Well it's been two months since my last post. Thanks to all who have been visiting.My current project is a commission piece depicting some of the well known commanding officers of the Rebel Army at the siege of Yorktown, Virginia in October of 1781.
Though none are American, they all played important roles during the Revolution.
Those that will be depicted are as follows-Marquis de LaFayette, Friedrich von Steuben the Comte de Rochambeau and the Duc de Lauzun.
I had to do some digging throug my spare heads for appropriate features that I feel resemble the characters.
Composition, composition, composition. I, like all modelers, will always struggle with this when putting together multiple figures and such. I have the vision, but it takes a life of it's own when the pieces are actually being set to base.
The collector who commissioned this piece wanted three officers on foot, standing on a fortification, with one mounted riding up to the trio. I, at first, had the horse parallel to the trio with the gabions surrounding the horse. This didn't work. When I put the mounted figure on horse he took up too much space and looked like the center piece of the vignette. I didn't want that. So I hacked off the far left gabion and chipped away alot of the wood. This will allow the horse and rider to be positioned at an angle and allow the foot figures some spot light. The dead space on the base I added a spent cannon ball and a clump of sod. I feel this composition looks much better and tells a better story.
4 comments:
Hello Jason,
Looking good so far on the composition, but a long way to go i guess... Good luck!
Are those Historex heads?
And from wich company is the horse?
greets,
RJ
Thanks RJ. Actually the sculpting is finished. I'm just "spoon feeding" the project:)
Yes, three of the heads are Historex and the other...I'm not sure. I'll have to check.
The horse is from Micheal Roberts. Great sculpture but a few pits and bubbles in the casting.
Jason, Nice piece. I think the composition works well. The small trick is to not have too much of the mounted figure's head turned away. Although it helps to direct the viewer towards the rest of the figures in the scene. Can't wait for the next spoonful. ~Gary :)
Gary, your right. If I had his head pointing in the direction of where his finger is pointing, my eyes would stay on him and the figures in the background would be just a quick second glance. Then my eyes would be drawn immediately back to the mounted figure, thus making him the center of the scene. I turned the horse as much as possible so as to not make the rider stretch his head too much and still give him some profile.
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