STS Painting Month - it's May- post your in progress photos here!

It sucks when paint doesn't do what you expect it to do. Sometimes I find that the humidity or temperature also influences the quality of the paint, but that's a bit harder to control. Some great paint suggestions have been made already I see :)

sunny wrote:

they look great! What type of paint are you using for the white base coat? It looks really matt with good coverage.

Thanks. I spray painted it with a white primer first. Though the paint in the primer is a bit too smooth for me to truly be used as a prime but it evens out the colour. So after I spray painted it I covered it in a few thin layers (three I think?) of white acrylic paint and added a tiny bit of yellow ocher to last white layer to give it a more warm base. To finish the base layer of I spray painted it with a transparent matt varnish. This matt varnish grabs new layers of paint really nice and also makes sure the the acrylic paint underneath is not so easily disturbed.
So in short, the coverage was created by a nice white opaque acrylic paint and the matt-ness by a transparent spray on varnish.

I've finally added colour to my piece:
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I need to do a lot more, but at least I've made a start

oooh excitingA-J! Is it going to be an Ovcharka?

Kikimalou wrote:

I know this kind of problem Annette, for the job we want to do we need paints with more pigments than to paint a picture.
Wargame paints like Games workshop, Prince August or Citadel are very good for that but you have to find your way among a lot of pots with strange and unnatural names.
On Anna's advice I bought some dense acrylics, the brand I can easily find at home is Daler & Roney but there are also Golden Fluid or Vallejo and many others.

thank you very much Christophe for all these suggestions and the ones you use! I will try the denser acrylics!

A-J wrote:

It sucks when paint doesn't do what you expect it to do. Sometimes I find that the humidity or temperature also influences the quality of the paint, but that's a bit harder to control. Some great paint suggestions have been made already I see :)

sunny wrote:

they look great! What type of paint are you using for the white base coat? It looks really matt with good coverage.

Thanks. I spray painted it with a white primer first. Though the paint in the primer is a bit too smooth for me to truly be used as a prime but it evens out the colour. So after I spray painted it I covered it in a few thin layers (three I think?) of white acrylic paint and added a tiny bit of yellow ocher to last white layer to give it a more warm base. To finish the base layer of I spray painted it with a transparent matt varnish. This matt varnish grabs new layers of paint really nice and also makes sure the the acrylic paint underneath is not so easily disturbed.
So in short, the coverage was created by a nice white opaque acrylic paint and the matt-ness by a transparent spray on varnish.

Thank you so much for being so generous in explaining your process on this dog Anne-Joke. Now I understand how it is such a beautiful white!
And that is very interesting to know about the matt varnish grabbing new layers of paint. I would never have thought of that stage at all, varnishing it so early on that layer!

Great explanation Anne-Joke, thank you

When I used to repaint with pastels I had to varnish in between every layer. So I thought, why not for a first layer in a different medium. :)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] No, I'm keeping it Saint Bernard, But I googled Ovcharka and they seem like really cool dogs! Maybe next time.


I've added a bit more paint now:
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He is looking great! From your other update it didn't look like it had a tail (I haven't gotten this model yet so I forgot this one had its tail swished tight to its side).

Wonderful to see this Saint Bernard getting new colors!
And thank you A-J for sharing information about your technique!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

He is looking great! From your other update it didn't look like it had a tail (I haven't gotten this model yet so I forgot this one had its tail swished tight to its side).

Thanks! And he does look a bit tailless from one side, even in real life

Great shades Anne-Joke And now we can see the tail

I alsolike to watch the background on your pics, a very artistic mood

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I'm still resculpting and I'm running out of time! I still need to make the ears a bit longer to fully donkey-fy this mule foal.
Hopefully I'll be able to paint him this coming weekend

Great work happening here. Your repaints indeed have a composition-like vintage look, Christophe. They look very authentic and realistic. Annette, your African wild dogs are beautiful, I like the starkly contrasting colours. And a beautiful St. Bernard, Anne-Joke! It already looks perfect even though it isn't finished yet. Looking forward to the donkey too.

Your donkey looks superb already! I can't wait to see more.

What stuff are you using Anna ? And what tools please ?

Thank you Paige, and Roger!
Christophe, I use Apoxie sculpt and mostly ball pointed tools of different sizes as well as plastic spatulas (from a set by Fimo) and a cheap brush for blending. Apoxie can be blend with water but if you add too much it becomes muddy.

I read a few things about Apoxie sculpt, could you confirm it is easier to work with than Milliput ? Maybe my milliput is too old but I find it a bit too rigid to comfortably make modifications like you do on this mule/donkey.

I only tried milliput one time but I remember it wasn't the right consistency for my preference. I would say Apoxie is easier, maybe less rigid. It also changes as you work. First 30minutes it's soft and sticky, then for about an hour it's perfect for sculpting. The next 30 minutes as it hardens it's really good for sculpting small details and delicate textures. After 2 hours from mixing it's usually too hard to work with. But you can still sand and carve in it when fully cured.

A-J wrote:

When I used to repaint with pastels I had to varnish in between every layer. So I thought, why not for a first layer in a different medium. :)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] No, I'm keeping it Saint Bernard, But I googled Ovcharka and they seem like really cool dogs! Maybe next time.


