Macca Chung's Sorayama Marilyn


I had a fantastic time at Crystal Dragon this year. It was my first time and I will definitely be back. It was also an absolute thrill to receive a best in show award for the Sorayama Marilyn bust.

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Fans of Hajime Sorayama will recognise instantly where the idea came from. I wanted as much as possible to emulate the hyper-realism style of Sorayama's robot pinups, which included several paintings of Marilyn. The original Marilyn Monroe bust is from Life Miniatures and it is a gorgeous kit. The sculpt and the quality of casting made it a joy to paint.

Before I started the project, I spent weeks looking at Sorayama's work trying to understand how it could translate to a model. Immersion is an important part of my process.


Sorayama employs 2D illustration techniques to communicate the way light behaves in a 3D environment. For me, the most impressive aspect is the way Sorayama negotiates plane changes and the reflective behaviour of different materials, from metal to fabric to translucent skin. I really had to think about how to use a 2D painting technique on a 3D model to look like a 2D painting that was depicting light on a 3D form—quite a meta-dilemma!

In terms of execution, I kept to a few landmarks in Sorayama's approach: sharp lines to seperate volumes combined with the impression of edge highlighting to emphasise a surface change; soft colour transitions; heavy use of reflected colour; characteristic light flares particularly on metal surfaces. The piece was painted by brush over plain white primer. A lot of time was spent on the linework that would transform Marilyn into her robot version. The majority of colour work was done with glazing and fine directional linework. Finally, the "Skynet" logo on the jacket was a cheeky tip-of-the-hat to pop culture (Trent Denison and I came up with the idea to do this on both our busts—see his K0-HANA). Overall, there was about 30hrs painting on Marilyn, which is relatively quick for me!

A huge thanks to Meg Maples and Mark Soley for running and judging the Crystal Dragon painting competition. Thanks also to the judges: Sebastian Archer, Roman (Groobsy) Gruba, and Kara Nash. It has been amazing to meet and swing a brush with so many fine painters. I can't wait to see everyone again next year!

--Macca
 

Part of the Judge's Choice Award that Macca won for his Sorayama Marilyn is that he will be participating as a Guest Judge at Crystal Dragon 2019. We look forward to welcoming him as part of our judging team as well as seeing what other fantastic creations he cooks up in the next year. Congratulations again, Macca, on your win this year! May your paint stay wet and fire burn bright! 

--Meg and Mark

Composition: Anatomy of Bases

When painters start to delve into the world of display painting, not much is discussed in regards to composition. We have a bunch of painting and theory tutorials out there but not much actually discussing composition. The aim of this blog post is to explain the difference between plinths and bases, firstly. Then to discuss how to determine maximum heights for your entire composition. 

For the purposes of this blog, I will explain the difference between a "plinth" and a "base". 

The Plinth is the handle to which the entire scene will be affixed. 

The Base is the scene created with which to provide context. 

Ok, so we have some basic definitions and you can see the photographic examples I have provided. 

File these definitions away while we move on to discuss the aspects of harmonizing your plinth choice and your basing in order to create a complete composition. 

Composition

Before we continue, I want to discuss what makes a "composition" in art. In Visual Art, Composition refers to the use of various elements to create a whole. The elements used are color, texture, shape, line movement, positive and negative space, contrast, pattern, emphasis (focus) etc. 

Essentially, all of the various 'parts' used to create a scenic display piece, are your visual elements with which you create your composition. 
 

The Plinth

The Plinth is most often thought of as the handle on which to stick your basing and figure to allow the viewer to pick up for observation. This is a single function of the plinth, when in reality it has a dual function. It also serves as a way to frame your work. You don't want the plinth itself to become the focal point for your composition. You want it to help present your composition to the viewer without getting in the way. 

In Miniature Painting there are two trends with regards to plinths that are most popular. The first, is getting a nicely turned and finished plinth. The second, is using a block or puck and painting it black. Both of these methods are acceptable however, there are considerations you have to make, as the artist, as to which you will use. 

