Spanish Drummer 1781

[MinervaMini]

Greetings all:

For my second figure (ever) I wanted to paint something that everyone has seen before - both to learn from other's examples and to gain additional comments and feedback for improvement.

Following are photos of the Art Girona TP-14 Soria Regiment Drummer in progress. The coat and pants have both highlights and shades. The vest, cuffs, and turn backs are basecoated only.

Photography is still a challenge, but looking forward to your thoughts.

Regards - Julia

 

[pmfs]

Hello

The trousers are very good.
Keep the good working.

Regards
Pedro

 

[MarquisMini]

Hi Julia.Awesome work on this drummer.
I really like the contrast of the whites,coat,pants and gaiters,you can really tell that they make them from different fabric hues,wich would be true in real life.
Best regards and looking forward for more pics.
Daniel

 

[Marcel]

The whites look good but it's difficult to judge from these pictures. Try to shoot some pictures with a darker background. Keep up the good work!

 

[vergilius]

nice figure

 

[Guy]

Excellent start Julia. Looking forward to your next step.

 

[MinervaMini]

Thanks Pedro, Daniel, Marcel, Vergilis, and Guy for your words of encouragement. Marcel, you are completely right, should have picked a darker background to shoot the pics. Doing some research on the livery before beginning the next step.

Regards,
Julia

 

[MinervaMini]

Greetings all:

See photos of recent progress below...comments and critques always welcomed. - Julia

 

[Wendy]

Hi Julia. I don't know how I missed this topic the first time around.
It's a good start so far. The painting is neat, and that's half the battle. And white is no easy color to paint.

You may want to try and push the envelope as far as the shadows and highlights are concerned and outline around the pockets and seems with a deeper shadow color (not black though) which makes everything pop. From what I can see, the shadows look good and are in the right place and everything; they just need to be punched up a little bit. It's no easy thing to get used to painting in a larger than life style - where the shadows and highlights are more exaggerated than they would be in real life. Hey, I'm still working on that very much so myself and am certainly not "there" yet.

I look forward to seeing your progress on this figure.

 

[vergilius]

getting very beautiful

 

[MinervaMini]

Wendy - thank you for your kind comments, suggestions, and words of encouragement. You are correct that I am struggling to paint a more exaggerated version of the highs and lows...something to work on. I also feel that I need to spend more time on the photography - not sure that the photos are really representative of what can be seen with the naked eye. And outlining really, really difficult skill to master.

Vergilius - appreciate the compliment, will keep posting progress photos.

-Julia

 

[MinervaMini]

Spanish Drummer Update 3

Greetings all...

More progress photos for review and critique. Hat and face have been basecoated only. Livery definitely a challenge (I have a whole new respect for the folks who paint 28mm and smaller), and photography still not mastered but getting there. Thanks to all for your review. -Julia

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Julia,

Definitely on the right track. It's looking good.

Cheers

 

[megroot]

Great start. Looking forward to your next step.

marc

 

[Wendy]

Looks like he's coming along nicely. It does take a bit of practice to be comfortable with brush control - even then I find painting is more like fixing mistakes until I'm satisfied with the result.

I wonder if the background is washing out the shadows and highlights a bit? A lot of people like a background that's sky blue at the top and fades to white at the bottom. I can email you a copy of a file with just the background (8.5" x 11") that you can print out, if you want. Then just tape it up and snap away at those pics. Just let me know. (Unless of course you know how to photoshop better than I - it took me a bit of time playing with it to figure out how to do it, which was, I might add, just last week. )

 

[MinervaMini]

Wendy, Marc, Tony...thank you all for your kind comments and words of encouragement. If I can only get the face right (attempt #3 underway), I may be able to post pics of the finished figure by end of the week.

 

[Wendy]

Ah, faces are tricky. They make or break the paint job of a fig. Here's a couple links I've found useful:

From my club site

A Planet Figure article

I like them because they have lots of pics and show where highlights and shadows should go and how to go about painting eyes.

 

[alamac]

Hi Julia.
Looking good so far , keep up the good work.Look forward toi the next step.
Alan

 

[MinervaMini]

Wendy - thanks for the encouragement, the links, and the backgrounds...looking forward to my next post.

Alan, appreciate your compliments and hope to get new pics up soon!