Future Rodents

"Spikey" has existed about half an year now...So what's next??

The Mini that started this all, Rogan Rygaard, Chaos Dwarf of Tzeentch
has received invitation from CoolMiniOrNot-site, to take part in the CMON Annual '10
That's a great honour naturally...and for that reason, we want to make sure that it also gets picked into pages, when the new Annual is released.
izeColt is coming to Helsinki to take some new, High resolution photographs of the model.

I received word from Miika Bergdahl too. He begins molding The Captain soon...I will send the Mini to him later this week..so let's see what happens=)


What else??
The Fimir project will start soon, i would also like to do some Pin-Up model, then maybe the Lemmikäinen in 32mm who knows...
Also izeColt has hes small Chaos Space Marine Warband getting bigger all the time!
Many interesting projects coming in the future...Spiky Rat Pack is going stronger than ever now!


Thanks to you all for your support! It is a never-ending source of inspiration!!!

-okkiW

Moodboarding Gaga

I've finally settled in my new apartment. I hate moving, it's one of the most irritating thing I know. This was the fifth time in the past two years, so in some pesky way I've got used to it. Me and my fiancee tend to joke that maybe we should start our own business that handles moving.

Amidst the chaos me and okkiW have changed a couple of phone calls and talked for long hours, mainly about our current projects and the hobby in general.

Mikko is a bit occupied with his latest sculpting project, The Lemminkäinen, so there's very little time for his other projects. His latest sculpt, Pirato Captain Gaga, has been standing in the undercoat for a good time now, so I thought to lend my helping hand to okkiW and asked him if I could paint this beauty.

To tell you the truth, I've secretly been raring to get my hands on that sculpt, after all, it's the best one from okkiW so far. Lucky me, Mikko told me that it would be nice if I could paint her, so the deal was on!

I thought to start my task with a moodboard. Doing so I started gathering images around the web, pictures of things that will inspire me when painting the Captain.

I have a bit of a bad habit to pick up shots of painted miniatures when making moodboards. In this case, I took couple of pictures of John Blanche's Femme Militants painted by Jakob Rune Nielsen. Nielsen's painting style is something I really like, it's very clean and harmonic, but still somehow very edgy - I love those Chaos Warrior regiments! I'm aiming to have the same kind of colour scheme Nielsen has used in his Femmes, so it was natural for me to put those ladies in my source of inspiration.

Lady Gaga's picture is there to remind me of what is the seed of this projects. I'm not a big fan of her (my son is), but I think I can manage my daemons. That picture of Gaga is great though, I really like the pose and her shoes, which remind me of the captain's high heels.

But what is Marilyn Manson's face doing there??? Well. his make-up and eyes will be giving some edge for the Pirato Captain.

So there we go. The overall feeling of the Captain is going to be murky, grim and edgy (as usual). I'm really looking forward for the painting process, so without further words, to the painting station!

The Hero Returns!

I finally managed to sketch down some conceptual stuff.
This time, i tried little bit different approach when sketching the Lemminkäinen...

First i created the pose by using my own body as an example. I took the pose, that was then photographed and transfered into Photoshop
(For your viewing pleasure i wont post the originals here;) .
In photoshop i rendered the picture with Wacom tablet. This way i was able to get correct anatomy and pose very quickly and easily. Finally i drew the hole picture with Wacom and added little effects to create "sketch-like" look.



I wanted to create a pose that would express the tragedy that is present with this Character.
I imagined the Lemminkäinen calling the demons of the Tuonela standing on the riverbanks of the Death's river, baddly scarred,,, after he's magical resurrection from the dead.

I am quite happy with the result really. I think i managed to express the desperation and anger that Lemminkäinen is feeling. I left the sketch quite rough 'cause i didn't wanted to loose the feeling by polishing the image too far....after all it's just a sketch.

Based on the photoghraps that i took earlier, i was able to make this image that i could use, when sculpting the miniature later.


Very simple photoshop rendering here, nothing special.

Finally i feel that i like to share some thoughts about this project and maybe about designing in general.

