Project X (1 Viewer)

[Louis Badolato]

Victor,

You are just amazing! I love how the scenic base and the figures are seamlessly coming together!:salute::​

 

[blaster]

Hi Louis,
sometimes I surprise even myself.hahaha I’ve been lucky with this piece so far, although it was threatened to be derailed by the stupid hill. Now that it is in place, I repositioned the horsemen nearest to the hill and took a pic of the grouping.

rgds

victor

 

[Obee]

Hi Louis,
sometimes I surprise even myself.hahaha I’ve been lucky with this piece so far, although it was threatened to be derailed by the stupid hill. Now that it is in place, I repositioned the horsemen nearest to the hill and took a pic of the grouping.

rgds

victor

I love this close up image, keep them coming

John

 

[blaster]

I started to place the crowd castings in the scene. Following cleanup, the castings were painted and placed for a test visualisation. It seems to work well. In the original ptg, the detailed facial characteristics also fall off abruptly.

 

[blaster]

I was so pleased with the bkgd figures that I made more castings to create a bigger crowd scene.

 

[blaster]

Ive started to dress up the icon. Ribbons were made from metal strips. Painted the initial batch of ribbons {as there are so many} and then added the foliage and flowers as well.

 

[Go for Broke]

Victor, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are relentless. Relentlessly good.

 

[blaster]

Hi Go For Broke,

Relentless- yeah I think so...;} Good - probably I'm very, very lucky. Now and then, I get an idea to help me overcome a hurdle.

For this piece, I relentlessly pursued the crowd scene after I had figured out how to speed up my work with castings. So as with all single sided castings, and art craft stuff, the results can be less than professional...hahaha.
So I have been spending a lot of time in cleaning up the castings, repairing them and bulking up the rearsides to create some bulk to the castings. Also added wire inserts to them for positioning within the scene.

A word on colours. The casting material is slightly porous. So after a couple of undercoat coats, I overpainted with oils to match the pieces to the rest of the scene. I noticed that Repin simplified the painting of all the figures with reddish brown hair, and so I have done the same thing.

I added more metal strip ribbons to the icon, trying to shape them to resemble the painting.

Just trying to match all the colours. Even the sky was painted with blue and naples yellow. But I think that I'll overpaint parts of it with a brighter yellow.

 

[blaster]

It’s all project X this few days.
I’ve done up all the foreground marshals n positioned them. Also the first lot of completed bkgd figures.
Next two pix shows the other main foreground figs to the left side and a few mid ground figs in the crowd.

 

[blaster]

Almost completed adding the ribbon laces to the icon.

I removed all the uncompleted figures for further work.

Also reworked the front marshal to reduce his height and size. Then I repositioned the two other marshals.

After painting the icon I tested its placement within the scene.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Victor,

Just amazing!!^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Very impressive indeed....great scratch building...
Cheers
A_C

Almost completed adding the ribbon laces to the icon.

I removed all the uncompleted figures for further work.

Also reworked the front marshal to reduce his height and size. Then I repositioned the two other marshals.

After painting the icon I tested its placement within the scene. View attachment 286606View attachment 286607View attachment 286608View attachment 286609

 

[blaster]

Hello Louis and Luiz,

thanks for your ever generous comments.

This is one of those forever projects unless I set and hit 'milestones' along the way. A couple of those milestones were the mid-crowd scene and the icon. As these are generally achieved (still need more work), there is a certain sense of achievement at this stage for me.

Easier to then plan and focus on the other 'milestones'. These are the foreground figures, the mtd horsemen and then more crowd scene in smaller scale. Then I still have to finish the rest of the icon structure, including the partly visible foreground figures to the right.

The first pix shows the first batch of bkdg crowd scene (25mm) with additional castings being made. I'll probably need even more castings to fill in the bkgd space.

The second pix shows the nearly completed foreground figures to the left of the scene.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

a couple of pix from my grungy worktable.

The first shows the mid crowd mixed in with the bkgd crowd. Some of the bkgd figures have been attached to the mid crowd.

The ptg of the completed foreground peasants is underway.

 

[blaster]

I've completed the foreground figs. Also redid the wizard figure. Used a loose painterly style to try to capture the look.

Also attached the first batch of bkgd figs. Will need more to cover the backdrop.


I took out the scene to drill holes and attach all the figures.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Victor,

The sheer scope of the crowd you pulled together is just awe-inspiring!:salute::

 

[blaster]

Hi Louis,

Imagine if I was doing each individual figure.... Thank goodness they invented silicone rubber and castings....hahhaha.

However, I can't escape from the fact that for the foreground to mid-foreground figures, the ptg shows quite a lot of individual figures with their own characteristic traits.
That seems to give the ptg its raison d'erte. Apparently, Repin's ptg is a social commentary on the fabric of Russian society etc.

So I think that I have to sculpt these proximal figures in more detail as per the ptg.

I have already started on quite a few.

Rgds Victor


The two monks acting as traffic marshals. I located their positioning in the scene. They seem to lock hands to form a U cordon around the dignitaries and the icon.



I worked on the feet of the two marshals. Added another titan to the foreground figures. This last figure is cut off in the scene to the extreme right.



Starting to detail these figures.



More midground figures on either side of the pompous mtd officer.

 

[blaster]

more WIP


I reworked the mtd figures as they are quite prominent in the ptg. I shortened the horse of the larger figure to create some foreshortening perspective.


The position of the last titan


I checked the position in the frame. I probably will reduce the width of this scene.


More details being fleshed out.


These figures are posed just behind the previous set. They interact with one of the mtd horseman.

 

[blaster]

More WIP


Larger scale 1/22.5 heads being recruited to form partially hidden faces around the icon.


A test undercoat of the linked hands marshals.


I had to add more putty to create bulk around the rear left sides as these could be seen in the scene.


The titan being detailed.

 

[blaster]

As this piece progresses, I think that I have to rework some foreground figures as the details become clearer the more I study this ptg. This will be apparent as I also start to add more titans around the icon.
Best that I can make out is that the icon was supported by two lateral parallel bars and teo longitudinal parallel bars. There should be three pax on each lateral bar side. The longitudinal bars appear to be short, prob carried by one pax each side. In the ptg, I can probably assign 9 pax (heads) to these roles. The further figures and heads being of diminishing sizes. I have to sculpt bodies to these foreground titans as they are probably more visible in the round than as depicted in the ptg.