Yearly Archives: 2019

Read more about the article The Guardian – Final
Medieval-High (1000-1250) / Miniatures / WIP

The Guardian – Final

This is the final post on the project and it's about painting the shield. As I said in the previous post, I decided to stick to the original box art which is very nice and shows the Charlemagne coat of arms. I begun painting the field with two colours, using a desaturated yellow and a desaturated blue which I obtained mixing a grey into the yellow and blue. I created some "effects" to simulate an old shield using a small piece of sponge (the one of the miniature boxes...) which I dipped into the paint, unloaded a bit on a piece of paper and then using the sponge to stipple the surface. This method is quite powerful and I am…

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May 12, 2019
Read more about the article The Guardian – WIP p4
Medieval-Late (1250-1500) / Miniatures / WIP

The Guardian – WIP p4

Another quick update, as I completed the sword, again with a mixed technique acrylic and oils. I also slightly retouched the face as I noticed some imperfections, although I am sure there are many others... Anyway, now the main body of the bust is complete and only the shield is missing. The shield is quite large, so creating the proper shades using the brush is a challenge and in my case the coat of arms is the one of Charlemagne so the shield will be split into two parts. We'll see... In the mean time, enjoy the photos in the gallery. This time I also added a blue background just to make it less distracting, althooug in the previous photos…

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April 23, 2019
Read more about the article The Guardian – WIP p3
Medieval-Late (1250-1500) / Miniatures / WIP

The Guardian – WIP p3

Easter time quick update, and it's a nice time as I think I learnt a bit more how to use oil colours over acrylic, so I wish to celebrate! I used the oils for the first time with the Trumpeter back in December 2018, but that time I used the "Oil Brush" and I was not pleased with the outcome. Recently I purchased some Abteilung 502 (https://abteilung502.com) colour sets (Flesh, Leather and Wood and Base Color Alteration) and yesterday/today I put them at test. My "Guardian" has a leather bag, probably to keep some coins, so I took the opportunity to try my brand new "Leather and Wood" oils. I started with an acrylic base coat and I just sketched…

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April 21, 2019
Read more about the article The Guardian – WIP p2
Medieval-Late (1250-1500) / Miniatures / WIP

The Guardian – WIP p2

Ok, here is a small update about my Guardian. In the gallery below you can see the process. I painted the arms, the wristband and the sleeves, then I painted the belts and created lights and shadows of the vest. For the vest I decided to use a lighter colour to give the feeling of a worn out fabric, so I picked the original could and I desaturated them by adding some black first, then some white (ok, basically adding grey...) and after this I applied the lights and shadows. Along the way I also slightly retouched the face and the arms. I am discovering that, in general, to make the flesh and other surfaces as most realistic as possible,…

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April 15, 2019
Read more about the article The Guardian – WIP p1
Medieval-High (1000-1250) / Miniatures / WIP

The Guardian – WIP p1

Time for a new WIP (Work In Progress) and this is about the "The Guardian" - Medieval Knight XIII a.C. of BestSoldiers. This is a resin bust whose scale is not reported on the box, but I would say it's 1:10. I really like the overall posture and above all the proud look of the Guardian's face the sculptor has been able to represent. As a medieval knight of the XIII century, I could use any coat of arms of that period, but I decided to stick to the choice of the box art painter Sergey Popovichenko as that's really nice and it also represent a nice painting challenge. After a bit of investigation, I discovered (again, no references provided…

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April 7, 2019
Read more about the article French Imperial Guard Grenadier
Miniatures / Modern-Napoleonic (1799–1815)

French Imperial Guard Grenadier

After my previous 54mm, another bust and this is a big one and definitely a classic: the French Imperial Grenadier by Young Miniatures (https://luver.it/wp/figym) Overall I am very happy and I enjoyed a lot painting this bust. This time I tried also a new brand for the golden parts: the Maimeri Acrylic Light Gold (https://luver.it/wp/malg). I used this colour for both the golden plate on the "bearskin" (the typical tall fur cap of the grenadiers), the buttons and the epaulettes (take a look at this nice glossary https://luver.it/wp/napglsry) and in my view this looks very realistic, so I am planning to use it also in the future (I also purchased the deep gold, to paint proper shadows). To paint the…

