Colonial troops

[BarleyBop]

Hey all.
My main focus is vehicles from all sides used in North Africa WW2 campaigns... but for every vehicle, it seems there is a figure, or 2, or 3!

Recently, I've been on an Italian kick: and I thought Brits had reputation for eccentric vehicles!

This fella has helped me work on non-caucasian skin tones, and is representative of the thousands of 'colonials' that got swept into the fray.



He still needs a matte varnish, but time to move onto the next ones and see what they have to teach me!
He is from an ICM kit, 'Eritrean battalions of the Italian Colonial Army'

They were mostly outfitted with WW1 weapons, often barefoot, and like this guy, sporting leather 'gators' to protect against arid thorny scrub.

Where is his pack? I read that having been recruited from the warrior class, it was beneath them to carry their own kit, traditionally having someone else to haul it for them!

It is slow learning, but I think he turned out much better than my first attempt (at a mounted Tuareg) several years ago shortly after a 35 year hiatus... I did have fun modifying the saddle and adding my own touches with fabric, and a camel tail plucked from a Labrador Retriever

 

[the Baron]

Nice!
For African skin tones, I follow the reverse sequence that I follow for Caucasians. For Caucasian skin, I lay down my light color, my base skin tone, then add shadows, and highlights. For African, I lay down the darker color as my base, and then add my lighter colors-like on the face, the cheekbones, the forehead, bridge of the nose, etc. No right or wrong, just what I stumbled upon.

 

[BarleyBop]

Cool, I'm experimenting with something similar.
I thought I would try laying down a range of basic skintones across my horde of Italians, and work up from those the way you described.

I feel like I'm going against the grain (all those guys on the internets) by assembling the figures, heads and all, before painting. It feels more natural to me to work the complete figure, picking up on the body language, pose and uniform as I work. I do leave accessories to the last though, as they tend to get in the way.

Thoughts?

 

[BarleyBop]

With the holidays now under our belts (quite literally), I hope to continue work on my collection of Italian and Italian colonials...

A cheap set of oils is sitting in my drawer...

Looking for advice on how to proceed with oils for faces and uniforms!

A lot of tutorials seem to focus on larger than 1:35, like busts and such.

 

[Steve Ski]

Howdy, Barley.

If I may suggest a place to start, http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/figures/mbface/mbface.htm Bannerman's tutorials helped me refine my skills and added some techniques to my tool chest quite a few years ago. You can check on several of his articles and others, here: http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/articles_figures.htm There's a few on YT, but not many. Oils are not too popular, acrylics being the go-to choice. but honestly, there's quite a few of us oilers out there. Not everyone has crossed over to the "dark side."

But get rid of those cheap oils in your drawer, for starters. They won't do you any good, if you're serious. I would suggest Windsor and Newton. One tube will last you a lifetime, and get some quality brushes. Not super expensive ones, just decent ones that can handle the beating the oils will put them thru. I smoke through a few with every set of figures I work. I just happens that way.

I use acrylics for the base tones, oils blended over that. It's all about blending and feathering colors together.

Hope that helps, Barley. Cheers, Ski.

 

[BarleyBop]

Hope that helps,

Lots! I will be checking those links and resources you provided - thanks!
I'll try to post some pics as I learn, so you can catch me when I f*** up!

Cheers!

 

[Steve Ski]

Lots! I will be checking those links and resources you provided - thanks!
I'll try to post some pics as I learn, so you can catch me when I f*** up!

Cheers!

I'll add some YT links as I find em, it never hurts to add to the ref library. Don't worry about jacking up, that's a given. Just try not to get flustered over it. Remember, oven cleaner is your friend. If you mess up, zap it and scrub it, start over.

You can PM me if you've got specific questions. Check the YT link below.
https://www.youtube.com/@SmallSoldier He's got a few feathering techniques that work wonders, try em.