I managed to talk a friend into letting me do a commission piece, the rather exquisite Boudica bust from RP Models. This is my first real serious piece, and my first all resin kit. The kit is stunning; there is plenty of texture, fine details and a lovely flow. The molding is for the most part excellent, except for the cape which had some blemishes at the pour gate, nothing a little putty can't fix though. There were a few pin holes here and there, fortunately not many, and the mold lines were mostly easy enough to deal with. Fit could have been a little better in areas, not sure if shrinkage is the culprit or what. Relatively easy to deal with and nothing to get upset about, just being picky. I had to replace a hair tip as it had broken off either in transit or when I was handling the head so do be careful. The parts are well packaged and should be safe from even rough handling. The cape needed a bit of putty at the join and I added some lead wire for trim detail that wasn't there. Speaking of the cape, I have no idea what the strips of material running across the width are supposed to be, if anyone has an answer, I'm all ears. One thing that sort of bothered me (maybe bothered is a bit strong a word) is the way her bodice/tunic just floats in space. Very dynamic, but something needs to be done to make it look less strange. I decided to add a rock base made of plaster with her name engraved in the face. The rock is shaped to add some continuity and to provide "legs".
















A close up of the inscription




And broken down for painting




This should be a very interesting challenge, by far the most involved painting project I've attempted. There is so much detail to work with, and the technical challenges should keep me on my toes.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap! The thing with the cape that just got me wondering is that the larger areas have a slightly woven texture (the textures on this thing have got be seen to be believed) while the strips are smooth, and the leather straps and what nots all have a leather texture. I'm wondering if it was a bit of artistic license to help hide the join as the cape is cast in two parts and the texture just got forgotten? Ah well, I'll figure out something as she gets some colour.

Kimmo

pulled up a chair with a cuppa, if you dont mind

Cheers Steve, plenty of room.

I managed to get down some rough base coats today. I wasn't being too neat in coverage with the clothing just yet, I want to get a feel for the tones before I tidy things up and start to add some shading.









My point of reference for the cape is this photo plucked from the net, my friend liked the colours and pattern.




I will also be using the following as a guide for my palette, from the same site I believe.




As you can see, the colours are quite muted so I will have to tone down the green a touch. The cape looks good to get shading on and the skin tone is a good starting point. Still need a colour(s) for the strips on the cape. A decent day at the bench I think.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap, sharing is caring. Unless we're talking about communicable diseases.

Another good day, base coats more or less down and some shading work done as well. I think the green needs a bit more desaturation and the cape a touch of blue, but things are slowly coming together.











Lots more to come.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap and Steve! I went with a blue glaze per my friend's request, there was nothing wrong with the colour, apart from it not being blue enough, we'll see what the verdict is. The green was cut back with a couple of filters and I redid some of the shading and got some definition into the embroidery and leather.















Here's a 100% crop to give you an idea of the textures on the figure. A good excuse to test the zoom on my new camera. I'm liking this camera a lot, the old one would not have picked up half of the brush strokes or shading. Pretty impressive using just auto settings and my work light.





More to come.

Kimmo

Detail on the RP models is quite breathtaking, i have the Bader Cockpit Figure, Camel and rider, Rogers Ranger bust and cant believe the different textures they manage to capture in resin. This is coming along very nicely

Cheers Steve! There's almost too much detail, you can really get lost in them and lose sight of the overall canvas, so to speak.

And speaking of overall canvas, I ran into a bit of a snag with the cape that I should have thought about before the priming stage. The sculptor has done a wonderful job with shape and flow, unfortunately for my purposes, the cape is a bit uneven and will make laying down a grid of plaid rather tricky. I cut up some thin strips of tape and laid down a grid to see how the pattern might fit, and this is the result:



Bear in mind my grid isn't perfect, and it is almost impossible to get a "flat" shot due to the folds and ripples so some of the lines may look somewhat off. The main point to take away from the photo is that you can see how the bottom of the cape isn't parallel to the strip in the middle. The vertical taper is something that can be lived with, as it probably was that way in real life. A slight pinch will probably have to be added to the upper half in any event. Consulting with my friend, I have the option of leveling off the bottom edge or giving it a tattered look. I think leveling off is the easiest course of action. This means I need to do some careful measuring on both sides and do a bit of cutting and sanding, then replacing the braiding trim. Not a huge undertaking, just an unfortunate situation at this stage of the game. At least the colours of the tunic and cape are more to my friend's liking now.