When using a block/puck, you don't want to paint it a bright color because it will over power your whole composition. The blocks used are very solid both physically and visually. By bringing attention to this very solid structure your model is affixed to, your model is now fighting for visual superiority. Painting it black allows the block to recede into the background as your eye moves over it. Black is a neutral color which means it doesn't engage the eye first. It is seen only as a supporting element. Allowing your brighter colors in your model and basing to shine. The lines of a block are straight and clean so they won't get in the way of your composition. Straight lines are very neutral when off in the background.  

When using a turned and finished plinth, you have to think about a few different elements in order to make sure it doesn't clash with your finished composition. First, you have to consider how the lines of the plinth work with your composition. Choosing between a round plinth and a square plinth also affects how people will view it. Round plinths encourage people to turn the entire piece around. This means your piece needs to look excellent in a full 360° turn. If you are using a squared plinth, you can limit the viewer to a few angles. 

Beyond determining style of plinth, you also need to consider the height of the plinth. This is the biggest problem I see when people are starting to get into Display Painting. They tend to think of the plinth as being a separate element instead of it being an incorporated element in regards to the entire composition. The end result is often a base that is visually and physically out of balance, often it is too big for the subject matter (the figure) and people want to "try to be different" without first understanding the rules to composition. Yes, there are rules in art. There are rules about how to make a visually pleasing and stimulating design. You first have to understand the rules and how to implement them before you can bend or break them. 

The General Rule for Maximum Plinth Size is: 1 times the height of the model. 

The General Rule for Max Basing Height: 2 times the height of the model.

Total Max Height For Composition: 3 times the height of the model. 

This equation above is following The Rule of Thirds in regards to Art and Design Principles. This is a Guideline and does not have to be followed exactly. Just keep in mind that the plinth factors into your composition and the max composition height shouldn't exceed 3 times the height of the model. Believe me, even on a 28mm figure, that is a lot of space to fill! 

Working Example

I have a recent example of this from one of my students in New Zealand, Gavin Dodd. I have received permission from him to use his photos and to discuss the process. I believe he has only done one display piece before, which we discussed at my most recent Wellington, NZ class. 

Gavin had painted up the Target Identifed Set of models from Painting Buddha. He wanted to create a Sci-Fi/Modern themed base for them and he started having a crack after the class he attended. This was his first photo I saw posted up: 

Immediately upon looking at the photo, you can see where the focal point is as opposed to where it should be. Keeping in mind the models are supposed to go on top of the block, in front of the sign, the green dot is where the focal point *should be*. Instead, it is squarely at the corner of the building (where the red dot is). This happened because the plinth for the base was too tall. When Gavin posted this up, he explained that he wanted to create height to force to viewer to feel like the models are up high on a roof. I can totally understand this! However, by using the extra height at the bottom of the plinth, he just forced the focal point elsewhere. Instead of trying to create the height by using the plinth, you need to create the height on top of the plinth. Which he had also done by creating the sign. 

Additionally, by using such a tall plinth and then creating such a tall base element on top of the plinth, the center of gravity is lifted. Why is this important? Well, that plinth has a small footprint when compared to the total height. If you are going to take this to a show and someone accidentally bumps into the case or table it is displayed on, this piece is going to topple a lot easier than a piece that has a lower center of gravity. Not only do we need to make sure we use the correct design principles to determine composition height, we also have to think about the physical stability of the piece. 

I advised him to cut the plinth shorter to redistribute the focal points. I also advised to get rid of the Target Identified sign because when you add a label, you are forcing the viewer to see what you see. If your composition doesn't match what your label says, it can cause confusion and the viewer spends more time trying to reconcile the label with what they are seeing. As opposed to letting them take in all of the elements and creating their own story. So much affects the way different people read the same image based on what their mood is at the time, their personal experiences in life, what sorts of stories they favor. Basically, everyone's perception is shaped on their own life experiences and we should allow the viewer to create whatever narrative they want as opposed to trying to pigeon-hole your personal concept. 

