Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 7

And the piece is finally finished!

Since my last post, I worked to finish off the column.  I focused on the front side first before turning to the back.

 The rear was done just like the front, working on 4 or 5 stones at a time.  It was a relief to finally be done with all of them!!!  After that I laid down some basic dirt brown shades for the ground.  I tried to keep it light.  I wanted it to look like dry earth, not dark mud.

I also took care of the sign on the front of the column.  I applied a few subtle shades of dark grey to the gate to give it a little variation (though nothing major).  Then I added a bit of grass and some dead leaves to break up the ground work.  A few pigments here and there on the ground and base of the column, and the scene was complete!

The final step was the add the sword and scabbard for the dragoon.  The scabbard was painted in black, like the boots, and metallics for the fittings.  The cloth bit wrapped around the handle was done just like the yellow-gold details on the uniform.

Here's how the final result looked.  All in all, a fun project and one I'm happy with.

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 6

The base is coming along brick by brick.  Makes me wish I'd picked a simpler setting for him but too late now!

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 5

I finally had the time to sit back down and finish off the Dragoon's left boot.  Here's a quick close up of the finished boots next to the sketched in ones.  In case you missed my last post, the tutorial on how I did them has been posted here.

That means the figure is essentially finished.  The only thing to add to him is the sword (which he'll be holding in his left had).  The bottom of the scabbard will be resting on the ground while the handle will be in his hand, so I wanted to wait until he was ready to go on the base before I permanently attached it.  That will actually be a bit tricky.  I've got to get the attachment right at both ends.  Then there are the straps which will go around his leg and attach where they disappear beneath his coat.  I'll have to bend and adjust these so they look right.  If I'm not careful, it'll be easy to scratch up the existing paint job on the figure.  It's all stuff I should be able to handle, but it will need to be done with some care.

In the meantime, I need to paint that base.  I started on that the other day.  I gave the gate a dark base coat (it will be wrought iron) and then applied several different shades of grey as base coats for the stones in the column.  I plan to make this using light grey/white stones, but I want to have some variation in there.  Right now it's a bit extreme, but as I continue to paint and highlight each one, I think the end result will look subtler.  So far I've just painted a few, but I need to keep moving along if I want to get this done in time for the SCAHMS show!

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 4

Taking advantage of the painting time and getting as much done on the Dragoon as I can.  I cleaned up the gold lace/cord and did the rest of the cords and epaulets.  This was done with Burgundy Wine, Muddy Brown, Palomino Gold, Buckskin Pale, Linen White, and Pure White.  I then took care of some small details (the last of the horse hair on the top of his helmet and the medal on his chest) and then I turned my attention to the boots.  Like the horse hair, I wanted a shiny black look for the boots.  I'm putting together a detailed tutorial which will be posted over on FigureMentors (though I'll share the announcement/link here as soon as it's up).  In the meantime, here's a quick look at how I painted them.  As you'll notice, I only completed one of the two boots.  The blending is a time consuming process, so I find it easier to just focus on one at a time.  I'll hopefully take care of the other boot later this week.

First, I began with a sketch of where I want the highlights

Then I start the slowly blend them back down into the black.  I start with the lightest shades and gradually get darker and darker.  Here's a look at that partially done.  The image on the right has been blended from Vampiric Shadow (an off white) to Dark Elf Highlight and then to Dark Elf Skin.

From there the blending continues, going from Dark Elf Skin to Dark Elf Shadow.  A little Pure Black was used in some shadows, but most of what appears to be black is just the Dark Elf Shadow.

Finally, I went back in with some Vampiric Highlight and then Pure White to add some extra pop to the reflection points.  You can see the comparison below between the previous blend (on the left) and the one with the brighter reflections on the right.  I also made a few tweaks so some of the blends (like on the top of the foot) while I was at it.

I've written up a much more thorough discussion of how I did these and how I approach shiny black in general.  I hope to get it posted in the next few days, so check back for an update with the link!

Now that you've seen the boots, here's the rest of him.  Just a little more to do on him and then it will be time to tackle that base.

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 3

After finishing up the Fallen Angel, I thought I'd try to finish up another old project.  The SCAHMS show (the local Los Angeles figure group) is coming up in a little over a month and I don't have anything to bring!  I've been working on a lot of pieces, but nothing is finished.  The Fallen Angel is the only piece I've completed since last year and it's already off with its new owner.  I could keep working on the Celt, but I'm not sure if I have enough time to finish it before the show.  Redghar and Count Melenth are close, but both are a bit stuck and I'm not sure I can work through them in time either.  Luckily, the Dragoon is a relatively straightforward piece and should be easy to finish off in time.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll even have time to finish something else like the Hussar bust... but that's getting a little ahead of myself.

