Moebius' Bride of Frankenstein

[annemarie7477]

Here is my finished Christmas present that my fantastic boyfriend bought for me. I love the novel and have studied it at A Level and now I teach it to my GCSE students. I enjoyed this kit, it was VERY easy to build and went together easily. My favourite thing is figure painting so the building part is necessary but not my favourite pastime. I am pleased with the finished result and, if I was to do it again, I would consider doing a black and white version which would be tricky but interesting.

Edited February 25, 2014 by annemarie7477

[AndyC]

Very nice work - I've often admired that kit actually! I need to practice figure painting Get him to buy you some more - there are some great figures in their range!

[annemarie7477]

Thanks, Andy. I enjoyed this very much. I have several more but need to take better pictures before I can post them. Figure painting has been my way of relaxing for about a year and a half and I can't believe how obsessed I have become with it. I'm not very good at building kits with lots of detail and fidgetty parts but I'm happy to paint them

[Billydick]

Brilliant. Love the effect you have achieved ... particularly Frankie's suit. It's a wonderfully sculptured kit portraying Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester to a tee ....

BillyD

[Caerbannog]

Well done! I just fetched up this kid from the customs this morning (poor chap was very breathtaken to see that I do not have to pay taxes because the kit had a very dented box and so I got it really cheap). It is one of the Moebius kits I like most. The Monster and Bride are extreemly well "sculptured" - at a level I would not expect from an injected plastic kit. You did a nice paintjob on them.

Actually I am very indecisive if I should paint my in colour or black and white. What interest me in black and white beside the look is the idea to paint a model just with two paints (black and white of course and mix all grey shades from the two to get a uniform colour temperature).

Rene

[Carts]

It's a cracking kit isn't it,and you have done a great job on it,extra points for not painting the monster green! ;)like your bottles and jars too.Your right about figure painting,it's insanely relaxing.

Andy

[annemarie7477]

Thanks for your comments. I hate everyone that thinks the monster should be green! Boris Karloff probably wasn't even green but the person who painted the film needs a slap! I knew he needed to have a very pallid colour to his face because, let's face it, he is made from dead flesh. I made his Bride have a bit more colour in her face as, in the novel, Frankenstein learned from his 'mistakes' with his monster and made her more beautiful.

In terms of The Monster's suit, I painted him on his own in an earlier kit and I used the same colours. Where he meets his Bride for the first time occurs later in the novel and he's been through a bit of trouble and so I figured his suit should be more worn so I added planty of scuffing and dust effects.

I used Google images for the reference pictures for the Bride as they were in colour and very helpful.

The bottles and jars proved to be a little more difficult than I first thought. The large 'pewter' vase was where I learned from my mistakes, hence it now being 'pewter'. I glued it together and it frosted. I tried to paint over it, it looked awful, so I painted the inside to try and make it look more realistic. It all went a bit Pete Tong so I painted it silver to hide my errors. The rest of the jars and bottles were painted with with clear Humbrol enamels and clear colours from Citadel paints, using the wet paint to stick them together. As they dried the paint gathered at the bottom and made it look like they had liquid in.

I would love to do a black and white version but I think it would take some doing...my birthday is coming up, might have to put another kit on my list

[pte1643]

Figure painting has been my way of relaxing for about a year and a half and I can't believe how obsessed I have become with it.

Nice work on the kit.

Figure painting certainly is an addictive Dark Art... I started a about 2 yrs ago, and have hardly touched a "normal kit" (Aircraft, Tank etc) since.

My preference is for 120mm historical military figures but, being a "B-Movie" nerd, I quite fancy the Moebius Creature from the Black Lagoon

[Bengalensis]

That's really good work! I too like Frankie's suit very much, the highlights and wear looks very good. I need to get better at that myself, I'd love to be able to paint a convincing well worn black leather suit, but I have a long way before I'm there... Also I like your bottles and jars, and not least the glass bowl with its content. Very well done!

Please show more of your work, it's great and I like your choice of figures as well. And also on the building aspect; it will come to you as you keep working on it.

And as for the B/W idea that Caerbannog mentioned; I have been thinking about that for a long time myself. It's a very interesting idea. I have mostly been thinking of doing an old Le Mans 24h car from the era before colour photos/film, but a figure like this is also a great thought! Or an old air plane.That would be a GB I would like to take part in... as we are more people thinking about it, it would be great if a few got going.

BTW, those houses in the background, what are those? Looks a little interesting.

[annemarie7477]

That's really good work! I too like Frankie's suit very much, the highlights and wear looks very good. I need to get better at that myself, I'd love to be able to paint a convincing well worn black leather suit, but I have a long way before I'm there... Also I like your bottles and jars, and not least the glass bowl with its content. Very well done!

Please show more of your work, it's great and I like your choice of figures as well. And also on the building aspect; it will come to you as you keep working on it.

And as for the B/W idea that Caerbannog mentioned; I have been thinking about that for a long time myself. It's a very interesting idea. I have mostly been thinking of doing an old Le Mans 24h car from the era before colour photos/film, but a figure like this is also a great thought! Or an old air plane.That would be a GB I would like to take part in... as we are more people thinking about it, it would be great if a few got going.

BTW, those houses in the background, what are those? Looks a little interesting.

Thanks, Jorgan. I love your car idea! I might definitely do a b&w version of this kit as I love a challenge.

The buildings, which I will post pictures of soon, are part of a BIG project I have in mind which is to build a small model village. I'm just collecting the buildings atm but hope to put them together in a scene when I have enough. They are cardboard 00 gauge Metcalfe model railway buildings. I also have some of the plastic buildings that require a lot of painting and they're Dapol kits.

I hope to post pics soon. Thank you for your kind comments and encouraging remarks

[JackG]

This is excellent work on a interesting and unique subject. I'm assuming this was all done with a paintbrush - now that really is a lot to do, but sounds like you had a great time with it.

I think trying a project with just b/w paints would actually be easier, since you are creating tones for just one colour - grey! Given the large scale, you'd also have natural light and shadows creating additional tones.

--------------------------------------

As far as green skin goes for Frankie, this was done on the movie set. Apparently it filmed better in b/w to get that pale look, but at the same time still retained his facial features.

regards,

Jack

[Caerbannog]

This is excellent work on a interesting and unique subject. I'm assuming this was all done with a paintbrush - now that really is a lot to do, but sounds like you had a great time with it.

I think trying a project with just b/w paints would actually be easier, since you are creating tones for just one colour - grey! Given the large scale, you'd also have natural light and shadows creating additional tones.

(...)

regards,

Jack

Not sure if it is really easier because I think it may turn out more difficult to create the different textures (Flesh, wood, leather, clothes) when you just use grey shades. But this is just a thought - I never tried it.

But I suppose it will funnily look more real :-) A very difficult decision...

Rene

[JackG]

Not sure if it is really easier because I think it may turn out more difficult to create the different textures (Flesh, wood, leather, clothes) when you just use grey shades. But this is just a thought - I never tried it.

But I suppose it will funnily look more real :-) A very difficult decision...

Rene

Personally, no I haven't tried a model this way, but have painted on canvas relying on just black and white tones. The brain is pretty intuitive, and doesn't rely solely on colour to determine what it is looking at.

Take for example Anne's depiction of the couch. Note how both the leather and wood are very close in colour, yet we still know that is a couch they are sitting on. The curves and roundness of leather compared to the more angular, linear sharp edges of the wood that tells us what we are looking at.

regards,

Jack

[FrancieT]

Nicely done