Anyway, so he cut the bottom of the plinth off and removed the sign. He also extended some of the brickwork a bit. In the end, he came up with a much more pleasing composition. 

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This scene, already tells me a lot more about the setting by adding a few more elements and fixing the focal point. I can tell they are on a rooftop of a building. That is quite clear because of the lip of the wall, the flat roof and the vertical sign element. An illusion of height is created by extending the sign upwards.

Even so, he probably could have removed another centimeter off the bottom of the plinth and it would be a perfect height. But that is getting really knit picky. In the end, for his second display base, he put a lot of effort into this and took on the critiques from me and some of the other Kiwi Painters like a champ. 

Here is the finished photo of this piece: 

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I wanted to close by saying that you can always incorporate some of your basing directly into your plinth, as Gavin did here by putting the brickwork down the sides of his plinth. I have also done this on my Steampunk Ariel piece I painted a few years ago. Don't think of your plinth a a separate entity. It is part of your entire composition and as such, it needs to compliment or accent your display. 

I hope this is helpful for my readers. Writing this blog I already have so many ideas on discussing design elements and how to utilize them in your miniature painting. I will try to get a few written up to release to you guys while we are in Europe!

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Don't worry. Paint and be happy! 
-Meg

Checking Your Contrast

Now that I have been teaching for about 5 years, I would say the No. 1 topic painters struggle to get a handle on to move forward with their painting is contrast. For many it feels unnatural to create such dark shadows and such bright highlights because it isn't how we see surfaces and lighting around us on a daily basis. What is often glossed over in teaching and discussing contrast, is that with miniature painting we have to create an optical illusion with our painting. 

I know it sounds weird but hear me out. Miniatures are scaled down representations of creatures or objects we have some real world analog for. Yes, I know, there are no real mermaids but we have fish in real life and humans in real life. Therefore, a mermaid has real world analogs that we can use as reference for painting. Same goes for all fantasy creatures. In someway, everything resembles something we know or can identify with. 

Since these representations are scaled down, our lighting and colors also need to scale in order for our brains to be able to read the piece correctly. Try looking at an unprimed model from a distance and you will see that without paint or any sort of contrast on the model, it becomes difficult to discern exactly what you are looking at. This is the case for models that aren't painted with the appropriate level of contrast. They come off looking "flat". 

In this instance, flat means that there isn't a lot of difference in value between shades, tones and tints. This is where contrast comes in. We need to make sure that not only our highlights and shadows contrast on each surface, but that when picking our color scheme, the base colors of the surface of the model contrast with each other. That means we can't paint an entire piece in just middle values. We need to have light colors, dark colors and middle value colors. 

So, how do we check that we have contrast between the surfaces of our model before shading and highlighting? By using a camera trick! 

If you have a smart phone you can take a photo of your work. Go into the Edit mode on your phone and find your Saturation Setting. Click it and completely desaturate your photo. By doing this we remove the hue and only observe the value (relative lightness or darkness). 

In the photos above, we can see how this trick is used. The first photo shows a side by side of the model with just thin basecoats on and the airbrush primer job. The second photo is the first photo completely desaturated on my Samsung Phone. The third photo is the final paint job and the last photo is a desaturated version of the final paint job. 

In the second photo we can see that all of my basecoats are about the same value. Once the color is removed from the photo, Danerys looks completely grey. There is no difference in the value of the colors used in the basecoat. You can also see that just looking at the thumbnail of the image it is really hard to see details of the sculpt. This allowed me to see how I needed to proceed with the paint job to create more contrast between surfaces and within each surface. 

With the final paint job and increasing the contrast, we an finally see all of the details of the sculpt and accentuate certain aspects of it to make it stand out. 

