XV Century Half Armoured Samurai

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Elia Cid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
173
Hi,
Just thought you may want to see my latest in progress !


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XV Century Half Armoured Samurai ,90mm ,from White Models

Work In progress by Alex Castro.
 
Figureteers,

Prepare to be amazed and welcome Alex Castro, one of the most inspired and inspiring painters in activity.

If I was a painter, I'd like to be Alex.

Quang
 
Herrick, Frank & quang thank you very much for the compliments. I will be posting Gallows soon so stay posted! In the future I would hope to post tips and techniques. By the way frank I used mostly acrylics and oils where appropiate.

Gallows-Red Sky Diary,
1/6th Scale,Side Show


PS - quang i have been commissioned to do
The Ronin-Japan- 1750- Pili Pili Miniatures
 
You guys need to click on his link at the bottom....scroll down and click on "Showcase 2...............looks real........beautiful painting by Alex
 
Alex,

Glad to hear about the Ronin (y). Am looking forward to seeing your rendition.

A word of caution, though. There's a thing called 'sumptuary law' which ruled the dress and fashion of each social category in ancient Japan.

Certain colours, designs and material were reserved for the nobility, others for the merchant class, etc. For example, purple/violet – a very popular colour among the miniature samurai painters – was reserved for the emperor and the high nobility (daimyo upwards). There's no possibility that a lower samurai, a foot soldier or a ronin (like on the PiLiPiLi box art) wore purple/violet clothing.

The fact was pointed out to me by Marc Michetz, the author of the Kogaratsu comic-strip series and a great connoisseur of everything Japanese.

Hope this'll help.

Quang
 
Thats good to know Quang...........as I finish my purple Ashgasru.... :(
oh well............won't be the first time!!!
 
You're not the only one, Guy.

Michetz said that my ronin is dressed like a clown. Oh well, live and learn!

To his credit, although Michetz is a Belgian, his comic- strips are among the most authentically-Japanese around.

His attention to detail (body language, architecture, scenery, clothing, ...) is commendable and IMO more helpful to the figureteers than, for example, Angus McBride's artwork in Osprey.

Here's an extract (several pages) of a Kogaratsu album, used by a steel manufacturer, to explain the process of Japanese sword-making. A far cry from your usual super-hero fare!

http://damascus.free.fr/f_damas/f_quest/f_fogg/bosse1.htm

Enjoy,

Q. (y)
 
Alex, For some reason I couldn't get your pic to fully show up 'til today. Lookin' good (y) . I'm interested to see how this one turns out as I have this figure on the shelf. Do you plan any tattoo action as I've seen on some renditions?

Quang, regarding sumptuary laws in Japan, I've read that lesser samurai and ashigaru routinely "robbed" dead samurai of their armor and weapons due to the high cost of procuring weapons and armor. Wouldn't it be possible that a "rogue" samurai took goods from a dead notable, and sported them before being brought up before authorities? The White figure is billed as "Half-Armored", and a close look at his armor shows that he is wearing only bits and pieces of a full suit, as if he took only what was serviceable from a dead superior. Just a thought.
 
Well, yes indeed, Mike.

As a matter of fact, during these troubled times (which lasted several centuries, remember), quite a number of people – mostly peasants and country folks – made a living by salvaging and re-selliing the armours and weapons they found on the numerous battlefields. It's quite probable that all this 'pre-owned', 'second-hand' stuff found their way to the lesser (and poorer) warlords to equip their troops or even to the rogue soldiers turned bandits like in the 'Seven Samurai' film.

In fact, the White models samurai could pass as one of these bandits. And dressing him in 'noble' purple would only add interest to an already interesting figure. A neat way to turn a 'mistake' into a conversation piece!

Great remark, Mike! (y) (y)

Quang
 
Now thats a nice approach to the figure.

Quang, I'll be watching that movie again now! maybe I'll even be tempted by the White Models figure (and of course your Ronin).



Rob
 
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