for a potted history of this remarkable man look here Zhukov on wiki

this is the OOP bust of Zhukov made by Parade and sculpted by Andrey Karachtchouk... and it's a stunner!

i've used the usual mix for the face of ...

top AV Light Flesh

high GW elf flesh or AV Basic skintone ( they are the same )

mid GW Dwarf flesh

Low GW Dark flesh
also using ....

GW Blood Red

AV Dark Prussian Blue

these are for cheeks etc and beard/stubble/ lower face shadows respectivly

a lot still to do to really tighten it up and get the transitions a bit smoother but thats the fun bit








as ever, Crits, Comments and help are most welcome



added a pic to see if i can get the thumbs working

Mark,
Looks like a good start on a characterful bust.
Andy

nice flesh work there Mark! So do you have three of the busts or is that just skillful posting work!

Hi Mark,

Great start mate. It may just be the pictures, but his face looks very "lumpy" and if you over highlight and shade his face it will accentuate the lumpiness. This, IMHO will distract the eye awayfrom the rest of the bust. May I suggest you under-emphasise the shading and the highlighting a little to minimise the lumpy look.

Nice start mate, have to agree with Tony though, try to tone the jowls in with the rest of the mid facial area to prevent the lumpiness. You've got good character in the face at present. Will be great to see further progress.

RobH.

Very nice job.
In my opinion you should not overdo the shading. If yu overdo the shade's he will look like a fantasy figure.

Marc

Re: Georgi Zhukov bust

Mark,

That looks a really expressive face to paint, & IMHO you've captured it superbly - the slightly sharper highlights give the face the look of a Wyndham Lewis painting, & give it a unique character befitting this remarkable soldier. Have a look at some of Lewis' WW1 paintings on the IWM website & you'll see what I mean.
More please!

Cheers,
Chris.

Hello Mark,

nicely done

Mark I have to agree with Tony and Marc re lumps & to try and under-emphasize the highlight and shades........

Ray

Great start Mark!
I agree with the other comments.
Looking forward to an update.

Cheers,
Marcel.

Andrew .... many thanks

Rob .... LOL no just one bust and fotoshoppe

Tony ... thanks for the input, agreed on the exagerated shading, but i like to work back from that to something a bit more subtle. TBH i'm still a bit trapped with the GW paints as they deliver a result but it lacks any daring or variety

Rob ... thanks see above and below

Marc .... thanks and i agree

Chris .... Many many thanks! Lewis's paintings are lovely and exciting things and to have this mentioned in the same breath is a bit humbling ..... thanks again ... however i think the shadows need a lot more work so hope you like where this is going!

Pedro ... Again many thanks

Ray .... many thanks for the input i'm going to keep the highs and i'm working the shadows up a bit ...

Marcel ..... once again many thanks and an update

Thanks everyone for the comments and input. i've been working away at this between sessions on the para figure so i'm enjoying the process at a slower pace than usual


Note. i messed up the colour list, revised to Dark flesh for the shadeing :|

blend, blend and blend .........

Re: Georgi Zhukov bust

Mark,
Glad to hear you're a fan of Lewis' work - when I first visited the IWM as a kid in the 60s, several of his paintings were on display & they made a great impression on me with their dramatic, angular shapes. Another artist whose style was very similar to me was Paul Nash. I can see what you mean about softening the shadows a little, the effect is really good & what I like about it is the fact that the figure still retains its portrait-like quality.
Thanks for the kind comments, keep the images coming!
Cheers,
Chris

Looking good so far Mark, look forward to your progress.

Cheers David

Chris .... i have a collection of portrait paintings on my hard drive as reference i like J.S.Sargents wartime works too

David ... many thanks

face is about finished, i'm waiting for some paints to arrive and then i can crack on with the uniform and hat, with the bright colours of the uniform, its braiding and all those medals i think the face will look less solid when surrounded by it all... or not

picture

Re: Georgi Zhukov bust

Mark,

I think the single painting that made the most powerful impression of WW1 on me was John Singer Sargent's "Gassed" - I remember first seeing it as a 9yo, & the image has never left me. It now occupies a gallery at the IWM almost by itself, & I could look at it all day & still see details that I'd missed before. I always loved to visit the art galleries at the IWM when I lived in London, & the poster collection was an education all by itself!
Anyway, don't want to distract attention from the thread - the figure is coming along beautifully, can't wait to see the finished product. Will you be painting his uniform as khaki service dress, or the blue parade uniform?

Cheers,
Chris

Hi Chris .... Gassed is a spectacular painting and i've seen a site that shows it with the poem "dulce et decorum est" which blew me away when it was read to us in an english lesson many years ago!

see here for gassed and the poem and some pencil sketches he did....

despite goth weekend here in jolly Whitby and a 3 day hangover, i managed to get my brushes wet for an hour today and started work on the tunic which is described as forest green, ive gone for AV Russ uni WW2 as a base with glazed AV luft cam dark green for shade and base + AV stone grey 1:1 as a high....

only 2 more nights to get through! lol....

Mark, superb work on the face, I noticed from the first pics that the eyes are sculpted with the pupils chiseled out, was this helpful or did you fill them in.
Will follow as usual with interest.

Cheers Ken

Mark,
Great link to JSS, what a great artist.

Hope the WGW went well, I'd love to visit one year, particularly as the 31st is my birthday!

We don't get much in the way of any goth events down here these days, only those going to the vamp masquerade ball in Rochester (we did have a fantastic post gig jolly one year with Inkubus Sukkubus in their hotel room....'til we ran out of beer!)

Superb bit of work,
Jon.

Hi! Mark.
Your facial coat is SUPERB.
An expression of the feature of the face is very very wonderful.
They seem to use quite much flesh color, don't they?
I think the painting which is Great very much.
I liked it very much.
I'm looking forward to completion.

Mitsutaka