75mm Base with column

Seventy-five millimeters is a world of its own

With collector's figures the size of 75 mm is measured from the heel to the eyes, not to the top of the head, and corresponds to roughly a quarter of the real size of a human being. It is a format in which painting can really be done: the face will carry flesh tones, fabric will take transitions and the viewer's eye reaches the figure from a meter away. At the same time it means that the base has to be massive in proportion. A small flat block would not visually hold such a figure up.

The column as a compositional axis

A vertical architectural element performs three tasks at once. It gives the figure something to lean on or to turn toward, which creates a story instead of mere standing at attention. It breaks the silhouette and leads the eye upward, so the figure seems taller and more ceremonial. And finally it establishes the setting, because a column says at once that the scene stands in the ruins of a palace, in a church or on a square, and not somewhere out in a field.

Which column for which scene

A column can place a scene in time as well as in space; the color just has to be carried through. White marble with fine veining points to antiquity or to a palace hall, warm sandstone to the Middle Ages, a plastered shaft to a village church. And a broken column has been a settled sign of an interrupted life since ancient times, so it suits figures that are meant to carry some story in the scene.

Stone is painted in layers

Sand the mating surface level and degrease it. Never mix stone from a single shade: over a light base apply thin glazes of ocher, greenish and bluish, one over another, always only after the previous one has dried. A dark wash belongs in the shafts and the joints, while the edges instead get a light pass with a dry brush. Down at the foot add a little dust and self-seeded greenery, so that the column looks as if it has stood in that place for a long time.