Modeling Tips

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Swede Creation's Nosferatu

When I was in art school, my girlfriend Cindy (who later became my wife) introduced me to the films of German Director Werner Herzog, specifically Aguirre, The Wrath of God. The film was a hallucinative tale of Spanish Conquistadors fighting their way through South American jungles in search of Eldorado. The film plastered me to the back of my seat, but what really blew me away was the intense portrayal of Aguirre by an actor by the name of Klaus Kinski. Klaus Kinski was the very embodiment of bravura and madness. I became a great fan of Director Werner Herzog and took advantage of any opportunity to see one of his films.

By now, anyone reading this issue will be well aware of my addiction to Nosferatu, so imagine my shock and excitement when I heard that Herzog was remaking the classic F.W. Murnau film with none other than Klaus Kinski in the title role! I could barely contain my excitement. While on a school trip to Chicago to see a Tulouse-Lautrec exhibit, several of us broke away from the group and took in Nosferatu, The Vampyre during its initial release- we were not disappointed. The film is a true sensory experience, gorgeous visual images slowly unfold across the screen with poetic beauty, while stirring excerpts of Wagner intermix with haunting interludes composed by musician Popol Vuh. It is most definitely a foreign film in style, if you are expecting cheap screams and Matrix-quick editing, save your money- this is a film you slowly savor! Kinski was a brilliant choice for the Vampyre, now called Count Dracula instead of Graf Orlok, his look was perfect for the role. However, I was surprised that rather than bringing a maniacal intensity to the role, as one might expect from the volatile actor, Klaus effectively underplayed the Count, giving him a weary sadness.Oddly enough, this quiet performance makes the Vampyre more unpredictable and threatening. The film instantly became one of my all time favorite movies, and to this day rotates its position among my top five films of all time.

As a garage kit modeler, I have always lamented the fact that very little exists based on this version of Nosferatu, but now, artist Staffan Linder of Swede Creations has filled the figure kit void! So well that there may never need to be another interpretation, the definitive Kinski Count has been born. In the past couple of years, the bar has been raised for realistic sculptures, Janus Company's Dracula, Monstrology Model's Pit and the Pendulum, and now Swede Creation's Nosferatu all keep pushing the standards for which ultra realistic sculptures will be measured. Staffan has done an absolutely amazing job of recreating the "mirror scene" from Herzog's masterpiece. Kinski's Dracula stares into the mirror at the lovely Isabelle Adjani as Lucy, while Lucy stares back in fear at no image of the Count. Mr. Linder captured two excellent likenesses along with the very essence of the scene with dramatic posing and stunning details. A kit such as this deserves a beautiful paint job, so I'm going to give it my best shot.

To begin, I study the film for reference. The first thing I notice is that Isabelle Adjani and Klaus Kinski are racing neck and neck for the title "palest human on the planet" award! Their ultra pale skin tones will factor heavily in how I approach the model kit. To begin, I mix a pale flesh color using my usual recipe of Liquitex acrylic Raw Siena, Burnt Siena and Titanium White. I use far more white and less Raw Siena than I normally would to get a pale pinkish flesh tone. I split the mixture into two cups, one for Lucy, and one for Nosferatu. In Lucy's cup, I added a drop or two of lavender color to make the color more closely resemble Isabelle's coloring. In Nosferatu's cup, I added a drop or two of gray to deaden down the flesh color for Klaus. Now I have two separate pale flesh tones, similar but subtlety different for my characters.

(Photo 1)

I basecoat the Lucy figure with her flesh tone, and the Nosferatu figure with his. I then lighten each color with white and spray highlights over the figure's features (Photo 1). I make the highlights very light since I'm going to be working from light to dark using a newer technique I've learned, chalk pastels. I use pastels in depth on my latest videotape, and now I want to introduce them in my column. The essential aspect of using pastels is to choose the correct type of media. You want to use a chalk pastel, which comes as a hard stick. You don't want to use the soft oil pastel sticks for this technique. The brand isn't important; I recommend buying a few individual sticks and practicing to see which brand you prefer. I like the Faber Castell line, available at art supply centers, as well as a brand made by Quartet called Alphacolor Soft Pastels. Again, you need to experiment to find a pastel that will adhere to the brand of paints you like to use. You also need to test the colors and how they react once you seal them with flat lacquer spray. Some colors almost disappear while other colors get much darker. You have to familiarize yourself with the properties of each stick before using them, or you may get a very unpleasant surprise when you seal your model kit!

To use the pastel pigment, first you have to transform your chalk stick into a powder. I rub them on a piece of medium grade sandpaper to achieve a small sample of powdered pigment. The next tool you will need is a good brush to apply the pigment with. A thick soft brush is best to hold the powder, like a small makeup brush. My favorite brushes are available from a company called Micro-mark. They have a set of Drybrushes perfect for applying the powdered pastels. Check out their web site or catalog for ordering.

I'll begin with Lucy to demonstrate the pastel technique. I choose a red oxide type color (a rusty red-brown) to add slight shading and warmer tones to her cool skin color. I take a small MicroMark Drybrush and apply a slight hint of the reddish brown around her face and hairline, cheeks, neck, collar bone, and along the edge where the nightgown meets the skin (Photo 2). I take a bit of the powder and tap it with my brush into a targeted area, then blow the excess pigment away. Then using a clean brush, I feather and blend the pigment around the area, just as if I were using an airbrush. This color adds warmth and shading to these areas. Use pastels sparingly at first, you can always add more, but it's difficult to take it away once it is applied. I concentrate on her hands, shading between the fingers and in her palms. I then shade her legs and feet. I make her toes a little redder around the edges since she is pressing her weight on them against the floor. Once I have the coloring the way I want it, I seal the work with flat lacquer to seal it.

