The Lioness, 1/10th scale, Stella Argentis

[PaulinKendal]

I love this powerfully built gladiatrix (?) from Stella Argentis. There are three versions, a full figure, a bust, and this half-figure.

Beautifully presented, she needed very little tidying before gluing up. Then primed in, black, brown oxide and a little desert tan.

I love the way figures come to life as soon as you start painting the eyes.

[Tim Marlow]

Nice, another interesting subject.

[PaulTRose]

I can tell that this is one im going to really like

[Jim R]

Even at this early stage the face looks great. You are certainly finding some very interesting and unusual subjects

[flyjoe180]

I would let her go in front of me at a checkout

[yak face]

If the eyes are anything to go by its going to be stunning paul , cheers tony

[PaulinKendal]

Thanks for the compliment, Tony.

[PaulinKendal]

So, I've done some blocking in, roughed in some skin tones and painted her headwrap. And I now have a couple of decisions to make.

The big one - should I switch to oils? This figure lends itself to oils, I reckon, but I bottled it, and now I'm wondering whether that was a mistake. The skin tones in particular would be much easier to do in oils. To do that I would start by blocking in the main shading in acrylics, which is how I started out, then lost my nerve a bit and carried on in acrylics, rather than switching across. Which I COULD do now, of course. So, to switch or not to switch?

Second issue - that headwrap. I think it looks quite nice (it's meant to be Kente cloth, a traditional Ghanaian textile), but I think it might be a bit out of place with the rest of the figure - a distraction. I think I either have to paint over it with something simpler, or paint the wrap around her bust in the same material - which will take a lot of time, and might look even worse! I'm kind of stuck on that one.

Anyway, I'm away from the hobby desk for a few days now, so plenty of time to mull it over.

Here's the pictures.

[flyjoe180]

I think the head wrap looks great Paul, and adds some colourful variation to the rest of her outfit. I see on the box cover the head wrap is a sort of camouflage pattern. But I like the colour and nod to the Ghanaian heritage

[PaulTRose]

This is awesome

I think its the opposite of distraction........ Its that little splash of colour that breaks up what would otherwise be composed of fairly dark colours

[PaulinKendal]

Thanks for the input, Paul, Joe.

I'm going to stick with the headwrap as-is for now, and see how it looks once the rest is done, especially all the metallics. If it still jars for me, it won't be difficult to paint over at the end.

And I'm persevering with acrylics. I was getting frustrated with blundering along trying to get smooth blends and transitions from dark to light. I realised I needed to go back to first principles and get my basic technique sorted out - I was working chaotically, not being systematic and not thinking through my paint dilution properly.

An excellent recent YouTube video by Ataraxia Painting gave me some fresh insights into what I was doing wrong, and I'm much happier with the results I'm getting now.

I do love how you can be stuck in a rut with something like this - then a simple reappraisal, undertaken honestly, can deliver real improvements.

Very satisfying!

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent work so far Paul. Really like the head wrap myself. I think it’s a great counterpoint to the rest of the figure as Joe and Paul R say…. You could, perhaps, brighten the body wrap slightly so it takes its cue from the orange in the head wrap? That would also work as a warm accent against the cooler skin tone?

[Jim R]

Another vote in favour of the headwrap.

[PaulinKendal]

Thanks Jim &Tim.

I'm on the train heading south right now, so I've a week to mull over your excellent suggestion, Tim!

[PaulinKendal]

Bit more work on this. I've smoothed out the skin tones and blocked out the leather, the metallics, and her locks in black.

Pretty happy with the loincloth, but I really don't know what I'm doing with the waistband. I tried treating it like leather, but it's too smooth and rounded for that. I think fabric is more true to the sculpt, but I don't think red is quite the right colour. Needs a bit of experimentation, I guess.