While jotting this update, a thought occurred: since I'm going to be doing some cutting and sanding, would removing the raised strips make sense? I'll more than likely have to redo the blue in any event, and then that bothersome (for my purposes) set of strips would no longer be an issue? Hmmm....

Kimmo

I think you can 'tweak' the horizontal lines so there 'apperas' to be no taper.
As you say, no flat surface to compare against, and in a lot of Art things are 'suggested' more than thet 'say'.

I will need to think a little bit more on how to approach the grid, but it might be doable without any reworking LH, we'll see as we get to it.

A little more progress otherwise. The cape got a bit more reworking with the blue, I painted the strips a linen colour per request and started to get some work done on her head.













The shading of the hair isn't quite coming through, there is a bit more highlighting than the photo shows, otherwise, I think it's coming along nicely. I needed to get some of the colours blocked in to see how it all fits and blends together. Adding some flesh tone and the golden band really help to see what's going on and that the colours work together. I'll have to do the fox next, and to make sure the shades aren't too close to hair, then get some deep shadows added to the hair. This has been rather more involved than I imagined. I knew the technical aspect would be a challenge, working the palette and creating some harmony really has me thinking at each stage, which is a good thing, for a change.

Kimmo

A very methodical and orgnised approach to a complex and "difficult" bust and meticulous work are already producing some very good results.Will follow with great interest.

Oda.

Cheers Oda! More fiddly work today with the hair, the leather armour and the fox. Happy with the progress, a flat coat is needed to eliminate the sheen from the glaze medium. The hair is a real challenge, lots of motion and contrast to work with. My bench light isn't really doing this justice, hopefully when I get a proper setup for glamour shots, the full effect comes out a bit better.










And a couple of shots with the zoom. Again you can see just how much detail and texture there is with this. It's a either a dream piece or a nightmare, depending on how much you enjoy doing detail work.






Next up will be a glaze for the armour, I'll use either Model Color Smoke or Model Air Umber. Both are transparent paints that produce realistic leather results with minimal fuss. A lot of the highlighting and wear will fade out so I'm not going all out just yet, touch ups will be done once the glaze is on.

Kimmo

Coming along very nicely, hair and the fox are very well done.

Cheers Steve!

A lot more progress today, the leather bits are now stained and dry brushed a bit to get the grain showing (slightly getting picked up in the photos), the horn and metal bits have been painted as well. The hair was still bothering me a bit, turns out that what I needed was a wash of my leather potions. I mentioned I use Smoke and Burnt Umber, but had forgotten about Mahogany. Mahogany is a a really rich, reddish brown, and was just the ticket to blend in the hair and to get an overall red tint that was missing. The metals are done with Metal Color, these are lovely paints, do pick some up the next time you make an order with your paint stockist.








And a couple of shots without the cape to show of the leather work and details a bit better. I really have to suss out the proper angle/distance for optimal lighting, still not getting a proper look at some of the work.






Need some clear coats to seal the work, and then toss a coin as to whether I start the grid or the other details that still need painting. Not looking forward to the grid, to be honest. It will be a good challenge and maybe a necessary one in terms of personal progress, but not really looking forward to doing it just the same.

Kimmo

Wonderful work, and I agree with Nap re the fox.
How about making the fox a bit more yellow? The ones I have seen up here in bonny Scotland are not a red as you have painted it - the colour is closer to the lighter shades of ginger hair and would contrast better with the wonderfully attractive red of your female warrior.