(Photo 2)

The next step is to render her distinctive eye make up. In The film, Isabelle Adjani has very heavily shaded eyes which resemble the exaggerated "Vamp" style of the silent movies. I take a medium Gray pastel and shade the eye area to replicate her makeup (Photo 3). I use a gray pastel instead of black because when sealed, it gets darker and dried to the right color; black pastels would be too dark and harsh. At this stage, it's hard to judge if you have the correct coloring unless there is something to compare it to, so I block in her hair with a very dark brown and paint the edges of her nightgown with ivory to compare the skin color against (Photo 4). I'm happy with my results, so again I seal the work with a coating of flat lacquer.

(Photo 3)

Now I turn to Nosferatu's head and hands. I use a little of the same red oxide type color and lightly shade the ears, temple, cheeks and palms of the hands. I then take a light gray and deepen some of these same areas (Photo A). Kinski and Adjani have similar colorations, but I want her slightly warmer while Klaus is slightly cooler in his skin tone. I take a touch of gray and blue pastel and slightly stroke the veins in his hands, forehead and temples. Pastels work great for subtle veining, you can concentrate the color just where you want it and blend and feather it to look as though the color lies underneath the skin. After getting the look I want, I seal the face and hands. Next, I return to Nosferatu's face to shade the eye areas.

(Photo A)

After watching the film again, I'm struck by the details of Kinski's makeup. His face is dramatically shaded, but not so much as to look hideous. His eyes are darkened, and his lips are shaded a reddish tone, but not a blood red. If you watch the earlier scenes in the castle, Kinski's eyes and mouth look darker and more dramatic than later in the film. After studying this I believe the makeup is the same, just that the stark lighting used in earlier scenes makes the coloring more contrasty and dramatic. Nosferatu has a gray tone around his eyes to deepen them, and a reddish hue directly underneath the eye. I copy this coloring with pastels using the red oxide shade along with a medium gray and brush them around the eyes (Photo B). I mix a little red oxide and Gray together and shade the finger tip areas around the fingernails as well. Once the coloring is done, I seal it.

(Photo B)

Now that the basic skin shading is complete, it's time to paint in the details. Using a fine tipped brush, I paint Isabelle and Kinski's eyes and mouths (photos 4-5, & C-D). Both actors have blue eyes, Isabelle's are a blue gray, and Klaus's are a bright blue. Since I've covered painting eyes and mouths repeatedly before, I won't go into detail here other than mentioning a couple of details. Isabelle Adjani has a beautiful yet oddly shaped mouth. This is accentuated by the makeup used on her in the film. If you study it, they don't quite paint her lips up to the edge, which creates a visible lighter edge around them. Tricky to pull off when you are painting the kit, but a must for accuracy. Klaus's lips are similar, and the color tends to fade towards the outer edges, so I use washes to get the semi-transparent effect. The next step is to paint the hands. The pastels have done most of the work for me, but I have to paint the fingernails on Nosferatu and the finger and toenails on Lucy.

(Photo 4)	(Photo 5)
(Photo C)	(Photo D)

I use a slightly lighter flesh tone on Lucy's nails, and add lighter edging on the tips. For Nosferatu, I use a grayish flesh tone to paint the nail, then lighten the color and paint the area where the nail grows past the finger a lighter shade (See final shot). Now the flesh areas of the kit are complete, so I move onto the clothing.

(Photo 6)

Lucy's nightgown is white, so I basecoat the area with a light creamy ivory color made with Liquitex Unbleached Titanium White and a touch of Raw Siena and Burnt Umber. I then lighten the color with Titanium White and begin a process of drybrushing progressively lighter shades of color over the details until I am using straight white for the final highlights (Photo 6). Nosferatu is dressed in all black, so I basecoat the entire area using a mixture of Badger's Freak Flex Near Black, a charcoal gray color. I then airbrush shadows in the folds with Freak Flex Body Bag Black. I then seal the clothing with Flat Lacquer. For added detail, I drybrush a dark gray over some of the details and folds in the fabric. Then I use black pastels and a small brush to punch in some of the deeper wrinkles in the coat. Once again I seal the work for protection. Here comes the tricky part... In the film, Nosferatu's outer coat is made of a black satiny material that is slightly reflective. I decided to give the model's coat a similar look by mixing a metallic wash using Folk Art Brand acrylic Sequin Black with airbrush thinner and gently misting it over the coat area. It's very subtle, and you can still see the shading done underneath. I returned with straight flat black and painted his shoes and shirt for contrast. Once the coat is done, you can't seal it or it will destroy the effect, so make this your last step.

Now all that is left is to paint the chair, rats and base. I paint the chair a medium brown wood tone and draw a wood grain texture effect with washes. I paint the cushion upholstery red. The rats used in the film were white and gray, so I copied them, down to their little pink noses and tails! For the floor, I went with an aged gray wooden tone to tie everything together. Lastly, I paint Lucy's necklace silver, and add a semi-gloss coating to the lips and straight glosscoating to the eyes, and there it is... my very own stunning recreation of one of my favorite films courtesy of Mr. Staffan Linder. This kit has amazed me in so many ways; it's one of my all time favorite pieces in a hobby full of terrific sculptures. This release is another milestone for the hobby, you have to see it in person to believe it. To Staffan I say, incredible job my friend, to our readers I say, what are you waiting for? Get this kit!