Going For The Kill! - The Arms

hell'o!

Here's a picture that will hopefully explain where im going with the right arm.
-I had this wicked idea about that laspistol. I wanna make it to look very archaic and ancient. Something like old flintlock pistol mixed with classic laspistol or something like that=)
(the pistol in the picture has nothing to do with that)

And Steve- you are right...i redo the arm when i'm adding the pistol.

Going For The Kill! -The initial phases

I started sculpting the Captain for the second time now. I carefully followed Steve Buddle's instructions about armatures and the initial phases of sculpting.

http://spyglassasylum.blogspot.com/2011/01/sculpting-armatures-my-way.html

Steve kindly agreed to act as my mentor through this project, wich makes me very happy:)

So here she is:


(Im using GW's Daemonette's head and arm to show scale and proportions)

Rough mix of 50/50 Green Stuff/Milliput was used for this.

Wow! the "repetitive" sculpting that i have been forced do lately, has proven to be very effective!
I have gained lots of speed and i dont have to redo things so much anymore=)


Next i'l begin to work with the head part!!!

Sneaky Secondary Project Also Getting Attention

At the same time I'm whining about the tight schedule I've with the Gaga project, I've managed to build on my Emperor's Children warband with a "good" pace. It must be one of those rare occasions when I actually have enough motivation to do several projects at the same time. Oh the irony...

Here's Azazel, the ferocious prince of Slaanesh, in a white undercoat waiting for paint brush to caress his grotesque figures. His skin is going to get the same kind of pale white tone as did the beast headed Chaos Space Marine in my previous Emperor's Children update. I'm trying to bind Azazel's colour scheme together with the rest of the gang by painting his robe in fiery purple and maybe using black in his legs, wings and claw hand, don't know yet... There are some mystical runes in his sword that I thought that would look nice if they'd radiate the same tepid blue as is seen in the aspiring champion's plasma pistol and in regular Chaos Space Marine's eye sockets'.

Azazel is going to be "the foreman" of my Emperor's Children and the very centerpiece of this band of chaotic brothers. His angel like feather wings, loosely hanging robe and sword full of unknown runes really make him look ancient, as if he had caused fear and loath in distant worlds for millennia. This should spice up otherwise modern warband a bit and throw in some nice fluff too, don't you think?

This is actually my first bigger metallic multipart miniature that I've build. I must say, pinning didn't become my first favourite thing in the hobby, that's for sure. The figure is quite heavy and I'm not sure what is the best way to paint a miniature this big. Maybe I'll glue a nut in the bottom of the base and put a screw through some sort of wooden stand to hold the whole thing in place, so that I won't rub the undercoat/paintjob off while holding the thing while painting??

In my previous Emperor's Children post - Fabulous Five - I told you that I still need to build the sixth member for my first group of Chaos Space Marines to match up the sacred number of Slaanesh. Well, here he is, the plasma gun dude with couple of minor modifications made with the green stuff.

As you can see I'm elevating all the characters from their bases using either Citadel's basing kit or just by adding blocks of stones along with the green stuff on top of the base. This way all the characters will stand out nicely and give them a bit like showcase feeling - maybe I'll even create a showbase for them!

Now that we're speaking of Slaanesh, here's couple of great looking armies/warbands that I've spotted in the Web while searching for new ideas and tips:

Steve Whitehead's Slaanesh Chaos Space Marines (Games Workshop) and some extra pics can be found from HERE (The Dark Fortress). Heavily inspired by the Slaves to Darkness book from the 80's (browsing the tome at the moment, leeching for vibes...). BTW does anybody know from what kit are those Corvus-kind of helmets?
Mortarion's Heavy Metal themed Slaanesh Army (The Bolter and Chainsword). Simply jaw-dropping and unique... Love the cross-references!
TCLRM's Slaanesh warband (Emperor's Children forum). Colourful and very distinctive style. I adopted my beast head idea from these guys.

Really great sources of inspirations! Looking (or staring with your eyes wide open) at the other hobbyist's spectacular work can really spice your own visions and encourage you to try something new. For me, well, I'm so going to add some slashing-long haired guitar players in my Noise Marine squad! ;)

Stayin' strong...

Like i posted earlier i'v been very busy sculpting the "Captain" lately. As this was my first time, trying to sculpt anything on 32mm scale, i eventually ran into many troubles along the way.

