New Sculpts

Here are a few pieces in process. They are still in the roughing-in stage at this point. Nothing really fixed. One of the tremendous benefits of using polymer clay over epoxy putty for endless tweaking. First up is a commissioned portrait sculpt of FDR. The other piece will be the Empress Josephine holding a bouquet of her beloved roses. Comments please! Thanks!

New Sculpt

Here's a new bust I'm doing. Somewhere around 1/6 scale. Big for my usual scale, but still quite small. This is one I hope to have funished and painted also in Chicago. One of my fav movies as a kid and one of my fav comedic actors. I hope you can recognize him. Still work to do....

Some New WIP's

Here are a few figures I'm painting for the upcoming Chicago Show in October. Using the wife's camera again. Horrible quality pictures I've gotten, but at least it's evidence that I am staying busy. The Napoleonic piece will be donated to the MMSI Chicago Figure Auction. The bust is my Peter the Great for Michael Miniatures. Still lots to do on all of these pieces.

Peter the Great Bust 250mm

Hi, everyone. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Here is a bust I just finished sculpting for Michael Miniatures. This piece will be released soon. I will be painting the boxart as well and hope to have the finished piece on display at the Chicago Show in October. It should be attractive with a dark green jacket and the brass gorget. I'm trying to get a handle on using my wife's expensive and complicated DSLR camera. I've got a little "fisheye" distortion due to the lens, but otherwise the pics are decent. Thanks for looking!

George III

This one was just released today. A very characterized version of the King late in his rule. I'm honored to have one of my favorite figure painters do the boxart. Cheers to Sang Eon-Lee for bringing the piece to lefe with his version. This kit is now availble from Michael Miniatures and has been added to their United Empire Miniatures range. Interesting fact that my first commercially produced bust was released by United Empire Miniatures some years back.

Hussar Bust for Pegaso Models

Here are some pics (courtesy of Pegaso) of a bust I sculpted some time ago for them that has just been released. Massimo did the painting for the boxart. I hope to get time to paint one myself sometime.

New Fantasy Bust Sculpt

Hello, everyone! I finished a bust that was commissioned from a friend and thought I'd post a few pics. It's around 200mm. Look for this one soon as the person who commissioned it is a great painter and will be painting it for possible display at WE 2012. Enjoy! I used the wife's DSLR camera for these shots. Too complicated for me to figure out, but these came out ok, I think.

Fantasy Comes to The Atlanta Show

Hello! The latest news is that the 34th annual Atlanta Model Figure Show (Feb 18-20, 2011 at the Mariott Century Center) will now feature both Advanced Painters and Advanced Open categories for exhibitors and viewers to enjoy. They've called it Fantasy, but all realms are welcomed including Sci-Fi, Mini's, Anime, Garage Kits, etc. I'm excited about this development for our show and hope it will increase the attendance and enjoyment of the show for military and non-military figure artists. I'd like to say thank you to Atlanta Club member Dr. Dave Wiggins for his efforts to promote the show and the club. On a personal note, it is my blog after all, I'm currently sculpting a 120mm fantasy figure that I hope to display for the first time at the show. Yes, I said figure not bust. We look forward to seeing you all in Atlanta in Feb 2011.

Gone Fishin'????

Hello! I know I haven't been keeping up with my blog as often as I'd like. Part of that is work, getting prepaired for the last APG Show in Gettysburg and perhaps the most pressing reason, the death of my camera. Until I can scrape together the pennies for a new one, looks like text only for the time being. Stay tuned, though. I hope to be back again soon.

Matt

More Progress...Clint

More work done on getting the basics down on this portrait. Slow going, but I'm enjoying the freedom and fiddling that the super sculpey is allowing me for endless tweaking. Getting closer now...A likeness isn't so much about the features as it is how the features meet with and interact with each other and the overall shape of the face. This is a hard lesson to learn and as I proceed to take my lumps thinking I've got it, only to realise later that I was wrong. Anyway, I push on....

Woodland Nymph - Completed

Here are a few pics of a bust I recently painted and displayed at the MFCA show in Valley Forge, PA this past weekend. It was a great show and I enjoyed seeing alot of old friends and meeting some new ones, too. Lynnette was a trooper and made the trip with me. Thanks to Joel Glass and the whole MFCA gang for making us feel at home and putting on a great show.

Portrait Update

More progress being made on roughing in the basic forms...Still much to do.

Arapaho Indian Bust..Coming Soon!

I'm glad to announce the coming release of a bust I sculpted a few years back. It will be available through Massimo Pasquali's new venture, "The Wheel of Time". As I understand, it's an organization to promote and support the figure modelling hobby and they will also offer kits for painters and collectors. I'm proud to say this bust will be one of their first two releases. Here is a link to the organization's web site: http://www.laruotadeltempo.eu/

This lovely example was painted by Massimo. Not bad for an oil painter ;)))

Massimo says the kit can be ordered now by emailing him, but will eventually be orderable from the website.

Thanks for looking and supporting the hobby!

New Portrait Piece. Roughing In the Volumes

Hello! I thought I'd post a few very early pics of a new portrait sculpt still early in the process. This is a very loose period in the process where I'm getting all the volumes and proportions how I like them. I've moved over to using Super Sculpey on this one rather than my usual magic sculpt. The benefit here is that the clay stays workable until I bake the piece. This allows me endless tweaking and adding/subtracting until I'm happy. I really am preferring this method rather than the add-bake-carve method I used with the air drying magic sculpt that has about an hour of working time. The only downside I can see to the sculpey is fine detail work. I have to figure that one out when I get there. This is a subject near to my interest. It will be William Munny (Clint Eastwood) from the classic western "Unforgiven". The pics have "squashed the head a bit, but they're pretty close to the actual head. More to come on this one later as he develops. Thanks for looking!

Update 4-11

Starting to come together now. I've got some ideas for the base that I'll be working on next. ..

Today's Update 3-15

More progress....

Robin Hood

Ok, so maybe I'm a bit behind, but I just learned about a new film from one of my favorite directors, Ridley Scott. This one stars Russell Crowe as Robin Hood and if it's half the movie Gladiator is, it'll be great. It seems promising from what I've read. I believe it's due for release in May 2010. Cate Blanchett is also co-starring. Woohoo!

More Progress...

Here are a few new shots of this bust. Having a great time on this one. I definately have to do more fantasy pieces. I used oils on the flesh to smooth out the acrylic shading and highlighting that I did first. It made for some added depth the the skin and a nice bit of sheen that is more realistic than just the acrylics. I'll need to experiment with this technique on a more human shade. I wasn't sure about the red sleeves, but quite like the effect with the green. Something floral looking about it which sort of suits the subject.

Update....

Here are some shots of the bust with more work done....

Woodland Nymph

Here's a new bust that's finally made it to the bench. It's a wonderful sculpt from Y&S Castings. I bought it some time ago and thought it'd be fun to do something with limitless possibility for colors. The flesh is a violet mix made from Ivory, Violet Red and Deep Green. Again in acrylics so the smooth transitions on the skin are challenging. I plan to add a whole back tattoo and have and interesting burled base to use for her upon which I plan to add some branches and perhaps some vegitation. Excited about this one too. Stay tuned for more updates....