Tuesday 23 April 2013

Young Miniatures - US Marine, RTO, Tet Offensive, Hue 1968


Next in queue on the workbench is another masterpiece from Young Miniatures depicting a youthful looking US Marine RTO(Radio Telephone Operator) at the Battle of Hue in 1968. Hopefully I can get some uninterrupted time this weekend to refine on the painting.


Cheers,

Calvin



Tuesday 9 April 2013

Young Miniatures - Gebirgsjäger, Caucasus, Summer 1942


I'm finally satisfied with the results to call this done. 


Cheers,

Calvin



Saturday 6 April 2013

Young Miniatures - Gebirgsjäger, Caucasus, Summer 1942

Some progress over this week on the painting of the goggles and the mountain rucksack.


Calvin



Sunday 31 March 2013

Young Miniatures - Gebirgsjäger, Caucasus, Summer 1942


Made some changes over the week - notably to the goggles and the color of the wind jacket.


Cheers,

Calvin



Sunday 24 March 2013

Saturday 23 March 2013

Young Miniatures - Gebirgsjäger, Caucasus, Summer 1942


Managed to sneak some time off last week to work on this popular kit from Young Miniatures.

 

I reconstructed the binocular sights and replaced the cigarette with a calabash pipe scratched built from epoxy putty and wire. 

Cheers,

Calvin



Sunday 17 March 2013

Young Miniatures - LRDG, North Africa, 1942


I am so glad to be endowed with some free time this weekend to place the crowning touches to this recreational project from Young Miniatures.


Cheers,

Calvin



Tuesday 12 March 2013

Young Miniatures - LRDG, North Africa, 1942


Some progress this week to refine the transitions on the face. I also changed the hue of the Tropal coat for a more orange appearance. 


Cheers,

Calvin



Wednesday 6 March 2013

Young Miniatures - LRDG, North Africa, 1942


Keeping up with the theme of the North Africa Campaign,  here is a quick color sketch up of my rendition of the LRDG Desert Raider from Young Miniature. 


Cheers,

Calvin



Tuesday 12 February 2013

Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, Tunisia, 1943


I've managed to capitalize on the Lunar New Year holidays to make the final push to render this project complete.


Despite the limited color scheme of the subject matter this proved to be quite an enjoyable exercise to further my exploration and experimentation in color (undoubtedly inspired from a recent trip to the the Musée d'Orsay in Paris). I forewent on polish and tried to mimic the bold and loose brush strokes of the Impressionists to impart a more dramatic visual effect when viewed in the flesh. I also employed hues of Phthalo Green, Purple Madder and Prussian Blue - applied straight from the tube a la Matisse/Gauguin to provide a stronger illumination for the shadows regions. This was kept to a conservative minimum as the intent was to generate additional value contrast via the difference in hue saturation in tandem with monochromatic value - overdoing this might betray the appearance of the local color. Take for example the intermediate shadow regions of the sand-yellow helmet. I employed glazes of Pine Green in favor of Light Brown as I wanted to create the impression of a bluish shadow - inferred from the work of several notable Impressionist like Monet and Pissarro. I find that this produces a much convincing effect of shadow as brown potentially has a higher tendency to portray dirt.  
I also painted the surrounding environment onto the goggle lens to imply the reflective surface - which naturally works better in context with the scenic backdrop than that of the magenta.

 

Cheers,

Calvin



Sunday 10 February 2013

Young Miniatures - 192th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, Tunisia, 1943


The month of January has been rather hectic for me. Realizing that I do not need the additional frustration caused by the painting of vertical strokes on the splinter pattern camouflage, I decided to place that on a short hiatus and indulge myself in this short recreational project on this DAK bust from Young Miniatures over the past week.

I would currently place this at 90% completed - with some areas needing minor refinements. Being a recreational project, I also attempted to depict the reflective surface of the goggle lens by projecting the nearby surroundings onto it.


Cheers,

Calvin



Monday 7 January 2013

A Happy 2013 To Everyone!!!


I would like to kick start the new year with an update of a recent project; or rather a trip down memory lane as I embark on my second rendition of Alpine Miniature's premier 1/16 scale figure Leutnant of the Großdeutschland Division sculpted by Mike Good.


In case you were wondering, there is a perfect good reason as to why I am painting this figure for the second time.  Last December before the Christmas holiday week, I was very fortunate to be invited to Paris by Tony Lai from the Tony Shop  to conduct a 3-day painting demonstration at his shop's premise. Considering all aspects, this figure proved to be most ideal to demonstrate my approach to painting the face, tunic and camouflage pattern in acrylics.

The set-up of my painting demonstration. 

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Tony Lai, Nicolas Gohin and Katherine for being such hospitable hosts to me and my wife. Kent Brazeau for eagerly helping out at the demonstration. It was also great to meet up with past acquaintances like Christophe Camilotte whom I had the pleasure to know back in 2007 at the Torrent Show and Laurent Borget back in the 2008 World Expo in Girona.


Cheers,

Calvin