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!

Admiral Jewgenij Aleksejew

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by Martin Antonenko, Jun 22, 2017.

  1. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    1. Day, June 22, 2017

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    Translation:

    "His Majesty the Imperator and Gossudar
    Wallern an der Trattnach Austria

    Majesty - I report:

    Arrived in good order
    Yevgeny Ivanovich Alekseev

    Excellency will assume the command if significant weather deterioration occurs

    Martin Rohmann Bremen "

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    Brilliant sculpt by my friend Heinz Frieben from Austria - I am really thrilled...!

    [IMG]
    anstontyke, Oda, red tom and 3 others like this.
  2. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Okay Martin

    "Excellency WILL take over the command despite any weather deterioration that occurs"



    Dashed it ...all those medals make me go all goey inside !!..LOL

    You have my undivided attention on this one

    Following ....

    Nap
    anstontyke, Wings5797 and Oda like this.
  3. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    Actually we have 32 degrees here, too good weather for painting. Lying in the garden...

    Cheers
    anstontyke, Oda and Scotty like this.
  4. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England

    Oooh ..it's not that hot in our oven ...LOL ..enjoy the garden

    Nap
    anstontyke and Oda like this.
  5. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    I did - but now we have heavy thunderstorm and storm, as always after hot days on the coast. Many railways and airports are blocked ...

    Cheers
    anstontyke likes this.
  6. Viking Bob PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Following with interest. Looks a very colourful character.
    anstontyke likes this.
  7. kingbingo Guest

    Country:
    Austria
    Super, come safely, a stone falls from my heart!
    anstontyke and napoleonpeart like this.
  8. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    2. Day, June 23, 2017

    Today I would like to tell you a bit about who this Jewjenij Alekseyew was actually ...:

    He was born on 13 May 1843 (Russian time) in Saint Petersburg. The name of his mother has disappeared in the darkness of the story, one knows only that she was very beautiful and was the wife of a naval officer, captain-lieutenant Ivan Maximovich Alexeyev (1796-1849).

    His father, on the other hand, is well-known: he was the Grand Duke Aleksandr Nolayevich Romanov, who from 1855 to 1881 was Aleksandr II Czar and ruler of all Russia!
    [IMG]
    Thus, Yevgeny Alekseev was at the height of his career - more illegitimate! - Uncle of the reigning czar Nikolai II!

    The boy was - as was customary among high-ranking Russian families - at the age of 13 years brouhgt to the naval cadet school and successfully completed his training there three years later.

    It was followed by four years of service on the screw corvette "Warjag" ...
    [IMG]
    ... including an extended world trip. In 1867 he was promoted to sea lieutenant. After another command of various ships, he became Commander of the Cruiser Africa in 1878, with whom he undertook his second world tour in 1880-1883. From 1883 to 1888 he was Marine Attache in France.

    He was promoted to the Captain of the Sea (Captain First Rank) in 1886, and in 1889 he received command of the Protected Cruiser "Admiral Kornilov"...
    [IMG]
    ... with which he made his third world trip.

    In 1891 he accompanied Tsarevich Nikolaus (later Tsar Nicholas II) on his journey to the Far East ...:
    [IMG]
    [IMG]
    In doing so, the zarewitsch escapedhardly from the attentat of a Japanese policeman, which caused his lifelong aversion to Japanese and all Japanese - with a reason for the Russo-Japanese war!
    [IMG]
    Alekseev's promotion to the Counter-Admiral took place in 1892, with simultaneous transfer to the Admiral Staff, where he served until 1895 as his deputy chief.

    In 1894, Alexeyev was promoted to the vice-admiral. From 1895 to 1897, he commanded the Russian Pacific fleet, with whom he occupied the port of Port Arthur in December 1897, and took possession of the southern part of the Liaodong peninsula with the city of Dairen for Russia in March 1898 (read: the Chinese stole!)
    In 1898 he became Governor of Liaodong, 1899, and became chief commander of the Russian naval forces in Kwantung and the Pacific Fleet.
    He participated in the defeat of the Boxer Rebellion (November 1899-1901) in China; For his merits he was appointed Generaladjutant.
    [IMG]
    "Generaladjutant" - this sounds due to the word "adjutant" according to files and coffee cooking - but was in the Russian hierarchy the highest general rank, which one could reach. The rank "Field Marshal" was no longer there!

