First steps I bought this model in 2011 when I was at a foreign competition. I hadn t painted busts by that time. I had always a respect to it. There is much skin colour on the face, everything is large and detailed. I was scared. It is not just to paint lights and shadows. There are a lot of colours, warm and cool tones, expression of the face I put the model into the box, where it was laying for five years. Meanwhile, I was improving my painting skills. I think the time to paint this beautiful bust has already come. I opened the box and checked all parts. There are some large resin parts and small metal parts in the box. There was not any piece missing. I divided the bust into three parts for better painting; the head, the cap and the body of the model, which I glued on the wood base. I will describe the preparation process of the bust in the following article. Step by step 1 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
The face I started with painting the face. First, I used black and white spray. The black spray from below, and the white spray from above. Thanks this black/white undercoat I can see some small defects, mould lines which I hadn t seen before. I used the same process with dark blue and beige. But now I used the airbrush. It serves me like pre-shading. I mixed the flesh tone. I usually mix it from yellow, red and blue. I add a bit of white and it is done. The face colours are: White, Burnt Cadmium Red, Flat Blue and Yellow Ochre. Step by step 2 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
I used the airbrush for flashing the base tone from below.. I added more white to the skin tone and painted from above with the airbrush. I repeated it again. I added more white but this time I sprayed it only on the ridge of the nose and cheekbones. Step by step 3 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
Here is the palette of oil colours which I used for painting the face. All other tones like lips, cheeks etc. are mixed from the skin tone. The colours are: Terra rossa, Yellow ochre, Cobalt blue, Titan white, Neapoli yellow light, Brown madder elizarine, Umber natural and Burnt umber, which finally I didn t use. I apply the colours with two brushes. One round and one flat cat tongue. Each colour is thinned by the Quick Drying Petroleum made by the LeFrance&Bourgeois comp. Step by step 4 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
First I applied darker shadows under the chin, under nose, cheekbones, under the eye curve etc. The lights were applied on the chin, cheekbones, nose I always try to spread the colour thoroughly to make the brush strokes invisible. For that reason I focus on smooth gradations. For the cheekbones and the tip of the nose I used a very much diluted colour Terra rossa. It gives life to the face and breaks a monotonous surface. As well as the stubble mixed of the skin tone and Cobalt blue. Step by step 5 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
The face often changes when you paint the beard, hair, moustache, eyebrows etc. I just tried to put the hat on the head. Step by step 6 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
It was time to paint the eyes. I have several rules when painting eyes. I never paint white of the eye with the pure white. I always add a bit of another colour from the palette. This time I added a little of skin tone. The other important rule is to find a picture of real eyes which I want to paint. It helps me to see the real colour of eyes, reflection in the eye and a real appearance of the eye. I painted the iris with the light brown. I used acryl colours. I used oil colours for the next step. I painted the lower part of the eye with the light brown and the upper part with the dark brown. The placed a black dot in the middle of the lens. Finally I painted the reflection of the eye with the pure white. Step by step 7 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
The body I started to paint the body in the same way like the head. Black and white spray. The dark blue and beige colour for pre-shading. As the base colour for the red jacket Pelisse I used the red, blue and green acryl colours. I applied them with the airbrush. The dark tone from below and the light tone from above. Step by step 8 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
I usually find the inspiration for mixing oil colours in art books. In this case I used Cadmium red dark, Terra verde, Kobalt blue, Cadmium yellow and Titan white. The lights were red, yellow and white. Shadows mix of red, green and blue. I painted the jacket like the face. I shadowed the coat-pelisse, focusing on smooth gradations. The sphere principle works perfectly. The dark tones are at the bottom of the bust and the light tones in the upper part of the bust. Just as if the light was shining on the sphere from above. Step by step 9 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
I painted the white bandolier with the airbrush. I covered the surrounding parts of the bust with the adhesive tape not to damage it with the white colour. I attached the adhesive tape to my T-shirt several times. The glue is not so strong then and it doesn t damage the colour on the bust. I airbrushed the bandolier with the light grey and white. After that I shadowed everything with oil colours. Colour palette Lamb black, Umber natural, Titan white, Neapoli yellow light. When painting the white bandolier I also shadowed the black scarf on the neck. I just used darker tone of grey. Step by step 10 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
Gold embroidery The gold embroidery is usually painted with the shades of yellow. But I wanted more. I have learned the method from the article written by D. Ipperti. First, I mix oil colours from brown to yellow light. I add the Rembrandt gold colour to each tone. Rembrandt has two shades of gold colour, dark and light. The dark gold is for darker shades and light gold for lighter shades. The last step is to add the gold pigment to this colour palette. The gold pigment creates random gold reflections of the completed piece. In this case I added the pigment only to three colours. I thinned the colour with linseed oil for better application. I have to be extremely careful when working with the pigment. One sneeze and you can start from the zero. Immediately after finishing my work with the pigment I cleaned the brushes and palette, and I threw the paper towel in the trash. The gold pigment is really everywhere. Step by step 11 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
Painting the gold embroidery on the uniform is very lengthy but the result is worth it. I don t apply the colour as usually but I make it with short lines. I imitate the embroidery like on the real uniforms. It was done in three hours. The buttons have been painted and I could start with the bear skin. I used the same colour palette as on the black scarf. Lamb black, Umber natural and Neapoli yellow light. I was not still satisfied with the left sleeve of the uniform. I wanted a matt surface. I used the matt varnish and the airbrush; a very thin layer. Now it is as I had expected. Step by step 12 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
I mixed the gold pigment and transparent varnish to paint the buttons. The varnish fix the pigment at the place. Thanks to it I don t have fine flakes of the pigment on the surface of the bust. Step by step 13 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
The colback There was the bearskin turn. I painted the colback together with the uniform because they have the same colours. That s why I can offer a quick overview how I painted it. The red colour has been finished and the base colour for the gold embroidery as well. The gold embroidery has been finished. The plume and pompo were painted with the airbrush. Dark red from below and light red from above. Then I painted the bearskin with the base colour. Step by step 14 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek
For the bearskin I used Umber natural, Lamp black and Neapoli yellow light. There was no reason to let the colback separately. I glued it to the head and added the braids which I painted black from bellow. For hair, moustache and braids I used oil colours Umber natural, Umber burn, Yellow ochre and Titan white. I created the name plate for the wood base. The bust has been finished and I have put it to on display in the cabinet. Thank you very much for your attention and your support. Milan Dufek Step by step 15 COPYRIGHT Milan TAIKO Dufek