Bust in different scales

Landsknecht Bust (Castle Miniatures)

This is a Landsknecht bust (200mm sckae) produced by Castle Miniatures (I think it's no more in the business) and ... yet another beautiful pose miniature!  I used the mixed acrylic-oil technique, starting with preshading in acrylic using the airbrush. The more I use oil colors, the more I like them since colors are vibrant and create very nice shades. In this case I decided to use oil colors to paint the florant texture on the orange fabric. Freehand painting always includes errors and, although it's possible to correct errors in acrylic, I realised it's much easier to correct mistakes using oil colors, since it's a matter of using a paint brush dipped into the solvent (very few...). So, I…

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French Zouave

Yes another great bust in 200mm scale, the French Zouave Regiment in 1914 by Life Miniatures. Still acrylic-oil mixed technique, but this time I used a lot both the pre-shading with the primer and the airbrush to sketch the first shades with the acrylic color. I must say that using the airbrush is really cool and it's also super precise, although I was initially skeptical. I think I will start using the airbrush on a regular basis, since it creates a very nice base color for oil painting. Overall, I have vey happy for the final outcome. 

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Joachim Murat

This bust is indeed very famous and it's been painted by lots of modellers so, this is my take... The bust is manufactured by Alexandros Models and it's in 200mm scale. I painted the bust using the acrylic-oil technique, but it was a challenge for me, especially for the beige uniform. There is still a lot of room for improvement...

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Sapper Foot Grenadiers of the Guard

This is indeed one of my favorite pieces, the bust "Sapper Foot Grenadiers of the Guard" by Nuts Planet (1:10 scale) I am also happy with the final outcome of the face (in this case I only used acrylics), I think it looks rather "natural" and expressive.  

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Medieval Footman

This is really a big bust! The scale is a standard 1:10 but the overall posture and the the pole arm take a lot of space in my showcase. The bust is manufactured by Altores Studio and represents a infantry footman in the medieval age (ref. [1]). I really love this bust especially for the shouting facial expression which is pretty much unique. I tried to reproduce a tired soldier after a tough battle, hence the long beard and the dirt over all the surfaces. I hope I have been able to do a decent job, but overall I am happy with the final result. [ngg src="galleries" ids="19" display="pro_mosaic"] References[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_in_the_Middle_Ages

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Jacobite Highlander Culloden Moor, 1746

This is a medium (scale 1:12) bust from Heroes and Villains Miniatures (ref. [1]) that portraits a Jacobite Highlander (ref. [2]). I am not fey happy with the face, I think I did the same mistake as the previous bust and used too many layers of colour, although they are thin. The real challenge here has been, of course, the tartan and the texture. It's really a nightmare painting so many line and squares and their shadows and lights, but overall I am happy the way it ended up! [ngg src="galleries" ids="18" display="pro_blog_gallery" border_color="#dd9933"] References[1] - http://www.heroesvillainsminiatures.com/product/jacobite-highlander-culloden-moor/[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobite_rising_of_1745

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English Man-at-Arms, Crecy, 1346

Another small bust (scale 1:12) from FER Miniatures which is very nice and represents a "Man at arms" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-at-arms) during the battle of Crecy in 1346. I wanted to represent a tired soldier after a battle, but I am not completely happy with the outcome about the face, I think I used too many layers of colour so the face ended up being a bit shiny... However, this is also my first attempt at painting a complex heraldry like the one painted over the shield and in this case I am much more happy with the final result! [ngg src="galleries" ids="17" display="pro_blog_gallery" border_color="#dd9933"]

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Saxon Huscarl, Hastings, 1066

This is a small bust (1:16 scale) by FER Miniatures who represents a Saxun Huscarl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housecarl) during the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings) This bust is nice and quick to paint as it's rather small. I just want to highlight the texture of the cape which I tried to reproduce by using a technique similar to the dry brush, but with more colour and using a simple stippling. [ngg src="galleries" ids="16" display="masonry"]

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Warrior of the North

Another big bust. This is a 1:8 scale (slightly bigger than the typical 1:9) and created by Andra Miniatures. To continue the learning process, I chose this bust as it is sold in a nice box that includes a nice DVD with the video tutorial that shows most of the painting process. I still have a lot to learn of course, but I am very proud of the outcome as I think I started learning doing the glazings. Doing glazes is, in principle, a simple thing, but in practice it is not at all as this requires controlling the amount of water/paint mix. What I learnt is the "the less, the better! [ngg src="galleries" ids="21" display="pro_film" frame_size="2" border_color="#dd9933" frame_color="#dd9933" order_by="filename"]

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Shield Maiden

My first "big bust", that is a bust with a scale about 1:9 (200mm). This is not exactly the typical "military miniature character" and similarly to the previous pieces, I decided to paint this due to the availability of an outstanding and extremely detailed video tutorial by Ben Komets. I strongly suggest you to give a look at the whole series available here https://www.youtube.com/user/paintingbuddha/ This series includes many other tutorials, although most of them are about fantasy miniatures. Learning by watching is an extremely effective way of learning, and in this case I really learnt a lot, so... kudos to Ben to provide such good explanations. And if you want to know more about Ben's painting style, I also suggest…

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Garibaldi

My first bust! This piece has been manufactured by Masterclass, but it has never been sold. This is actually a "mini bust" , that is its scale is about 1:24 [ngg src="galleries" ids="8" display="masonry"]

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