Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 8 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

This is the final installment of Otto Dix's "Krieg". I added some pics from different angles this time. Sorry, nothing really "new".

Though not even close to his paintings, I hope it reflects in a small way his vision.

Thanks for following this project. I've just finished sculpting another figure and hope to post something in the next few days. This will be a sculpting sbs.

Thanks to all who have been following.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 7 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

Here's some closer pics of the "marching" figure. I didn't want to date him or "label" him from a particular regiment so I gave him a mixture of early and later war issue equipment.

The rifle is a ICM Dreyse neeedle gun conversion. The 1/35 scale 98's I have in my spares box looked too short for the WW1 issue. I covered a portion of the barrel with putty and added a pistol grip to the stock.

The face has much more contrast than the picture shows.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 6 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

Here some pics of the painted model. I'm still practicing with lighting/background with the new camera. Naturally the vignette looks different in the flesh despite my efforts with the camera to give the "perfect" magazine quality picture. I hope the viewer takes this into consideration when surfing the blog.

I may go back and do some touch-up painting here and there and post more pics later.

Thanks for looking.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 5 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

For the ground work, I used railroad model dirt for texture. I wanted something that showed distressed earth, not fine as sand but not too chunky either.

I sat the base in a bowl then spread dilluted white glue to the base. Then sprinkled the "dirt" onto the base. The bowl caught any overflow.

I let the base dry then primed and painted pretty much the entire base black.

The figure observing the scene was built in my usual way. Wire armature built up with Aves putty. The body
then scored while 75% cured with cross type of etching. This will help successive layers of putty "bite" into the flesh.

For mud, I was hoping to use Testors Green Putty to texture the boots and other areas of the model. But to my dismay, the tube was all dried up. I came up with an idea to try and use Aves. I mixed a small batch and saturated the mixture with water and mixed almost into a paste. I added a little Vallejo dark green paint to help see the texture. I then stippled the mix onto the figures with an old brush. The process worked o.k. but I had to work fast as the paint helped dry the mix too quick.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 4 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

Here's some more pics of the overall vignette. More groundwork and debris will be added soon.

I'm currently working on the final figure. This one will be of a rookie grunt, new to the front, looking at the scene with horror/disgust.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 3 *WARNING* GRAPHIC

Some of the following pictures maybe too graphic for some. Please view with discretion.

For the outside of the base I textured with a rough stone.

The cat-walk planks are made of plastic card.

The two figures are a hodge podge of pieces. The heads are from Hornet and expressions changed accordingly.
The legs are from Presier (sp?) and were shaved down a little and the toes were re-sculpted. You may note that the legs and torso do not match but the overall height is still 1/35.

It wasn't really that hard to sculpt a figure to a base. Just adjusting to the contours was tricky.

The helmet is a Dragon piece which I carved a little to add more brim to reflect the issue helmet of World War One.

I got a little wild with the "shrouded" figure. Sculpting the folds and wrinkles was actually pretty fun. Not sure if it will be convincing to others but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The bullet/Shrapnel holes may have gotten out of hand, but hopefully it will add to the harshness of the piece. And my intention of this
piece was to try and stay close to Otto Dix's vision, NOT historical accuracy.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 2

Here's the finished "shrouded" figure after many layers of putty.

The corrugated sheet metal was fairly easy to make. The pictures pretty much show all. As I could not find any pre-made sheet metal on the vendor stands at the Chicago show, I tried this fairly simple technique.

Otto Dix's "Krieg", Part 1

I covered the base with "Cling Wrap" and painters tape. Cutting a perfect circle was a bit tedious.

Then I "blocked" in the base using foam board.

The gas-masked, blanket covered soldier was slowly built up with putty to allow proper curing.

Otto Dix: Germany's "Degenerate Artist"

Otto Dix (1891~1969) said of his paintings of World War One subjects "I did not want to cause fear and panic, but to let people know how dreadful war is and to stimulate people's power of resistance."

After coming home from the Chicago show, I was really inspired to try something totally new. Having recently read an article in MHQ Magazine on the artist Otto Dix, I had found the subject for my new project. Although I'm still wondering on whether this will receive "o.k.'s" from judges at future shows, as this will be pretty graphic.

I picked up a nice round ebony base from one of the vendors in the hopes I would carry this thing out. Once I got home and sat at that clean workbench, I told myself this maybe now or never.

The triptych painting Der Krieg (The War) is the inspiration for the project. Though not as chaotic and dreamy as the painting, it will be in essence true to it's harshness.

Please note the sculpting of this project is 80% done! Yes, I've been working like a madman for a whole week and burned an entire weekend ( up untill 2 a.m. on Friday and 8 hours each Saturday and Sunday) on this piece! Lets say, I'm very fortunate to have an understanding family;)

This post is just a teaser. I'll post pic's every other day so I have time to play with my new camera.

For more on the artist Otto Dix see- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Dix