    There was only the "commander-in-chief" above the "Generaladjutanten" - and that was the Czar himself!

    A general adjutant was a member of the Czar's suite, had permanent access to the court and the right to direct access to the ruler.

    In 1903 Nikolai II appointed Alekseyev to "Namestnik" (governor or viceroy) of the Far East region, which made Alekseyev the head of the entire civilian administration and the commander-in-chief of all troops on land and at sea!
    [IMG]
    The viceroy was regarded as a strict superior, who punished quickly and severely, and who was better not to be confronted with any problems when one wanted to continue his own career without prejudice.
    Thus the batches accustomed themselves quickly to announcing only one thing "upwards": "Everything is in order, Excellency!"
    In reality nothing was "in Order", Alekseyev knew, and his subordinates even knew that.
    The chief was neither a naval hero nor a good commander-in-chief,
    But he was an ace in the paper war!
    Alekseyev was notorious for never saying "yes" or "no" in writing - I could have turned one or the other against him at an unfavorable outcome.
    Instead, he wrote with green ink on almost every request, every input, every rapport and any suggestion for improvement: "No - not yet!" And always left a back door open.
    He almost drove his officers to despair because nothing was ever decided.
    If, on the other hand, Alekseyev ordered something, then in a masterly, unclear way, which always gave him the possibility of shifting the blame to the subordinate, no matter how the thing ordered.
    His order the commanding admiral of the fleet lying in Port Arthur's harbor, Konteradmiral Wilhelm Karlowitsch Wittgeft became most famous:
    [IMG]
    He ordered the fleet to be taken to Vladivostok, before the Japanese could close Port Arthur, block the fleet in the port, and shoot them there at will. The Czar himself had repeatedly made this "wish" clear.
    Alekseyev's order to Admiral Wittgeft reads as follows:
    "Keep in mind that the squadron can only stay in Port Arthur for as long as it is safe there, and in the other case they will go to sea in time and without going to battle, if possible, to Vladivostok. "
    It's worth reading this gummibule twice! Where was the restriction "if possible"? On the main sentence or the subordinate clause?Wittgeft did not know, and Alexeyev was careful not to tell him.
    He would have known it afterwards ...!
    With such orders you can beat battles in offices, but do not win a war!
    Alekseyev's troops were defeated one after the other, on the one hand, because the army and the fleet had nothing "in order", and on the other hand because of the unclear leadership of the triumvirate and viceroy.
    On October 12, 1904, after the heavy defeats of the Russian forces on the water and land, Tsar Nikolay had a look and replaced Alekseev with the former Minister of War General Kuropatkin ...:
    [IMG]
    After his return, Alekseev, whose star had been burned with anger, was resigned to the honorable but unavoidable post of a State Councellor, and died on May 27, 1917 at Yalta (Crimea).

    This is the janus-headed man, with whose bust I will now deal ...
    anstontyke and napoleonpeart like this.
  9. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Excellent background information there Martin

    Thanks for sharing

    Nap
    anstontyke and Martin Rohmann like this.
  10. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    3. Day, June 24, 2017

    I have just shortened the neck of the Admiral by four millimeters.

    Now the beard hangs slightly above the collar - and thus corresponds to the template painting - and the boy looks more "bully" ...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    And now comes something to be kept silent, because it is pure dilettantism! I'll tell you anyway!

    Heinz had warned me!

    "Treat the sculpt like a raw egg!" He said, "It may be that the mass is a bit brittle in some places."

    I did! ! First! Through the modeling clay, the Mikro saw as by butter. No problem. Then, however, I had to cut off the small wooden pin, which protrudes from the neck at the bottom.

    And it was harder!

    So I instinctively got something more tight - and caused a little damage at the back of the hat!

    Fortunately not at such a prominent place - this could be quickly corrected with "Milliput"!

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    Then there was a second place at thge neck to repair, which I did with the microsaw. Actually it is not necessary at all, because this position disappears at the end in the collar.

    But the "Milliput" was already mixed.

    When I photographed the finished repaired spot, I noticed that my "tighter grab" had found another "victim":

    There was also a piece of the auricle missing!

