Face To Face

 

I served 25 years in the United States Air Force.  I joined the Air Force to avoid the Army.  In 1966 we still had a draft system, and I had a notice of my drafting into the Army. I enlisted in the Air Force one week before I was to report to the Army.  This was the era of the Viet Nam War.  I did not want to be in combat. 

I flew 117 combat missions over Viet Nam.  I did not see one enemy face to face.

 
In my piece, Face to Face, I continue my Toy Soldiers series.  In this series I use a combination of miniature photography and computer-graphic painting.  I am self-taught in computer graphics, but feel I am a good student with a struggling teacher.

Here the two knights clash in battle.  One faces his enemy head on, his eyes fixed, helmet down tightly on his skull.  The other is faceless, what lies beneath his metal shield?  They touch in battle; their shields push one against the other's; swords gleaming. They battle face to face.

As in other images in the series, I used two of my knights.  I feel that I have taken the two toys and given them life, turning the plastic to metal, cloth and flesh; adding shadows, dulling colors, I create my own world of combat, much as I did in my imagination when I was a child.  

Here is a photographic image of a print I ordered on a gallery canvas, 30 inches by 20 inches.

This is one of my starting images for face to face.  I feel that Schleich knights have great detail and are perfect for my work.  In Face to Face I lightened the figure to give it a stronger definition against the background.  I lightened the sword even more to make the knight's weapon a stronger focal point.  The shield of the toy has a raised Fleur-de-lis.  I flattened it to give the image a more life-like quality.

The background is made from my favorite fish aquarium castle.  It has been heavily manipulated.  It is actually in a much smaller scale than the figures.  The cobble path that they stand upon I created from a patch of stone wall.  It was twisted and turned until I had the proper perspective.  The final image consists of four photographs, a few computer drawings, and weeks of work.