The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Gizmo’s got the update

Well, I've had exams all night, but I came home to find this little post waiting for me at The Waaagh, so I thought I'd put it up here to chart the progress.

There are two reasons im updating the progress on the boss tonight.

1: Ein is in some sort of exam as i type so he cant do it
2: I aint letting him go a day without seeing some pictures of what ive done.

I have Sculpted the lip on the boot that makes the buckle look like it is doing something and also the overhang part of the pants (its an american model so ive gotta call trousers, pants )

When all this dries im going to maybe add a wee clip holding the buckle to the bit of rope (im really hoping that made sense) on the boot and drill out some wee holes to enforce that the clip is actually doing something (it didnt did it, oh well you will see in the next update). Im not sure if the lip on the pants stick out enough for eins liking, if not i can extend it quite easily. The tread on the plasticard will be getting blended in a bit better and i will also add tread to the underside of the foot (the visible part that is). After all that is done i dont see anything but an armour plate on the knee (just like the stock GW warboss) that needs done before i can start on somewhere else.

Giz

I think it's coming along great, honestly. The bunching around the bottom of the pants isn't as large as I thought it would be, but that doesn't mean it doesn't look good! Question for you guys, though: Do you guys think the back edge of the boot by the buckle is good? The idea was to make it look like the clasp is holding two halves together, but I'm sort've on the fence - it didn't look all that bad in this one and I want to know what you guys think. Leave a comment if you have any feedback, eh?

Look at ‘dem legs!

Gizmo and I have been chatting for a good while about the Boss while he sculpts things, and it's looking good. There's a bit more to be done with the pants and boots, but it is coming along really nicely, and Gizmo's really good about me being a huge pain in the behind with particular details. Here's the latest batch of pictures!

 

He's already doing a vastly better job than I could have done, I'll tell you guys that much. There's a bit more to do on the pants (around where the boot and the bottom of the leg joins) and he's cleaned the tread up a bit since those photographs.

It's looking really good, though, and I'm glad he's coming along. Stuff like riveting on the boots and all will be delayed until the boss's trip back to the States, where I have the bits and plastic to do such detailing properly.

Team effort

Well, here I am with a bit of an update on this whole project.

A couple of months ago, I bought a warboss from my good buddy Gizmo that was a considerable size. He apparently sculpted the whole thing from scratch, which I found pretty impressive, and it was a really good model. I mentioned it on the main blog a while back.

I was impressed enough with his sculpting abilities that I figured I'd ask about him helping me out on this Bigboss project. It seemed to make a fair bit of sense, as I wasn't too comfortable with picking sculpting up again. So, off my warboss (Now named "Gargrim "'Uge" Mungus", as you might glean from my slowly developing army backstory) went to bonny Scotland where Gizmo began work. I get a few new pics from him on what seem to be a daily basis, which is nice, as I can give him a fair bit of feedback about things.

We've chopped both his hands off, and for good reason! I was inspired by this little bit of artwork...

I found that juicy piece of artwork at this site, and I thought it might be worth taking the boss in something of that direction. Or at least the power fist! So, off both hands went, chopped at the wrists. Gizmo's going to completely sculpt a new left hand for the boss to hold a choppa in, and when he sends the model back I'm going to plasticard up a power klaw of similar design to what you see in that image above and fit it over the stump on the right arm.

Gizmo, in the mean time, has been working on the legs. He capped off the toe of the unfinished boot and has been putting the foundations for pants onto the model's other side.

 

More folds, patchwork, and stitching will go overtop of this, and the boot's going to be capped off with the square chunky teeth like on the illustration. We're also going to remodel the cloth around his waist to sit a lot higher, and maybe cinch it with a belt.

Facing facts

Right!

To preface this, I'm going to apologize: both for not having worked on this model in quite some time, and for not really having much to contribute with this particular project other than a number of questions regarding sculpting.

Now that we've got that out of the way...

Every so often I get one of those projects that just comes back to life a little bit for me when I feel particularly bored, inspired, or just want to put off the work I should be doing. I've been gazing at this warboss for a while and come to a few conclusions, most of which I will save for later.

I feel kind've dodgy about reviving this simply to post a little flash animation, but it's more an attempt to solicit help than anything. I've never been particularly strong when it comes to sculpting, so you might be able to understand my hesitations.

I took some close up pictures of the bits I'm working with here. Ghazzie's head is there mostly to provide references of features - the two aren't exactly to scale to eachother because I simply scaled them down in two separate photographs after I took the pictures. Rather, Ghazzie's face is to illustrate normal ork proportions.

