Hey All
Back at the bench after a bit of a layoff... Ok, a long layoff. Long story short, life got in my way.

The pieces I am working on now are a commission of sorts. They were ordered by my father by special request for his small collection of cossack/Ukrainian art. Something he's gotten into since his father passed a couple of years ago.

These figs are the three cossacks by Irbis that came out in 2013... Taras Bulba, a mounted and a foot Zaporozhian cossack. Nice sculpts with minimal clean up and filling. The mounted cossack came with 2 heads and I can't decide which one I'm using so I'm painting them both and I'll decide later. Right now I'm working on the flesh areas of all the figs together, then I'll concentrate on each figure individually.

The first set of pics are of the base skintone + the first highlight...



Colin

...and then the second highlight...

...and the 3rd highlight.

Then the 4th highlight...

...and the 5th and final highlight.

And then the shading. I did about four layers of shading plus some deep shadows with Burnt Cadmium Red. Once the hair is blocked in and the clothes adjacent to the skintones is blocked in, I may have to revisit the skintones and adjust accordingly.

The pics are taken randomly through the painting process... each stage may not be represented. As usual, the pics are crap!!!! either washed out or too dark... I just can't seem to get the lighting right.

All comments or suggestions are welcomed thankfully.

Cheers

Colin

looking good allready

Marc

Coming along well,maybe a tiny bit more shading as you said

Three at once - brave man! At least you have Dad to motivate you to finish these are off to a great start.

Colin

Thanks Colin. Yes, Dad and the Hamilton show have me motivated.

Cheers

Colin

Looking good Colin, good call on doing both heads they both look great hard choice my man hard choice
Steve

These look like great pieces Colin and you have made a good start.
Nice SBS kicked off but I have noticed that for all of this attention they are getting they still don't look very happy.
Following with interest and good to see you back at the bench Mate.
Keith

Will be watching this one transpire with interest. I love these figures and glad to see you taking a crack at them. Looking good so far.

Bob

Cool start awesome subject! Good to see you again at the workbench.
I'm sure your Dad will be very proud!
Cheers, my friend!
Zeno

Marc, Ralph, Colin, Steve, Keith, Bob and Zeno... Thank you all for the supportive words. For a while there I just couldn't get myself going, was afraid it might be a permanent slump. Once I got the bushes going again, it started feeling pretty good Here's to no more slumps!

As for the grumpy looks they all have.... according to my darling wife and her experiences with Ukrainians (decending from the Zaporozhians)... those being myself, my son, my dad, my grandfather and a few of my shadier friends... the only time we smile is when we're drunk or getting into some kind of trouble. Then we are happy as hell!!!!

Back at it again tonight. I'll try and get some colour blocking done and fine tune the fleshtones.

Colin

Holy shit, I must be a Cossack

Twice

Until you are in a 5 year slump it ain't' over, and maybe not then....take it from me. Watch you don't paint too many for Hamilton. The rules are silent but the poster says there is a limit if 5 pieces per category per entrant. Strange rule IMO.

Colin

Good to know. I haven't been at high production so far... I haven't completed anything since the Ajax show. I'll be lucky to get even one of these cossacks done by the show. Not bringing anything that has already made the rounds of the shows. We'll see if these guys get into any kind of flow... The horses are a huge undertaking in and of themselves.

Colin

Update...
Painted this cossack's scalplock and moustashios, touched lightly on the skintone and did a second basecoat and first highlight on the white blouse, using Andrea's white set. Unfortunately, the pic of the right side of the head is washed out... the shading is much deeper on that side than what the pic shows

I will give this veteran cossack some grey streaks in his hair and 'stash. Once the blouse is done, I may take a shot at painting some Ukrainian embroidery around the neck and collar


Cheers

Colin

Hi Colin,

Somewhat ambitious work! The embroidery looks like a challenge
Goodwork so far!

Regards
Pedro

Thanx Pedro... The thought of the embroidery scares the hell out of me but I'll try to find as simple a design as I can and give it a try. You never know if you can do it unless you try it