WIP Critique Samurai Archer

[Bailey]

I started on this 90mm samurai from Pegaso a few days ago. There are a lot of overlapping pieces, so this is going to be a long project painted in different stages. I decided to go with a triadic color scheme of purple, orange, and green. There's going to be a lot of design work on this one (one design for the orange cloth, another for the green one, and a third for the white panels on his chest and helmet). I've been looking around the internet for ideas and reference material. I haven't decided on anything yet, so suggestions are welcome.

The focus so far has been his face. I did the initial highlight and shadow work, then I took a number of passes evaluating it from different angles and making whatever tweaks I felt were needed. The initial version wasn't bad, but there were a number of areas that just didn't seem quite right. I feel like the time spent evaluating and tweaking was well worth it. Once that was done I went in with glazes of red, blue, and purple ink to create color variation and add more life to the face.


There's a lot to this figure. Once I finish the majority of his torso I'll add his other arm (which blocks access to the front plate and his face). When I finish the sleeves and his back I'll be able to add the armor plates on his shoulders and, when those are done, I can add the rest of his helmet. Then there's the armor plates around his waist and all the pieces that go on top of those (sword, quiver, and more straps).

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Well the face looks damn good so far

Ron

 

[Ferris]

Perfect face, very nice!

Adrian

 

[Perseas]

Impressive start on a multipart bust! i will follow your progress for inspiration on my samurai bust!

 

[Ybrossculpts]

Great stuff, agree about the face, excellent sculpt and paintjob to boot well done
Regards
Chris.

 

[Aveleira]

Perfect paint of the face! The oriental skin tone is spot on!

Regards
Pedro

 

[Bailey]

Thanks, everyone. Perseas, actually it's a 90mm full figure. I just haven't done anything to the legs yet so they're cropped out of the photos.

I didn't get much work done last week, but the past few days have been more productive. I started on the design work for the armor panels. I also laid down the background green for the arm. I want to tweak the highlights a bit more, after which I'll start on another design over top of that portion of the figure.

 

[DaddyO]

Looks fabulous, some beautiful work on the body armour
(Please remember to put the arrow on the correct side of the bow though)

Paul

 

[FigureLover]

I did this kit a while ago now, its an awesome sculpt that goes together very well, although quite complex. Love your colours and the start of the detail painting. Will be watching this one
Ben

 

[megroot]

Excellent job .

Marc

 

[Dekiman]

So far its look stunning.
Great work.

 

[Joe55]

All I can say is that you are one fine figure painter !

Joe

 

[Perseas]

Such painting is for admiration!
I thought it was a bust but telling me that is a 90mm figure that makes the painting more impressive!
The pattern is so accurate that i see it and i see it again many times, amazing work!
Also the choice of colors is perfect!!!
Waiting for your next step...

 

[TADATSUGU]

Beautifully precise work on the tsurubashiri pattern - any hints on how you went about it? - If you say freehand I'm giving up and taking up bird watching!

 

[Bailey]

Thank you, everyone. Paul, I've seen it both ways... so now you've got me worried I'll screw it up! Based on the images I've seen, it looks like it should be on the far side (not the side closest to his body). Is that correct?

Tadatsugu, ha, well maybe I shouldn't tell you then. I took a few photos along the way, more for my own reference (when I do it again on later sections) than a step by step. It's not a complete break down, but I can fill you in on the rest. First, I marked off a series of equally spaced dots in a grid pattern. I took a scrap of paper and marked off the distance so the spacing would be consistent. These dots show me where the lines cross and where the red circles will go. I then painted thin diagonal lines connecting the dots. Following that, I went back over these lines to thicken them up, straighten them where need by, and get the sizing as consistent as possible. From there, I went back in with the white background color and painted lines perpendicular to the main ones in order to create the rectangles and squares. It's this stage you can see in the first image below.

Next I painted circles where the lines crossed. As before, I then went in with the background color and painted perpendicular lines to create the divisions. I then took a orange-ish red color and painted over the remaining dots to create the circles. This is the second image.

I then painted a thin circle followed by a thick circle around the red dots. This is the third image. By the way, there were plenty of mistakes at this stage (and previous ones). I was often using the background color to clean up lines that went off target or were too thick.

I then used thin white lines to divide up the red circles and the lines around them. I painted three lines for the small details in the larger circles (where the main lines cross) and added a white dot at the center of the squares.

The key things are (1) to measure beforehand and place those guide dots so the spacing is consistent and (2) to go slow and just take it one part at a time.

 

[TADATSUGU]

By the way, there were plenty of mistakes at this stage (and previous ones).

Thank god for that!
But seriously, thanks for the walkthrough - I've been contemplating doing the Andrea 54mm samurai -your tips will be useful, but at that scale I think I'll be contemplating a little longer .

 

[Bailey]

Doing this on a 90mm may not be easy, but doing it on a 54mm is even tougher! I've done design work on 54mm figures (although they weren't samurai) and the process is generally the same. Figure out the pattern you want and then break it down into simpler parts. And definitely find ways to simplify the pattern for smaller scales. Like here, I'd stick to just the main cross lines and then red dots. Oh, and for the red dots on that small scale, try using a tooth pick. Just dip the end in the paint and use that to apply it on the figure.

 

[Jeff T]

Wow, beautiful paint Bailey!

That is stunning work so far!.... This is going to be brilliant.


Cheer's,
Jeff.

 

[DancingShaman]

Coming out very nicely! Awesome!

 

[Huw63]

Magnificent.

Cheers

Huw