Christmas Truce 1914

[NigelR]

I'm mainly doing figure painting and vignettes at the moment, so just in time for Xmas, here's my version of the D-Day Miniatures 1/35 Christmas Truce vignette. It supposedly represents a match that took place between the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and a Saxon regiment which the Germans won 3-2. Sadly there is no contemporary evidence that this match ever happened but there are plenty of documented examples of kickabouts during the truce, so this represents the spirit of that truce.









There was a hard frost on the night of the 24th, so I tried to represent that on the groundwork. All painted in acrylics. And the German wouldn't get away with that tackle these days.....

[gedmundson]

Very nicely portrayed Nigel - and your work in acrylics amazes me with the subtle blending. The groundwork is excellent, and I've always struggled to carry off a "wintery scene" in my previous builds. Such a timely piece...reminds me I must watch a favourite video soon of Sabaton's song of the same theme. Cheers!

[Borsos]

Lovely vignette of a heart-warming event that  shows how humanity finds its way even in dark times.
Thanks for posting!
Andreas

[DaddyO]

Made a crackin job of that one Nigel 

TTFN
Paul

[Dirigible-Al]

That's really cool.
Alan.

[PJ Fisher]

Happy to see this!

[NigelR]

Thanks very much Gary, Andreas, Paul, Alan and PJ, I appreciate the feedback.

Very nicely portrayed Nigel - and your work in acrylics amazes me with the subtle blending. The groundwork is excellent, and I've always struggled to carry off a "wintery scene" in my previous builds. Such a timely piece...reminds me I must watch a favourite video soon of Sabaton's song of the same theme.

I've been practising my figure painting a lot and have picked up a few helpful tips. Two simple things that really help with acrylics. When I have done most of the shading and highlighting, I apply a filter in a similar tone to the part of the figure I have painted. This helps unify the blending of the shadows and highlights. You might need to just emphasize a few highlights after doing this though, as it does have a "muting" effect. The second thing is to apply a coat of AK Interactive ultra-matte over the clothing areas as a last step. This gives a dead flat finish and again unifies the overall paint job (because sometimes the areas you have shaded/highlighted reflect the light slightly differently than the underlying paint, making them stand out).

Made a crackin job of that one Nigel 

Thanks Paul, it's a really nice vignette. The sculpts aren't brilliant but the animation is great and they tell the story nicely. Thanks for donating it to me! Just a pity it wasn't 54mm, 1/35 is so small 

[macsporran]

I suppose it's not surprising at this time of year, but this is the second time I've seen somebody complete this vignette within a week!
First was at our club competition on the 5th, where it drew lots of admiring comments.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, nobody else there specialises in WWI enough to join this group so I can say that Nigel's realisation is much the better of the two. (Although Graham's was very nice also.)

These figure skills are superb and elevate the craftsmanship that many of us have to a level of artistry that I can only aspire to. I read your tips re shading and matt varnishing avidly and hope to learn from them.
Sandy

[NigelR]

These figure skills are superb and elevate the craftsmanship that many of us have to a level of artistry that I can only aspire to. I read your tips re shading and matt varnishing avidly and hope to learn from them.

Thanks Sandy, you are very kind. I've been working on my figure painting for a while now and have been lucky that two of the people that exhibit with the Great War SIG are top notch figure painters, so I get the chance to examine their work close up and ask lots of questions. Paul (DaddyO on here) is one of them and has been very helpful for me.

[gedmundson]

I've been practising my figure painting a lot and have picked up a few helpful tips. Two simple things that really help with acrylics. When I have done most of the shading and highlighting, I apply a filter in a similar tone to the part of the figure I have painted. This helps unify the blending of the shadows and highlights. You might need to just emphasize a few highlights after doing this though, as it does have a "muting" effect. The second thing is to apply a coat of AK Interactive ultra-matte over the clothing areas as a last step. This gives a dead flat finish and again unifies the overall paint job (because sometimes the areas you have shaded/highlighted reflect the light slightly differently than the underlying paint, making them stand out).

Great tips, Nigel - thanks for sharing! Cheers, Gary

[Edo]

lovely vignette indeed!
Merry Christmas to all!

ciao
edo

[NigelR]

Thanks Edo, and happy Christmas to you as well!