FIGURE

WORKSHOP

MUD

ByJoséPalomares
& Fernando
Gómez

groundwork is yet anotherpartof the figure,andthere_

Jhe
I tore a part of the storythat wantsto be told.lÍ our cha_
racteris standing on muddyground, he willbe weathered and
stained;therefore we mixtna lar thefollowing components: finesand,putty,and
thewaythefigureis painted willbe influenced a smallamount
by its environs.
Mudcanadda wonderful of Milliput
to thickenthe mixture.
Thendiluiethe
element to ourcrea_ mixture
tion,andcanalsoreflectdramaor heroism. withthinner andapplythepasteto thedesignated mud
areas.
Paintingtheseelements is a critical
taskin theprocess, since
thedampareaswillbedarker thanthedryareas. Tobeginwith,
we should usecoldcolours in anymoistarea,lateradding blue
or violetcoloursto thebrowns andgreens. Usingvarnishes can
be another method to distinguishmoistareasfromdryonesby
applying a satinvarnishoverthesurface. Tofinish,wêwilladá
somepuddles, Inorderto do this,wewillpoursmallquantities
of artificial
waterinthecracksthathavebeenmadepreviously,
whichcanthenbe coloured by adding acrylic
wasnes.
lf wehadto createa largerscenecovered withmud,at firstglance
themudwouldapparently be a boringsubstance. Toavoidthis
we can add all kindsof objectsthatare covered withmud:

Materials.
Wecanobtainmanymaterials
to createourownmuddyground,
butwewillnameandhighlight
onlythemostpopular
items.
Two-partputty.
0ld brushes.
Sandwithdifferent
sizegrains.
Putty.
Thinner.
Gl ue.
Glossvarnish.
Paints.
Pastels.

Techniques.
Muddy ground willhavevariouscharacteristics,suchaspuddles
withlighter dryareasanddarker wetareas. Tomakea goodsimu_
lation, we haveto takeintoaccount several
0oinrs.
Wefirsthaveto buildtheground structureonthewooden base.
Thiscanbedoneusinganykindof two-part putty.Intheprocess,
it is interesting
to leavecracksor depressions in orderto simu-
latepuddles later,sincethesearewherethewaterwouldaccu_
mulate. Oncetheinitialstructure is finished
we allowtheputty
sufficient timeto dry.Inorderto simulate thetexture of ouddlej.

M a r c2h0 0 5 .3 3
 FIGURE
UuoRKst{0P
boxes, boards, etc.Theground
equipment, canberepresented
inanirregularandbroken
manner,andwecanusedifferent kinds
of mud:dry,humid, Thiswillbetheperfectscenery
dense,...
wherewe can useall the techniques explainedhere.As an
example, herewe havea step-by-step designof a WWllvig-
nette.eFjslr"q

Pouring the transparent resín and retouching the paint once it's dry,

We apply a mix of plaster, glue, jine sand, and stones.

The ground ís ready to be painted.

Acrylic painting of the ground. In this cqse we use Andrea paints Detail.
to control the flat finish and to ilffirentiate from the varnishes
that will be applied latter.

J$
34 . Figure InternationalMagazine