I've added a bit more paint now:
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what amazing colour blends on your dog Anne-Joke! That is excellent work!

the donkey foal is looking good! Thank you for all the info about the Apoxie Sculpt that you shared.
I might give it a try some day.
I found the Milliput good to use, but a little firmer and drier (not as sticky) as the WePam. It was also heavier.
And now, many days later, I can resculpt/remove bits from the model with my scapel, but it also seems to be easyish to just scrape off with your nails! So if you knock or mark it by mistake, it will leave an impression.
I'm sure I mixed even amounts of the material.

here is my work in progress!
I nearly finished my Hagerman Horses, Equus Simplicidens today! My new paint arrived. I got Dayler Rowney acrylics and they were easier to use.
The horses look good from a distance, but under the close up lens of my camera you can see every imperfect detail
I might do some final touch ups.

How did I decide on the coat pattern?
Well, after hours and hours of incredible interesting research about Pliocene mammals I came to some conclusions and tried to draw comparisons between zebra evolution in Africa, the climate, disease carrying biting flies (tabanids) and habitat there now, compared to Equus Simplicidens in Idaho/middle America 3-4 million years ago.
I took into consideration the following -

Migrations - most probably emigrations (one way) across the Bering Strait when it opened up a few times by the Equus from North America to Europe and on to Africa - as Equus Simplicidens spread all over Asia, Europe and into Africa, where the zebra evolved.

Climate and flora of Africa and North America, in particular tropical grasslands where Equus and laterally African zebra flourished, as do the biting flies that carry disease.

The particular effect of biting flies on Equus across the world in relation to coat colour and patterns - striped and white horses get less tabanids bites (biting flies) than same colour coats of brown and black.

Stripes on zebras - why they evolved, - mainly as a deterrent for tabanids.

Their coat variations compared to geographical location - in the North they have many close together stripes all over the body, in the cooler South they have mainly wider stripes and paler, unstriped legs.

The 3 separate zebra species, all with a different number of chromosomes that evolved independently from one another,
each with unique features.

Stripes in all species are all perpendicular to the body and cause the flies to fly towards the stripes at their regular speed making it unsuitable for landing safely.
Stripe widths play an important part in fly deterrence, the zebras in the Southern range tend to have whiter legs and it is cooler there.

Tabanids cruise at just above ground level, 30cm, so landing on legs and lower body parts is more likely.
Tabanids are mainly found in tropical grasslands.

Zebras have shorter hair lengths and their hair sits flatter on their coats compared to all other ungulates.
The tabanids can easily penetrate the zebra coat compared to the other ungulates.
So having a striped coat helps in warding off tabanids. In the hot tropical areas of open grasslands a shorter coat is preferred, and there is also research showing the stripes affect air flow around the body, with the hairs in the black stripes being able to open and separate independently from the white striping areas, helping the zebra to regulate their temperature when under constant sun.

Coat patterns of the other Equus species that evolved, like Onagers, Kiangs, Somali Wild Ass all have lighter coats and bare legs. They live in places with less biting flies, and remembering that lighter coats attract less biting flies (in a research paper I read).

Cave art paintings of Equus across the world showing variations in colours, but mainly dark legs, dark neck and heads, dark mane, white underbelly. And some with spots, some with striping here and there

And the appearance of prehistoric coat markings on modern (wild) horses - stripes on legs, on shoulder, along back, and also genetic variations in zebra coats - dark coats with white spots

So after all that I came to some decisions as to a suitable coat patterns
here they are -
brown coat - will vary in colour from darkest brown to light fawn
they have a white underbelly,
black dorsal stripe,
slightly convex face,
black short upright mane,
striping and spots perpendicular to body, on rump, neck, some spotting on face and on leg areas, - many genetic variations over their evolution, but all carrying a gene for perpendicular striping/spot-striping on main dark coloured body areas as a deterrent to tabanids when in the tropical open grasslands
striping on legs, as deterrent to tabanids who cruise at around 30cm above ground
whites around eyes, - most probably they have some black markings near their eyes too to help absorb the sun's rays - I may paint these in later - think similar to oryx in Namibia, Springbok in Namibia. As whites around eyes could maybe be a cold climate characteristic.
black tipped ears,
black strip on backs of ears with white top,
hair only on end of long tail, like modern zebras, for swatting biting flies
big metallic sapphire coloured eyes (from my eyeshadow palette

drawing in rough draft of coat, changed in final version and as I discovered more information.
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filling in recessed eye holes in model, adding convex face
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coat put on,
eyes painted in
blue irises added, sealed with gloss lacquer
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leg striping
dorsal and mane striping
spots and stripes added
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finished!
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I am impressed by your research! And by sharing it with us
I learned new things about zebras! I love your interpretation too, well done sunny!

thank you very much Paige! I learned masses too, it was fun

Anette, your Hagerman horses are brilliant! I love how thoroughly you researched horses, zebras, and donkeys' colorations to develop this pattern. The color scheme looks very convincing, and the paintwork is lovely! Thank you for sharing all the information with us and showing your fantastic work!

Very interesting to read about horse colours and stripes. Who knows, perhaps one day we'll find cave art paintings of Hagerman horses and they turn out to be just like yours! Funny that they have the same eye shadow as the painter!