Art Miniaturen - Marchal Bessières

[PatrickJ71]

This one recently asked me to be painted.
Since I couldn't resist it, I did.
Marshal Bessières in the uniform of Colonel of the Chasseurs à cheval of the Imperial Guard.

This one is the old version of Art Miniaturen where you had the choice to put the hat either on the head or do something else with it (on the horse's head for example, but that looked a bit silly).
Since the newer version of Bessières has the hat on, I gave this one the hat in hand and I love this pose very much.

I hope you enjoy it.







Thanks for watching
Patrick

[Santi Pérez]

...I hope you enjoy it...

You can be sure I enjoy it a lot, Patrick, is a fantastic figure.

Santi.

[Rich W]

Excellent again Patrick!

[C M Dodson]

Very nice work.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bessiere]

I like it very much, not that i would have any bias mind you. Excellent painting.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[k.b.]

What an absolutely splendid miniature this is Patrick. I love everything about him, great sculpt, well painted, nicely based. As I have never had an Art Miniaturen figure am not sure if I am right in saying that maybe, and just maybe, the painting of his face could have been improved a little. Am not insinuating that he needs eyes painting in. I think that many of us, and I include myself, often try to over detail faces. In 1/72 the sculpture needs to be extraordinary if we are to paint in any suggestion of an eyeball, iris etc. Otherwise, a shadowy area is more effective in my opinion. My impression is that these Art M figures, beautifully animated and proportioned though they may be, lack the fine detailing to allow further work on the eyes than you have suggested. However, perhaps his nose could have been shaded a little better and his mouth is a little bold(ish) - yep I mean a bit lipsticky. Maybe a softer pink could have been more effective. Also think the sculpt deserves one or two more skintones to do him full justice.
But that is yours truly trying to be constructively critical. Ah, and the photography could definitely be improved to eliminate the line where the two surfaces meet with the use of a single piece of card/paper curved so as only to offer a single plane for your figure. I personally like light blue or black but such a beautifully painted figure certainly deserves better photos.

[PaulRPetri]

You are a master painter Patrick!!

[Peter]

Always nice to see a fantastc painted figure from a forum member (David ). Great work Patrick!

[Minuteman]

A superb model and very nicely painted, well done!

[PatrickJ71]

thank you all for your kind comments.

What an absolutely splendid miniature this is Patrick. I love everything about him, great sculpt, well painted, nicely based. As I have never had an Art Miniaturen figure am not sure if I am right in saying that maybe, and just maybe, the painting of his face could have been improved a little. Am not insinuating that he needs eyes painting in. I think that many of us, and I include myself, often try to over detail faces. In 1/72 the sculpture needs to be extraordinary if we are to paint in any suggestion of an eyeball, iris etc. Otherwise, a shadowy area is more effective in my opinion. My impression is that these Art M figures, beautifully animated and proportioned though they may be, lack the fine detailing to allow further work on the eyes than you have suggested. However, perhaps his nose could have been shaded a little better and his mouth is a little bold(ish) - yep I mean a bit lipsticky. Maybe a softer pink could have been more effective. Also think the sculpt deserves one or two more skintones to do him full justice

This is indeed a great sculpted figure, k.b., although it had some flaws. I needed to cut of a moldline in his face near the nose and right eye. I still find his nose a bit thick for my feeling (looks like his father was an Orc ) and I think you're right that the face deserves more attention. When I feel I can handle it, I will probably give it a try to follow your suggestions to paint the face better. The one thing I'm definitely not going to do is painting the eyes. I think in this scale that's not necessary and I can only ruin the figure.

Generally Art Miniaturen often lack some good detailing. There is often more the suggestion of a detail than a real fine sculpted detail if you understand what I mean. (e.g. in the case of Bessières the lace on the trousers was a little different on both legs and needed to be corrected by painting).
The level of detail of an Art Miniaturen often doesn't match a good Zvezda or a Franznap figure, but what I like most on these Art Miniaturen and what makes them so good in my eyes is the quality of the poses and the general anatomy of the figures. They have body and they are well proportioned. That compensates for me the lower level of detail and makes them i.m.h.o. better than many other 1/72 manufacturers that have a higher level of detail.

thank you for your constructive comment.

Patrick

[chen]

Bessieres is one of my favourite charactors among Napoleon's marshals (partly because of his old-fashioned appearance), and your work has just captured that feeling of devotion. It's a pity that he died too early in 1813 and missed the battle of Leipzig.