part way along with Pegaso china lady

[Jamie Stokes]

Hi all,
well, trying my hand at the china lady bust.
we all know the face is the make or break. so, while I feel the piece overall is still a bit "flat" I was concetrating on eyes, lips, brows, and that make up shading effect over the eyes......

blocked in the hair to give me a sense of facial balance. Felt odd with out a har line when I had painted the yes and lips.....like painting a face on flesh coloured grape!
Feedback welcome!

Also attached is the lady in partly painted form. Airbrush undercoat!

 

[theseeker]

Janus,

A great start! I have been thinking of buying this figure as I am tempted to paint a female and this bust looks to be a great one. You picked a difficult figure to begin with but I salute you!
I am curious about the casting and the prep work? Keep going and keep us posted.

Rocky

 

[JGREEN]

Janus,

I think I would make the irises a bit bigger. It looks like there is a little too much white on either side.

Jason

 

[megroot]

Janus,
You made a good start. Blocking in the face will give you the final result. Rework the tone's when you finished the hair.
I agree with Jason about the eyes. There is indeed to much white.
Keep us informed.

marc

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Casting,prep, Irises...

Thanks Gentlemen,
Rocky; the figure is cast in Resin, light grey, and of a medium density that cleans up nicely. some mouldlines evident which were a breeze to clean up.

Head is seperate from shoulders, andthere are some wonderfully cast flowers and long pony tail. the occasional pinhole, which after trying out some different fillers (and swearing colourfully when they didnt stick to the holes!!) fixed with Vallejo putty - great stuff. No base is included, thus giving the painter a free hand on mounting.

Truly a delightful figure, with a subtle character captured by the sculptor.

Jason & Marc; after a good nights sleep, looking at the figure again, and then comparing it to the painted one on the pegaso website, yes, you two are right; irises too small.

I'll post some of last nights work on the flowers.

It is a nice change of figure. So different from Napolenic, Waffen SS, etc, which are popular, yet LAdies are nice to look at too!

As for a difficult figure to paint, well, lets us remeber the words of JFK and the moon landing program
[clears throat, sounds mildly pompous] "......we try these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard" or something like that.

cheers
Jamie

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Flowers for her hair WIP

Flowers as hair pieces.

The big flower (Lotus?) was done in light pink; the pollen area was done in a buff colour, & highlighted with a yellow. The backs of the petals were done in a light pink.Well, thatidea didnt works so well, so back to the original colour.

The stems were, IMO, too dark in an olive green, so used a goblin green fron the GamesWorkshop line.

as for the other flowers, well, lots of teny weeny ones. And I do this to relax???

Cheers
Jamie

 

[Guy]

Excellent painting on the flowers Jamie. I am anxious to see the outcome.

 

[megroot]

Outstanding flowers.
I following this closely.

marc

 

[John Bowery]

Jamie,
Great job so far and you are much braver than I
Cheers
John

 

[theseeker]

Jamie,

The flowers are beautiful! You captured the beauty of nature and its colors.
You may want to consider some gloss varnish on the edges...just a thought.
BTW, you inspired me to order this figure. My grey army may get jealous!

Rocky

 

[Jamie Stokes]

gosh, shucks....

...thanks for the feedback guys.

Umm, at risk of causing some minor embarrasment, I will clarify the photos. The two phots of flowers where you can see my hands or a ruler, they come with the figure.

The side on view is of an actual rose, I am using for a part reference & inspiration. If I had a ladyfreind, she would be on the recieiving end of a ridiculously mixed bouquet, once I took a lot photos of front, back, side etc shots of the flowers.
[Thought - this may appease "beloved" when another recruit joins the grey army]

Further to your feedback, I went out and got a refenerce piece on female faces, so as to get tones, eyes, brows etc closer to feminine. (Latest issue of Cleo magazine)

Painting the teeny flowers, well, I may do that as a newbie SBS.

I am also using Andrea Press" monograph on how to paint female miniatures, and doing soft tonal work. Makes a change from grizzled warriors with scars & 5 o'clock shadow.

Apologies for any confusion

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement (feeling a bit redfaced and sheepish)

Cheers
Jamie

 

[Sam junior]

Thats just brilliant. great start.

