WIP of Frazetta\'s \"Conan the Barbarian\"by Alex Castro

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Elia Cid

New member
Dear friends,

In this portrait, or should I say study, of this iconic figure by Frank Frazetta that has captured the imagination of generations and many more to come, I felt a creative responsibility not only to Darrin the owner of this piece but to my fans and painters in the field of figure painting to bring Clayburn Moore\'s great sculpt to life in my style of painting. I wanted to set the bar as high as I could in my beloved field of miniatures painting, to inspire other great artist to surpass my work and break new barriers in this art from.

For me, it means the world to have the master \"Frank Frazetta \"look at my work and smile.

Thank you.

Alex (Trismegistus)

[FONT=\"Times New Roman\"][SIZE=\"7\"][COLOR=\"Olive\"]Frazetta\'s \"Conan the Barbarian\" [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

About the work:

In this close up I changed the eyes three times I have a few rules when it comes to eyes. First they must not be cross eyed; secondly, the eyes must have a point of focus; and thirdly,they must also catch the ambient light even in shadows. I also want the eyes to capture the character of the face, which throws it over the top in my opinion .


dsc_5718closeupbig.jpg

Conan Close-up, note the intensity of the stare!

dsc_5718full.jpg

Note the skin tones (strong yet soft ); its glow and how it catches light.
Note the green effect and how it adds an interesting element to the skin tones.
Notice that the accessories are all present, but the appearance of the body still maintains a relaxed visual look.

dsc_5724fullbig.jpg


At this stage, we must now start to consider the visual interrelationship that the figures have on the composition and how to balance then visually.Notice the important role light plays in the composition.
Note the ground work and sword are still not completed.

1/7th cold cast porcelain resin sculpted by Clayburn Moore ,from CS Moore Studio’s, Work in progress by Alex Castro , Private Collection of Darrin Hinze
 
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lono

New member
Quality stuff. When you posted a slightly earlier version of this in the other thread I did think that they eyes weren\'t quite right, but these ones are spot on.

The only bit I\'m not so keen on at the moment is how the hand resting on the sword is such a similar tone to the bracelet above it. They seem to merge together a little too much right now. Perhaps you still haven\'t finished this though.

The rest is looking pretty awesome. Really nice sculpt too.
 
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Elia Cid

New member
Hi guys,
\"In this close up I changed the eyes three times \" No silver not this time around thats one of the issues Lono picked-up on it made the eyes stand out to much, I also felt they were positioned a little too much to the left , in this case I wanted the eyes to reseed not stand out and have a dark appearance.

Lono, the hand on the sword is not finished, what Mr. Frazetta did was to actually have the green run down from the arm for that very reason due to the fact that it caches so much light and the bracelet.

Thanks for your comments and incites.

Alex Trismegistus)
 
PegaZus

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
I read somewhere recently (sorry, can\'t remember where or I\'d post a link), that in doing computer animation, the programmers found that if the eyes were both pointed in the same direction (parallel line of sight), it didn\'t look right. They had to have them cross eyed by 4%-5%. Which, if you think about it, means that the eyes appear focused on something.

Same effect, so I just thought I\'d post it out of creative curiosity.
 
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philologus

Subgenius
Originally posted by Elia Cid
Phil,

Thanks, like your signature slogan on “Washington “I concur.

Alex Trismegistus)
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You are one of the few here that does concur:D

BTW I love your website gallery. I have been a long time Frazetta fanatic and your painting is unbelievable. I would love to ask you a ton of questions regarding your painting, photography etc.

Who do you purchase your cellar cast models from?
 
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Elia Cid

New member
-Hi everyone,

It’ like Darrin said…..it’s a full painting only in 3D.

About the work:

Almost done…I just have to go over some tone work on the base, the back of the base and finally pastel it. Note how gently the female’s legs fade out and blend with the background. I had to tone down the hand resting on the sword.

That’s why I believe Mr. Frazetta ran the green down to the fingers tips on two fingers and darkened the wrist ban.
Another interesting point is that I did not use any clear red on the sword for blood. I felt, besides it not being painterly, Mr. Frazetta wouldn’t have used it either. I just used red and brown.