After dusting off the Dragoon, I started to work on his helmet.  I did the basic metal for the helmet and then started working on the leopard skin.  Although not this specific Dragoon's helmet, here is an example of a French Dragoon Officer's helmet.

Using that and some other online images as a guide, I tried to recreate the pattern on the figure.  For the background color I used Bronzed Shadow, Bronzed Skin, a 50/50 mix of Bronzed Highlight and Khaki Highlight, and finally a bit of Linen White.  For the spots I used Pure Black, Dusky Skin Shadow, Dusky Skin, and Dusky Skin highlight to do the black outsides.  I tried to vary these in shape and size, using the online references as a guide.  For the inside of the spots I used a 50/50 mix of Bronzed Shadow and Muddy Brown, and then highlighted that with Bronzed Skin.  Below is a blown up image of the mostly finished helmet.

After that I attached the red plume on his left side.  This could have been done in white (as it is on the box art), which I believe would represent the chief of staff.  But for the typical Empress' Dragoon it would have been red.  I like the extra bit of color (the other red is mainly seen from the rear of the figure), so I opted for red instead of white.

My next task was the horse hair crest.  This was done in black, much like the hair for the Fallen Angel.  I liked how the faux glossy black turned out there, so I plan to use that trick on a number of other figures!  I started by sketching in the shine and then went back to blend in to the black hair.  For this I worked with Vampiric Shadow (for the shine) and then blended to black using Dark Elf Highlight, Dark Elf Skin, and Dark Elf Shadow.

My next big task will be to do the cord/braid details.  This is supposed to be a gold lace.  In the past I've used metallic paint and metallic paint mixed with matte paint, but was never 100% happy with the results.  So this time I decided to do a NMM look for the braid.  Yes, it means I'm mixing TMM on the helmet with NMM on the braid, but they're different materials and I've already essentially done a NMM gloss finish for the horse hair crest.  I did a somewhat rough sketch on part of the cords hanging from the shoulder and am pretty happy with the result.  I did a more finished version on the tiny details on the tail of his coat.  Now I'll go back, clean up the cord and paint the rest of the gold lace.

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 2

You may have noticed it's been a while since my last post.  Well, that's because the day after my wife and I had a new addition to our family!  Since then there's been a lot of sleepless nights and very little painting time.  But, I've managed to make a bit of progress on the dragoon figure.  I continued on with the dark green coat and finished off both sleeves.  From there I turned to the front and worked on the white for the coat and his shirt.  I used Reaper's Bone Shadow, Weather Stone, Leather White, and bit of Pure White.  I like this mix for natural cloth.  The belt was done with Misty Grey and Pure White to differentiate it from the white of the shirt.  The pants were done with Reaper's Khaki triad plus Walnut Brown for the deepest shadows.  You'll notice the epaulettes and braided cord are still just base coated with Burgundy Wine.  I haven't decided if I want to use metallic paints for those or matte colors and approach them more like NMM.

Empress' Dragoons Officer Part 1

A month ago I posted a sneak peak of this figure.  This past weekend I finally got around to painting him.  This is a 54mm figure from Pegaso, an officer of the Empress' Dragoons.  I'd done a French dragoon once before (about 2 years ago) so this will be similar in many ways.  However, this is an officer in his dress uniform while the previous one was a trooper in campaign gear, so this version will be much more clean and spiffy looking.

I started with the face using my usual process.  A few details have been painted on.  I added the cleft in the chin just with paint (he's got a big chin, so it was nice to add a little something there).  I also did a big of highlighting on the side of the jaw to make it look like his face was being pushed/scrunched up by the chin strap.

From there I started working on the coat.  It's still very much a work in progress, I haven't started on the sleeves or front yet, but I've put in some time on the collar and back.  The color should be a dark green.  Dark colors like this (green, blue, etc) can be tricky to paint.  As you highlight them, they can easily start to look like a medium or even a light green.  To counteract this, I use grey to highlight rather than a lighter shade of green.  This desaturates as it lightens, which helps keep the overall look a dark one while still giving me a decent amount of contrast.  For the shadows I mixed in Reaper's Burgundy Wine.  The dark purple is a nice contrast to the green and provides additional depth/interest to the shadows without actually looking like purple.

