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Questions for Bill Horan

Discussion in 'Post Your Own Articles & SBS' started by Guy, Nov 16, 2004.

  1. Guy A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    I emailed Bill before I posted this as I don't know what his schedule is and ask him if we could have a Question and answer forum if any planet members have any questions for Bill. His response was "Ask Away"

    If you have any questions, post them here!
  2. Joe Hudson Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Hey Bill,

    Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. I was wondering what you did for the chest protector on Yogi? I know it may be in the book but I was just curious, until it arrives, did you make a paper template and cut out the rolled putty or did you just eyeball it? I know I have seen it in person and it is just really thin. I am sure I will have a ton more questions but just kinda wanted to start with this one.

    Thanks,

    Joe
  3. Guy A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    When alot of us first started, we had sculpters and painters we looked up to and admired. My question is, who did you first look up to and admire their work when you first got involved in the military miniature hobby.
  4. Jim Patrick Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I really don't know where to start. Honestly. Before I do ask any questions I'd like to thank you for the untold number of years of inspiration you have given me and others as well I'm sure. I started out in this hobby building armor kits. One day I bought your book (the first one) and thanks to you (and Shep Paine), I have never looked back. I'll think up some whopper of questions for you but till then, "THANK YOU"

    Jim Patrick
  5. Robin Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Bill

    I too would like to second what Jim has said, if it wasn't for you I would never have been in figures this long, so if you spot me and my wife in Boston I would run if I was you she can be real Nasty :) .

    My question would be do you sketch dioramas and poses of figures before starting work on them.?

    Robin
  6. Uruk-Hai PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Sweden
    G-day Bill!

    I really liked your seminar in Rome.
    My question is how you decide the pose of an action pose? I mean, how do you decide in which exact momentof momentum to freeze the figures pose?
    I see other sculptors that doesnt have the same eye for it as you and they loose realism. The best extreme poses frozen in my opinion are the baseball players.

    Cheers
  7. Panzer Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    His first figure was a Warriors release of Wyatt Earp,OOPS ,that was only 9 years ago.Mrosko
  8. Ernest A Fixture

    Country:
    Venezuela
    Hello Bill, my question is about your blending for painting the flesh tones, if you paint with enamels humbrol how could you do to blend the lights and shadows with this soft transitions I paint with acrylics and is not very easy to do a good transitions, How could you do that with humbrols?? :eek:

    Thanks a lot Bill and keep doing your amazing jobs

    Ernest
  9. custer760 Well-Known Member

    Hi Bill, I have a Question for you. "When are you planning on visiting a Show over here in Germany"? We have an excellent show in Ingoldstadt (near Munich) called The Duke of Bavaria Show, it is hosted by Konrad Schulte and Bruno Schmaelling and held in April. This show attracts all the top names from Europe and every year we get to see your Figures "in the Flesh" thanks to the Collection of Fabio Nunari,but it would be great to see you there and maybe give a Seminar!!!
    Thanks
    Peter Shaw
  10. thegoodsgt Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    As prolific a sculptor as you are, is there any chance of your throwing us mere painters a bone once in a while by sculpting a figure for commercial release? Even one a year would be great. I can't imagine it would diminish the value of your one-of-a-kinds, and based on the reaction to your book here, there would clearly be a market for your work (even at a premium price point).

    Fingers crossed....
  11. Billhoran New Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks, everyone for the kind words, and for the many questions. Here are my replies, more or less in order of questions posted...

    Joe Hudson:

    Joe, the chest protector was made in two parts. The first part was rolled-out Duro/A&B. This was allowed to stiffen about 80% before it was gently pressed into the wet shirt putty. After it completely dried, I added the padding with straight Duro, using a knife to inscribe the horizontal lines, and a toothpick to create the rounded, quilted look.

    I must admit I have never done almost any real measuring or template making. I do almost everything by “eyeball”.


    Guy Herrick:

    That’s easy. Shep Paine. He was like a creature from another planet to me when I first saw his work in the little inserts showing a diorama he built with each Monogram armor kit. At first it was very depressing (how was I ever going to like my work as well as his?), but then it was pure inspiration.


    Gray Creager:

    I hate commercial sculpting. What I do is pure pleasure – I feel I can create almost anything I want and that gives me tremendous freedom. When one adds the burden of limiting poses, or design to the limitations of mold making, the process becomes too engineering-oriented for me. Engineering also adds considerably to the time each figure takes to complete, and my attention span is VERY limited!

    I have sculpted three commercial figures, Wyatt Earp (terrible), Cy Young in 90mm (pretty good), and an Italian 54mm Askari as a magazine promotion for Soldatini a few years ago (not too bad). If those are the last three, I will die a happy man!


    Jim Patrick:

    Thank you, Jim


    Robin Snelson:

    I wish I could, but I am not a very good “sketcher”. My Dad was – he was one of those people who could look at something and seem to be scribbling, until you looked at the finished sketch and it was excellent.


    Janne Nilsson:

    Janne, glad to know someone remembers Rome! I wish I could give you a long and elaborate explanation, but the fact is most of my sculpting starts in my head and based on experimentation during the posing process. I get a rough idea in my head (sometimes a very specific one, but not often), and then I wire together a “stick figure” (the armature with the wired legs and arms attached), and start playing with it until it seems exciting, dynamic, but most importantly … natural.

    I hate to lock myself in to a preconceived idea, as I sometimes come up with a better one while I’m working.


    Ernest Reyes:

    Ernest, the key is to have a good, opaque undercoat to start with. I star by adding the shadow colors in a small area first (beginning with the lighter shadows, in 4-5 folds). I use a brush with a very slight amount of mineral spirits (cheap hardware store “Paint Thinner” in the USA), and gently blur the edges of the shadow only where a gentle fold is, and leave the line sharp where a sharp transition is. I follow the same practice with darker shadows, and later highlights. The keys are: keep the paint thin, but not watery or transparent, and limit your blending work to the edges only.


