Project "Where Poppies Grow - Part I"

tuskminiatures
Sep 17
3 min read

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I present to you " Where the Poppies Grow - Part I " .

Conceived and started over a year ago, it is the "rough draft" of a project that is supposed to be more complex.

It ended up being, by far, the most complicated project I've ever had to create, and was almost abandoned more than once.

It was inspired by me the report "Where the Poppies Grow - Fragment of a Drawn War" .

"In memory of Gaston Peyrac

Madeleine's diary, May 1, 1917

This photo is the last one I received from Gaston... I love it so much, it's so much like him. Smiling, surrounded by friends, surrounded by poppies, red, blue. He never wrote to me without enclosing a flower, and I sometimes wondered where he could find them in his daily ocean of mud.

I have preserved them all, between the pages of a herbarium, a paltry garden of love struggling against the desert of its absence.

I like to think that he has become one of those poppies accompanying a letter full of tenderness, eternal petals that war will never kill.

Kris - screenwriter of Our Mother War ,

March 2017

In the drawing that illustrates this DVD, produced by Maël, the soldier in the ECPAD photograph takes on the features of Gaston Peyrac, one of the main characters in Our Mother, War .

Links:

Kanari Films:

DVD French version: https://www.kanarifilms.fr/dvd/la-ou-poussent-les-coquelicots/

English DVD version: https://www.kanarifilms.fr/portfolio-item/where-the-poppies-grow/

Website: https://www.kanarifilms.fr/1

STL of each of the elements used for this project:

>> Character:

Soldier: model by @stationforge ( https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-grimguard-pony-cavalry-318688 )

>> Decorative elements:

Poppies: model by @3dimontis ( https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-flowers-389670 )

Base part 1: model by @Bitethebulletstudio ( https://www.bitethebulletstudio.com/en/products/gatekeeper-ogre )

Base part 2: model by @vaevictisminiatures ( https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-hills-scatter-275414 )

Photos

Because pictures are often worth a thousand words, you will find below the different stages of the preparation / painting of the project.

Steps invisible to you, which required a considerable amount of work: more than two months, including almost a full month of preparation (reflection/research, printing, cleaning, test assembly, sanding, etc.).

Preparation

Basic idea

First search for the placement of the elements.

Color Search

Work on a tablet (Sketchbook software) to test the different color choices/ideas.

Test placement on 3D software

Testing the association of the different elements on 3D software, to adapt the print size.

Approximately 50 hours of printing in total.

Base size test

Looking for a consistent base size.

Preparing the base

Preparation of the base

Rather than a realistic background, I wanted to represent an ambiance/atmosphere.
So I first tried to do this using the tutorial from @romanlappat.miniatureart .
- Unfortunately, I didn't have the necessary materials (not the right wood, and no frame to pour the paint into, only homemade "formwork", which let the paint leak).
I did a lot of experimenting with various techniques.
- I finally got a decent board, but after a coat of varnish, the plate turned white and was no longer presentable.
  - I decided to "save" it, however, by applying many layers of paint, following the existing pattern.

Paint

Painting follow-up

This is a guide I do before the 2nd pass of painting (I do this for each of my figurines).
I define each color that will be used, write the number of layers, then cross out as I progress (each step is visible on the palette on the right, below)
- Example :
  - For the brown color of the base, there will be 6 gradients (= 6 layers)
This allows me not to get lost in the different steps and not to forget any element.