Sold

Andrea’s Athos (First published in Military Modelling Magazine).

“All for one, one for all”

 

  These are the immortal words that were sworn by Athos in the classic novels by Alexander Dumas. Set in France during the reign of Louis Xlll, The Three Musketeers charts the adventures of D’artagnan as he sets out from his rural home to Paris. Meeting along the way Athos, Aramis and Porthos, Mustketeers, sworn to protect the king. Together they fought against the evil Cardinal Richelieu for justice, love and friendship.

  Alexander Dumas was born near Paris on July 24, 1802, the son of General Thomas-Alexander Dumas. His stories remain timeless, brilliantly written tales of high adventure that still capture the imagination . He died on December 5, 1870 and was buried in the place where he had been born, Alexander Dumas remained in the cemetery at Villes-Cotterêts until November 30, 2002. Under orders of the French President, Jacques Chirac, his body was exhumed and in a televised ceremony, his new coffin, draped in a blue-velvet cloth and flanked by four men costumed as the Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan, was transported in a solemn procession to the Panthéon of Paris, the great mausoleum where French luminaries are interred. A fitting resting place for one who had given so much to literature and to the imaginations of young and old.

The Figure

Face Mix

Undercoat (Acrylic) Yellow Ochre + Yellow

Basecoat (Oils) Equal amounts of Venetian Red + Cadmium Yellow + Ochre

First Highlight (Oils) Basecoat + Naples Yellow + Titanium White

First Shadow (Oils) Venetian Red

Second Highlight (Oils) First highlight + Titanium White

Final Highlight (Oils) Titanium White

Second Shadow (Oils) Venetian Red + Lamp Black

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

  After my usual priming technique of washes of White matt Humbrol and further undercoating with acrylics I started with the face . His facial features are beneath a very broad brimmed hat cocked to one side, this creates quite a challenge in the painting because the brim casts shadows ( also the sculptor has depicted Athos straitening his beard, his hand impedes the light even more) on one side of the face and restricts painting. A little cheating was employed here, I bent the hat at one corner so I could increase the light hitting the upturned portions of the face, adding definition and uniqueness. The hat can be left off until after painting, but I found leaving it on was best as it generates shadows which are a good reference for when it comes to the painting. So as not to compromise the ‘lighting’ on Athos I did not use the second and final highlight mix on the portions of the face deep beneath the hat brim. Electing to increase the shadows instead, employing a mix of Lamp Black + Venetian Red as a mid range shadow colour and in the deepest (under the chin and around the jaw line) parts of the face, Lamp Black.

  The Sculptor seems to have created Athos as a ‘homage’ to (although I feel he bares more than a passing resemblance to the late great Oliver Reed) Dumas rather than a carbon copy of an actor portraying Athos in one of the various cinematic versions. This gives you plenty of scope when it comes to hair and eye colour, in this case blonde and blue.

  A word on painting eyes, most painters complete them prior to starting the face. My preference is to complete them after the painting of the flesh, I feel I can’t get the attitude of the eyes correct until they are in a completed setting.

  The hair was first undercoated in acrylic ochre, then Naples yellow oil paint was employed as a sculptural medium to reinforce the look and texture of Hair. First I applied undiluted oil paint liberally on the hair areas. Then I lifted the oil paint with the brush into tufts and used the tip of the brush to create little furrows in the wet paint. When dry (normally two days) I repeated the process again. One week later I began shading and staining the paint using washes of Burnt Umber, Lamp Black and Sepia oil Paint until a dirty blonde look was attained. Time consuming yes, but it’s the only way I find to faithfully recreate the tousled look of hair in this scale. Always make sure the oils have dried fully before using thinner based washes on the hair, a gooey mess and a lot more work will result if you don’t.

Hat and Feathers

Undercoat (Acrylic) Confederate Grey

Basecoat (Oils) Lamp Black + Naples Yellow

First Highlight (Oils) Base Coat + Naples Yellow

Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

 The hat was first undercoated in Acrylic Confederate Grey, then base coated with a mix of Lamp black + Naples Yellow, about 10/90 mix. It was then shaded with thinned Lamp Black until it looked Black, leaving the basecoat to act as a highlight. I added a little Naples Yellow later to indicate dust around the brim of the hat and re-painted the highlights in places subject to full light .

 

 Feather area’s are first painted in acrylic White then base coated with sepia oil paint, when dry neat Titanium White was used as a sculptural medium to suggest ( the ones on my example were not very well defined) the grain of feathers. When this had dried washes and stains of Sepia were used to accentuate the grain of the feathers.

Tabard

Undercoat (Acrylic) Blue + White

Basecoat (Oils) Permanent Blue

First Highlight (Oils) Naples Yellow + Titanium White

First Shadow (Oils) Permanent Blue

Second Highlight (Oils) First highlight + Titanium White

Final Highlight (Oils) Titanium White

Second Shadow (Oils) Permanent Blue + Lamp Black

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

  Its no secret to anyone of my admiration of Mike Blanks approach to painting. Euro 2004 more than reinforced this when I saw how Mike had now mastered painting Blue as well as Black and White. His 90mm Swedish Lifeguard was my best of show, with its superb sculpting, lived in and lifelike looks, and the stunning rendition of weathering on the ever difficult blue. Keen to recreate this for myself I quickly sought out a canvass to work on, seeking out a similar figure to Mike‘s (to practice those blues) only in my favourite scale of 54mm. That’s the beauty of Euromilitaire, you can buy anything commercial that you covert in the competition room, upstairs in the main hall.

