Friday 3 October 2014

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon [Completed]

Le Petit Chaperon is definitely the toughest challenge I have faced as a miniature painter in my relatively short (soon-to-be) three year journey in this hobby. This 80-mm resin figure from Nocturna Models was not only the largest miniature I have attempted to paint, it was also the most realistically sculpted which meant the margin for error was greatly reduced. There is a finer line between what looks right and wrong because we all have our own preconceived notions on how a fair skinned girl should look like. Painting made-up fictional characters like say an Ork gives one more leeway to err.

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon, a closeup view

As mentioned in a previous blog, Le Petit Chaperon was painted in the colours of the French flag as a visual tribute to the historical origins of the Red Riding Hood fairy tale. Vive La France indeed. Incidentally, Le Petit's blonde hair gave her an overall colour scheme that is found in many other national flags so she actually can be what (and all that) you want her to be ... how cool is that.

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon [Completed]
Down boy ... the dog that is

More work was done on Le Petit Chaperon's skin tone, mainly the addition of some blush to her face to accentuate her cheek bones as well as increase the greens of the veins on her arms. Contrast on her skin remained low ... after all many billions of dollars are rightly or wrongly spent on makeup to look fairer so you could say she is the advertising poster girl for the cosmetics industry. 

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon (Side view from the left)
A Marilyn Monroe moment

No thanks to my clumsiness, I broke the handle of the basket not once but twice in separate locations no less. It was all down to a lack of concentration as I accidentally had my hand on the basket while I was doing something else and put too much pressure thus breaking the handles. Once was bad but twice was unforgivable. Luckily I have grown adept at using the 'super glue-pure baking soda' combo to fix things back to how they were. An alternative fix would have been to sculpt 'green stuff' putty over the damaged part, which in fact is what I did to extend the length of the puppy's leash. I did this to position the leash at a slightly different angle from what was shown on the official artwork. 

Cosmetics can't hide cellulite so tough luck Le Petit
A closeup of the puppy painted as a Siberian Husky
Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon (Side view from the right)

My approach to miniature painting has been a fairly minimalist one so that partly explains why I didn't go ahead with two ideas on my mind for Le Petit Chaperon. One was to paint a tattoo of the Chinese character for the word wolf on her right shoulder while the other was to paint a series of freehand designs on both her white stockings. But in the end I felt she looked better with neither.

Painting sheer fabric was made doubly hard due to it being white
To slightly reposition the puppy's leash, I had to use 'green stuff'  to extend its length


360 view of Le Petit Chaperon
For a 360 degree view of the Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon, please check out the YouTube video below. For Le Petit, I used a lower ISO setting when taking the video to avoid a 'washed-out' look that sometimes affected miniatures that had a bright/light colour scheme. For videos of other selected miniatures I have painted, please visit my YouTube channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures. Please choose high definition (HD) for the best video viewing option.



Finishing Freya and Le Petit Chaperon has given me greater confidence to tackle other Nocturna Models stuff regardless of their size. I hope to start on the Akelarre Enchantment figure soon and maybe paint the Battle Chick too. In fact, I am so pumped up by the experience of painting Le Petit Chaperon that I am tempted to do both at the same time. Anyway, thanks for following the progress of Red Riding Hood that has taken a rather long time to complete. Hope she was worth the wait.

http://shireworks.blogspot.com/p/nocturna.html

26 comments:

  1. Lovely job. I can see where a model like this would be incredibly intimidating. Anytime you are dealing with art or sculpture which realistically depicts humans...there is so little room for error. Nobody knows what an ork looks like, so it's easy even if you mess up. Everybody knows what skin is supposed to look like.


    I think your skin came out quite well. The transparency of the fabrics is nicely done. Man that lady is ripped. They really did an awesome job on the muscle sculpting, and you did a great job showing it off.

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    1. Thanks Greg for your feedback. Much appreciated ^_^
      I definitely hope to improve on my skin tones and fingers-crossed that with more practice I can find that sweet spot between high and minimal contrast.

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  2. Absolutely beautiful and charming, I am amazed by how you solved the surfaces and colours. Great job indeed.

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    1. Thanks Suber :) By deciding to keep things simple I had unintentionally created an obstacle for myself because it's always much easier to paint loads of freehand designs and incorporate many different hues to kinda trick the observer into thinking that something is well painted. I am always in awe of the master painters out there who make simple miniatures look good with limited palette and it's that technique that I hope to one day master. :)

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  3. That came out stunning. Slow and steady works quite well. Lovely work!

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    1. Thank you Zab ... yeah I am about as slow as they come ... lol. :)

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  4. Sooooooooooooooooo cute! I'll take a walk in the woods more often...excellent work!

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    1. Thanks Phil. Be careful because she lures smitten guys into the dark woods and turns into a wolf before eating them ;)

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  5. a real masterpiece!
    all my compliments to you, Maestro!
    bye

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    1. Many thanks luca, I am glad you liked it. Not really a maestro ... more like an apprentice without a master and trying to figure things out as I go along. ^_^

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  6. Sexy! Your painting is absolutely breath taking. So much attention to detail...

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    1. Thank you Moiterei, the details were indeed well sculpted and a joy to paint.

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  7. That is simply great work! The attention to detail is just superior! Super impressive

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    1. Thanks spunkybass ^_^ ... a well sculpted pieced always makes a painter's job look good.

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  8. WOW Just WOW superb paintjob and miniature! Nice work dude.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Simon ... truly appreciated.

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  9. THAT.IS.DEFINITELY.GORGEOUS!!! *____*

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    1. Aww Fed ... you are making Le Petit blush ^_^ Thanks Fed.

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  10. Outstanding. The blush works well in making the shadowed areas below the cheekbones warmer, thereby avoiding a hollow-cheeked, rawboned effect.

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    1. My initial layers on her face looked off so I did some research. It so happens I was at a local bookstore and happen to come across (again just pure research ^_^) the cover of the local FHM magazine and notice the models had this nice blush on their cheeks. So I had to try it out on Le Petit Chaperon.

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  11. Fantastic work! The skin looks really great and the transparencies are a nice (and well done) touch :) I like the video a lot too, keep them coming! :)

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    1. I am glad you liked the video ^_^ ... I was happier with the latest video because I managed to avoid the washed out look that occurred in some of my older videos. But my aperture/f-stop settings were a bit off so some parts were unfocused. Still a learning progress on video taking.

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  12. That is just sensationally done, the sheer qualities of the fabrics are amazing - very impressed Sir.

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    1. Thanks Michael ... whites are so difficult to paint and I haven't quite mastered it yet although I kinda get it a little bit more with each try. :)

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  13. Just amazing ! Compliments Kuan .
    Greetings .

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