was to drill the crows' legs with a very fine drill bit, drilling gently to avoid any breakage and check that everything worked. Once this step was done, I started the base painting on the two corvids placed on drill holders.

The painting is far from final, but it allows me first to put aside the crows which remain very fragile and to begin to paint Odin.

I always start by painting the skin surfaces and then I work in successive layers from the closest to the skin like the shirt to the furthest away like the coat.

The face is treated with "pink and flesh" colors. The shadow of the hood is painted with a mixture of colors used for the skin and the addition of a dark earth brown. I darken this mixture further to paint the underside of the eyebrow arches. I make two diluted passes on the wrinkles of the forehead to mark them and I lighten the face with light flesh and "Abedul Birch" SC-25 from Scale color.
I paint the eye (which should normally be gouged or removed and therefore the socket hollow) with a light blue and a touch of light flesh. The valid eye is shown looking down. I imagine Odin quite tall and staring at someone or something below. He is angry, probably because Hugin or Munin did not give him good news.

To be continued...

 

[Briggsy]

The birds are good, Ravens are such wonderfully intelligent creatures, characters in their own right, especially this pair.

The All Father's face is looking great, already it has a radiance to it, shame the eye was was sculpted in place but the way you have done it looks great. A small price for wisdom.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

Loving the subject matter as well as the model itself, a very nice sculpt.
A great start the Ravens look excellent, and a good start on the face.

Malc

 

[BRAN]

The birds are good, Ravens are such wonderfully intelligent creatures, characters in their own right, especially this pair.

The All Father's face is looking great, already it has a radiance to it, shame the eye was was sculpted in place but the way you have done it looks great. A small price for wisdom.

Cheers Simon

Indeed Simon, crows are intelligent. I am lucky to have about thirty crows where I live and frankly you have to see them manage to find food, they are very resourceful and not at all fearful.
For the face, I always prefer to start with a very bright face, it is generally the focal point of the subject. Thank you for following my work and posting, I appreciate it very much.

 

[BRAN]

Loving the subject matter as well as the model itself, a very nice sculpt.
A great start the Ravens look excellent, and a good start on the face.

Malc

Thank you very much Malc.

 

[BRAN]

When painting Odin's face, I was also thinking about the base and the fact that I had done it with a slightly angry look, I had the idea of adding a background on the base to justify his wrath. So I temporarily put Odin aside and recovered a used base that I recovered from an old figurine that I did not keep. I opted to make a background with fairly rigid plastic card. I glued two layers to give more rigidity to the background which will serve as a support for the freehand painting.
The base being damaged, I also covered the sides of the base with plastic card. The edges were sealed with Aves epoxy.

After sanding, the plastic card and the base were covered with a paint bought in a DIY store and which is suitable for wood, metal and plastic. I applied 4 coats. On the background, I then applied 3 coats of dark blue with a brush to avoid marks (I don't have an airbrush and don't know how to use one).

To be continued....

 

[BRAN]

I did some research on the net to see what other painters were doing as backgrounds. It is often the application of blurred colors, a somewhat abstract atmosphere, but rarely something precise and clear. So I opted for a cloudy sky filled with lightning that are created by Odin's anger. I used a whole bunch of mixtures of shades to create this sky, several blues, purple, gray, black, beige. The central lightning is wider and lighter than the others, I tried to center it so that it could correspond to Odin's head and his staff.

Now I can concentrate on Odin's work.
The work on the metals is done first with metallic shades from Vallejo. For the gold, I start with a bronze PA 998 color. (Prince August)? It's a fairly dark color. It suits the belt that is in the shade of the coat.

When it is completely dry, I then go over the entire belt with Citadel Reikland Fleshade which will give a slightly orange coloring. I let it dry naturally without a hair dryer, making sure that there is no clump that accumulates and forms stains... For the hollows that delimit the engravings of the patterns, I use Agrax Earthshade, still from Citadel. On the illuminated parts (reliefs) very little Elven Gold SC 74 (Scale Color) mixed with bronze PA. The result is a little too shiny, I will see when I fix the arms the corrections to be made.

For the silver metals, I start with a coat of Black Metal SC-63 followed by 1 coat of Shade Nuln Oil Citadel on the central part, 2 coats on the sides and 3 coats on the extreme edges almost hidden by the raincoat. I just highlight the edges of a few metal circles with a mix of 3 Black Metal for 1 Chrome 71064 Model Air Vallejo.

To be continued...