Medusa - review

Miss Medusa is with me for a while now, so I guess it's time to introduce her to you guys:D

The bust was sculpted by Allan Carrasco, and it's my second piece from this sculptor (the first one is disturbingly detailed but beautiful Succubus), done for Lugdunum Figurines Club for their 10th anniversary. I bought it directly from their website Transaction itself was swift and very pleasant, so I can recommend it to everyone. If you want Medusa for yourself, just send them an email:)

OK, enough pleasantries, let's cut to the chase. Let's take a look at our beauty.
She arrived in a plastic bag covered with paper band, as you can see on the pictures below (the outer box was stuffed enough so the bust was properly secured).

On the inner side of the paper band is something you don't see very often. A short instruction where should we glue all the snakes. It's in french, and I don't understand a word, but it's helpful anyway.

 
Bust consists of 8 parts: body, head and 6 pieces of snakes. They seem to be rather clean, but some work will be needed after all.

Body is definitely the best part when it comes to the cast, there is just one mould line at the back and few air bubbles at the bottom (they're not even visible when you look at the front of the model, but need to be filled anyway). 
Head is more complicated. Face part is almost clean, with just little air bubbles and other imperfections on the chin, but this part will be easy to clean and I need to mask joining point with the neck anyway, so it's not a problem at all. Snakes on the other hand will need some more serious cleaning up and some work with joining the separate snakes with the rest. But what can we expect? It's very complicated part and I guess some imperfections are understandable.

The joining point seems to be well prepared and both parts fit together very well. Of course I'll have to hide it with some putty but it's in a spot where skin can fold a bit, especially under the chin, so it should be easy to conceal.
At this point I have no idea how much 'fun' will bring attaching snakes, but I'll find out soon enough (and of course will share the knowledge with you;p)

At the end I tried to take some pictures of snakes heads, to show you how detailed they are, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to see anything;]

I'm not very good at scoring miniatures, and all that, but I do like that bust. I find the quality good enough and I hope that I'll have some fun painting it.
And hopefully this little review will be of any help to you.

cheers

'eM

Textures - some sort of weird introduction

Recently I've been thinking about texturing that imitates fabrics on miniatures (due to my two beautiful Pegaso boys). Which scale is big enough to give it a try, to make it look natural, not only to show off.
Should we do that while painting miniatures up to 90mm, or maybe only bigger? Does it look realistic, or not really?
Sure, when it's done right it looks pretty awesome (for a freehand), shows the skill and dedication of the painter (you know, all these long hours he/she spent painting all the tiny lines). But is it necessary and believable?
Does it add more realism to the mini, or maybe is a bit over the top? I must say I do have my doubts, but still didn't make my mind.

Let's think about it for a moment, and look at some pictures:

Here are some close-ups of contemporary fabrics and photos of clothes made of them.

Silk

 

Wool

 

Linen

Velvet

I don't think threads of any of these fabrics would be visible even in scale 1:20. Well maybe except of thickest wools and roughest  linen. And of course old and crumpled velvet, but that's completely different thing.


But you may say: it's all contemporary fabrics, made by fancy machines. And what about old times?


Personally I don't really think it was that much different from now. Of course the technology of weaving, and used tools were different, but let's give some credit to our ancestors. Even in the middle ages people were able to weave some fine and delicate fabrics. 

Quoting Vikings Online:
 "The Vikings were not the barbarians that our Victorian forefathers imagined, so extremely coarsely woven cloth such as sack cloth, is not required for clothing. 10 threads per centimeter was average, whilst 60 threads per centimeter was not uncommon for extremely fine material." Source

Let's do the math:
10 threads per 1 cm, 1mm thick thread, and in scale:
- 1:10 it's 1/10mm thick single thread,
- 1:20 it's 1/20mm thick single thread,
- 1:35 it's 1/35mm thick single thread. 


And that's the thick wool... Made by Vikings. How much better should it be on royal courts in more developed parts of the world?

Here are some examples of real medieval fabrics found in archeological excavations.

silk brocade

 source

silk
source

 

wool
source

As you can see it's not that primitive and thick as we could imagine.

