Hello All

I restarted this lovely little figure from Ellie's Miniatures. The figure represents a drummer of the Grenadier regiment of the Imperial Guard, circa 1870. The pose is a good representation of the action of this unit during the summer campaign... alot of sitting around, a couple of miles behind the lines. Bezaine, in the spirit of defeatism, refused on more than one occasion to allow Gen Bourbaki to engage the Prussians with the Guard... Particularly the 2nd (Grenadier) Division. Bezaine was usually more concerned with lines of retreat and escape... even before the battle was engaged.

On to the fig...
The head is about 90% done.
The blue of the coat is only base coated (rebase coated in fact) at this point... Dk. Prussian Blue+Black+English Uniform with a touch of Prussian Blue to adjust the tone.
The trousers were redone from the last time I posted this figure... I was happy with the red. Based in straight Carmine Red. Highlighted first with Carmine+Light Orange, then 1st HL+Basic Skintone. The shadows are Carmine+Black Green in increasing incriments (Thanx for the tip Bailey). I'm much happier with the red now.

I've highlighted and shaded the blue tonight and will take some pics and post tomorrow.

Thoughts and comments most welcome

Cheers

Colin

Liking him a lot Colin. Great contrast in the blue and red.

Colin

Hi Colin,
Looking good mate, you have made a great start. I was talking to Ian at the White Rose and had a look at his figures, I must say his range of figures are very nice indeed. Following.
cheers
Richie

Been looking forward to seeing this one with paint on. Great start especially on the Reds will bear in mind the tip for shading thanks.

Peter

Very nice start on this lovely figure.

Marc

Looking good so far, will be interested to see how you handle the collar and cuff braid.

Looks to be a really nice figure Colin.
Brilliant start with the face and bearskin Mate.
It will be good following this through to completion.
Cheers,
Keith

Great start mate it's looking good love the red and what you have done with it. well be a challenge to see how you do the collar and cuffs. Like the bit of history too. it was a great shame that they did not see action but I think Adam captured a moment in time very well. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Thanks for the nice comment Richie, the range is coming along nicely with more to come from this period.

Cheers

Ian

Ellie's Miniaturers

Nice work on this figure Colin...you must like to make it hard for yourself mate......Blues and reds are the colours I really struggle with most......Kevin

Mate you're pretty much the red and blue master now Really like the look you have captured on his face and looking forward to seeing the ground work for this one.

regards Zane

Nice work so far Colin!

Regards
Pedro

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
The beauty of the planet shone through again. I used to think I had a firm grip on the colour red but was noticing on the last couple that they were a little washed out and the shading was a little shallow. By toning down the amount of yellow in the highlights by using a light orange I feel I have a stronger highlight tone of red that doesn't look "faded out". Using the dark green for shading as Bailey did on his last Napoleonic fig gave me a much richer shade than what I was getting before. That's why I keep coming back to the planet.

I'll get some pics of the progress on the coat tonight.

Cheers

Colin

I like a lot this figure. The posture is so natural. Like a lot what you did so far especially the face. I looked at it closely during our last meeting and really captures the spirit of this figure. Excellent start and the contrast between dark blue and red makes this figure very attractive.
Will follow closely, my friend!
Cheers,
Zeno

Nice progress so far Colin - for me, red is second only to white on the "drives- me -nuts- to- paint- it" scale. I really like his sideways glance - looks like he's muttering some choice words about the officer who's just ordered them to prepare to move out- again...

Looking forward to seeing him in the New Year at SWOFP.

Cheers,

Brian

Thanks Brian and Zeno
you're right about the face, Adam got the "my superior officers are idiots" expression down perfectly.
As mentioned above, the collar and cuff lace are just a little terrifying... blue and red diamonds and stripes over white Thankfully, its pretty well sculpted. I just need a steady hand...

cheers

Colin

Evening all
A little more progress...
First, highs and shadows on the coat are done. The base of Dk Pruss Blue+Black+Eng Uniform+Pruss Blue was lightened first with more Dk Pruss Blue, then Prussian Blue then a touch of Sky Grey. Shade waut you s made by adding Eng Uniform+Black ,then more Black over a couple of passes.

All the lace was first based with Sky Grey... to base the white and to cover the red and blue overpaint. A few passes of thinned OffWhite to start... Shading and Highlighting will be applied to the lace on the chest.

The red and blue diamond pattern has been started with the blue diamonds being roughed in though the centre of the tape. They are rough right now, once dry, the edges will be squared up with white. The red half diamonds will be on either side of the tape, facing in, in the gapes between the blue diamonds... wolf's tooth style. Once the reds are done, touched up with white, then some washes to shade at folds, overlaps and under straps and buttons.

Finally, I've started the drum with 3 thinned coats of DarkStar bronze. Really impressed with the DarkStar metallics. If they all go on as smooth as the bronze I'll be more than happy. Very fine grind of the metal flakes give a very uniform finish.

The pics didn't turn out great today for some reason (shitty in fact)... couldn't set my lights not to wash out my blue highlights The in progress pics of the lace were done on the fly with just my work light... but you get the idea.

Cheers, off to bed for me

Colin

Looking good mate. it's coming along very well.

Ian

Keep it coming, Colin. Where do you get your Dark Star paints from? I'd like to try them some time.

Thanks Colin and Ian, I wish the pics had turned out better.
Paul, I got a couple of the DarkStar metals sets from the Bent Bristle. Give Alex or Anthony an email before the 4th and he could probably bring them to the next meeting.

Cheers

Colin

Great start, will follow his wonderfull work !