Blind Duke Vasalic

Subject:
Blind Duke Vasalic
54mm Lead Figure

Review & model by:
Ian Dow
Pictures: R. Forys

July 2005
Model of the Month

The subject matter is a blind Crusader being led by his Squire as they spread the word of God throughout the land. The figure itself is a 54mm lead figure that was purchased as a discount item so I am unsure of the manufacturer. Currently there are several manufacturers of small hand painted historical figures. They are primarily from Russian art schools with the St. Petersburg Collection and Granada Studios being the biggest. The hand painted versions of the lead figures can run from $75-$7500 dollars depending on the detail level. Since I found these so interesting and yet so unaffordable I decided to try and replicate one myself.

There were several examples of the very figure I was doing by different galleries, so I choose the parts I liked best and then replicated the figure as best I could. The challenging part was getting the different paints to stick to the metal figure. The biggest problem was when handling the piece after it was painted, the paint would often rub off. I later learned that this was most likely a problem with the way I prepped the piece initially.

Since I had not done any lead figures before, I was naīve as to the best way to prime and prepare the piece. I washed it and primed it with Krylon light gray, as this was a method I had read about on the Internet. I later found out through one of our club members that I should have washed it in mineral spirits and used a Floquil primer on it. This I was told would have given me a much better base for the paint to adhere too. To combat the paint lifting after I had painted it, I used a sealer on the parts that I was satisfied with after painting each section.

There are several different web sites that have examples of these lead figures, and one of the most common aspects of the paint schemes is the wide variety of colors and patterns on the cloth and tapestries. This gives enormous freedom to the creative side of painting. Like painting anything with a color scheme, I tried to keep the colors tied together. For instance, the Duke has a Blue-Grey, Red and Gold theme, and the Squire a Red-Blue-Turquoise-Purple theme.

The Horse was painted a Red-Brown with a Green Blanket. This had Blue and Red Rosettes, which carried over to the Green halter. There were also Red and Gold tassels on the horse. I tried to carry one color over into the other subjects so that they were all different yet all were visually cohesive. The challenging parts were trying to achieve a color pattern on the material. I am not as proficient as some that I have seen, but I can achieve enough distinction to make it look like there is a pattern without too close of an examination.

The banner was painted free hand on both the front and the back using oil colors and highlighted with ink. I was unsatisfied with the results the first several times I did it, and so I cleaned it and started over. Considering the face has been reproduced countless times throughout history, I was having a hard time getting the features where I wanted them. It is very different making a 2 dimensional painting look life-like, opposed to making a 3 dimensional figure look life-like. I could have probably reworked the banner several more times, but sometimes you need to put the brush down and step away from the project.

I thought the project turned out very well and it really pushed some of my painting skills in a new direction. I used a combination of mediums on this project which included oils, water based and solvent based enamels, along with repidograph ink pens for highlighting and outlining details. I will continue to paint these small lead figures because I believe they have a wide range of color choices and options open to them. Other than the initial primer coat of spray Krylon, everything else was hand painted with brushes.