Here's a comparison of the new figure with my previously painted Dragoon.  The new figure is a bit smaller (despite being the same scale).  You can see some of the differences in their uniforms.  The general approach to the green coat is the same, though on this new one I've tightened up the transitions from dark to light.  It gives the newer version an even darker look and also makes it appear a bit shinier... which fits, a clean officer's dress uniform should look nicer than a trooper's worn campaign coat.

Other projects...

I haven't been posted here as frequently as I normally do.  That's partially because I've been sick (nothing series), but mostly because of real life tasks taking up precious painting time.  Of course, sometimes real life tasks and painting time end up being the same thing.  Although it's not mini-related, I thought I'd share a painting project I've just completed.  My wife and I are getting ready to welcome a new addition to our family in around a month.  I've been hard at work getting her room ready and did this one one of the walls...

The room has a Disney/Fairy Tale theme.  Although it was a bit of a bigger piece than I normally do, it was a lot of fun to add a personal touch to the room.

Meanwhile, on the small scale, I decided to start on a new project.  I'm still working on the mounted hussar, but I know that project is going to take me a while.  So I wanted to take a break and paint something a little quicker.  I decided to start on Pegaso's Officer of the Dragoons.  It's a pretty straightforward project (I've already painted a Dragoon, so don't need to put too much thought into my color mixes), so I'm hoping it will move along quickly.  One thing I did want to do with this figure was put into practice some of my takeways from Crystal Brush.  In this case it's the idea of working on the figure and the base simultaneously.  I feel like often my bases are a bit rushed, probably because I only start on them when the figure is all done.  This way I will hopefully give the base the time it deserves.

The first step was, of course, to actually build the base before painting the figure.  The figure is an officer in his dress uniform (fancy clothes), so he wouldn't be in the field or part of a battle.  Instead I decided to put him in front of a chateau.  I'd seen a fancy gate over at ScaleLink and thought this would be the perfect fit for this figure.  I built the pillar using Juweela bricks and then cut up the gate to make it fit.  The plaque on the pillar is from a set of name plates from Pk-pro.  I had a few other ideas, but in the end decided the didn't really add anything useful to the scene so I kept it simple.

The Finished Dragoon

So the Dragoon is finally finished!  I kept the base/groundwork pretty simple because (a) I didn't think the figure needed much and (b) I didn't have any better ideas.  I gave the ground a brown base coat and then used pigment + matte medium to cover the ground.  Again, I worked with a couple different shades to break it up.  The grass is woodland scenics field grass plus some extra bits I picked up from a show.  To make it look a little less uniform in color I experimented a bit with some washes and later applied some dry pigments.  Now I just need to finish writing that pesky step by step article...

As for what's next... well, I've got the knight of the holy sepulchre on my painting table.  I'm still trying to add a pattern to his cape but haven't come up with anything I'm happy with yet.  I'm also tempted to try a different approach to the horse.  In addition I've got a 75mm gladiator from Alexandros that I just started to base coat.  No time to paint this weekend but hopefully next week I'll make enough progress on one of those figures to share some photos.

Dragoon WIP 4

Almost finished!  I had left a few pieces off the figure to make painting easier.  The plume probably could have been added earlier, but the metal details on the left side of the crest and the black horsehair can be tricky so why make it more complicated by placing something else in the way?  Plus I've got a bad habit of accidentally knocking little pieces like that off while I paint.  I've done a couple napoleonic figures and the swords are always one of the last things I add.  Again, they're easy to knock off and those hanging straps get in the way of a lot of the other details.  The long strap is a piece of metal foil I cut to size.  I attached it to the sword while it was still separate and then bent it into approximately the correct shape.  The sword knot was also a separate piece so that was attached and bent as it would hang naturally.  Then the part was primed and base coated before attaching to the main figure.  Painting and weathering proceeded just as I had done on the rest of the figure.

One question you could ask is why didn't I wait and do all the weathering at once?  Well, I wanted the different parts (boots, coat, and sword) to have their own weathering history.  The process is a bit messy and imprecise so not very easy to dab mud onto the boots or dust the coat while keeping the sword clean.  It was much easier to just go in afterwards to add a bit of dust to the scabbard and straps.

For the plume I chose a two color pattern.  There seems to be a variety of plume colors with not a lot of standardization among the regiments.  My reference book mentions solid color options (white, red, or crimson) and multi-color options (green with regimental color, red and green, red and white, white and yellow, black with regimental color, green and yellow) and lists regiments that were seen with each.  Based on my reading, I'd guess you could have any regiment with just about any of the plume variations.  But sticking to a color-regiment pairing that is based on a historical reference, I chose to do white and yellow for the 22nd Dragoon Regiment (although based on the uniform he could be in the 22nd, 23rd, or 24th regiments).