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baRoN37 β Clouds Over Kursk
Published: 2008-06-26 22:42:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 17496; Favourites: 133; Downloads: 113
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Well, I think I tried to put too much into one picture. I like the different bits of this, but when they are altogether on a computer screen itβs a bit of a mess... but I suppose the real battle was a bit untidy too. This is the full work, but I think the extracts from it look better on screen[link]
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as the full piece is designed to be much larger than a PC monitor... so view as large as you can.
This is a scene from the battle of Kursk (Russia WWII) from the point of view of a weary member of the Wehrmacht. That is his MP40 in the foreground. He lies atop a ridge, and beneath him is the front line of German armour, from left to right we have a Zundapp Motorcycle outfit with driven sidecar wheel, then a Jagdpanzer IV, Sd.Kfz tank destroyer, then the infamous Tiger tank. A Panzer IV lies burning on the left.
Charging the defensive lines is a ramshackle formation of Russian armour: a KV-2, an Su-122 assault gun, a KV-1, a T34-76 and a T34-85.
A Yak is flying overhead (not the woolly kind).
The Wehrmacht has been using its highly trained men and superior tactics to beat back the red army ... but as the weary infantry man sees from his ridge, a seemingly endless supply of Soviet armour emerge from the smoke of battle. Eventually their numbers will overwhelm the Wehrmacht, and from that point on they will receive defeat after defeat as the Russians approach Berlin.
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Comments: 27
GO! take them down with your KV-2 heavy tank.
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i dont think that they had jagdpanzer IV's at this time
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Ja, sie jΓ€gdpanzer IV wasn't introduced untill mid 1944
Still, amazing pic
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they didnt use t3485s in kursk. they used the 76 model 
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I wish they would make a new film about the battle!
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Beautiful! Well, I suppose war isn't the most beautiful thing, but nicely drawn, like how it looks like first-person-shooter.
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i think that you could'ave put a bit more detail in the background, i like the attention to detail ( especially notes ) , good that you did some research
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Look at mine, its about the Greeks at kursk and is cartoony but still [link]
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nice pic man! yeah, Werhmacht kept blasting the Russian armor to bits but there were always more to take their place. Anyone know the kill ratio there? I have heard it was 4 russian armor destroyed for each German 1 but i do not know how accurate that is.
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Oh no, the description sounds kind of depressing! =\ Though how long did you spend on this painting? It looks pretty complicated, and I somehow like the crater in the ground. 
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This probably took about 8 hours, which is too long for me. I try to spend no more than 4 hours on a piece.
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Very nice piece! 
Cobra 6
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Thanks for that. I was unsure how if I got the perspective obvious enough, as the first person who saw the pic said βWhat is that a giant gun doing there?β.
Itβs not as flash as an StG, it is its predecessor, a humble MP.40, but it is hard to tell from what little you can see of it.
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Yup its an MP40, my memory left me for a sec when writing the comment
Cobra 6
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I hate it when that happens, especially when itβs something you know really well. I once called an SKS a Mosin-Nagant whilst on the shooting range, I felt such an idiot... in reality nobody noticed or cared, but I was filled with shame.
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yer I know the feeling
Cobra 6
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Oh, I seem to have just painted another tank scene... [link] what have you started... I canβt stop! I have paid work I should be doing.
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It's very interesting, the background looks a bit bare but the forground is very action-packed.
I don't know what part of the battle this is meant to be from but it was the Germans who were on the offensive in the battle of Kursk.
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Yes, youβre quite right that scene is confusing as it is the Germans shown in a defensive position. There wasnβt really βaβ battle of Kursk, it was a series of battles, and I never really decided which part I was painting. The scene I wanted to create was of the seemingly endless supply of armour the Russians mobilised at Kursk. I wanted them emerging from smoke, wave after wave. Showing the Russian defences manned with the Germans advancing would have given a different feel altogether. So what I painted does look very confusing, but I have no idea how to make it obvious what is happening. In my head this is what it shows: The Germans advanced into the Russian defensive lines, then dug in on the Russian positions they had taken as their advance was slowed by the countering Russian armour. I have no idea what I could add to make that clearer, and am more that welcome to suggestions. Hopefully people may read this comment and understand... but yes the image alone is misleading.
Funny you should say that about the background being bare and the front action packed, as I found the front too cluttered and the background nice and atmospheric... it just goes to show you canβt critique your own work.
Thanks for the feedback.
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The smoke effects and such definitely make the background look atmospheric but I think it's the fact that the grass only seems to be in one small clump, it just makes the rest of the surrounding area look bare to me.
I think if I were to do a scene in which the Germans had taken a Russian position I'd put maybe put Russian guns, small arms and even bodies scattered around the place, as well as maybe a knocked out Russian tank facing the opposite way to the Germans occupying the position. Though of course with a picture of this sort of style small details like that would be easily missed.
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Of course, it seems obvious now youβve said it. I may try adding some of that. It might be a bit late and cluttered to add it all, but at the very least I could add some bodies, and perhaps destroyed fields gun... how could I have forgotten the bodies?!?
The bareness is kind of intentional as the smoke is there to represent the unknown, kind of a literal βfog of warβ representation.
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It's good there's lots going on. You don't really know where to look - a bit like in a battle. Everything is happening everywhere!
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Thanks. I suppose you donβt get many neat battles.
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