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Acrylics S.B.S. Officer of The 42nd Highlanders circa1854

Discussion in 'Painting Techniques' started by Wings5797, Feb 25, 2014.

  1. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Capt. R G Cunningham (b. circa 1830, d. September 15, 1855)


    Very briefly; Captain R.G. Cunningham fought and survived the war and disease in the Crimea but sadly died on the island of Malta whilst on his passage home to Britain on 15th September 1855.

    Grenadier Miniatures with the talents of Maurice (Moz) Corry have issued a likeness of Capt. Cunningham in their 120mm range of figures.
    http://www.grenadierminiatures.co.uk/figures.html
    Having prepared the figure with a few additions I would like to share my challenge with you step by step. Any observations, tips, advice etc. are most welcome as this is my foray away from my beloved Windsor Newton oil. The first move is always to prime the major components with a very light dusting of Halfords grey aerosol auto primer. This gives me the opportunity to clearly see any imperfections. This way they can be corrected before a complete priming coat is laid on.


    IMG_8325.JPG
    The first paint will be base flesh colour with minimal shadow and highlight at this stage.

    The mix for the base coat flesh is quite basic with;

    Mars Yellow, Pyrrole Red, Titanium White and a little Raw Umber.
    IMG_8340.JPG IMG_8344.JPG
    The forage cap was based with Raw Umber. Once dry a coat of Raw Umber and Lamp Black mixed to a very dark mahogany colour. This is applied in several thin coats/washes to give a good depth of colour.

    The base blue collar is Ultra Marine and Lamp Black. Gold lace on the collar is based with Mars Yellow and a little Cadmium Red Hue.

    A very basic start to the highland sword was based with Burnt Umber and the cushion in the basket based with Alizarin Crimson.
    IMG_8347.JPG IMG_8349.JPG

    I hope that this is of some use to somebody some where.

    Cheers,

    Keith
    Borek, Grod, Tecumsea and 8 others like this.
  2. BarrieHynd Well-Known Member

    Country:
    Scotland
    Keith, that was quick, looking good mate.
    Barrie.
    Wings5797 likes this.
  3. ACCOUNT_DELETED A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Thanks Keith. SBS's are always interesting and appreciated by the membership. This one is off to a great start.

    Colin
    Wings5797 likes this.
  4. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Thanks for your visit Guys,
    I had a little more time than I expected today so set to on the SBS.
    Not that I can teach you two anything.
    Colin and Barrie I appreciate your support.
    Cheers,
    Keith
  5. BarrieHynd Well-Known Member

    Country:
    Scotland
    Keith, i have been perservering with them acrylics so this will be very handy for me. Have watched numerous tutorials on how to use them but i am still doing something wrong:mad: So i will be watching and learning.

    Barrie.
    Wings5797 likes this.
  6. tiberius57 A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Nice start, Keith! Will watch with great interest.
    Are you using Jo Sonya acrylics?
    Cheers,
    Zeno
    Wings5797 likes this.
  7. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Hi Zino,
    Many thanks my friend.
    The paints that I am using are from Windsor Newton. They are some tubes that I have had around for some time now.
    If this trial run is a success I may try Jo Sonya. I understand that these are may by the best manufacturer for figure painting?
    Cheers Zeno,
    Keith
    tiberius57 and crf like this.
  8. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Hi Barrie,
    I fear that the the best you may learn from me is what not to do.
    I too have looked at some acrylic tutorials that make it look so quick in terms of drying and re coating so the colour is achieved rather than painted on. If that makes any sense. I looked in on a tutorial by Penny Meyer (I think that was Her name) and she was very good.
    I think that my biggest difficulty is how different the paints act and react. I seem to lay on colours with oil and get a translucent wash to achieve depth of colour and finish; matt, silk or gloss that so far I have not managed with acrylics. Still I will press on and I am sure that between the two of us we will get somewhere if it's only to agree that we need to stick to oil paint.
    All the best,
    Keith
    crf likes this.
  9. swralph A Fixture

    Good start on a nice figure(y)
    Wings5797 likes this.
  10. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Many thanks for dropping in and leaving such a kind message Ralph.
    All the very best,
    Keith
  11. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Lovely work Keith.(y)
    Wings5797 likes this.
  12. prhayes68 Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Hi Keith,

    This looks very nice to me. You seem to be handling the acrylics pretty well so far. I'm pretty old-fashioned and still use Humbrol Enamels mostly (stick with what you know, eh?). I started out with them on the Airfix Spitfires more years ago than I care to remember. However, recently my supplier was out of some of the regular enamels and I got some Humbrol acrylics instead. One of the missing colours was Scarlet and, as you might guess, I use that occasionally on Guardsmen :). So I've been experimenting as well and the results haven't been bad. Hoping I can learn something from you on this SBS. Keep up the good work!

    Pete
    Wings5797 likes this.
  13. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Thanks Carl,
    The tartan is not so lovely today, has had a visit to the oven moose. How is your tartan doing?
    Cheers,
    Keith
  14. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Cheers Pete,
    I am finding the acrylics a bit of a test but will press on for a while.
    There are a lot of the upper crust that stick with Humbrol and yes "stick with what you know".
    I really cannot picture you without a 1 litre tin of scarlet on your bench Mate.:eek:
    Keep watching,
    Cheers,
    Keith
    prhayes68 likes this.
  15. prhayes68 Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Buy shares in Humbrol. I wonder if Dulux make the right shade of red. That tin might be big enough:)

    Pete
    Wings5797 likes this.
  16. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    My Dear followers,
    Spent quite a bit of time today working on the kilt today............
    When I paint tartans I always try to keep in mind that the maximum number of colours at any point on the material is just two. one running top to bottom and the other left to right. This means that two threads crossing that are the same colour will give a strong tone of that colour at the point that they cross. Where the threads are of different colours the point of crossing is a mix of the two colours. I know this is obvious but it can be confusing when you get towards the completion of the pattern.
    The set of the tartan is the size from a single point on the tartan to the next identical point on the tartan. Military sets are between 5 and 8 inches. This equates to around 10mm on a 120mm figure.
    I based the Kilt with pale umber just to make it easier for the camera to pick up the small markings.
    IMG_8352.JPG

    In addition to this remember that the sculptor may supply you with a kilt that has a less than 'regular' rectangle. so you will have to adjust your set to suit.
    Join up the marks and get the correct width.
    IMG_8355.JPG

    Boarder this with dark grey.
    IMG_8360.JPG

    Next apply the dark blue.

    IMG_8361.JPG

    If it looks like this Get out the oven cleaner or..........******* *****
    I will try again tomorrow.
    Cheers,
    Keith:oops:
    Borek likes this.
  17. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Done thanks.
    Doing another now, but fortunately it's WW1 so most of it's covered.(y)
    Wings5797 likes this.
  18. Wings5797 A Fixture

    Country:
    France
    Thanks for the feed back Carl,
    Did you post it?
    It must have been better than my acrylic adventure.
    All the best,
    Keith
  19. tiberius57 A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    Thanks Keith!
    I have no experience with JS paints but many fellow painters are using them with great success. Looking forward to see how W&N acrylics are doing.
    Cheers mate and good luck. Will watch closely!
    Zeno
    Wings5797 likes this.
  20. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    Keith,
    Maybe advice for the Tartan: I'm not a expert but it is far easy to paint the kilt into a basecolor ( blue).
    Than making squars with green.
    After that you paint in the black lines and the yellow.
    It's easyer (i did it for the Highland Piper).

    Marc
    Funky50 and Wings5797 like this.

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