The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Sometimes creative projects don't turn out how you imagined they would and sometimes a project becomes somewhat unstoppable even though you ca see it's going wrong...So you just have to finish it and learn from the experience.

This was the story of my latest peg soldier...

What I was trying to do was try out a few different ways of making a peg soldier - I tried out a new way of adding the figures arms and it's feet and it's equipment. The choice of uniform for this figure was completely incidental but I happen to love the 1989 movie 'Glory', with Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, et al.

Set during the American Civil War, it's a story about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army. It made a great impression me, not least because of some superb acting , which in turn made me into a big fan of Denzel Washington!

So, I wanted to honour the 54th by painting my peg figure in the uniform of the regiment...And that's when things started to go a bit pear shaped...

I did things pretty much the way I've done most of my peg soldiers so far, a caricature figure in the style of a children's toy soldier. Everything came together quite easily until I started painting the face. It followed the same pattern as I had done numerous times before, all except that - for the first time - I was painting an African-American face.

As the face started to take shape I began to feel a little uneasy, but as I inherently lack self-confidence about my work I put it down to creative nerves, so I continued on hoping to simply work through my 'normal' jitters...

So often in my creative experience I have never been quite sure about whether a project is 'working out' right up until I put the last stroke of the pencil, piece of sculpture or lick of paint to the work. This is how it was with this little soldier, I wasn't absolutely sure about what was wrong with it until I finished it...

You would think that in the current climate of BLACK LIVES MATTER that I would have been a tad more sensitive to the inappropriate use of racial stereotypes. I'm afraid, despite the fact that my figure was simply following the format established by my previous peg soldiers and their 'cartoon' features applying a 'black face' to my model made a strikingly insensitive and historically derogatory look.

That's the UGLY truth... Lesson learned.

So, that out the way, what was the GOOD and the BAD of this model?
Moving back to the technical aspect of the model there are a few other things that I'm still not happy with. Still concerning the facial features - but from a different perspective - I am finding that the painted on nose in't working for me, particularly when looked at in profile.

Additionally, I'm starting to question whether the simplified 'legs' - or lack of them - is the way to go. A simple painted line to indicate the separation of the legs is perhaps a little too simple...Maybe?

I'll try some alternative solutions for these BAD (?) aspects to my models...

Moving on to the positive, the GOOD bits of this iteration of my peg soldiers must be the new way I am doing the arms and the new simplified feet. I know this all seems trivial but I'm trying to improve my peg models to the point they are easier to put together than my earliest versions and yet still remain - substantially - as attractive.

...And so, on to my next experiment!