  I began by base coating the tabard with a very light blue acrylic, more white than blue as the undercoat and highlight seem to work better when they are harmonious. When dry I painted the tabard areas with a thinned mix of Permanent Blue, Sepia and Ochre. After removing the majority of the oil paint (this is essential in my opinion if you want the oils to dry matt) I then began highlighting the tabard with an oil mix of the basecoat + Naples Yellow + Titanium white. You should end up with an amalgam of the basecoat and highlight, in this case light blue. Shadows are Permanent blue + Lamp Black, deep shadows Lamp Black. When Dry the highlights were reinforced with Titanium White and random dots of basecoat + Titanium white were painted over the tabard to give it a cloth look.

 The Red lining on the tabard is a Oil mix of Lamp Black + Venetian Red, when dry I highlighted it with thinned Venetian Red (a 70% Oil ,30% Turpentine mix) and shaded it quite heavily with lamp black as most of it is in shadow and little light falls on it.

 The White braiding around the tunic is base coated with sepia oil paint and then highlighted with Titanium White. I purposely left light brush marks in the wet oil paint to represent an embroidered texture. When dry a wash of heavily diluted sepia oil paint was washed over the braiding areas. When that had dried a coat of thinned Licquin was washed over it to give a slight sheen.

 

Trousers

Undercoat (Acrylic) Blue

Basecoat (Oils) Permanent Blue + Naples Yellow + Lamp Black

First Highlight (Oils) Permanent Blue + Naples Yellow

First Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black + a little Permanent Blue

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

  The trousers are painted in a similar manner to the tunic only using darker mixes. I added a little Naples Yellow to the base mix to help matt down the oil paints and give the trousers a dusty look.

  Dark blue is one of the most difficult colours to paint in oils, having a long history of drying to a high gloss finish. I find Daler and Rowneys Permanent Blue best for me. Provided you give the raw paint at least two hours on a piece of paper to remove some of the pigment carrier and make sure it is well diluted with a good quality turpentine, it should dry matt quite consistently. For a darker Blue such as Prussian just add a little lamp black (remember to leave this for two hours as well), for lighter blues add Naples Yellow and Titanium White.

Boots and Scabbard

Undercoat (Acrylic) Ochre

Basecoat (Oils) Lamp Black + Venetian Red

First Highlight (Oils) Naples Yellow

First Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black + Venetian Red

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

 

  The boots were painted using my usual method of wet on wet painting. Firstly acrylic Ochre was used as a basecoat, then a Lamp Black/Venetian Red oil basecoat was painted on . After removing the excess oil paint I used Naples yellow wet on wet to highlight the gloves and boots until a warm grey/brown was achieved. Deep shadowing was done using neat Lamp Black, the first shadow being the remnants of the oils basecoat that was left un-highlighted. Because this technique involves working wet on wet it has to be done in one sitting, in this case four hours. When sitting down for this period of time I am sure you will agree a comfortable chair and a well ventilated work area is a must have.

 All metal area’s such as the sword hilt and spurs were painted using a Silver acrylic undercoat washed with thinned Sepia, when dry a wash of Licquin was (Again!! very versatile stuff) painted on to suggest a sheen to the metal.

Lace Collar

Undercoat (Acrylic) White

Basecoat (Oils) Sepia

First Highlight (Oils) Titanium White

First Shadow (Oils) Sepia

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

  The white for the lace collar was painted in my usual way, firstly thinned Sepia was flowed over the collar area’s then I began to highlight the Sepia base coat using Titanium White, leaving the original sepia where the shadows should lay. Pure Lamp Black was employed around the edge of the collar and in the deepest recesses to suggest depth and to reinforce the demarcation line between the Blue tunic and the White collar. This helps to give the figure definition and aids the overhead lighting effect, to my mind a must when working in such a small scale.

Groundwork

Undercoat (Acrylic) Confederate Grey

Basecoat (Oils) Sepia

 The groundwork is included with the kit and represents a section of cobbled ground, if you decide to paint more of the Musketeers they are designed to interlock creating quite an interesting scene.

  As I am no fan of groundwork I opted for the kit original as it gives a very firm anchor for this figure. I simply employed washes of sepia over a Confederate Grey Acrylic undercoat to bring out the details in the cobbled sections and to suggest a stone colour .

  I found this figure a real joy to paint , making a welcome change from all the ‘pure’ military figures I have been doing of late. As is usual of Andrea it is very well cast and comes with the box art to act as a painting guide. My only gripe is the lack of mention for the sculptor on the packaging, whoever she/he is they have bags of talent and deserve to be recognised .

 If you are looking for a change from all those militaristic figures Andrea have a very wide range of civilian/movie figures to suit every taste.

 

My next project will be a Greek Hoplite from EMI sculpted by the master Adriano Larrucia, another stunner from this superb company I’m sure you will agree. I hope to share this with you soon . Happy painting.