WIP RFC Guys

[David Spencer]

FYI the two pilots and the mechanic I am doing are from Elan 13 and the guy bending over is from Copper State. And if you ever get round to building WWI aircraft, feel free to PM me for hints and tips....

Thanks Nigel. I appreciate the advice and recommendations.

 

[NigelR]

A minor update here. I blocked in the colours on one of the pilots, which looks a bit scary as I plan to paint the fug boots, coat and helmet in oils, so I used bright coloured underpainting:

And here he is after the tunic, scarf and coat lining have been painted.

It's on to the oils next......

 

[Steve Ski]

As expected, Nigel, these figs are gonna go great with that bird. Awesome, Buddy!

 

[Nap]

Hi Nigel

Nice painting prior to the Oils ......good sculpt on the Figure and great pictures as well

Look forward to seeing more with the magic Oils

Have fun at the bench

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Cool, using that underpainting you'll be able to put lots of wear and character into the leather

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

Thanks Steve, Kev and Simon, I'm ok with the progress so far.

Hi Nigel
Look forward to seeing more with the magic Oils

Hopefully..... It's a while since I've done large areas of leather in oils....

Cool, using that underpainting you'll be able to put lots of wear and character into the leather

That's the plan. Mike Butler used this approach, so I'm hoping it will work for me.

 

[NigelR]

A bit of progress, a bit of a mixed bag so far. The coat, flying helmet and goggles are done but painting the "fug" boots was a failure (twice). They will need to be repainted in acrylics when the oils dry.

The leather work isn't too bad but I still overwork my paints too much and apply too much in the way of highlighting. It's tough getting the balance right.

The orange underpainting has resulted in rather an orange coat. I can't decide if I should leave it like that or if it is too much like something from a 1970s Shaft movie....... I do plan to darken some of the shadow areas a little when the oils are dry. Also, the buttons haven't been painted yet.

 

[Briggsy]

Nigel, I reckon your on the right road with the oils, they just need more sessions. Like glazing with acrylics small amounts of paint built up out of the shade towards the highlights, make sure the paint is dry between sessions or it will lift. It also helps to apply some carefully controlled washes between glazing sessions just to balance the transitions. Yeah it takes forever and a day but it gives you great depth of colour and the control to almost sculpt the colour, adding tonal variations even other complementary colours. It's how I learnt to paint flats, took nearly 10 years but I didn't have a clue when I started. Just remember how transparent oils are so you are building up the opacity, using the Mars pigments helps as they tend to be more opaque than numbers and ochre. Already there is good texture on the leather that you can build on, it can take time to look how you want it but it'll get there in the end.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Nigel

Wise words ref the Oils from Mr Briggsy , I like the way it’s going ,.....I’d push the shadows on the coat if I was using acrylics

It’s a nice figure and your painting is certainly getting better

Have fun @ the bench

Look forward to seeing more

Nap

 

[NigelR]

Thanks Simon and Kev, I think I will leave this figure for now, let the oils dry thoroughly and then come back to it. I'll move on to the next one for now.

Nigel, I reckon your on the right road with the oils, they just need more sessions. Like glazing with acrylics small amounts of paint built up out of the shade towards the highlights, make sure the paint is dry between sessions or it will lift. It also helps to apply some carefully controlled washes between glazing sessions just to balance the transitions.

Good advice. I definitely rushed it too much and suffered from paint build up. I will leave well alone for several days.

Hi Nigel
It’s a nice figure and your painting is certainly getting better

Thanks Kev, I appreciate the support. I need to keep going. I think I also need to accept that my 66-year old eyes and hands won't let me paint with the level of detail and subtlety that a much younger me could have achieved.

 

[elanlane13]

Nigel, the figures are coming on well. RFC leather coats were many shades of brown. I've certainly seen ones the colour you've used here.

