|
|
|
||||||||
Showcase
Knight Life by John Alberts and Jeff Junker
From the collection of Lloyd Passafume
Today's military uniforms have computer-generated camouflage patterns designed to effectively meld its wearer with the background terrain, thus concealing the soldier from enemy eyes. Only recently had concealment dictated martial costume. Centuries ago, members of the warrior class used to dress in colorful garb: feathers indicating valor in past battles, fancy embroidery showing allegiance to one's faith, the cut of the cloth expressing ones political alignment. This fashion marked the Middle Ages. It was a time of harsh conditions; it was a time of hand-to-hand combat; it was a Knight's Life.
This polychromatic panorama of the "ancients" is shown in the work of John Alberts. With some fancy brush work, he performs his own brand of alchemy breathing life into pieces of resin and metal. Knight Life is a look at how six figures were transformed into works of art.
Alberts starts all of his figure projects the same way. He completely assembles the models prior to painting. Gaps are filled with epoxy putty or green stuff. After sanding the rough areas, he attaches the figure to a wooden block in order to obtain a better grip on the figure for detailing and painting. He then uses two-part epoxy putty, tin foil, and paper to make additional belts, straps, or other uniform-type conversions. Rough groundwork is added to strengthen the attachment between the figure and painting block.
"With assembly and mounting complete, I brush on Floquil primer. I let this dry for days, even weeks," says Alberts. " When drying is complete, any touch ups such as additional sanding or repairing equipment straps are performed at this stage."
Once the figure is assembled, roughing in the base colors begins, using at least
three coats of Humbrol enamel on the flesh areas and on the uniform parts. "I
am very careful at this point to be precise in the application of the paint. I want
sharp clean lines of demarcation between colors," he continues.
The face is the first area to be finished and it is done in oils. Uniforms are next, followed by leather work, equipment, and weapons. Small details are done last. Then he'll finish up by doing the groundwork.
Knights of Christ (Verlinden 120mm)
When viewing one of Alberts' figures, your eye is immediately drawn to the face: he captures the raw emotion of his subject. In the Knight's of Christ duet the face of the Templar Knight shows the look of triumph while the anguished expression of his opponent portrays a gasping attempt at taking that final breath.
"Making a face come to life is in the details. Simply, make the eyes look at
something and make the lips express something," he says.
He does this in any number of ways. Placing eyeballs at the corners of the eye socket -either hard left or hard right - as though the figure was looking at something. Opening the mouth gives the impression of yelling. Manipulation of high highlight and deep shadow can give the face expression such as emphasizing one side of the mouth for smiling. You can add wrinkles around eyes for peering.
"Another nice touch is five-o'clock shadow," he suggests "Gently add raw umber or a blue during glazing to areas of the face a real man would typically shave. The process is hit or miss!"
Both of the warrior-monks are wearing armor and were painted identically
except for the base coat. The chainmail was coated with Humbrol silver, while
the lamellar armor of the fallen knight used Humbrol gun metal. After this
initial coat was applied and left to dry for a week, the armor was washed with
sepia oil paint. Next Humbrol gun metal was dry brushed on, followed by a
wash of burnt umber in selected areas to replicate rust.
The final step entailed the placement of silver printers ink on highlighted
areas of the drapery. Gold printers ink was used on the lamellar armor.
Printer's ink, which has the consistency of soggy soap is mixed with a
Humbrol carrier. (i.e., gold printer's ink was mixed with Humbrol #16
Sovereign Gold).
Aztec Warrior (Verlinden 120mm)
Not all knights wore metal armor; some wore thick cotton. This worked fine as long as the opposition had spears, but did not protect well against superior technology, such the arquebus. The Aztec Jaguar Knights' cotton armor was accented by colorful arrays of feathers. These different colored feathers and costumes showed which village they originated, what status they held, all the while making it easier for their commanders to follow how a battle was progressing.
One of the first Europeans to encounter the Aztec was Bernal Diaz del Castillo. In a diary he kept of his adventures with Cortez, he described the following battle:
"We had not marched half a quarter of a
league before we began to see the
fields
crowded with warriors with great
feather crests and distinguishing devices,
and to hear the blare of horns and
trumpets. All the plain was swarming with
warriors and we stood four hundred men in
number, and of those many sick and
wounded. And we knew for certain that this
time our foe came with the determination to
leave none of us alive excepting those who
would be sacrificed to their idols. How they
began to charge on us! What a hail of
stones sped from their slings! As for their
bowmen, the javelins lay like corn on the
threshing floor; all of them barbed and
fire-hardened, which would pierce any
armour and would reach the vitals where
there is no protection; the men with swords
and shields and other arms larger than swords, such as broadswords and lances, how they pressed on
us and with what valour and what mighty shouts and yells they charged upon us."
September 15, 1519
The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico
Verlinden's Aztec Warrior is shown in battle dress with a feather shield and
photo-etched head gear. He's swinging a macuahultal, a carved club edged
with obsidian blades. His flesh has a sun-bronzed copper look to it,
obtained by using a mixture of oil colors based on yellow ochre.
For high highlights - such as the tip of the nose, top of the ears, eyelids, cheekbone and top of the chin - titanium white was added to the yellow ochre base. Deep shadow - for areas where little light hits surfaces such as under the eyelids, nostril, and under the lips - olive with some burnt umber and yellow ochre was used. The mid-tones are combinations of these. Alberts then glazed the face with a golden ochre. (A glaze is a thin layer of oil paint applied over a surface, best performed with a transparent color.)
The realistic look to the fur was achieved by using yellow ochre, golden
yellow ochre and raw umber. The spots were painted on with burnt
umber. He says the "the trick was to paint the spots on the 'wet' (not yet
dried) ochres. That way the edges could be blurred. I wanted to soften
the contrast to achieve a sheen. The spots should flow with the rest of
the fur."
But the most impressive part of the figure is the helmet. The original ones were
carved from wood and decorated. On Alberts incarnation of the helmet, the eye's
pop out and actually stare at you; they look real. The pupils are floating in a sea
of gold.
Go to Next Page where you'll find:
Earl of Warwick
Cavalier
Spartan
Germanic Warrior