There is a reason why I have specified how to desaturate your photo. You don't want to use a Filter on your phone. Nearly every phone has a Grayscale Filter but it alters the photo as opposed to only removing the color so you can accurately see the value of the color. Make sure you are following the correct procedure when trying this trick. 

Here are some more images of models with a good level of contrast to them. 
 

Pricing Your Work

Many artists across the world and spanning many different fields undervalue their own work. Which means clients also undervalue the work of the artist. This is what has given birth to the "Starving Artist" stereotype. 

I have heard of too many people who charge less than $5 per hour for their work. Many seem to charge under $3 per hour. They don't even realize they are doing it until they break down the number of hours spent, material costs plus factoring in a little bit of extra for overtime - as we nearly all work more hours than we quote. 

Here is my general rule for minimum pricing: Charge your country's minimum wage. 

For example in Australia, 1 hour of work is $15. The minimum wage here is $15 per hour. This is the entry level wage that doesn't factor in cost of materials or any sort of skill level. 

In the US, it is $7.25 per hour. Which is still too low in my book. Artists should be charging at least $10 per hour at the BARE MINIMUM. 

Is there any reason, why you, a skilled artist, offering a service that not everyone can perform, should get paid less than what your country values as minimum wage pay? 

This doesn't matter if you are offering Tabletop quality commissions or display quality models. You need to AT LEAST be making the minimum wage rate in the country which you reside. If you are particularly skilled, then you can ask for more. Up your price. Don't be afraid to ask for what you are worth. 
 

Create Your Own Wet Palette (Oz & NZ edition)

I have previously written a blog, Wet vs Dry Palettes: What Are They and When To Use Them , after getting many questions, both in class and online. However, there are still questions on how to make your wet palette and how to keep it from drying out. This is crucial for Aussies or anyone living in a warmer and drier climate. 

The reason this is labelled the Oz and NZ edition (Australia and New Zealand) is because all of the items I will be showing in this blog are easily found at most grocery stores in both countries. You can find equivalents in your home country pretty easily just by looking at your options available.

 

Supplies

1 LARGE Sistema Container
1 Roll of Multix Baking Paper (Oz)/Mono Baking Paper (NZ)
2 European Cloth Sponges/Compressed Cellulose Sponge Sheet
 

The reason I stipulate that you need a LARGE wet palette is because, inevitably, when I don't stipulate, people find the smallest container in the shop and then get frustrated when the sponge and paper dry out quickly or when they run out of room after mixing three colors. Find a big palette. I promise you, you will use the space. The larger wet palettes also hold more water which means your sponge will stay wet longer. 

In order to construct your palette, you need to take the Sistema container and flip it upside down so the lid is the bottom of the palette. This is where your sponge will sit. The reason we want to use a container like the Sistema is so that we can use the bottom of the container as the wet palette lid. This means that when you are not using your palette, you can put the lid on it, close it up and your paint will stay wet for days, weeks even. 

This is a 3.5L Sistema. This is the smallest I would suggest using for a wet palette. I use a 7L one. 

Depending on the size of your Sistema you may need to cut and arrange your sponges to fit. You will need to wet the sponge first then measure and cut as the sponge will expand when it gets wet. A few notes on sponges quickly, I recommend using ONLY Compressed Cellulose Sponge Sheet in your wet palette. This is after watching other people's palette constructions and how they perform. So far, the way I put my palette together seems to stay wet the longest out of any configuration. 

The sponge sheet lays low in the palette tray. That means that the water stays soaked in the sponge. If you get a larger cellulose sponge that actually rises above the top line of the Sistema Lid, your sponge will dry out faster as it has more air exposure and the faster your sponge dries, the faster your paper dries which means the faster your paint dries. I see people getting frustrated as their palettes start drying out within an hour of using it. My palette configuration stays wet for days, even in the hot Australian Summer heat. 