Even though i love sculpting, i also love the designing phase very much also.
I feel that this is the point where you create eternal champions of ruin the whole thing from the beginning.
I usually carry this phase quite far, for example i like to design all those little details (weaponry, eguimpment) differently.
but in the end i still like to leave things little bit open , so that i can make the final decisions in the sculpting phase.
With this particular character i want to go with quite minimalistic feeling..not too many details, i want to concentrate what is important. I want to focus on the pose and the facial expression should be very dramatic too.

As some of you already know, i have studied Design in Lahti Institute of Design
(i actually graduated from there too;). I never learned to use all those fancy 3D modelling programs too well (too busy drinking beer and converting miniatures;), but i learned something still...i learned how to skecth with pen and paper.
What i learned from there has helped me a great deal now, when i do miniature designing.
After all...pencil and a sketchbook are VERY effective tools in the hands of a good miniature designer...

Excuses & Demonic Blades

HELLo!

It has been a long time, since posted here last time. But i have not been wasting my time you know=) Lately i have been hauling lots of new tools to my collections. I recently bought an airbrush and spray booth, i also got some sculpting tools and materials, so i am more than ready to start my Lemminkäinen as soon as i got the sketches drawn=)!!

But back to business:

I managed to skecth down some ideas about the sword of Lemminkäinen.
This is what The Kalevala tells about the sword:

" He took his own sword
snatched his fiery blade
refined among the demons
ground among the gods;
to his side he binds it
thrust it into the scabbard"

So, as The Kalevala describes, the blade seems to be Demonic one.
I wanted to display the demonic nature of the blade by introducing short saw-edge to other side of the blade. I also added some symbolic messages to the fittings of the sword, that refer to the deeds of the Lemminkäinen.

Moodswings in the Darklands

Working with the Moodboard at the moment....Just picked some cool images that i liked. 'had this wicked idea, to tell the story of the Lemminkäinen with the moodboard.
-Mikko

The Future Unfolds...

Hello!

Now it's time to tell you about my thoughts, my future plans and projects.
But first, i got to tell you about the fact, that I'v been receiving lots of positive feedback lately, from many people that i highly respect and honour, people, Who's work had inspired me to start my own experiments in the first place.
That have gave me lots of extra energy to work my way forwards from project to project. So thank you all for your support!!!

I'v been reading a lot lately..and there's a reason for that. For a couple of months now, i have planning my next miniature project. I wanted to make something unique and something that had not been done before. I also wanted it to somehow express the way i see the world, as miniature artist. So i turned to our Finnish national epic The Kalevala

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kalevala

From that book, i found my character. I found The Tragic Hero Ahti Lemminkäinen.
Lemminkäinen was a wanton hero, that loved women and war! It is a long story to tell, but in one ocasion Lemminkäinen got killed By the Demons of Tuonela (realm of the dead) who hacked him into pieces and threw the pieces in to the River Of The Dead. In the end, Lemminkäinen's mother bringed him back by sewing the pieces together and by casting powerfull spells to awoke her son back to life.

So Lemminkäinen appeared to be a perfect choice for me!

The Actuall project is in very early stages now, but i have started it anyway.
This is what i got at the moment:

The Kalevala I have red the Kalevala in Finnish already, but i bought an English version because i have always wanted to read it in English too, so now i had my chance, plus it is easier fo my to write this blog when i can refer to the book.

Rauta Aika (The Age Of Iron)
It is a DVD version of an old Finnish TV production that visualizes The Story of The Kalevala


Here is a Stunning painting by Akseli Gallen Kallela

"The Painting is depicting a scene from Kalevala. The warrior Lemminkainen had been killed, his body hacked to pieces and thrown into the dark river that flows through the underworld, Tuonela. His mother, having collected the parts from the river and sewing them back together, looks up to see a single bee bringing back honey from the halls of the god Ukko, a wondrous ointment that would bring her son to life."

(Wikipedia)


This Painting really has the MOOD, that i want to bring into my version too.

My goal is to make MY own Version of the Hero, i will probably add some elements from the modern Fantasy into the mix. I am great fan of Michael Moorcook's Elric Saga and i think i want to include some of the Elric's looks into my Tragic Hero also

Here is Elric as painted by Frank Brunner:



I 'm sure that this thing will grow in to epic proportions and would not be just another miniature project but something i need to do, to understand my own motives as an miniature designer and artist.


So, for now on, i will be posting my thoughts and hopefully some skecthes too in the near future.

-Mikko