1. Copying kits is a crime that hurts original artists & producers. Help support your favorite artists by buying their original works. PlanetFigure will not tolerate any activities related to recasting, and will report recasters to authorities. Thank you for your support!

WIP Critique Gladiator - Thraex

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by Bailey, Jan 14, 2013.

  1. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    After painting a couple sci-fi and fantasy gaming miniatures I got back to work on one of my historical figures. I pulled a 54mm Roman Gladiator from Pegaso out of my closet figuring it'd be a good project and hopefully not take too long. The kit comes with parts to create either of two types of gladiators, a Thraex or a Hoplomachus. While I liked the Hoplomachus variant... the shield just looked inaccurate to me. The sculpt looked like it had scales or something on the outside. So that left the Thraex (which also looked very neat). He carries a shield smaller than the Murmillo (who used the standard sized Roman rectangular shield) so the Thraex is more mobile but not as well protected. He also carries a curved sword used in Thrace (hence this type of gladiator is called a Thraex) which was used to hook around an opponents shield and either pull the shield away or slash at their unprotected backs.

    My work on him is still in the early stages, just painting the skin and cloth. I decided to go with an off white for the clothing as, despite all the fun reds, blues and greens you see on painted gladiator figures, the old Roman mosaics that have survived seem to show the vast majority of gladiators wearing white. But don't worry, I'll be bringing in some brighter and more vibrant colors through the shield and the feathers.

    Everything here is done using acrylics. I've changed up my usual skin mix to try and get a look more fitting for a gladiator. Oh, and the casting has a small defect on the left shoulder (you can see in the photo) which I plan to turn into a wound.

    Still a lot to do but I hope you like what I have so far. All comments and critiques are welcome. Thanks!

    thraex01.jpg

    thraex02.jpg thraex03.jpg thraex04.jpg thraex05.jpg
  2. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    very nice paintwork so far.

    marc
  3. Johan Kees Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    Interesting colour combination and look forward to the end result.

    Regarding the small defect on the left shoulder: this is meant as a scar, so it is not a casting problem. I have painted this figure myself, click HERE, and you will be able to see that my figure has it too.

    J;)han
  4. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Marc - Thank you!

    Johan, that's what I thought at first but then I couldn't see it on the box art so I assumed it was a defect. Now that I see yours I can tell it was part of the sculpt. I guess whoever did the box art didn't like it and buffed it out. Oh, and thanks to the link to your version. I like it a lot. Before I start a figure I usually look around to see what others have done for inspiration, ideas, whatever. I found a couple versions but hadn't seen yours.

    Here's the box art. Maybe the scar is there, but I can't make it out. You can also see the Hoplomachus's shield with those scales or whatever is supposed to be on the front. I can't tell what it's supposed to be and it doesn't look like something historically accurate.
    [IMG]
  5. Helm A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    At a guess ( I'm no expert) I'd say that shield is meant to be faced with Crocodile hide, I know it was used by a lot of people back then as it's seriously tough stuff.

    Steve
    Johan Kees likes this.
  6. Johan Kees Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    Bailey, in my opinion Steve is right about the shield covered with croco hide. At least that is what I thought also when I built this figure.

    Regarding the scar, I went to the Pegaso site and examined their enlarged pics. I think it is there too if you look carefully: click HERE.

    J;)han
  7. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Really? I had no idea they used crocodile hide. Well now the sculpt makes a lot more sense. I kept thinking scales and my mind went to fantasy figures and dragons. Never made the connection with crocodiles.
  8. Helm A Fixture

    Country:
    England
  9. Djoubri M Well-Known Member

    Country:
    France
    Beauiful start !
  10. tonydawe A Fixture

    Country:
    Australia
    Very nice work on the skintones. Very subtle shading.
  11. Gellso A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Why does my mind think this is your bedroom wall Steve?;)
    Gells
    Helm likes this.
  12. Robert Laclavik Active Member

    Country:
    Czech-Republic
    Incredibly good skin tones, reminds me a painting style of Hardy Tempest, very interesting. I am looking forward for more (y)
    R.L.
  13. Helm A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I wish mate
  14. Meehan34 A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    excellent work sir. There is that name Hardy Tempest again and I agree it does have that soft light feel to it like his stuff did. Keep up the good work.
  15. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks everyone. Well, just a minor update here. Finished the pants and started the arm. Up next will be the metallics. I just picked up some Vallejo Model Air metallics to experiment with. I've heard some good things and I'm hoping they will fit with my painting style a little better than my current metallics paints.

    thraex07.jpg thraex10.jpg thraex11.jpg
    Meehan34 likes this.
  16. taffjones Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Steve is the only antique in his house mate :p . Sorry Steve I know it was a cheap shot but I had to take it.
    Gellso likes this.
  17. Gellso A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Looks good mate,
    Following with interest.
  18. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Well it's been about a month since I've posted an update for this guy. I hit a bit of a wall in my painting on this one so I've been working on other projects. But, with so many projects in the works I decided I needed to actually finish something. This seemed like the best choice to wrap up in a reasonable amount of time (the Polish Lancer I posted the other week is going to take a lot longer!).

    Unfortunately as soon as I picked the gladiator back up I remember why I stopped. Cursed metallic paints! I wanted to try something new with this one and I recently bought some Vallejo Model Air metallic paints. Unfortunately they don't have a bronze in that line. So I tried to mix together a couple different metallics and layer on some glazes... failure. After that I tried just using their gold paint and using glazes to bring it back down to a bronze... failure again. For my third try I went back to Vallejo Model Color, which has a bronze, and mixed that with some Model Air gold to create my highlights (plus a variety of washes to create some shadows). Not my ideal solution... I still like how the Model Air metallic paints work better than the Model Color, but without a bronze I was stuck.

    Up next are the feathers, another pain in the @&$ part to paint. I've base coated the main crest in blue and will continue with that. I haven't decided on the outer two feathers yet. Once the main crest is done I'll figure out what color will look good next to it.

    I'm also trying to come up with some ideas for the shield, so any suggestions are welcome. I want to use a color that compliments the feathers. I'd also like to add some sort of geometric pattern to give it a little more visual interest.

    Here's where he is so far. I'm hoping next weekend I can get him finished or at least very close.

    thraex13.jpg thraex14.jpg thraex15.jpg
    Aveleira likes this.
  19. Bailey A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Still hard at work on this one. I've been dealing with feathers. If anyone has a quick and easy way to do these, I'd like to know. Feels like they took me forever to do. But they do add a nice splash of color to the overall figure.

    thraex21.jpg

    thraex17.jpg thraex18.jpg thraex19.jpg thraex20.jpg
  20. Redcap A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Excellent work so far and the metals look very effective. Just a minor (historical) comment on the feathers - would Gladiators have been allowed to wear 'Imperial Purple' given their lowly often slave status in Roman Society? I ask as I thought only the Emperor& Imperial Family were allowed to wear the colour purple and also it was prohibitively expensive to produce as a dye given it was made from thousands of crushed sea shells (or something similar) just to make a tiny amount of purple dye.

    I'm sure those with greater knowledge of all things Roman will know but irrespective, the figure in progress looks tremendous !

    Gary

Share This Page

planetFigure Links

Reviews & Open Box
Buy. Sell & trade
Articles
Link Directory
Events
Advertising

Popular Sections

Figure & Minis News
vBench - Works in Progress
Painting Talk
Sculpting Talk
Digital Sculpting Talk
The Lounge
Report Piracy

Who we are

planetFigure is a community built around miniature painters, sculptors and collectors, We are here to exchange support, Information & Resources.

© planetFigure 2003 - 2022.