    Peter Shaw:

    I would love to go to Germany, and Germany has a big ally in my wife, Heather. Her Maid-of- Honor at our wedding 26 years ago in South Africa is German and she has wanted to visit her for many years. Uwe Lacina is a great friend of mine as well (and one of my favorite people in the hobby). The problem I have is limiting my show attendance to something manageable so I will have time to make figures. I have three shows I attend each year in the USA, SCAHMS (March), MFCA (May) and Chicago (October). Add to this 1-2 shows that invite me to participate in some capacity in Spain and Italy, and I have a pretty full schedule. We also have family vacation plans each summer of course! Fabio tells me the shows you mentioned are excellent, and if he keeps the pressure on, I’ll eventually get to Germany! Hopefully, Bruno will be in a good mood when I arrive!


    Steven Brown:

    The term commercial release is to me what garlic and crucifix’s are to vampires!
  12. m@rp Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    Hi Bill,
    could you show us some pics of your work ( in SBS ) especially about face conversion or face creation of your models.
    I am a fan of your work.
    Many thanks
    Pascal
    (Belgium)
    -----------------------------------------------------
    Figurines-Histoire-Passion
  13. homellop Active Member

    Country:
    Spain
    Hi Bill
    No questions here.
    Your work is a true inspiration for any painter-sculptor.
    Best regards
    jaume
  14. btavis Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    >I have sculpted three commercial figures, Wyatt Earp (terrible), Cy Young in 90mm (pretty good), and an Italian 54mm Askari as a magazine promotion for Soldatini a few years ago (not too bad).

    Bill, didn't you do a German tank commander for S&T a few years back?
  15. Uruk-Hai PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Sweden
    Thanks Bill for answering my qustion.

    That is what Im striving for, although I would settle for a lower standard than yours. ;)

    I will attend the seminar in Boston as well.

    Cheers
  16. bucsfan21 Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Bill, Does your new book from Andrea have any how to construction ideas on building your baseball players? I greatly admire them and would love to try my hand at constructing one. Your first book gave me a great deal of inspiration on constructing military related figures. BTW, I have a casting of your Cy Young figure and have painted it. It is by far one of my favorite castings! Wish you would consider doing a few more greats from the game.

    Best of Everything, Terry Martin-Atlanta Miniature Figure Society
  17. Johan Well-Known Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    ... Bill, when I look at many of your figures it's quite obvious that you must have gotten much of your inspiration from classic paintings, good illustration material, etc. One such example was your immortal "Gandamak" in which I recognize much of Wollen's painting.
    Your latest stuff, the Franco-Prussian war figures, the French Old Guard Grenadier etc. seem to come out of the beautiful paintings by Detaille, De Neuville, Rochling, etc, or at least they capture the "flavour" of those paintings... Just like Stefano Cannone's figures, by the way.

    So, my question is, to what extent are you getting your inspiration from those paintings, and where do you find illustrations of all these ? Art prints? Books ? Hell, I'd love to have a good book with all of the paintings by De Neuville or Detaille, can you recommend some, and where to buy them ?
    It's just like with Stefano Cannone's latest Prussian figure for Elite, obviously it was done after a painting by Detaille that I never saw before, it just makes me wonder at the size of the libraries you and Stefano Cannone must have ... ! :lol:
  18. Billhoran New Member

    Country:
    United-States
    More answers to Planet Figure members...

    Pascal Marion

    Pascal, I really don’t have any sbs face re-sculpting photos, mainly because I always do it in only 1-2 steps. Most of my face work centers around starting with a really good face, then carving out and reworking the eyes and brow, and in more and more cases removing and re-adding a new nose and set of ears. I use straight Duro for this. The baseball players often require more work. There are some things that don’t lend themselves to photo sbs’s. I demonstrate the process at SCAHMS meetings and to friends when possible.

    Bob Tavis

    Yes, you are right. That was a ¾ figure for S & T (a little big for Tamiya kits, but not a bad figure.

    Terry Martin

    Terry, you are in luck. The biggest Chapter is the one showing the creation of my Yogi Berra figure.

    Johan Putseys

    Johan, you are absolutely correct about the importance of period paintings as an inspiration. Photos in the 19th century tended to be posed, studio affairs, while the period was graced with some of the most brilliant military artists of all time (of today’s artists, only Troiani compares to them). Detaille, Messonier, Caton Woodville, Fripp and De Neuville (my favorite), not only captured the uniforms in great detail, they also captured the essence of the period – it’s style and its attitudes. I consider it critical to capture the period “feel” these artists preserved on canvas, if I am to create a figure that truly has a sense of time and place.

    You can see in their paintings a manner of standing, of walking, wearing the cap a certain way on the head, or other insightful details, like the marvelously tight fitting gaiters De Neuville painted from life in his figures. All these little details add panache and a definite period flavor to the figure. Good question!

    Bill Horan
  19. quang Active Member

    Country:
    Belgium
    Hello Bill,

    Welcome to the Planet. I'm glad you found some spare time to spend with us.

    I have no particular question. Just sitting back and enjoying your answers to the members.

    As a matter of fact, we had a heated debate a while ago about the influence of classic paintings on your compositions. Your detailed answer to Johan's question put a definitve conclusion to that issue.

    Thank you again for your patience.

    Quang :)
  20. Jason W. Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks Bill for taking the time to share more of your insites with us. Your a HUGE influence on our hobby and I personally find a ton of inspiration from your work.

    In fact, I get the same excitment at seeing a new piece from you like I do viewing a new Don Trioani or Keith Rocco painting.

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