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    There was still a remnant of "Milliput," and I have made the earwash of the Admiral also quickly healed ...:

    [IMG]

    Sometimes you really stand in your way ...
    blabsy, anstontyke and napoleonpeart like this.
  11. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    All I can say is nice repairs Martin...don't drop it on a stone floor !

    Nap
    anstontyke likes this.
  12. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
  13. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    4. Day, June 25,2017

    My figure day starts with the spraying of the primer ("Army Painter" Grey) ...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    Then I start painting!

    Let's have a look:

    Jewgenij Alekseyev had eyes that showed colors between chocolate brown and amber ...:

    [IMG]

    I tried to imitate. The colors are: chocolate brown, yellow stool, yellow, for the irises, black for the pupils, white and light gray for the eyeballs and "scarlet" and "brown rose" for the "red" in the angles of the eyes...:

    [IMG]

    For the "white" in the eyes I never take pure white, but sound with some light gray! Pure white would later from the painted face like a spotlight, which is not wanted.

    At the end, the most important Thing are the two white reflex points, without which the eyes would not "live".

    I fear and wish for this moment at the same time: With successful reflex points, the figure begins to "speak" to me, but failed reflex points can completely stain an otherwise painted eye.

    Decide for yourself - so it has become ...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]
    anstontyke and napoleonpeart like this.
  14. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    5. Day, June 26, 2017

    Admiral Alekseev had a relatively bright face skin ...:

    [IMG]

    This correspondeds to the "fashion" of his time and of his class! Sun-blown dark skin had at that time only "proletarians", members of the lower social classes, who had to work outside or have to stay outside for other reasons.

    One might think a high naval officer like Alekseev had been often out in the open, but that was not so!

    On the one hand, as we have seen, the man was primarily a "salon admiral", and the second was, and still is, the rule for the commander of a Russian war ship:

    "The captain is like God! Everyone knows that there is him, but no one ever sees him!"

    A Russian captain helds (and holded) mostly in his spacious cabin, the operational navigation is the responsibility of his deputy, the First Officer!

    After my voyage with the Russian four-mastbark "Sedow" I am talking about experience ...

    [IMG]

    Of this very bright skin (especially women) and the "blue" translucent veins, the word "blue blooded" is used until today for aristocratic persons!

    But back to skin color:

    The finding of a suitable middle tone for the acrylic background took almost longer than the underpainting itself!

    After some (wrong) attempts I am expired to a relatively simple solution ...:

    [IMG]

    Three very thin paintings - and Mr. Admiral now looks like this:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]
    anstontyke likes this.
  15. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    6. Day, June 27, 2017

    Today without words...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]
    anstontyke and napoleonpeart like this.
  16. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    7. Day, June 28, 2017

    Ears, neck...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]
  17. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Coming on really nicely there Martin

    Thanks for sharing

    Nap
    anstontyke and Martin Rohmann like this.
  18. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    8. Day, June 29, 2017

    Now it's hairy!

    Beard, eyebrows and head hair are the order of the day - but let's take a closer look ...

    In the beard of Admiral Alekseyev, a lot plays out in color! From reddish-brown in the mustache and chin to gray on the cheeks everything is thereby ...:

    [IMG]

    The eyebrows, on the other hand, are considerably darker than the rest of the hair, as with most people ...:

    [IMG]

    Gray hair can be seen in the temples, otherwise reddish-brown dominates ...:

    [IMG]

    I have tried to copy everything as closely as possible and deeply grasped in the color box ...:

    [IMG]

    At the end I painted the lips.

    But see for yourself ...:

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    So the head is ready for me - it will continue with the cap.

    The cheeks shine again lightly - which is due to the fact that I had to correct three spots with oil color, where I painted over the edge when making the beard!

    Now, by the way, is a good time to criticize my painting attempts and/or make suggestions for improvement, which I am very interested in!

    Whoever has, speak now - or keep silent forever!
  19. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Hi Martin

    Looking good , I would slghtly darken the cheeks a bit more and put awash of red into the corner of the eyes ...might be my personal preference though!

    I like the way you are constantly looking at the references, the grey of the sideburns looks good and in keeping

    It does still amaze me how you paint in area's ...but always good results

    Nap
    anstontyke likes this.
  20. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    Tanks Nap, I did - but only a Little for he had a very bright skintone.

    Cheers

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.