 

[Jamie Stokes]

More work on China Lady

Howdy all,
webt back and revisited the figure over the weekend. Retouched and evened out the flesh tones, so as to match head and body.
The technique I am using is of airbrushing combinations of white, yellow ochre, and sometimes burnt sienna, for flesh tones. The idea is one from Geoff Ilseys DVD on Airbrushing techniques. (he uses oils and airbrushes them, Im using Vallejo acrylics.....seems ok so far.)

The cheek make up (blush?) is airbrushed on, then overcoated with a thin coat of flesh tone mix, to tone it down.

I added a bit more yellow, as I felt she looked too caucasian (white) to be an oriental.

Also blocked in the hair, and the pearls, so i could get a better "feel" for her as a complete piece.

The kimono number, still working out what colour scheme I'll do for that.
THe flowers will have to wait a bit longer until my paint supplies get delivered...sigh, the joy of remote area living.

Oh; tried to redo the irises, now they are different sizes. so Ill revisit the yes sometime durning the week.
Cheers

 

[Jamie Stokes]

the other sides of the china lady.....

Jamie smacks his forehead and goes..."D'oh!"...then uploads other photos.
still getting the hang of airbrushing.
This time, she's photographed under morning sunlight, so the camera flash doesnt wash all the details out.
cheers again!

 

[theseeker]

She is going to need a great deal of subtle contrasts. Keep it up!

 

[Marcel]

Great progress and nice color blending!

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Thanks for the feedback!

If you are going tackle figures like this,see if you can lay your hands on Andrea Press' "Painting girls in Miniature" which does layout a lot of approaches needed.
Currently out of print, a google search may turn up a shop that has a dusty copy some where. Plenty of spanish copies available, but I can only understand one spanish word in a few thousand, so english.....

Mostly, that ladies are portrayed as having more delicate colours and tones, with far more subtlety than a male figure. Compare a barbarian figure with a Pegaso lady, and you get an idea.

For figures larger then 54mm,there seems to be a shift towards airbrushwork. An airbrush is deemed essential if you want to stockings/ pantyhose/ thin & clingy attire........

Sam Junior, this is my first ever bust......however, the gang here are helpful. Thanks for the input though!!

The Seeker- where do you see a need for some contrasts. I feel as though I am being a bit over cautious,yet a little voice in the back of my head tells me that its better then slapping paint on with a 1/4 inch housebrush....

Marcel-thanks for the emcouragement......all airbrush work so far on the skin tones, brush work only on hair, eyes & make up.

All others; Supplies needed turned up today, so I'll work on the flowers over the next few days, will do a post saturday morning, Aussie time.

Cheers
Jamie

 

[busso_boy]

looking good so far, its inspiring me to tackle a female subject.

i've been looking over Ademola's Elizabeth 1st bust (has to be one of the finest busts on the market), and it will give me a chance to tackle 2 area's i need to improve my painting.......females and white clothing

 

[theseeker]

Janus,

Any update?

Rocky

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Yes Rocky....

.....there has been a bit more progress.

A bit of a backstory first.

about two weeks ago, sit down, paint flowers for her hair, set down, work on next bunch, do some work ups while trying to decide on kimono colours and designs.

Realise that due to messy work bench, have dropped one small bunch of flowers, with Ribbons.

Step off seat to fight the carpet monster for small, delicate parts.

Hear soft crunching pop noise as big feet stand on missing part.

Breathe deeply and slowly, delicately recover all parts, bag, put safely to one side, tidy bench, have a beer, think about crying, decide Im too manly for that.

Yesterday sat down, and blocked in her kimono in a pink, with magenta trim.

Will do a bit more work, and so as I have made a teensy bit more progress, I'll do a photo post.

She will be appearing on a vBench soon!! with a potted history of working up the figure. (thanks to Lordy Gordy, web master plus ultra)

If you want to search some websites for Kimono ideas, hit the pili-pili website and check out the geisha.....good selection of links (some dead now, alas)

Regardless of progress, lack of it, or painting while under the influence, I will have some in the vBench section Wednesday, Aussie time.

Cheers
Jamie