Tales of War Bust - Cabin Boy

Ok.. so over the weekend I began to work on this little bust. A piece that has been sitting on my shelf, primed, and poorly prepped since Turkey, and over 2 yrs old. And I really wanted to paint something else after the last workshop, and prior to Monte.

Originally I had hoped that I could get it finished to a level that I would like to take it and enter it in Monte.. but I have to say that this is not likely. The cast is just not good, and still shite prep. BUUUUUUUUUT it was a lot of fun to paint up! More than I thought it would be with some of the tricks and tips I have learned this past year.

The main thing with it is that it was primed. And it was crap, so I scrubbed and cleaned some of the primer off.. but it was really really shiny. So I applied "some" liquid green stuff :) To level it all out. Or at least most of it :)

From here I redid the primer. Using the airbrush this time instead of primer cans. And from here I also applied a bit of pure white with brush to it. To hit some of the more interesting areas.. something that Banshee showed us in his first UK class.

Initial colors for the skins. Tried non-primaries here.. but still something that is workable. The prime color really set the tone, and I really wanted to aim for a lighter skintone overall. I think my plan worked, but here are the first steps I took for them all the same!

Dunno why I didn't take photos of the skin steps, but it was mostly wet blending the above colors together.. so nothing much to see.. At some point I posted it online to others to show, and got the feedback that it needs to be focused better. So I applied the other base colors to get an idea of the piece fully before continuing. I really liked this piece at this time.. it really motivated me to push forward!!!

At this point it was all about playing with some more of the light sources, and play with some interesting colors into everything.

But it was the eye.. I am really trying to work on making this better in my pieces. I think I am slowly getting there, but it helps that this piece is not 28mm tall :)

While I was thinking on how to proceed with it.. I left it overnight and sat it with some of my older pieces.

I got the most appreciative surprise, and one that I was hoping to see. The bust is much brighter than my earlier pieces. The Sloot gunner from 2012, Jason from May 2014, and Anom Bust from just a few months back. I think I have actually begun to drive color into my pieces, and be able to paint something that is not dreary and dark. :D

It was at this point however that I covered the entire piece in Gloss Varnish from Vallejo. And begun to play around with some Oils on it.

I played with the Oils to continue along with the brightness aspect on it. Taking tips from John's weathering workshop on how to work with some Oils.. leaving them on the paper towel first to soak up some of the gunk? in it.. And then I used wax paper to mix and play with the colors a bit more. I was hoping to find one of my plastic palettes but for non could be found though not from lack of trying. It seems however that the wax paper worked just fine though, except that it curled up as the Oils dried up.

This is where I stopped with the piece at the time of posting. It is still shiny in some areas, but the oil colors really smoothed out a lot of the sections on the skin which I was really happy with. I want to make the nose a bit more red, but need to wait for the current red to dry a bit more before adding some more.

The hair is still pissing me off at the moment.. excuse my language. But it is better than it was before the Oils. I am hoping that when I spray it with some Matte varnish, and then reapply some different varnishes on the piece to create the textures needed.

I have attempted to do some chest hairs, but that looked horrible. Not like the freckles that I think turned out well enough. Oh and the eye that I applied a bit more color with the Oils to make it sparkle. Or at leas look better.

Anyways.. this is where it is for now.. hope you all enjoy it. I will take it to Monte still, but not for competition but more for feedback from all the amazing artists that will be in attendance.