The ribs were a challenge just to keep them from braking. They were very delicate even to paint.
I wood grained the ax handle for effect. I drilled a hole in the ax handle and tied a string like in the original painting. I then pinned the handle back in place on the ax.

On the skull, I free hand a few more thin cracks for effect as well.

Please enjoy, and if you have any question on how some things were don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you for taking the time to look.

Alex (Trismegistus)

[FONT=\"Times New Roman\"][SIZE=\"7\"][COLOR=\"Olive\"]Frazetta\'s \"Conan the Barbarian\" [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

dsc_57362best2.jpg


1/7th cold cast porcelain resin sculpted by Clayburn Moore ,from CS Moore Studio’s, Work in progress by Alex Castro , Private Collection of Darrin Hinze
10-13-2007 03:54 PM
 
Orb

Orb

procrastinator
certainly looks impressive, Alex

But then again, when I think about it, Conan himself on this piece must be about 1 ft in height if this is 1/7 scale, and as such it seems to be very unfinished to my eyes.
The sort of thing that looks great from a few feet away, but kind of disappoints when you pay it more attention.

I know this is a commision, but it would be nice to see more of \"Alex\" in this piece and less of a almost total reproduction of the original painting.

looks to me as if the left hand and bracelet aren\'t finished, or is this an intentional effect?
 
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Elia Cid

New member
Originally posted by Orb
certainly looks impressive, Alex

But then again, when I think about it, Conan himself on this piece must be about 1 ft in height if this is 1/7 scale, and as such it seems to be very unfinished to my eyes.
The sort of thing that looks great from a few feet away, but kind of disappoints when you pay it more attention.

I know this is a commision, but it would be nice to see more of \"Alex\" in this piece and less of a almost total reproduction of the original painting.

looks to me as if the left hand and bracelet aren\'t finished, or is this an intentional effect?
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Orb,
You’re entitled to your opinion….your comments are disappointing and in poor taste.

Alex (Trismegistus)
 
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DrEvilmonki

Active member
Originally posted by Primeval
Originally posted by Elia Cid

Orb,
….your comments are disappointing and in poor taste.

Alex (Trismegistus)
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Poor taste? What?

???
Click to expand...

I would guess that since he didn\'t offer this guy a reach around to show his awe and amazement; el cid doesn\'t feel his talents are being properly appreciated! lol
 
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DaN

New member
May I suggest some more salt on your popcorn? lol

<slaps forehead> :D

Can we see different angles on the piece Elia Cid?

Most people here usually give the 4, 90 degree montage and it\'d be interesting to see how you\'ve painted the areas of the figure that aren\'t shown in the 2D original :)
 
Orb

Orb

procrastinator
Originally posted by Elia Cid
Orb,
You’re entitled to your opinion….your comments are disappointing and in poor taste.

Alex (Trismegistus)
Click to expand...

Alex

I offered an opinion, something that generally is commonplace on this site, and which you point out I\'m entitled to.

I even asked a question.....I\'m genuinely interested!!!!!

could you please explain in what way my comments were in poor taste??????

and in what way they are \"disappointing\"??

?????????

tetchy or what!!!
 
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Bill

New member
Disappointing because you are too foolish to see how amazing and awesome the painting is? :rolleyes:

Elia Cid, people post here for critique, not to get adored. From the way you structure your posts with captions, deadlines etc. it doesn\'t look like you are used to posting in a casual sort of forum, but this isn\'t a place to come if you want to get your ass kissed. Stop being so arrogant.
 
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Starks333

New member
it looks good for what it is

i guess for me ive just never liked the frazetta style, it looks so old and boring to me

the paint job looks nice so far, but i think the one problem is the girl because shes so much brighter stands out waaaaay more than conan, and so she seems to become the focus, where as it should be conan i would think

Starks
 
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Scolar

New member
To start off, sorry I am not commenting to say how outstandingly brilliant you are at painting. You obviously know that yourself ;)

Is hair painted yet? If it is then I would suggest cleaning it up a tad (looks like there is browns and all sorts in the black) and adding some highlighting to it.

Are you planning on dullcoating the skin? It reminds me of plastic at the moment.
 
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