Trapper Bust

[Judas.1044]

Hi fellas!

Well, right after Christmas hangover, I've come back to the modelling world with new energies.

I have received some nice presents I will post in a future, but I wanted something different so I have tried some "restoration".

Here you have a trapper bust I painted some 18 years ago when I was younger and more inexperienced:

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I used mainly citadel paints and citadel inks for shading, which goes well for 28 mm figures but in a bust they don't work so well. Anyway I guess I lost my patience since you can see that I didn't even finshed it.

This poor guy has been abandoned in a shelf for almost 20 years, exposed to dust and some terrible nephews:

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That explains the missing of some feathers in his coonskin cap and the misterious unpainted spot in the tip of his nose.

Definitely, it needed a new look!!

So first of all I fill the holes in his coonskin cap with some green putty and I scribbed it, trying to imitate a fur texture:

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Afterwards, I airbrushed all the figure in black:

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In order to create quick references for lights and shadows, I airbrushed a neutral grey tone from above the figure:

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And as I wanted to see the lightest points very clearly, I airbrushed from above a final coat of white:

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Then I started with colour, airbrushing a sand tone for the leather jacket:

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With a dark brown, first I applied a very dilluted wash in the darker areas, and then I unified the tones with the airbrush, pointing from below the figure:

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For the lights, I applied the same sand color I used for the base coat, but with quite a lot of white, and I painted the highlighted areas quite roughly:

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Next step, as same as with the darker tones, I unified everything with a more gentle mixture of sand + white, applied with an airbrush from above:

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That creates that "velvet" texture I wanted for the jacket. Once the jacket was finished, I decided to paint the skin, so first of all, I protected the previous work with a latex based liquid mask:

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Following the same procedure, I airbrushed a neutral skin tone, then a darker one from beneath and a lighter one from above:

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Let's give him some life! Now it's the moment the figure gets its soul, when I paint the hair and the eyes.

Tips I followed for the details:

Try to use a mixture of the skin tone + red for the lower lip

Guess what? The white part of the eyes or sclera, actually is not white, try to use a bone colour

If you want to add light and realism, paint a white spot between the iris and the pupil:

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This is how it looks when the face painting is finished:

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Now let's go for some detailing. Using the same bone colour I used for the sclera, I painted the shirt:

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Since I don't know any trapper to ask, I searched the Internet to see how I could paint the ornaments, and I managed to find some help:

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Since the system doesn't allow me to include more pics, I will follow in the next post!

 

[Deleted member 3568]

Lovely work there, nice to see and have the explanations you've given

 

[John Rixon]

Wow, some serious skills here, and an object lesson on how important research is. Top marks, that man!

 

[Judas.1044]

Thanks kpnuts!

Getting near the end...

I also painted the leather belts and teeth collar trying to gave them a "used" look, with some little scratches:

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And for the braid cover, I decided to try a reddish tone:

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I also added a used pipe in the belt:

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Time to go for the most iconic gear of our lad, the coonskin cap!

Well basically I painted with a mixture of brown and grey and I went on trying different washes and "dry brush" highlights:

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Then I just had to paint the plinth in black and add a nice and natural base to give him a wild look and voilà:

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Trapper Bust restoration completed!!

Thanks for watching pals!

 

[Judas.1044]

Wow, some serious skills here, and an object lesson on how important research is. Top marks, that man!

Thank you John!

Actually research is one of my favourites when modelling

 

[Polux]

Lovely restoration paintwork Javi!

Very nice

PS: We will go for Figure Group Build on July, I hope to see you there

 

[Deleted member 3568]

Great work and attention to detail

 

[Judas.1044]

Lovely restoration paintwork Javi!Very nice

PS: We will go for Figure Group Build on July, I hope to see you there

Thanks Polux! I've got some figures to paint, and it would be an honor for me to participate in the Figure Group Build!

 

[monica]

great work Javi,do like him,

research is one thing i do before and even as im doing the figures or base so it combines,

with what idea i have in my head,

very well done and will look forward to seeing what you do in Figure Group Build on July