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March 24, 2019
Read more about the article Borbonic Hussar of Royal Cavalry 1860
Miniatures / Modern-Victorian (1837-1901)

Borbonic Hussar of Royal Cavalry 1860

Some weeks passed after my latest post, but I didn't stop painting at all! I simply didn't take any picture of the painting progress, so I can only but share the final photos. This is a very old miniature that was distributed in 2006 by the "Catania CSMS Club" during the International Figure Competition of Catania. No I didn't attend that event, I simply received this piece from a friend of mine and I managed to paint it now as I liked the subject and the overall posture. The original name of this miniature is this:Esercito BorbonicoCavalleria della Guardia RealeSecondo Tenente del 1^ Reggimento Ussari in piccola tenuta, 1860and it was superbly sculpted in 54mm scale by Maurizio Bruno. To…

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March 24, 2019
Read more about the article Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) – Final
Medieval-Late (1250-1500) / Miniatures

Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) – Final

This is the final part of this WIP and this time it was easy, I simply painted the halberd and glued the parts together. To paint the shaft I used the Brown Set from Andrea Colours using glazes of different shades. The job was easy thanks to the wood grain of the cast. I also added some dark brown/black glazes in the wood parts closer to the metal part in order to simulate the dirty areas. For the metal parts I used, again, the Vallejo Metal Colours which I strongly suggest to anyone. As previously, I started with the Steel, then I used Silver and a a Silver-Steel mis for the various shadows. I also created some rust-effect using an…

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January 28, 2019
Read more about the article Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p3
Miniatures / Modern-Early (1492-1750)

Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p3

Ok, I did it! The biggest challenge for this bust was the heraldry. As I said in a previous post, I decided to replicate the box art which shows a geometric pattern and a sort of shining sun, and this is for both the front and the back of the cloth. I started with the "simplest", that is the geometric pattern. I discovered that to paint freehand drawings, especially in surfaces which are not flat, the key is to create some reference points first, then draw a stylised version of the shape and finally adding the details. Below you can see and example. For the geometric pattern, I first painted some dots (sorry, I tool the pictures with my cell…

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January 19, 2019
Read more about the article Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p2
Miniatures / Modern-Early (1492-1750)

Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p2

Some progress on painting my man at arms. I painted the torso composed of a bi-colour clothing over an armour and series of belts around the armour. The armour has been painted using the Vallejo Metal Colour, starting with a Steel base and the lights with steel+silver and just silver for the maximum lights. For the shadows I have used the Magnesium which is very dark. The cloth is a standard one, I used Andrea Ivory and for the red I used the AK Red Emblem which is a hue I like a lot. I took some snapshots with my iPad which you can look in the attached gallery. And now it's up to the tough part: the heraldry and…

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January 13, 2019
Read more about the article Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p1
Modern-Early (1492-1750) / WIP

Uomo d’arme Sforzesco (Man at arms) WIP p1

New year, new paint work and decided to kick start 2019 with a bust of "La Meridiana Miniatures" named "Uomo d'Arme Sforzesco" (https://www.luver.it/miuaf) which represents a man at arms of the Sforza family (Milan, Italy) in the second half of the XV century. The primed bust has been sitting on my desk for a long time, but yesterday I started the paint work starting, as usual, from the face. I used the Andrea acrylic colours from their paint set, starting with the brighter base flesh tone, then I added multiple glazes with brighter and darker colours to create lights and shadows. This time I am particularly pleased of the overall outcome and for this I have to thanks Vince Venturella…

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January 6, 2019
General

Hello World!

Hi and welcome to my web site! If you have an IT programming background, you may be familiar with the "Hello World"" simple sentence, as printing this statement is typically the first example used to show how the programming language works. As I do have an IT programming background, I decided to leverage on this example to kickstart my own web site dedicated to the small world of historical miniature painting, which is my other big passion. The goal of this web site is to share my experiences around this beautiful world, so the primary focus is about my paint works and work in progress (WIPs), but I am also going to collect reference materials like documents, photos, tips and links I…

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January 4, 2019