Crimean War

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Great stuff!

[despertaferro]

Hi,

Some reinforcements for the Russian side, five field artillery bases made out of Emhar and Esci sets with a couple of Strelets officers snicked in for variety.

I hope you are all doing well...

Regards!

Joan

[C M Dodson]

There are some strange gunnery drills going on that will disrupt a possible second volley but the overall impression is lovely.

The painting style in my opinion really brings these chaps to life and the groundwork is most effective.

Keep up the good work.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bill Slavin]

Those are beautiful! I would love to know how you get such soft feathering with your darks and lights - no hard lines at all!

[sberry]

Those are beautiful! I would love to know how you get such soft feathering with your darks and lights - no hard lines at all!

Exactly my thoughts each time I look at those figures! I'd love to learn what the secret of these perfect paintjobs is.

[Egbert]

Great stuff...you made a great Job!

[Bessiere]

I agree these are painted wonderfully, I'm guessing they're painted wet using drying retarder and mixing on the figure itself. The softness makes those coats look like they're made of wool. Great job on the basing too.

[despertaferro]

Hi...

Thank you very much for your kind words, but I think you put too much credit on me...

First, nice unpainted figures, look nice once painted. So, a big deal of the credit for the final look is on the sculptor and manufacturer side. And some of these figures are amongst the best. Their overcoats seem like in movement, with very natural folds. And this is very important because catches the light very well and looks very convincing on the pictures. And seems better painted that they really are…

Second, I do not highlight my painting. Every shadow and highlight you see is a washing and matte coating effect. But what I do, is to use lots of different colours/shades on every group of figures, no matter they are all wearing the same uniform or how smart the unit should look like. In this case, for the coats, grey or yellowish brown. Two or three different shades of it. Maybe just three or four figures in the all pack share the same coat shade. Green uniforms, same thing. Five or six different greens. Pants slightly different from jackets, some even bluish, greyish, and so on…. As far I’m painting units, not single figures, with this silly trick I made them look heterogenous and realistic.

And a few simple sacred rules...

For fine details, like weapons, belts, canteens, badges, buttons, I paint black first and then the desired colour over it.

Under metal, always black first. I paint with enamels except for metal. Black enamel, metal acrylic over it.

Black items, never black. Very dark grey, or brown, or blue…

White items, never white. Very light grey or yellow…


Once the figures painted, the best I can, it comes the moment of truth…

Matte coating to protect the painting from the traumatic next step of the process.

Once dried, heavy washing with an extremely diluted mix of black and brown. Let them dry. Looks very scary because seems that I ruined the all work.
Then, with a brush full of matte coat, I cover the full figure with an exaggerated amount of it. The matte coat solvent soft the black/brown washing very easily on the highlights (were the washing dried coat is thinner) but not much on the deep shadows (were the washing dried coat is thicker). Then, over this mess, I brush the washing from one area to another (or simply remove it) until I achieve the look I want. Then, I let enough matte coat over the surface, to allow the gravity do the rest of the job. Very slowly, before it completely dries, the matte coat mixed with washing find its way into the cracks and deep lines and out the surface.

Sometimes happens that, once dried, is not as dull as I like. Then I spayed another coat of matte coating over it.

Finally, I take the pictures under soft natural light. Never direct Sun, never front lighted.

And that’s all folks…

I hope I made it understandable…

[Bill Slavin]

Thanks for the explanation. It’s an involved process (I like that you use a variety of shades to create non-uniformity in the uniforms!)
Just to clarify, the final stage of washing is done with inks or paints? And the matte coat is a latex matte medium or something else? It seems the crucial effect that works so well is the thinning and desolving of the wash on the highlights with the matte coating so I would imagine the type of paints would be important here!

[Bessiere]

I've never heard of your technique before. You might want to patent it and charge everyone who wants to do it your way. Love the look!

[Susofrick]

This is great inspiration! Just finished some Dragoons and started to prime some Russian infantry.

[despertaferro]

French Field Artillery...

Strelets like, guns are poorly engineered. But these figures are amongst their best...


Joan

[lobo]

Joan,
One of my prefer jobs you have done,
I think in these units your shading has the perfect level of intensity…
So many details, the buttons and lining on the Russians, the white on these Algeriens…wow.
Congratulations.

[despertaferro]

Hi…!

Officer...
This set comes without. When looking for some suitable figure, I found this one in their Siege Artillery set. Obviously, the uniform is far from correct for a Rifle officer but was easy to be disguised as a Light Infantry one.

I had to deal with two equally bad options: paint it as a Light Infantry and lost for ever any accuracy credit that I could have , or doit in green and black and try to disguise the wrong uniform.

When I’m not sure about what to do, I always go for the best good-looking option; so hence he’s cladded in red.

I like how the result looks like but, maybe it is far too wrong.
Perhaps they lost all the officers and had some leased from a close Light Infantry unit…
Let’s hope the Cossack snipers of this sector are colorblind… All of them.

Many thanks for your time…!

Joan

[despertaferro]

Moderators... Can you edit the previous post by changing the duplied picture for the one above?
My mistake...

Many thanks...

[Kekso]

It's done

[Peter]

Great painted unit again Joan. A bit dark, but great!

[despertaferro]

Chasseurs d'Afrique

Hello friends...

First, let me apologize for my lack of answer to your always pleasant and constructive comments or adding my own remarks to your posts (the vast majority of which are much better than mine...).

But after a year and a half of not painting anything now I'm like a paint junkie and spend all my available time producing like crazy.
Anyhow, these are the Crimean War French Chasseurs d'Afrique.

Warm Regards!

Joan

[Konrad]

As always, a great unit from you.
But the pictures are very dark.

[C M Dodson]

Yes, a fine display but difficult to appreciate in full due to the lighting.

Happy Christmas!

Chris