Painting a 1:10 bust

RuneBrush

RuneBrush

New member
Because it's always good to try new things and push yourself, I've recently purchased a 1:10 Templar Knight bust from Young Miniatures (the one that looks like Sean Connery), with the intention to paint it up as a present for my Mum's birthday (2 months away - she's a huge Connery fan).

Now I've pretty much exclusively painted 28mm mini's - fantasy/sci-fi, so this is a complete change for me, not just on the scale front but also the realism aspect too. So I'm after advice on what things I need to be concious of and things that I need to tackle differently.

I've got a range of decent brushes, managed to nab some Liquitex Slow-Dri, Flow Aid and Airbrush Medium (not that I've ever played with them), have a plentiful supply of purified water. The wet palette needs some better baking parchment (next time I'm dragged out shopping) and I've two pots of water ready for brush cleaning. The bust has been cleaned, sub assembled and had a decent coat of Vallejo Grey primer (from an airbrush). It's not my intention to paint with the airbrush - I fancy doing some regular painting for a change.

So, over to you :)
 
Bailey03

Bailey03

Well-known member
Nice choice. Young Miniatures makes some really nice busts. I've painted two of theirs, the Athenian and their first Spartan one (not the 300 style Spartan).

I don't make that many changes in my style when I paint those larger busts. With larger figures you can be somewhat more subtle in your shading and highlighting. But for the most part I approach shading and blending the same way I do on all my figures. The box art (and website art) from Young is a great guide for this figure since they really do it up like Sean Connery. Be careful with the facial hair, you don't want to make the line between skin and beard too sharp. If you look at the box art it's a jagged line. And get that color variation in the facial hair. That will definitely help with the Connery look.

You're going to put a lot more time into the eyes than you do on 28mm figures. Take your time and make sure they look right. Don't use pure white for the eyes, use an off white instead. If it helps you can try drawing on the eyes with a pencil before filling it in with paint. At that large scale I like to give the eyes a gloss varnish when I'm done. I think it helps but the choice is up to you. If you like that you can also experiment with a semigloss varnish for the lips... though on a male figure I might leave them flat.

I don't think that bust is based on a specific movie (though I may be wrong), so you've got plenty of freedom in painting the uniform. For a Templar he'd be all white with a red cross. A Hospitaller would be either all black with a white cross or all red with a white cross (changed from black to red around 1248). Or don't worry about making him one of the official orders and paint whatever colors you'd like.

Oh, and if you want help with the shadow and highlight placement try this. Before you start painting place the figure directly under a strong light and take photos from different angles. This can be especially helpful for getting the shadows on the cloth correct.

Milosh has done quite a few busts so if he doesn't reply to this thread maybe send him a pm for any advice.
 
C

cfwheeler58

Member
Connery never played the role.
King Richard in Costner's "Robin Hood" might be as close as he got.

The face is lifted from promotional literature and photos of "The Wind and the Lion", I think.
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Yep it's definitely a combination of Sir Sean's face and historical garb.
Great sculpt never the less, as for eyes start the "white" with VMC Deck Tan, then Ivory and Offwhite. Use a tiny amount of your basic flesh tone and burnt cadmium red diluted to insanity into the outer corners of the eyes.
But be careful too much and he'll look like he has conjunctivitis. Voice of experience!
 
RuneBrush

RuneBrush

New member
Thanks all! I now feel a little more confident in actually starting this piece :D Completely agree that the actual piece is amazingly sculpted and cast. Not an air bubble in sight and very realistic.

Strangely I actually think I have VMC Ivory and Off-white - I'll have to check this evening! Thanks for the tip on the corners of the eyes too - wouldn't have thought about that one.

Thanks for the link to Planet Figures! Not managed to find a shot of the shield yet so that's really helpful :D
 
Zab

Zab

New member
I look for ward to this as i have several busts in my collection that i have yet to tackle so it will be a nice way for me to see what kind "teachable moments" you run into.
 
P

paul222

New member
In all painting projects where stock figures are used, the basic preparation is somewhat similar.The only difference would depend on the way the figure is cast and divided. This bust consisted the parts of the main body and i think this is nice choice of you its very difficult to paint by the brush...
 
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