I've placed lines in roughly where I think features would dictate to try and make it appropriately orky. The coloring bits are just to try and give you a reference of what it might look like post-sculpting, as it's somewhat of a hard image to read with just the lines.

I've pretty much figured out that I need to cut the 'jowls' down a bit on either side with a dremel in order to get the proper jawline I want. Same thing with the jawbones by the eyes, really.

I've also pretty much ascertained that it's far easier to sculpt in steps, but this is where I get a bit confused. I'm not really sure where to even begin sculpting on this. It would seem to me that the first order of business post-dremelling is to extend the head up in a round shape and let it dry, and I get the impression the eyes should probably be done in their own, separate step so that I can sculpt the upper and lower eyelids over it without too much of an issue.

Really, I'm just not sure how to break this down into actual sculpting. Like, I'm not sure if I should try getting those jawbones sculpted out all in one go, or what.

My thoughts on this are if I botch it horribly, I can always give him a helmet with some horns. Hell, I might do that anyway.

Really, though, I've never done something like this, and the face is probably one of the most important features on this fella, so I wanted to solicit a bit of feedback about how I should go about sculpting this. I'm more than willing to just gung-ho try it and peel it off if it doesn't work, but I don't know if I'd be able to properly nail the orky facial proportions if I did that.

So, again. Sorry. I know it's sort of lame to revive a project like this, but I've been inspired by looking at a couple other warbosses as of late and this guy deserves a bit more of my attentions.

Greenstuff: Not for eating

So I recently managed to get some more greenstuff and work a little bit on my warboss's beautiful feet. It's not much of a leap forward, but I like keeping up on all of my developments, particularly the unlikely ones like sculpting. This blog has been keeping me really busy over the past few days, too, as I set it up and go back digging through acres of forum trying to put my old projects on there. Still, I expect a lot to get done over Spring Break.

Stitch in time

I felt brave enough yesterday to sculpt some stitching, so I did before I went out to see Ghost Rider (which I enjoyed, though I think I'd like it better with the sound off).

 

And now I am out of Greenstuff! Going to have to get more, I guess.

Folding like a house of cards

Here's my weak attempt at sculpting folds in cloth!

 

I'm just blending what used to be the lip around the top of the boot into the pants progressively, as it actually makes a decent blousing effect around the top of the boot. Also, you'll probably notice a few seams, but this is due to inconsistencies in the GS - the 'folds' I sculpted are a different shade of green than the pants underneath, leading to some visible edges that I assume will vanish with primer.

More will come once I get back in the mood. I'm thinking of putting a small rectangular armor plate riveted to the pants on the top of the leg towards the knee. I'd add stitching if I had any idea how.

Pantalones! That’s spanish for something

 

The side of the boot and strap is done because it's just too difficult to sculpt a proper armor plate over the front of that shin, and plasticard isn't cooperating.

Sculpted some pants on, though they're pretty bare at the moment. I basically didn't know where to sculpt the folds and such, so I just covered the musculature underneath as best I could. I will touch areas up as best I can after it's all set and dried. I wanted to add stitching, too, to the sides and such, but I found that to be particularly hard to add so I just left it alone.

I figure the spots that I really botch I can cover with an armor plate or two, in any event.

Delay tactics

I feel like a few more pictures.

The top of the boot was cut down just a little bit so it didn't go all the way up to his knee, as I felt it might've been a bit too big. It looks a bit.. cartoony, I guess, but I don't really think it's bad - pants will probably help. You can get a look at a few more of the spots on the back I've touched up, though a majority of it is in the upper back and shoulders.

 

Sorry if they're a bit blurry, low light conditions and all. Gonna have to sculpt some shin armor on, and straps. I'm not in the mood to do it, so I'm using photos to put it off for now. I need to get back into my fearless sculpting mood where I just go at it. I think the main reason I'm working on sculpting the legs first is that if I botch them, I can swap them out for Dreadnought legs.

Don’t tread on me

A bit further with the boot. It may not seem like much for most people, but this is probably the most I've sculpted anything aside from maybe flames and small details, and I'm reasonably happy with how it's coming out so far. Gotta trim the excess down off the heel once that piece is solid. The waiting is the hardest part! I've been using the spare GS to work a bit more on smoothing out the back, for what it's worth. I'll probably make the pant legs on this side before starting work on the other leg.