Gentleman Jack Mini Part Two

Progressing on to the next stage of the Anne Lister miniature, this is the more-or-less finished base. This was done using some very simple modeling grass, as well as various vegatation tufts produced by The Army Painter. I used four different kinds to add visual interest and variety to Miss Lister's Yorkshire setting. I also added some stones found in my back alley. I positioned these specifically so that they "point" to the figure's feet and lead the eye towards it. The pathway is Sand manufactured by Citadel.

Not too shabby.

Moving on to the figure itself, I needed to do some add some details in order to make the figure more closely resemble the photo image I am working from. Which is this:

Suranne: Call me!

I felt I really needed to add to the miniature's nose, which is one of Ms. Jones' defining features. As well, integral to the image of Anne Lister are the "croquettes", the false hair pieces you can see at her temples, very fashionable in 1835. We know she wore these from her portraits, and the actual hairpieces are on display at her ancestral home, Shibden Hall, near Halifax in Yorkshire. The nose, croquettes, collar and neckstock were all modeled from Milliput epoxy putty. 

After the putty set, I went on to give the figure an overall acrylic basecoat.

From here, I will start on applying oils, as I did with the boots and gaiters. I like to work in oils, especially in this kind of scale, because I prefer the freedom the wet-in-wet method affords me. I will probably start (as many modelers do) with the face and flesh tones.

There is also a fairly high gloss on the neckstock that I didn't anticipate. I will have to correct that with the oils, otherwise it will look as if the cravat is made of vinyl.

The challenge with this figure overall is the large, unbroken area of black in the coat and skirt. Not all blacks are the same--the textiles they are made of will reflect light differently, but they still have to look black when I apply highlights.

So I have a number of challenges to meet with this project, and I am anxious to see how it goes.

Stay tuned!

Gentleman Jack mini

This series of posts concerns my process in modifying, painting and basing an historical miniature.

One of my latest obsessions is with Anne Lister, a landowner and diarist in Yorkshire in the 19th century. She and her wife, Ann Walker, are considered "the first modern lesbians."

They are very much in the public consciousness right now because their exploits have been dramatized in the show Gentleman Jack. Lister challenged the cultural mores of her time by being gender nonconformist and as openly lesbian as one could be within her rigid society. In the show, she is played by British actress Suranne Jones, on whom I currently have a wild crush.

*swoon*

So, I wanted a mini of Anne Lister, but there aren't any suitable ones on the market. And although I can carve soapstone and alabaster, I am not actually very good at sculpting. Therefore, I was pretty happy about being able to make one at Heroforge (heroforge.com). I was even happier that my friend, Rob, offered to print them off on his 3D printer. (I say "them" because I want to do two. One is for me, and I hope to send the other one to Suranne.) 

I've done lots and lots of historical, D&D and fantasy minis in the past. But I wasn't prepared for what I got, which was this:

YIKES!

Those of you familiar with 3D printing will recognize the supports left in place during the printing process, but I could see right away that I had a lot of cleanup to do before I even thought about priming. I used an x-acto blade, side cutting pliers and chisels to get that crap off, but I nevertheless managed to break her legs off. This, in retrospect, was actually a good thing, as it allowed me to work on them separately. Also, I didn't like how her face came out of the shrouding, so I took a head off one of the others and stuck it on this one.

Now, this is the figure all cleaned up and primed. There is also a basecoat of black on her top hat, coat and skirt (she was famous for wearing black). I also had to sculpt a new collar and neckstock to reflect the ones she wears in the show, and which are authentic to 1835. The figure shows her holding her salty, steamy diary, which detailed her sexual exploits in a code she referred to as "crypthand."

The figure is quite large, almost 5.25" from the base to the top of her hat. I am really looking forward to this project, as the large scale lets me imbue the figure with much more detail than the smaller ones typically allow.

Below is what I have done so far with her legs and the base.

The boots and gaiters are almost finished. I basecoated with black acrylic. Then I did the books in a burnt umber/ivory white oil mixture, highlighting with Naples yellow. The gaiters were fashioned from a rough black canvas, so I rendered them in a French ultramarine/ivory black. You can see the difference in the highlights. (This is a shitty photo, but trust me, the highlights and shadows are there.) I have added the silver gaiter buttons and will also apply a matte varnish to the gaiters to take the oil's gloss down a bit. 

I have laid down some pretty basic acrylic colours for the goundwork, as well as some lumps and bumps made of epoxy putty (just to add visual interest to the base). I will add some sand to the pathway and various grasses as well. Then I will probably dust her boots and gaiters with a bit of earthy pastel dust to reflect that she's been out walking for a few hours (she was also famous for her upright walk).

I hope this is entertaining. Stay tuned for updates.