Afternoon all - hope you all keeping safe

Since I'm (like a lot of people) confined to quarters I decide to rummage through the grey army to fins a nice simple project to fit one of the bases I already have in stock. Having just finished a complex figure (well complex for me anyway!) I wanted something straightforward to paint to get back into the swing of painting daily.

I found this rather nice model sculpted by Mike Blank (a modelling hero of mine) produced by Elan 13. It's 65mm high which is a bit of an odd size, but probably pretty close to the size that many 54's come out at so I felt right at home. Surprisingly I've never painted one of Mike's figures before although I do recall having a couple pass through the ranks of the grey army . . . .

Anyway cast in a pale resin it's typical of his figures being beautifully posed and simple in design so I dived in with barely a pause for coffee. Since the sword was resin I cut it off straightaway - I know that I'd manage to break it off at some stage and cutting it off at the start meant, at least, the 'repair' would be designed in from the outset! Cutting and shaping a new blade from brass sheet took longer than the rest of the clean up - hey ho. Casting was pretty good although there was a slight mismatch on the spur strap on one leg and there was an ugly seam which went over one eye both of which I managed to clean up successfully.

Rather than my usual approach of making the figure then sorting the base out as it neared completion I dived in with the base (having already drilled the figures feet for paperclip pins) Holes were drilled into the wooden base and the groundwork added with DAS. Once dry I sprinkled some road dust onto white glue for a bit of texture and put it to one side while I worked on the figure.

Now the subject was called 'Defeated' and the period gave a wide range of choices for colours so the obvious main colour could be a blue or purple suggesting melancholy, but that would have been too easy so how about trying to make a yellow 'canary' look depressed Well I love a challenge. While we're at it, I thought, how about trying to paint it in the style of Mr Blank as well! (I'm not sure what I thought at the time, but stupidity can't be ruled out)

So armed with a clear idea I dived in and went with a subdued yellow as the main colour and dark cool colours to support this. A lot of the initial work was done wet in wet, by the way rather than my usual glaze, after glaze, after glaze . . .

The yellow was muted using Basalt grey and brown and highlights were made by adding light flesh. The rest of the colours were mixed using the half dozen colours shown in various combinations.

More to follow
Cheers
Paul

Looking forward to seeing this develop Paul. A great figure from Mike Blank/Elan13 in his distinctive style. One of my favourite modellers/sculpture too.

Neal

Enjoy this one mate, it's a beauty and I'm sure you will do a fantastic job of painting him.

Thanks folks - I'm managing to get a few sessions in every day (in between acting as substitute teacher and baking bread that is) so hopefully we'll have this fella all dressed up and ready to go by the end of the week . . .
Toodlepip
Paul

The speed of your work on this is amazing, Paul. Nice subject though, & I'm sure it'll turn out as well as your Napoleonics do.

I'm looking forward to seeing this progress Paul.

Cheers Chris and Robert

It's an interesting exercise copying someone else's 'style' (or in my case attempting to) Reminded me of when I was student and we were sent to the art gallery to copy something; you have to look very closely at the colours and marks made and try to understand how they were made. Anyway enough of the high brow stuff I did another couple of sessions on the figure and base. The hat and leatherwork are now all blocked in although I'll probably add a wash or two over each and push the sword belt lighter to make a better distinction between them. I went for a dark hat with a black band and purple feather to fade them down - the colours were mixed from those already on the pallet and so far I've avoided black or white using dark blue and dark brown in various combinations for black and light flesh for the 'white' area's. I'll add some black later if needed to strengthen any shadows and for the hat band.
The base is now completed and ready for the figure. Painted in the same pallet although I did add sand brown for a bit of variety. A mix of static grass and sea grass and few touches from my 'mixed groundstuff' pot were added using white glue once the basic painting was completed. A final touch was a few leaves made with a stamp cut from some of last years autumn leaves which I'd collected

Cheers for now
Paul

LOL indeed back in those far off days when most telly's were black and white and computers were used by NASA rather than schoolkids
Anyway back in that long forgotten era I was studying art at The Butts Technical College (which is now a Travel Lodge?!) spending my days sat behind a 'donkey' (easel) drawing and painting everything from bowls of fruit to naked ladies (and sometimes men) Occasionally we were set loose on the unsuspecting public clutching a sketchbook and pencils . . .

Back to the figure
Yep you are right I am enjoying it. What's interesting is that Mike's sculpting style suits this way of painting (or perhaps that's obvious) It means that what I looked at initially as large plain areas devoid of detail and creases become playgrounds for colour and effects, mixing paint and shades to breath life into them (Well it's what I thought anyway, although it was pretty late)

I must check out the others that Rob sells I forgot to mention that for those who've not checked the price this is an absolute BARGAIN at £20 and I highly recommend it for anyone even vaguely interested in the era

Anyway off to paint some more before it gets dark
Cheers for now
Paul

I've done one of these, it is a real cracker. I also noted what you said about the marriage between a figure and the base. I work that way myself, not starting something until I have a base for it.

This is looking good mate, I hope you enjoy it.

It is a cracker and lovely painting. Great looking base mate.

Beautiful work Paul! Mike Blank's sculptures are easily recognizable and this looks like a fun one to paint.

Cheers,
Ken

Hi Paul . It's on its way and it looks really great. Even the pedestal is beautifully realistic. It will be great, just keep going and have a lot of fun at work

Cheers Borek

Thanks guys - just finishing off various bits as I type (well not actually as I type, but you know I've just popped down to type)

Hopefully I'll get him glued on the base later today and then it's time for a carefully look 'round to see if I've missed anything

Cheers for now
Paul

Paul, it's coming on very well. When Mike painted this is was almost monochrome. I remember judging it at Euro, we had quite a conversation about the paintwork!

Thanks Robert
I did wonder about the way it had been painted when I saw the packaging image (nicely packaged by the way) I couldn't decide if it was a picture of the original sculpt before painting or not - I imagine that caused quite the discussion when it was entered I can't say that I'm a fan personally, but sometimes you have to push the boundaries a bit
Mine will definitely have a bit more colour
Cheers
Paul

Here's the TA DA moment

Hope you like it - I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out in the end, who knows I may even enter it into FOTM just to encourage Kev
Comments welcome
Stay safe
Paul

ps - I forgot to mention that I used grey primer for this one rather than my usual black or white (easier for painting the yellow and I'm pretty sure it's what Mike B prefers).

It looks excellent Paul.