It is no surprise that the face was difficult thing to do, but there were many other areas too... i got pretty far i think, but then i realized, that it was time to stop and really see what i had managed to do... i send some WIP's to izeColt and he gave me some constructive critisism (thanks dude!) I asked him to be honest with me and he really was!!..he gave many good points about the face etc. and it helped alot.

"first attempt: face is awfull and i don't like the studs in the right leg. Also the mini got little bit too tall more like 35mm scale"


I considered the given critisism and finally decided that what i was doing, would not do. I don't aim for perfection, but whatever i do, i must believe in it. I have to be able to say to myself

"I did my very best with this and i am proud of it...at the moment;)"

With this sculpt i had done some mistakes that were not fixed properly (as i hate fixing;) and i had this feeling that i was lying to myself, that i had not did my best with this! So i was moving on a very thin ice!!

In the end. Only thing i could do, was to back to the sculptin' board and start it all over again. First i was shattered because all that intensive work had gone outta' window, but eventually i got lots of new energy.

This time im going to get it right!!!

edit: this post was greatly inspired by the Steve Buddle's fantastic blog entry at Spyglass Asylum
Please check it out: http://spyglassasylum.blogspot.com/2011/03/getting-better.html



Oh! and here something that i like to share with you also. I am a big fan of Joy Division and next weekend i'm going to see Peter Hook (former bass player of the Joy Division) as he is playing the songs from the "Unknown Pleasures" album with his band here in Helsinki!!!

Maybe i can find some comfort for my creative agony from those dark tunes...

The Renegade "Captain Gaga", Painting Stage #2

Captain Gaga's stockings are now almost done, as seen above.

We're planning to paricipate in Model Expo 2011's miniature painting competition with her, but the time is running frighteningly fast and there is still so much to do. There's quite many details that I still need to work out, not to mention all the freehands I've thought to paint here and there.

Creative Agony!!!!!

hi people!

It's been quiet in here for some time now and i felt that it was time to broke the radio silence=)

I have been busy on sculpting new version of the "Captain". Sculpting in "warhammer" scale has proven to be very challencing task! Since this is my first miniature in that scale, i have done lots of mistakes and learned many things the hard way! But hey! i'm still learning new things all the time!

Although...at the moment i'm in this phase with this project where i am about half way there,,, many things has been done but there's still shit loads of things to sculpt!!! I dont know about you guys, but usually with me, when im in the middle of this creative process, i always have this period, where i start to doubt everything i have done so far, then i start to lose my confidence and i really just want to throw the damned work in to the wall!!!

i know this is all just a temporary phase and all i have to do really, is just keep on pushing no matter what...at least it usually helps;)

No pictures yet, just thought to give you this little update....(and whine about at the same time;) But i'l keep fighting! see you next week, when i have something worth showing.....over and out!

-okkiW

Re-designing The Fimir

I thought to have a short break from the Gaga project and give some creative time for our other project, the Fimir.

I've tried to start to redraw the Fimir for couple of times but with the results haven't been that great (damn I dislike drawing one-eyed heads!!). Yesterday I just grabbed my pencil and thought to give it a new try and this time actually managing to create something worth of showing...

Now if you compare this to the previous beast you can see some differences. For example, the neck is now longer and the body is much slimmer and "older". The overall feeling is now more vicious and barbaric than it was in the previous one.

I'll be giving Mikko some space to choose what direction he will be choosing for the final product. There's some nonsense text (in Finnish, sorry) here and there just to remind me and Mikko for some details and possible directions.

I'll be drawing some detailed sketches from the metallic claw that we thought that this brute could have in his other hand - which he uses to behead those pitiful human adventures he happens to encounter...

The Renegade "Captain Gaga", Painting Stage #1

Here's some first painting WIP shots from the Captain Gaga.

I decided to paint her skin very pale and use dark make-up as a contrasting effect. I'm not sure if the make-up is strong enough, so suggestions are more than welcome. After all, this is the first female character that I'm painting, as far as I can remember.

The skin still needs some work with shadows and small details. I thought to paint some impurities here and there just to break otherwise smooth skin and make it look more humane.

I'm quite satisfied by the way red corset looks so far. It still needs quite a lot of work, for instance I'm planning to decorate the center piece with some nice freehand pattern. But the colour is just what I was looking for...

After good one and a half hour painting session the little snotling decided that it was time for me to have a break from my todays work, by waking up from his day nap, occupying my painting station's seat and threateningly handling wire cutters with a wicked blink in his eye corner. Yeah, it was time to close the table lid and shut down the lights.