Hi All,

I've been busy finishing up some hard-to-finish stuff (to be posted at some other time), but couldn't resist already starting on Jeff Shius brilliant 1/16 early war German machine gunner. What a great figure.

Here's the face. I've been fiddling around with it forever, trying some new techniques, and am curious as to what you think about it. I've become blind to it by now you know...

By the way, the rest of the figure is just basecoated. I pre-shaded the nooks and crannies, and now its waiting for an airbrushed base coat. I replaced the breast eagle with a photo-etched one, as the sculpted version was way too large and curiously shaped.

Cheers,
Adrian

Very nice start Adrian. Like the eyes and harassed look.

Ron

Hi Adrian!

Great start on the face. It seems Danilo Cartacci book have here some results?!

Nice start Adrian!

I think you have done a great job on the face
Sam

I like it.
You've got a nice natural look to it but he still looks warm and a bit stressed..



Mark

The eyes look excellent, they are focused but tired.

Steve

Superb face and eyes Adrian, a quite fantastic start, you will enjoy painting this!!

adrian, so far, so good!

Adrian,
I think that it looks fabulous. Great fiddling.
Cheers
John

Nice start Adrian, he certainly looks under pressure for sure, watching and probably buying. Les

This is an excellent figure and well sculpted,but i,ve noticed something with the epulettes or shoulder boards.They look a lttle short in that the button would be under the shoulder strap?.
Andy

Nice 1 Adrian - you have got that face spot on - exertion and lack of sleep, like it very much - keep us in the loop.

Well painted face- really good!

Hi Adrain mate,
You have certainly captured a wonderful natural look, the facial tones are spot on and I would not change a thing. The focus and apprehension portrayed through the eyes are stunning.
Get wielding that brush and posting updates.
cheers
Richie

Hi Adrian,

very lifelike face, I'm sure it will be a stunning figure!

Keep us updated!
Denes

Why there is blood in the eyes?

Gentlemen, thanks for the many positive comments. In fact, I was rather doubtful about the finish, so I am very happy that you like it and picked out the tired look. Keeps me going with this one!

To address some of your comments:

@Pedro: LOL! Well, the book is very good, but I'm affraid it will take a while before it influences my painting. It turns out that Danilo combines acrylics and oils, and I just went over from oils to acrylics and am starting to get the hang of them. But you never know, learning is a journey and the end of it may be just that combination. We'll see. Plenty of learning left for the moment. But if you ever see only a glimpse of Danilo's touch, that would really make my day!

@Michal: yes the eyes are quite red. I may have overdone it a bit. I wanted to portray a very tired look and took my own eyes as an example (after a day in the office focusing on papers and a computer screen). They do turn quite red, and I thought running around on the Eastern Front would be even more tiring, so would make eyes even redder. but then again, I may have overdone it a bit...

Thanks for looking and commenting guys. I'm a slow modeller, so next update may take a while. I really have to finish some other stuff first.

Cheers,
Adrian