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WIP Critique Teutoburg Forest AD9

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by Alex Long, Nov 23, 2013.

  1. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Awesome groundwork.
    Just a small critique, and this just may be due to camera angle, but at first glance he and his cape appear to be defying gravity a bit.
    Alex Long likes this.
  2. FigureLover A Fixture

    Country:
    Australia
    OH WOW!!!! Love that groundwork, very natural looking and the colours are superb. Small details like the fungi are excellent
    Ben
    Alex Long likes this.
  3. maco61 A Fixture

    Country:
    Italy
    Superb groundwork.
    Impressive scenery.
    Compliments.
    Ciao by Maco
    Alex Long likes this.
  4. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Glad you like it.
    Yeah just putty for the mushrooms. I used MagicSculpt made a semi-circle-ish shape and super glued them on when they were dry, it was a bit fiddly!

    Alex
    T-34/85 and tiberius57 like this.
  5. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Hi Jason, I do take your point about the cloak, I never really considered it too much before as the box art dipicts him inclined upwards in a similar pose and I had it in my mind that it was forward motion creating the angle of the cloak, also it is partly wrapped around the sheild, so him raising the sheild in defence could conceivably cause the cloak to come forwards. Your making me look at it more now though!
    Alex.
  6. DEL A Fixture

    Country:
    Scotland
    Looking really good Alex as to the cloaks as you say dynamic forward motion works as would a tailwind behind the Roman.
    Every part of the groundwork is excellent and the mushrooms are magic (y)
    Cheers
    Derek
    Alex Long likes this.
  7. Edorta A Fixture

    Country:
    Spain
    I agree. And about the cloak of the roman I would say also, that can be some wind, up to the hill, that pushes the germanic´s cloak too. I don´t see it unnatural.

    Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia
    Alex Long likes this.
  8. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Hi Alex,
    I think the cloak could be ok, The thing that most stood out to me is that he is standing at quite a steep angle but not falling over backwards, but not really leaning into the hill to remain upright. If a person is on a steep slope they generally lean forward with their back leg planted and their front knee bent to stay as vertical as possible. Maybe a little less slope on the Romans part? Just a suggestion, your figures your choice. Heres a quick photoshop to compare to the original to show you what I think look more natural. Nice work, love the shrooms!
    Cheers
    Jason



    [IMG]

    [IMG]
    Borek and Krest063 like this.
  9. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    The main issue with the angle of the Roman is his eyeline, I wanted it to meet the German's which is why the angle is such, otherwise it looks like he is looking down at the Germans feet and this is why I introduced the log to the base. The idea in my head was that he is just stepping onto the log and bring up his sheild.

    Alex.
  10. JasonB Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
  11. T-34/85 PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    As already stated, excellent groundwork.(y)(y) I thought the same thing about the eye line of sight when I first saw these figures released. Your rendition with the log is a great idea in how to display them. I'll take inspiration on your groundwork results on a project I'm working on involving the same battle, but different scale.
    Tom
    tomifune and Alex Long like this.
  12. gorgosaurus Active Member

    Country:
    Denmark
    The splitting of the sloped base works very well. I´ve been tryuing this out on a larger format with my Dinosaurs.
    Agree that wind from behind could be moving the Roman´s cloak - an item of clothing that is an encumberment in a fight and would put him at a further disadvantage against an uncloaked opponent coming down-slope,
    Agree also that the Roman seems to be off balance - which could work in the context of his defeat due to difficult terrain. Eye contact could be maintained by moving the figure as suggested by JasonB and tipping the head back.

    I´m confident this will look good however you choose to finish it.

    Spike.
    Alex Long likes this.
  13. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Painting of the Roman has begun, first off I airbrushed the cloak with Jo Sonja reds building up to some extreme highlights with Jaune Brilliant. These have been toned down using a glaze of Vallejo red thinned with Tamiya acrylic thinners via a brush. Cloak is not finished yet as I wanted to get an overall feel for the piece before I progress it.

    _DSC4902.JPG _DSC4904.JPG _DSC4906.JPG

    With that in mind I moved onto the flesh using Jo Sonja. Faces are normally my favourite thing to paint but I have to say I didn't really enjoy this one as much, he has some serious creases between cheeks and mouth which really dictate how you have to approach the face. Again I haven'y really finished the flesh yet as I wanted to get some more colours on him and the new Steel Metallic paintset from Scale 75 arrived on Saturday and I was keen to try it out!

    Here is the progress with the flesh and the metal basecoated

    _DSC4915.JPG _DSC4917.JPG

    These are the first Scale 75 paints that I've bought and I'm super impressed. Very fine pigments, super smooth and very shiny. The Alchemy colours are great as well, they are metallic with a kind of pearlescent look to them, they work very well. I think these are the best acrylic metallics I've ever used. Now waiting to get the gold set to de the rest of the metal.

    _DSC4920.JPG _DSC4918.JPG _DSC4919.JPG

    Plenty more work to be done here still, but he's taking shape.

    Thanks for looking,

    Alex.
    Borek, Mat Lambert, Tonton and 4 others like this.
  14. Ferris A Fixture

    Coming together nicely Alex!

    Those metallics definitely look terrific. The greaves look real! You did not use gloss varnish over them?

    Cheers,
    Adrian
    Alex Long likes this.
  15. Don Johnson Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Alex, I'm late to this party, but I LOVE the split base concept! I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all comes out.
    My only comment concerns the log. All the bases have what I call a "hard edge" - the groundwork goes right to the edge of the base, and shapes and guides the eye to the key elements of the scene. I personally like a hard edge, and use it constantly. But the log overlaps the hard edge, and gets me wondering why there's nothing under it, and diverts my attention. Now maybe it's just me, but if the log was also cut flush with the base side (and painted flat black), it would still convey the forest setting, but would keep my focus on the figures, where it belongs.
    On the other hand, if I'm in the minority on this one, this little niggle will NOT lessen my appreciation of what you are doing with this piece! Don
    Alex Long likes this.
  16. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    No gloss varnish that's just how these paints come out. I thoroughly endorse them, they make me feel like re-doing previously finished metallic on other pieces!
    Alex
  17. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    A quick update. I painted the face on the Germanic Warrior using the same Jo Sonja mix that I used for the Roman. Thought I'd make use of the flesh mix on the wet palette before it spoiled!

    More enjoyable to paint than the Romans face!

    _DSC4924.JPG _DSC4925.JPG _DSC4926.JPG

    Thanks for looking

    Alex
  18. debrito A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    What a face, very good Alex , looking close for the next steps....(y)
    Alex Long likes this.
  19. 1969 A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Enjoying every step of this one Alex, coming along nicely and I like the look of the scale 75 metallics,might invest in some of those, did you purchase them in the U.K ?
    Steve
    Alex Long likes this.
  20. Alex Long A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Thanks Steve :)
    Yes the metallics have really impressed me, in fact just 10 mins ago the postie popped (squeezed :wtf: ) the new gold set through my letterbox, can't wait to try them out. Both set were purchased from Historex Agents.

    Alex.
    1969 likes this.

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