So this project marked a somewhat return of mojo for me. I struggled through the summer and knew I wanted to paint this figure but I decided to start by building the first stages of the base first so as to gain some inspiration and motivation. I love building bases and the more comfortable and happy I got with this one so I became more inspired and happy to put brush to figure.

This wonderful sculpt by Latorre straight from the off looked like a post apocalyptic figure but I wanted to do something different, I wanted to give my own interpretation. Theres a sense of the tribal to this figure, whether its Maori or native Indian or whatever. So I decided I was going to place him into a very natural setting as some sort of protector of Mother Earth and the land he lives and depends on.

I wanted a muted, harmonious colour palette with references to the tribal aspect, the design on the shield is an adaptation of some native Indian painting.

The composition of the base is aimed to be balanced and to form triangles leading the viewer to the figure despite the rather complex groundwork (I was absolutely stoked that Mike Blank at Euro this past weekend, where it took Bronze, loved the composition as we all know how powerful his pieces are!). I added the leather strap and shield, the aim of the cold colour to the shield is to further bring out the focal point, the figure itself with the warmer skin tone.

I hope you like it, thanks for your time
Jay