Hello out there,
after making acquaintance with a couple of incredibly nice LAF fellows at Tactica I decided to turn more active on the LAF. Although I've been reading here regularly I want to contribute more of my humble work and present it to your appreciated judgement.
First for a special miniature I've been waiting to paint for a rather long time:
King Richard III.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-psMWbvS6rUc/VPttuP3NSiI/AAAAAAAADlM/iTSyOT8_jog/s1600/Richard_III_02.JPG)
RichardPlantagenet the Duke of Gloucester was the younger brother of King Edward IV. When Edward died in 1483 his marriage with Queen Elizabeth (Woodville) was declared invalid and his sons turned illegitimate as heirs. So Richard took the throne and reigned until his death during the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
This is only the very climax of the awesomely interesting life of the last Plantagenet king of England. He witnessed the Wars of the Roses, fought against the Lancastrians and saw the victory of the house of York. But in the very end Richard III. stayed in people’s mind as an usurper of the throne, a murderer and a sinister intriguer. Although some of those aspects might appear probable our picture of Richard III. is highly influenced by the play by WilliamShakespeare in which he describes the later years of this interesting monarch. Soaked by Tudor propaganda he shows Richard as a power-obsessed, ruthless villain who meets his fair end by the sword of Henry Tudor who will be King Henry VII. Rather soon. Anyway for me it’s one of Shakespeare’s best plays and I love the character he gives Richard. To my a perfect antihero which made him my favourite choice for a blogger painting challenge I'm participating. There was a theme round about antiheroes for that I submitted Richard.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G1hesIAuvb0/VPttuY_MOxI/AAAAAAAADlQ/fubHNF_W4HA/s1600/Richard_III_01.JPG)
The figure:
It’s made by Alan and Michael Perry as a special miniature on occasion of the discovery of Richard’s remains in Leicester in 2012. Since they were found under a car park the twin converted the figure in a way that he rides right out of the street. A very nice three piece vignette which I had been waiting to paint for a long time.
The colours:
As usual I employed Vallejo Model Colors to paint Richard. Only exception is the skin. For the first time I tried the Foundry Expert Flesh paint set. I'm very satisfied with the result and will probably keep using it. Many thanks to Mark Hargreaves for his hint!
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0IDVBeIOlfY/VPttuaKyqFI/AAAAAAAADlc/lxDqx5xXw0A/s1600/Richard_III_03.JPG)
The base:
The vignette is mounted on a 60mm circular base from ever excellent Warbases. Because I wanted to underline the figure itself and its border I painted the base black and coated it with high closs varnish. Additionally I made two banderoles that I attached on the left and on the right. One of them describes Richard’s dates of birth and death while the other one quotes Shakespeare’s well-known play: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” (Act 5, Scene 4).
In case that you like my humble work then have a look at my blog (http://montys-caravan.blogspot.de/2015/03/a-horse-horse-my-kingdom-for-horse-last.html). There are some links to background information, larger images of the figure and of course some other examples of my humble work.
In addition I would appreciate anyone who wants to take part in the poll of the painting challenge (http://analogue-hobbies-theme-rounds.blogspot.ca/search/label/Antihero). There are a couple of nice entries that deserve a vote and maybe some of you consider to give their vote to this very piece of work.
All the best
Stefan