Thanks a lot for the nice words! Although some are exagerating a little, aren't we Gino? :lol:
The facial expression was of course vital, so it took some work to get it to my liking.
Kenneth, I fist built the basic groundwork and painted it. Next, I taped two pieces of glass to the sides were the water would go, using blue tack to stick it to the groundwork and fill the voids there. After pooring the water and removing the glass, the residue blue tack was removed and the groundwork touched up (I mix it from plaster, white glue and some pigment powders to give it a dark colour), just addingsome extra groundwork slush on the spots that were previously filled with blue-tack. Of course, this was painted afterwards. It takes a little work, but I think the clean resultsadd to the general picture.
Hello Einion! Thanks for the comments! The snake is a Banded Krait, so I hope a medevac helicopter will get him out of there soon, as they are quite deadly!
I think you are right about the glossy skin. I feel many painters nowadays only use one texture (entirely matt) on their figures, which lacks a little depth to my taste. Playing around with different textures (dead flat for clothing, different intensities of satin for flesh, leather, plastic, etc. ...) brings more variation, depth, and in my opinion realism. Maybe many painters don't like to use varnishes? Since it is often far more complex to control sheen by your medium or painting-technique, I'm a great fan of varnishes and use them all the time!
I agree completely with the wetness-comment. I "muddied" his lower leg, but it would be more effective indeed if I would have used darker tones. Something to remember for next time!
You are also very right about the sweat, but it is difficult indeed to pull of, as it easilly messes the shading/highlighting up (because the surface is often too small to cover several folds). After doing the armpits and giving him a sweatty face and arms, I decided to leave it at that with this figure. Also a challenge to tackle again another time, preferably with a colour that allows more playing around with its intensity. Thanks again for the comments: very helpfull!
Stephen, it makes me really happy if you are expecting that from my work!
Cheers!
Marijn
