There were 10 of each pose, but some have already been mailed off to be painted, at least one, probably 2, will be converted to make a 3rd and 4th pose/weapon variation for Chapterhouse to add to the line up, and the rest will end up in my army. As for the Sallie, I need to finish this guy up soon...he needs teeth, horns, detailing, etc. Practice, practice, practice my friend. I don't think there are many short cuts, other than perhaps just drawing and working in more forgiving temporary clays (such as plasticine) where you can teach yourself to recognize and replicate proper proportions. At this scale a mistake of 1mm is going to be noticeable, so perhaps try working bigger until you get the hang of it.
Great idea, good job I have some plasticine - do you know if it's possible to make moles from plasticine aswell? Just a thought - thanks for the asvice
Yes, you can, but the way I've done that is to insert metal shims cut from a soda can and then pour plaster over the piece. It's quite messy, but effective. I'm sure there are YOUTUBE videos that show you how to do this. I've never done this to make a resin casting, and I've never tried it with a miniature. What I was suggesting is that you just practice in plasticine to learn how to translate proportions from your drawings to 3D. Once you get better at that (and I'm assuming that you can draw), you can start learning the properties of greenstuff, which is similar, but a bit harder to work with. My point is that you don't want to be juggling too many new skills at the same time. Master one, then move on to the next, would be my advice.
Okay, my drawing shouldn't be too bad, so maybe I start drawing 3D models then I can begin to develop. Thanks for all the sound advice and if you have a moment check out my paint log and tell me what you think!
You have to have some understanding of how bones and muscles connect and how they extend and contract to make the body move. I can occasionally get away with doing a limb all in one go, but even 15 some years of experience, generally speaking I always work in layers, taking usually five separate steps to build up each body part: 1) wire armature, i.e., "the bones"; 2) major muscle masses at 2/3rds full size; 3) final 1/3 of muscle masses, including tying muscles together where they join; 4) layer of skin, including muscle striations; and 5) texturing, including veins if any should be visable, fur, scales, etc. There are no tricks. This stuff takes practice, concentration and a desire. And you will fail 99 times before you get it right, so steel yourself for disappointments. Remember however, your failures are actually something to be grateful for. The minute you are no longer able to see your own failings, you cease being capable of improvement. With that in mind, here are some guiding principals, which I will call "tips" for lack of a better term: Tip # 1: Work on your artistic skills. You can't master sculpture until you learn to visualize exactly what it is that you are trying to do. For this, to me there is no better training than drawing in 2D. Learn to draw things from different angles. Tip #2: Your armatures should have very definite joints and should be made to the correct proportions and take into account the added mass of the finished piece. Again, know your anatomy, both for two legged creatures and four legged creatures. Know how they are similar and how they differ. Get some good anatomy reference books and study them. Tip #3: The armature wire should be thick enough to hold up the work and not bend while you are working. On the other hand, arms and leg joints that you might want to adjust the pose of during the process should be thinner wire, so plan ahead! Tip #4: Add masses to your work in small sausages (or balls, or triangles, or whatever other shape makes sense). DO NOT try to do it all at once. (See above, the STEPS you should break things down into). Tip #5: When you work in 3D, get used to turning your piece over and over in all 3 planes (yaw, pitch and roll, if you will), because if it doesn't look right from all angles it probably isn't right from any angle. Learn to subtract putty or clay from your work as you go. You should be equally comfortable with a clay shaper or spoon burnisher as you are with a knife, carver or loop tool. There is no way to make too much material look right until you subtract what you don't need. Tip #6: Know your putty and its properties. You need to play with the stuff and not just jump right into sculpting with it. Every putty I work with is different, and sometimes I mix two or more putties together to get the characteristics that I want for what I am sculpting. For instance, a gummy putty might be better for flesh, but will simply not work if I need sharp edges and intend to file the piece after it has hardened. Consider the following questions: - What is the curing time of the putty? - How quickly will heat decrease the working time and what is the temperature of the room I am working in? - How elastic is the putty? - How soft or hard is it when first mixed, and how does that hardness increase as time passes? - How carvable, drillable, sandable is the putty after it is cured? I may come back and add to this, but as I sit here right now I think this pretty well covers the basics. Remember to have fun!
Well, things have sure been quiet here on Lustria-Online... Maybe this will stir things up a bit? I finally have the first couple CrogOgre (Krox-prox?) castings assembled and ready to paint! I thought I'd post some pictures and see what you guys thought of my sculpting in final form. They are available now for pre-order - email nick@chapterhousestudios.com to get yours today! Note that the models in these photos, while finely cast, have had their mold lines cleaned up and gaps filled with putty. As with all resin miniatures, some modelling skills are required. Here is the first one, with his Axe, from several views: And here is the other one, with his Club, likewise viewed from all sides: I made the photos nice and large so you can see all the details clearly, which came out nice and crisp in the castings. In actual size these miniatures are the same height as GW Kroxigors and fit nicely on 40mm bases (as you can see from the photos). They rank up well with GW's skinks if you are making cohort units. Please pass on the good word about these minis to folks you play with who might be interested, thanks! The more Chapterhouse sells, the more likely they will do further Lizard minis in their product line. Get 'em while supplies last!
Wow man, these came out awesome! You must be very proud to see your work out there selling. I sure as hell would be.
Still trying to work out the colors I will be using on these guys...I don't want to match the skinks, but my skink color is hard to contrast or compliment and not have these guys end up looking cartoony. Fingers crossed that I can do them justice. Very interested to see what you all come up with.
wouldnt your excellent orange/yellow-tiger theme go very well here? or do you want something even more exotic?
Yeah, I was actually thinking rust colored/orange fading to tan or even ivory on the bellies, and darker browns for the backs, possibly in a stripe pattern. I think this will contrast nicely with the green/blue/orange skinks and not look too "garish"... Hoping the weather this weekend is nice enough that I can pull out the airbrush. I'd like to paint all 6 Krox that I currently have and doing that with brushes, and getting all the colors to blend the way I want them to would take forever otherwise, and these are nice big models and should take to airbrushing well. BTW, all 24 skinks in my first cohort are done and based as of 2am last night - so once my Krox are painted I'll have another finished unit under my belt - woo hoo!
As far as I know the minis will be about $14 each ($13.99?), which shouldn't break the bank hopefully. As noted, email nick@chapterhousestudios.com to pre-order. I happen to know that the President of the company (chief cook and bottle washer) is moving this week, so be patient if he doesn't get back to you in 24 hours
Just went through this whole thread and am so inspired. I love the details of the old models and like you i try and find ways to weave old with new. Amazing stuff keep up the good work!
Oh and btw, the colors you're thinking of doing for the your Krox models sounds pretty good to me. Of course, anything you do on your army is freakin' awesom!
Thanks guys - the first one is painted and based. I'll take some proper photos over the weekend. I have to say, it looks pretty freakin' cool...the paintjob alone is going to do 2D6 impact hits