Three edited images of the test figures (after Auto Levels, brightening, and cropping) to make everything a bit easier to see. I almost think this second batch will be more fun to paint, and turn out even better, that the first batch. I spent two sessions today undercoating the horses in medium-dark gray, Tomorrow (Monday) evening, a glaze of Ivory Black alkyd oil thinned with Liquin Original.
Three shots of the almost finished test figure(s) for the second squadron of horse grenadiers. Thought the trooper still needs some light dry-brushing of medium-dark gray on the upper parts of his bearskin, I must admit that I am pleased with the way he and his trusty steed have turned out so far. I especially like the effect of the metallic oils and the fleshy upper lip of the horse.
Yes, the horse's lip. In much the same way that men's neckties enable us to personalize our more formally attired selves just a bit, hoof colors, white markings, and the odd pink nose/lip allow us to impart a bit of variety to our figures. This is especially important when all of the horses in are one single color, as is the case with this batch of 14. Just one more way to add a bit more glitter and panache to that metal or plastic cavalry. The trumpeter in this squadron will be mounted on a different horse, however, a lighter grey that I plan to undercoat with an antique white, dry-brush with bright white, and then attempt some dappling here and there.
The tack on the test figure above relatively easy this time around since the horse was already painted black, so it was simply a matter of adding the leather brown stirrup leathers and girth plus the medium-dark gray highlight to the rest of the tack and then tiny dots or dabs of either silver or brass where necessary. Horse and musket-era cavalry, even fairly staid fellows like this one, ought to have some glitter about them in my view, which the oils provide rather nicely. And no. No recordings of Slade, Sweet, T-Rex, or (shudder) Gary Glitter were used in the painting of this test figure.
As with the previous scarlet-coated squadron, a nice toy solider effect has been achieved here, and a lot of progressing as a figure painter is learning when to stop. So, stop I will and set this figure aside for a few days for the tiny oil bits to dry while I jump headfirst into the remaining 13 figures.
Sadly, syllabus revisions and preparation for the autumn semester are looming on the horizon with all that entails. Classes resume again on Wednesday, August 29th, so my relatively unstructured days and evenings are approaching their end for another summer. I want to get, therefore, as close to finished with these 30 cavalry figures and horses as I am able before the end of the month.
Then, there are just a few model buildings to construct, the fourth part of my summer painting and modelling plan outlined in May you might recall, before the first student projects roll in near the end of September during Week Five of the term.
-- Stokes
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