discussion Queen Boudicca of the Iceni

[Guest]

Thanks Joe hows things in the land of mordor

 

[Ian M]

That is fantastic. I hope you get this one kitted!

Ian M

 

[Guest]

Cheers Ian, well ive had a few offers to turn this into a kit, ive also had a great deal of interest from the British museum who supplied the plans, but who knows theres a long way to go yet.

So at long last I decided to get the paints out, first thing I had to do though was to make a 1mm hole in the axle for the lynch pin, nearly forgot it

This is actually quite a complicated little set up, it consists of a metal ring, like a large washer, with holes in and a curved lynch pin, and a leather strap with a metal ring at one end, ill put a diagram up later to show how it all went together, but it was basically a quick release mechanism for the wheel as well as a way of holding the wheel on

The whole thing had a coat of grey primer

And this was left for at least 24 hours.

These chariots would in all probability have been painted, so im going for a painted worn look. The base coat is a mix of Raw sienna and yellow, I started at the back and added washes of different shades of the base colour, near where the bindings are im making these darker area, not just because of shading , but also that's where dirt and grime would build up, there would also be staining from the leather bindings when they got wet.

Ive added highlights to the very edges, and also very thin black lines where the dirt has seeped into the grain of the wood

Sorry about the pics, my camera will not focus very well in close ups

The bindings are base coated Burnt Sienna with burnt umber for the shading and white added for the highlights.I also want to paint a celtic pattern on the back spar, something like the eternal knot, the wheels will also have some sort of decoration on them.

all for now

Paul

 

[Guest]

I thought id move on to the driver for a bit of variety, So I always start with the face on figures, I think the face either makes or breaks a figure, after base coating I put a couple of coats of flat black on and left it 24 hrs to go off.

I then did the eyes, off white first, then black circle, then blue over that just leaving a thin black edge, and then a black centre and finally a white light dot, I then painted where the highlight areas are

I then added the low lights, this is a shade about 2 shades darker than the highlight

I then mixed the pallet with 6 shades the highlight and the darker shade plus 2 shades of a combination of both, and a final highlight shade and a darkest

shade. the next stage is to use the intermediate shades on the harsh lines between the first 2 colours, this blends the colours together

and then add the final lowlights and highlights and base the hair

looks a bit like Charles Bronson.

next stage was the helmet, it was base coated and then I used silver mixed with black and dry brushed it on gradually using less black until I had straight silver on the top

Added a bit of brass around the base and the chin scales and highlighted the hair, I was really pleased with the helmet it came out really well

all for now

Paul

 

[Guest]

Love how it is coming out.

Impressive results and very good tutorial!

Francesco

 

[Guest]

Cheers Francesco, just a further update, started on the chainmail and the front part to the cloak, the chainmail is dry brushed, as the helmet, first with silver and black and then less black for the highlights. The cloak will be tartan, so green base with blue crisscross then thin red stripe within the blue, and then yellow stripe within the green.

all for now

Paul

 

[Guest]

I'm agree with Francesco, thank you Paul to share all the paint process with us.

This is coming very nice, and you nailed the helmet!!

Cheers. Polux

 

[Guest]

Gobsmacked is an understatement Paul.

Thanks for the mini tutorial ... Will have a bash at that sometime... Is I get somewhere half as good I'll be chuffed to bits.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments guys, theres really no mystery to face painting, its just like everything else, practice, practice, practice, the next time I do a bust ill do a more in depth SBS

Paul

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul.

Can ask something please?

Do you use sometimes oils? Or only acrylics?

Regards

 

[Guest]

Polux you can ask whatever you want mate, a few years ago I was a total oily wouldn't use anything else, but I changed to acrylics and that's just about all I use now, occasionally I use enamels for various bits, normally the metal cote paints for armour, but I like the drying time for acrylics and the flat matt finish

Paul

 

[flyjoe180]

That binding is very well done Paul. Coming along nicely. As for the Land of Mordor, it's getting warmer and lighter, summer is on it's way once you lot have finished with it.

 

[Guest]

Cheers Joe, well we had a pretty good one this year, makes a change, so i might have to pack up and head your way

Paul

 

[Guest]

WOW that figure is stunning

 

[Ian M]

Great to see how those faces get painted. thanks for that!

As for a fierce war chariot driver..... He looks pretty 'armless to me....

I'll get my coat.

Ian M

 

[Guest]

Cheers Terry, glad you like it,

Ian many thanks mate, your jokes get worse

Ok I also moved on to the first horse, we have had a bit of a discussion about horses earlier, so I thought I would do some digging and find out exactly what sort of horses were around in AD 60. For some dim reason I had assumed that horses were not native to this country, it turns out the bones from a horse were found in graves and were dated 500,000 years ago, so I think its safe to say that they are native. As for types of horse, according to the Natural History Museum, there were a plethora of different types ranging from thelwell type Shetlands to cart horses and all in between, in fact the Romans took some breeds back to Italy to breed with their stock. So im going to do 2 different horses and 2 types I havnt done before, I love painting Dapples mainly because there is such a variety with them, but also because there is a stables nearby where they breed them, however because I nearly always do them im going to do a Skewbald and a Piebald, which are brown and white and black and white respectively

So the horse had a primer coat, left for 24 hours, and then a base coat, because of the size of these I paint them a bit at a time and I always start with the head.

This is the left side of the head with out shading, I use white with a touch of brown as a base coat and Raw Sienna for the patches

And this is the right side with the first lot of shading done and the eye boggle

And the left side with the first shading

I always use an off white for the base coat for white horse so that the highest highlight can be straight white

Heres the right side with the second shading done to the face and the first part of the neck, What I do is paint the base colour then as the shadow deepens I add a little black to the base colour and then a bit more each time so that as it gets nearer to the deepest part of the crease it gets darker.

And this is Max telling me to take him out for a walk

Paul

 

[Guest]

the highlights on that dog make it look almost real

 

[Guest]

cheers Harry I think I did the wet nose particularly well

 

[Ian M]

Actually thinking about it Max is doing a great service. A good reference to how the light plays on short dense hair.....

He looks to me as if he is hungry and thinking..."It's dinner time! Stop the faffing about and put that brush down".

My cats do it quite often...

Love the neddy by the bye.

Ian M

 

[Guest]

Ian shouldn't that be how light plays on a dense dog .................... Thanks mate neddy coming along OK

Paul