Looking only from that point of view, all attempts to recreate a fabric on a mini smaller than 1:10 is kinda pointless. Try to imagine how extremely thick would it be when increased to the real size...
Silly, isn't it??:>

But on the other hand....
Textured fabrics, if done properly, and not on every single piece of clothing, definitely add some visual interest to the mini (even if it hurts a little when we think about the 'real' thickness of the painted fabric).
After all, the contrast we build on a mini is way out of proportion to the real life, but it helps to show three-dimensional of the mini.
So maybe textured fabrics, if done with some sense, may be a really nice addition to the mini and not only show off?
I really don't know;p  I'll probably try at some point just to prove myself that I can do that good enough. And even said that, I don't think I'd ever dare to 'recreate' threads of silk or other delicate fabrics or on clothes of nobility and kings, but maybe on a woolen cloak it wouldn't be too bad?

And there is one more aspect of this textured affair...
Maybe it's only a temporary trend to paint fabric's threads everywhere it's possible, just to push the border of what's possible in this hobby a little bit further? Maybe it will pass at some point and we'll all get back to the smooth painting?


How do you think?
Am I making mountains out of molehills, or do we have a topic for valid discusion?


cheers


'eM

Pegasus Project - Templar's shield, update

I've been working on the Templar's shield yesterday. 

Still lots to do, but I think it's going into the right direction.

At this point I'm really happy with the way the front of the shield is turning out. I'm not an expert on randomness. I find it tricky to do random stains and blemishes and avoid creating patterns. But I guess after adding some blood it should look good.

And here are few close-ups, to show you the texture of dirt and damage on the shield's front, and wood grain at the back.

I know you can see all the little imperfections (not so little too;p), but please bare in mind, that these are some extreme close-ups.  The shield is more or less 6,5 cm long, so most of the flaws will disappear, while looking at the miniature as a whole.

But if you have any ideas how I could improve the shield, please do not hesitate. All criticism and comments will be highly appreciated. I want this piece to be my best:)


cheers

'eM

Medusa on her way and shopping ban

Few weeks ago I decided, that I need to stop buying new miniatures for now... It was hard, very hard... but I was strong! And managed to last in this decision for a week, two weeks tops;p

And then, I bought this lovely lady - Gorgon Medusa.

Beautiful bust sculpted by Allan Carrasco and available through Lugdunum Figurines Club.
It should be with me sometime next week and I must admit I can't wait. I do love that thrill  when I take new mini from the box for the first time.

But I know that I need to stop, seriously!!
Well, at least for now;p
At least till September 22nd!!
And then I'll probably go nuts:D Buying all those beautiful miniatures I won't be able to resist.
So dear vendors during EuroMilitaire, bevare!! I'll be there!!

cheers

'eM

To WIP or not to WIP

Recently I've been thinking about my WIP photos. About how rarely they look any good.
I must admit I'm quite messy painter, and I tend to work on all parts of the mini almost simultaneously, so most of the time my miniature look kinda messy with all these sharp edges between lights and shadows, unfinished parts and missing elements. Sometimes it's even hard to tell what is ready for evaluation and what's just the base colours.

Here are some of my examples:

Maybe I'm doing myself more harm than good publishing WIP photos, maybe it would be better not to show them at all? Publish only finished pieces?

And what's your opinion about WIPs? Do you post them for your own works, or rather not? Do you like to watch how works of other painters are developing in time?

cheers

'eM

From Hall of Shame to Hall of Fame

Yay!! I managed to finish one of the minis from Hall of Shame!!
 
I must admit, this one was fairly easy, as I did most of the painting almost a year ago, and put it on the side because I lost all my heart for this mini. I was hoping that at some point it will pass and I'll be able to finish it.
Sadly it didn't, so I decided to fix the biggest issues (like the missing shadow under the mini) and put it on the shelf with other finished miniatures.

So here he is, Marquis de Carabas
from the SMOG, a Victorian Fantasy range by Smart Max.

Cmon

If you're interested how I did the base, you can check my articles about candles and bones.


cheers,

'eM