You will also see people suggesting to use paper towels layered up instead of a sponge. It will work but it does dry out faster. And the paper towel will eventually disintegrate or get moldy. I tried this method once upon a time and it definitely isn't the best. It also increases waste by having to change the towels frequently. 

I have also seen palettes that use packing foam, not a sponge. The packing foam doesn't actually hold water, it just sits in the water. So it does nothing for keeping your paper wet. You need a sponge as it soaks up the water which means the water is up against your baking paper which keeps the paint wet. 

 

This is two sponges, one full sponge and the second is cut up to fit as much space in the palette as possible. Use a sponge that lays flat within the dimensions of the tray instead of sitting above the top edge of the lid. 

Once you have your sponge fitted in your Sistema Lid, you need to add more water. The line of the water should be at the top line of the sponge. You should see a sheet of water sitting on top of the sponge but your parchment shouldn't float around when you place it on your palette. 

The sponge is saturated with water and I can see a thin sheet of water over the sponge. However, the entire plane isn't flooded. 

Then you need to add your baking paper. I actually cut mine just a little smaller than the lid as it will relax and expand as it gets wet. I belive it is important to cut the paper so it fits instead of leaving any edges that dangle over. Again, this has to do with keeping the palette wet longer. I don't have issues with my paper drying out or edges curling at all as all of my parchment lays flat against a wet sponge. Keeping all of the materials flush against each other, helps to trap the water which means you have less evaporation, which keeps your whole palette wet longer. 

Once I cut it, I lay it down on the sponge and smooth it with my fingers. Then I flip it over and do the same on the other side. This way, both sides of the paper get saturated with water which allows the paper to expand, relax and keep more moisture closer to your paint. 

Then you just add your paint, about 1cm away from the edge of the paper. I lay my paint out so it is around the edges of the palette which leaves the middle as my mixing area. 

 

Ta Da! We have a Wet Palette that is ready to use. But wait, how will I keep it clean, you ask? 

Well, firstly, I recommend rinsing the sponge out after every project and changing the paper every project. That will go a long way. That said, Mark and I add just a tiny spritz of Ammonia Free Windex to our palettes. The Windex acts as a detergent which keeps mold at bay but not away forever. It will also make your palette smell nice and fresh. 

When you notice your sponge is starting to go grey then it is probably time to throw it out and find a new one. Keeping a dirty palette increases your chances of getting sick. In order to take care of yourself, you need to take care of your tools. 

One Last Tidbit . . .

Something that is NEVER discussed but I've been playing with lately is the color of your sponge. If you use a sponge that is not white, it will affect the tones you are mixing. This is called Color Relativity. Any time you have multiple colors in proximity to each other, they bounce off one another and it affects the way we perceive all the colors combined in a composition. This is what we mean when we say a color scheme harmonizes. When all of the colors work well together and don't clash, it is because once they all reflect off each other, they look like a cohesive scheme and it produces harmony. 

This is something we always think about when we are painting the model and trying to choose a color scheme but we rarely, if ever, think about how the color in our palette will affect our overall tone of painting. 

The easy break down is this: 
Using a yellow sponge will mean your colors will likely shift slightly towards yellow in overall tone. 
Using a pink sponge will mean your colors will likely shift more towards red. 
Using a blue sponge will get provide a cooler color scheme overall. 
And so on and so forth. 

So, if you want a true representation of your color, find a white sponge. I also paint swatches in my white paper sketchbook to check what I'm seeing is accurate for the tone I want. Currently, I'm switching around my sponges depending on what I want my overall color scheme to be. I'm currently painting a ranger set in the forest which is a very green ambient color, so using the green sponge means I need to mix a slight amount of green in all of my colors to have them appear correct against the green sponge. That means I will have a slightly green tone to my colors suggesting green is present in the environment. 

I hope this has provided some insight as well as some food for thought. If you guys have any questions feel free to message me. 

Happy Friday from Oz