Hello everyone,

I have just finished this Spartan hoplite. He is sculpted in Chavant & his height is 22 cm. The only thing remaining is the upper part of the spear & then he'll be molded in silicone.

I sculpted this for a cousin of mine who asked me for a Spartan soldier. I wanted to avoid the Classical period and 300 (the film) so after a bit of searching I decided on the 7th century. While searching I thought it might be interesting to take an image from an ancient vase and render it in 3D. The image I chose is from a well known Proto-Corinthian vase, known as the "Chigi vase" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigi_vase). I also used the bronze cuirass now in the archaeological museum of Argos as reference - it's of a slightly earlier date but it was helpful. Obviously I took liberties with a couple of things (the locking in place of the armour etc.) but overall the images on the vase were very clear and suited my purpose.

I had great fun sculpting him. I hope you like him. Feedback is welcome.

All the best,
Elia

Not bad. It would be good as a bronze statue. As a '3D image taken from a vase' it's good. Are you going to sculpt any other miniatures. I think you should.

Martin

Thank you for your feedback, Martin.

This is my second scratchbuilt mini - usually my stuff is bigger and less detailed. I'm sculpting a couple of other figures which I hope to post soon here.

All the best,
Elia

As a (presumed) copy of a 7th Cent BC Spartan illustration or your own work symapthetic to that period, I think you have captured the 'feel' of a statue or an art depicted figure from antiquity very well indeed.

Gary

Thank you, Gary. Indeed, the pose is inspired by the kouroi of the period and the costume/armour is from the vase.

All the best,
Elia

p.s. I'm an archaeologist by training (and by temperament), if anyone's wondering!

Hello all,

the sculpting and moulding phases of the figure have been completed. Now for the painting.

I primed in enamel and began painting the armour with a mixture of Winsor & Newton gold ink and burnt umber acrylic paint. There is still the shading/highlighting to be done as well as some washes to tone it down a little. I'm happy with the initial colour though. Next will be his shorts and finally the flesh tones.

I've also started work on the base.

As always, comments/critique/suggestions welcome.

All the best,
Elia

(I know the tag is "Completed" but it's still a work in progress so I hope there is no problem in continuing to post in this thread instead of beginning a new thread with a different tag)

Hi Elia, nice work, definitely has the simplicity of pre classical sculpture, well done. Have you considered the idea of sculpting relief figures?
Best wishes, Gary.

Thank you for your kind words, Gary.

My stuff tends to be on the austere side - basic forms, not too much ornament - I think it's a character trait!

I have never sculpted a relief figure but it's definitely on my "to do" list. I have no idea how to go about it which is probably why I keep putting it off - the process seems fairly different to sculpting a figure in the round. I will give it a go one of these days.

All the best,
Elia

Hello all,

painting of this figure is slowly progressing. The base is finished (although I can't get a decent photo of it) and I just finished painting the front of the shield. I photocopied the image to the appropriate size and then copied it to the shield using carbon paper and tracing over it. The drawing was then painted with black Winsor & Newton ink.

All the best,
Elia

Hello everyone!

I finished this before Christmas - in time to give it to my cousin - and I forgot to post photos of it.

I've still not fully solved the problem of the undercoat (there's some blue showing through the paint) and it broke at the ankles (the pin was not long enough). Oh well, it will turn out better next time.

All the best,
Elia