Have been trying to paint this figure for some time and always screw up at this point (it's in the stripper again), any suggestions ? Just can't seem to get the shading and highlights in the areas indicated, using acrylics but open to oils.

Hi Indy,

Sometimes its good to accept your achievement and put the figure in your displaycase and enjoy it instead of stripping it. If you are not satisfied with the outcome just start a new figure and apply the lessons learnt.

From your picture it would appear that painting the pturges gives you some difficulty.

Pturges are of course as in the case of the Legatus strips of leather with a protective function but they are part of the overall clothing/armour.

I would treat them as such. Before painting it therefore pays to decide which strips in general catch more light then others and which catch less light then others.

For example the 2 or 3 strips that are right on top of the shoulders catch most of the light. The ones that fall down from the top of the shoulder towards the edges of the breast plate are darker.

The top of the upper ring of pturges around the waist catch more light then the ones below and the the strips on top of the right leg would also be lighter. That is how I would see it.

In order to realize that lightfall effect on your figure I would suggest mixing 3 (maybe even 4) different basic colours for the pturges ranging from very light, a darker basic coulour and a even darker hue.

These basic colours form the starting point for the shading and highlighting of every individual leather strip.

In the picture you can see that the waist strips between the legs flow and follow the underlying form. This means that every strips has a part that catches more light and a part that sould be darker. And the starting point for highlighting and shading should be the basis mix

The contrast between the basis mixes should be obvious.

I attached a pic of a 54 mm Legatus Legionis I did myself. Hopefully they show that I do have a point!

Good luck

Paul

The most expert advice you could possibly get is this Indy.As you can see yourself Paul is a real master with an impeccable record on classical antiquity subjects.And the points above are very enlightening indeed.Best of luck.

PS:When a figure just doesn't "want to get painted correct"I usually follow Paul's advice no 1,i.e I put it on the display case as it is and try to correct my mistakes on the next subject.

Oda.

Thank you Paul, your figure is beautiful ! I think I may opt for making the Pturges a brownish color rather than the white. Would the shadows on the white Pturges have been applied as a wash ?

I would not do the basic shading of the pturges with a wash but with a darker version of the base colour. And I would also apply the main highlight immediately. A wash I would use to emphasize a shadow or for the pturges lining (edges). I should point out that I work with oilpaints.

Cheers Paul

Indy, could you say what you don't like about your own work on the pteruges?
Or better still, post a picture to show the problem?
That would greatly help in geving adequate advice, although with Paul's you should be out of trouble soon.
Anyway, just to add, without knowing your problem exactly, perhaps the problem is that you skip the midtones. I remember doing this when I started. What I mean is the tendency to focus on the base tone and then almost totally cover that with high highlights and deep shades and forgetting about the midtones. With white this will look especially badly. So perhaps part of the solution is to try and use more midtones, and less extreme highlights and shades. Bring variety in the midtones and use a tiny touch of high highlight and deep shades only on about 1-5% of the area. The shoulder area may actually not ned the deepest shade at all, and the lower body pteruges may not need the highest highlight.

Besides, for white, do not start with pure white as a base. Use a light tan, or light grey and work from there.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Adrian

I will remember to provide a photo next time but the stripper has already done it's job. All I can say is the Ptruges looked looked like crap, I find it very hard to make the shadow lines clean yet natural in appearance. I realize it takes time to develop ones skills but I am feeling very stuck at the entry level, I watch and read a lot of info online but have a hard time getting the results I want. I did manage to finish this one the other day and enjoyed the experience, have seen it done much better but was glad to get one done and on the shelf.