 

[NigelR]

Thanks Rob, the figures are lovely, very nicely sculpted and cast. The painting could be better but I think they will look really good from viewing distance alongside the Strutter. I'll also be using your accessory set.

RFC leather coats were many shades of brown. I've certainly seen ones the colour you've used here.

Thanks, that's good to know. I have the "RFC Kitbag" book from Pen & Sword which I picked up cheap at Duxford prior to SMW and a lot of the equipment does appear to be quite a bright orangey-brown.

 

[fabrizio19691969]

inlike all compliments

 

[NigelR]

Fabrizio, thanks for commenting. I have been studying your work very closely as I find it very inspiring and I really like your style of painting. I learn a lot by looking at your work.

 

[NigelR]

Some more progress here. Two more guys done:

Again a bit of a mixed bag. The shading on the pilot is a bit too extreme, I realised that my shadow colour was a bit too dark which made the contrasts too extreme. I toned some down of the shading but it's still too clumsy for my liking. The detail outlining around the buttons and belt is also too clumsy. But overall it looks ok from a viewing distance.

I tried to be more subtle with the shading/highlighting on the mechanic figure and I'm happier with that, although maybe I could push some of the highlights where the light is hitting the figure.

However, overall I think I have developed a workflow and approach to acrylics that works for me. The colour blocking is a really good idea, because having any white areas on the figure really throws off the highlighting/shading on the parts you do paint. I've also got a more consistent approach to glazing and using a filter to tie things together. Finally, a coat of ultramatte really helps hide any variation in paint finish and ties things together.

 

[Briggsy]

Looking good, I think the pilot isn't so much too dark on the shade as the colour used is a slightly different hue which makes it look a little off. Still looks good as it is to be honest, I like how you've done the flying helmet and gauntlets, the leather looks good. The fella in khaki is great, a really good shade and beautifully blended. One question though, did you paint the lettering on his shoulder flash because it looks fantastic.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

Thanks Simon, I can see now why the shading looks a bit off. The basic colour I used was buff, so I thought burnt umber would be a good shade colour, but it was too dark and when I went lighter it's gone orangey. I should have read the tube (it's a Scale75 Artist's tube) which says the buff colour contains synthetic iron yellow oxide and mars black. So probably darkening it with a touch of mars black or even Payne's grey would have been a better idea do you think?

Thanks for the comments on the mechanic, I did feel happier about him (he's the most recent of the two). And I did paint the lettering on the shoulder flash. That scared me as it's a huge badge. But I used Abteilung 502 oil paint and was able to get some letters formed (mostly it's squiggles that look a bit like letters). Glad it looks ok, thanks for that.

 

[Briggsy]

Thanks Simon, I can see why the shading looks a bit off. The basic colour I used was buff, so I thought burnt umber would be a good shade colour, but it was too dark and when I went lighter it's gone orangey. I should have read the tube (it's a Scale75 Artist's tube) which says the buff colour contains synthetic iron yellow oxide and mars black. So probably darkening it with a touch of mars black or even Payne's grey would have been a better idea do you think?

Thanks for the comments on the mechanic, I did feel happier about him (he's the most recent of the two). And I did paint the lettering on the shoulder flash. That scared me as it's a huge badge. But I used Abteilung 502 oil paint and was able to get some letters formed (mostly it's squiggles that look a bit like letters). Glad it looks ok, thanks for that.

I would suggest Paynes Grey over Mars Black for this, the black would probably be too stark, but experiment first as it shouldn't take much.

Very impressed with the lettering that usually defeats me totally.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Nigel

Now they do look good , I like the pilot and the painting style there , nice leather work and the facial features again look good

As for the Cpl ....nice uniform colour and really good work on the shoulder titles

Once your happy these will look really nice with the plane

Looking forward to seeing more

Nap

 

[NigelR]

Thanks Kev, I definitely feel like I am progressing.

I'll be finishing off the observer figure today, then it's on to the groundwork and accessories for the vignette.