WIP Critique Sicilian Hoplite

[Bailey]

I've been a bit distracted in my painting lately. With already two big projects I decided to start a third. I needed a break and wanted to work on a figure I could finish relatively quickly. So I picked choose the 54mm Sicilian Hoplite from Romeo. I've felt more confident in my metals lately, so he was a good choice to continue on with them. For his armor I began with a base coat of black brown. From there I used a mix of black and old bronze (Reaper paint). I started with a lot of black in the mix to darken the color and dull the shine. I worked up from that to pure old bronze. At that point I started to mix in some Vallejo Model Air gold. It's a bit of a weird shade on it's own, but it's great for highlighting. Really helped pick out the details on the armor. After that I used some washes (blacks, green, blue) to deepen some of the shadows. The colors are subtle but hopefully they add a little bit of interest.

I've had my eye on this figure for a while. I've seen a number of painted versions of this figure and thought he looked very neat. But only just recently did I find out the figure is based on a Greek vase painting from Sicily. You can easily see the similarities with the figure on the left. The scene is of Achilles and Penthesilea, so I guess the sculpt could be a hoplite or Achilles if you really wanted him to be.

 

[megroot]

Good start.
The metallic looks great.

marc

 

[REVENGE]

nice start.

Ronny

 

[swralph]

very nice metals

 

[arxo]

Yes, great start. Really love the metallics.

 

[FigureLover]

Yes, you are really up on your metallics at the moment, really great stuff
Ben

 

[Redcap]

Good start and great metals.
Gary

 

[Nicolaos]

Great start, excellent choose of metallics and very promising what you've already done. The Sicilian Hoplite from Romeo is one of my favorite and recently I've bought one. I agree with your comentary regarding the possibility to have a better finished one. Can't wait to see further demonstration from you!
Best regards!

 

[gendegaia]

very nice start, following your work on this mate.

Orlando

 

[Bailey]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This has been a fun figure to work on. I'm hoping to write up a step by step once I finally finish this piece. In the meantime, here is a little more detail on how I did the metals...

First frame - Black Brown base then thorough coat of Old Bronze mixed with Black. When mixing the black with the bronze it takes a lot of black to get it dark enough. On the palette it looks almost black, but when the light hits it on the model you can see there's still some bronze color to it. The matte black will take down the shine of the metallic so we have more control over the shadows.

Second frame - Working in several layers (each with less black and more bronze) up to pure Old Bronze. By the time I get to pure bronze I'm treating it more like an early highlight, so applying it in less places than I would the mid tone

Third frame - Now working with a mix of Old Bronze and VMA Gold. For the areas where I want gradual transitions I work up to maybe a 50/50 mix. Then I take pure VMA Gold and hit some of the edges... the edge of the visor, the details below the crest, the raised line right above the visor, edges of the check guard, etc.

Fourth frame - I've gone over it with some controlled washes/glazes of black, green, and blue (always pushing the brush and paint towards the shadow). The changes are subtle, but I adjust some of the shadows and blends. Those metallic paints can get very light very quickly, so it's easy to lose your shadows. Several layers of washes/glazes can help redefine them.

Aside from the Vallejo Model Air Gold, all the paints I'm working with are Reaper. But really any dark to medium bronze would work. Matte black and black brown from any line are fine. The VMA gold isn't really like other golds. If you don't have or want VMA Gold, some silver with some bronze mixed into it would probably work as a substitute.

 

[Nicolaos]

Very good demonstration, excellent idea with a Step by Step tutorial. Have you worked with Gunze? They have a very good and fine metallic pigments, not only acrylics but also enamels (I know this suppose another discussion).
Cheers!
Nicolae

 

[Meehan34]

Killer skin tones sir. This is shaping up to be a very nice display.

 

[Bailey]

Thanks, Nicolae and Milosh!

Nicolae, are those the Mr Color paints? I've got a couple of the Mr Color Super Metallics. Those alcohol based metals are really fantastic. But switching back and worth between water based and alcohol based paints is tricky so I've only used them a little, since all the non metallic stuff I do is water based. There was a nice tutorial on Miniature Mentor where they used those paints and then a lot of washes and glazes with inks and acrylics to shade and tint the metals. Neat stuff but I haven't gotten the hang of that technique yet. I really should try it again... maybe I'll find a good test model to experiment with.

 

[Nicolaos]

Bailey, you're right. You made me curious with that Miniature Mentor Tutorial, I know the most part of them but I missed... what was more important seems to me. Can't wait to see your next steps.
Best regards!
Nicolae

 

[Paul Kernan]

Excellent...even though I'm an oil guy, I love the effect you have achieved. One question, do you stipple on each layer

 

[Bailey]

Nicolae, it as Bogusz Stupnicki's True Metalic Metals tutorial (from Miniature Mentor) that used those paints. The approach I'm using is closer to another tutorial of theirs, Alex Varela's Abyssal Lord tutorial.

Paul, I do a little stippling here and there but it's not the major method I use to apply the paint. I think what you might be seeing are some of the metallic particles that may have clumped together more than others. Seems to happen more with the bronze paint than it does with the VMA gold or any of the other VMA metallic paints. Of course it's much more visible since the photos enlarge the model.

 

[Nicolaos]

Bailey, thanks a lot! I'm following your next steps.

 

[Paul Kernan]

Cheers, mate.

 

[Bailey]

Almost finished with this figure. I've done just about all the painting on the hoplite, however I still need to do some weathering and take care of the base.

The design on the shield is Chrysaor, a winged boar who is the brother of Pegasus. I was searching images from Greek pottery for shield ideas and came upon the image below. I wasn't familiar with Chrysaor but I liked it and it was different from what I've seen on other figures. The version I used on the shield is closer to the ancient coin.

 

[Nicolaos]

It looks excellent. If the base idea will be the same, you'll put a beautifull end to your effort.
Thanks for sharing with us!