Verlinden 200mm Zulu Warrior Bust

[Deleted member 6559]

Lets see how this one goes.

I was pretty careful about choosing this one. Checking to see what others had made of it seems like a good idea, and if there are no examples on the internet it's probably because it's no good. There were several nicely done examples of this one, so I thought I'd be safe. It's also from Verlinden's early Belgian period, which tends to be much better - worth noting that scale-wise it seems a lot smaller than some of the other 200mm busts they have produced, which do tend to be over-sized.

This is what was in the box:



The feathers are provided as etch, which is a nice idea - the smaller bunch is also supplied in a solid resin example.

Cleaned and ready to go:



The only problem I had was the minor issue of a couple of the tips of the small bunch of feathers that were missing and needed replacing. Easily done.

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Chair pulled up.

 

[Steve Jones]

Two chairs pulled up. Afternoon Scottie. How you doin mate?

Good luck Peter!

 

[scottie3158]

Two chairs pulled up. Afternoon Scottie. How you doin mate?

Good luck Peter!

Good mate glad to see you about again.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Welcome aboard Scottie and Steve - beverages and bikkies anon. I'll try and make it worthwhile your sitting down.

 

[scottie3158]

Welcome aboard Scottie and Steve - beverages and bikkies anon. I'll try and make it worthwhile your sitting down.

One thing I can safely say is your work is always worth sitting down for.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Third chair pulled up. Great looking bust and bikkies - what's not to like.
Jim

 

[Mickc1440]

Wow I've almost made front row

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Looks like a positive start after such a poor week.

I am really looking forward to your work on an African complexion.

Could you detail your palette for us mere painting mortals?

I would definitely appreciate that.

All fingers crossed that there are no hiccups when you get started today.

Its going to be a cold one today, then Saharan tomorrow?

Crazy weather!

Still trudging on with the last of the tracks, which should be concluded today, then something more interesting on both builds.

Have a great day with the paints? hopefully!

Keep out of the cold winds too

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Scottie - Thank you.

Jim and Mick - Both on the front row.

Steve - The last lot of failures really got me down, so here's hoping this goes better. It looks like a nice sculpt, so the only problem is the African skin tones. I've got a photographic book on the various peoples of South Africa which will be a big help, especially as it has a big section on the Zulus. Warm and wet here, but with poor light. Fingers crossed...

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
not sure if you are aware of this site, but there is a good ethnic skin tone primer on coolminiornot....you probably don’t need it, but just in case.....I used it for my Sikh bust and my Ansars And found it helped immensely.

http://http:tongue-out3:/www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones

cheers
Tim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thank for that Tim, very useful. And did you have to mention your perfect Sikh bust? - superb work that I'll never be able to match.

The head:




Looks a little odd without ears, but of course he will have the headdress flaps.

I really enjoyed painting the dark skin, which made a nice change from European tones. Zulus are a Southern Nguni people and tend to have a fairly light skin compared to West Africans. In the past I've always added a lot of Vallejo Red leather to capture the orangey tones one often sees, but here I avoided that and went for a tamer pallet. The basic pallet for the skin ran from Vallejo German Camo Black Brown for the darkest tones, through Chocolate Brown to Flat Earth for the mid tones, then finally Flat Flesh for the extreme highlights. Given the amount of wrinkles, I've given him grey hair to suggest an InDuna, or tribal elder.

The box art shows a leopard skin head band, but I found that it was too textured to depict that, so I painted it as lion skin, as was more usual.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looks great Peter .

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thanks Ralph.

I've since toned down some of the wrinkles:



I'm going to leave the face alone now.

Glad to have finally got a face done, and a double red letter day after finding a beautiful Mesolithic axe while out with the dog:



Unusual to find one of such quality in these parts. I always take it as a good omen for the build (someone's smiling down on me etc).

 

[JR]

Peter.
Could you ask Mr Jones to remove his Wizards Hat please as I can't see from the back.

Skin tones look good, and a nice axe find. More for the cabinet ?

 

[Peter Gillson]

Great flesh colours.

peter

 

[Deleted member 6559]

John - I've got some gardener's shears if you want to hack away at Steve's hat.

Peter - Thank you, though he ain't going to win any beauty contests!

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Love the axe, how big is your flint tool collection these days?

Thanks for the palette choices too, I have bookmarked them for later use on the now in storage T34 in Yemen.

Nice work on the head, and it does benefit from being a little more mature, as it isn't a teenage Brad Pitt by any shape or size!

Its been so windy up't North for the past 24 hours, kept me awake most of the night!

I was hoping to prime and base coat the 2 sets of tracks with the small window of warmer weather, but it still feels cold for 8 C

Looks like you have diverted your recent run of poor luck, so crack on whilst the paint and brushes are on your side.

Have a good day and look forward to your next update

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Morning Steve

The flint tool collection got out of control and I used most of the collection to fill an irrigation trench alongside the conservatory. I kept the best stuff of course, and these days I'm much more discriminating about what I pick up - I even left behind too palaeolithic choppers yesterday as being a bit rough and heavy.

I'm quite pleased with how the head has turned out. The sculpt is a bit disappointing, but at least it was paintable - it should look OK in context.

As you say, it's supposed to be warmer, but it still feels cold to me as well. Hope you can get some work done.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Zulu elder looks great.
Flint axe is a nice find. You must have a sharp eye and plenty of skill to see these things. To me it looks like any other piece of stone
Jim