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I remember opening Ultraforge a few years ago and posting some pics of my miniatures here on the Dakka boards for review. I have been lurking around here for a long time and value the blunt and honest critiques that Dakkaites are famous for. I posted my old Treeman and then someone else shortly after posted a picture of the Koolaid Man in the same thread... as they look quite similar... unfortunately . I think I cried for about 5 minutes and then began envisioning what a cool Treeman might be like (and how to avoid it looking like a corporate mascot again!).

I then took a bunch of time off and re-opened Ultraforge recently with some new sculpts. Among them are a new Giant and Treeman, who is now a woman! I never forgot about the "Koolaid incident" and it served as a great lesson on how I can learn from my defeats. I am posting my old and new takes on the same mini so that you can discuss whether or not you like the changes.

Here is the giant. The new one is on the left.


... and the trees. The new one is on the left.


Pretty huge changes really. Certainly less cartoony and more gritty. Maybe you like the old ones better? Either way, please feel free to contribute your harsh critiques... but try not to make me cry!

Sophia.

Both are huge improvements!

the giant has a great posture, and a lovely expression! his hand holding the club seems a bit too small to me (the other hand definitely looks bigger), perhaps it's the actual distance it is from the camera playing a trick of proportion on the eye.

also, his legs seem a bit short, but a creature like that wouldn't necessarily be a bodily proportion in ratio to a human's

the treewoman: i absolutely <3 this sculpt! only thing "bad" about it is me worrying all those lovely branches might break off! :( i *especially* love her knee facing the viewer... wow that part is just stunning o.o

...keep up the good work! ^^ you have a lot to be proud of here!!!

I'm going to have to say.... both old and new are pretty awesome and I would be honored to have either of the newer one (more my cup of tea). Both are cartoony, but in different ways. The old are cartoony like older comic books, while the new versions are like graphic novels. While the old are bright and playful, the new are darker and more serious, their character and essence written more deeply into their detail, as if they tell a story without any words. That is art.

Great input. I agree that the club hand looks a little small in the picture Mr.Bombadidaloo but that same hand actually looks too large in the other side view photos. My camera just tends to 'fish eye' the picture quite a bit and makes the stuff up close fairly large. Actually a nice effect if not misleading.

I tried the make the Giant slightly asymmetrical and fairly mutated while still looking humanoid. Kinda like the growth of real life people with gigantism due to irregular distribution of growth hormone. The upper body to leg ration is kinda more like a gorilla than a human. his kinda helps tell the story of a creature that is very heavy and rather lumbering and apelike.

I enjoy your take on the old and new in terms of artistic direction Skinnatittar. The old and new styles certainly tell their own story.

I hope you don't mind if I post this picture from your website:



It doesn't come with those branches (just saw the notice in the other pic on
the site), so this is how it would look like if I bought one?

I'd have to see the Treewoman in person or in the midst of a Wood Elf army
to make a final determination, but I'm not sure how well the scale would
fly on the 28mm table. I DO regret buying my current treeman, though (GW
standard one). The realism of the face almost makes it look like a woman in
costume rather than a woman made out of trees.

As a standalone figure, however, it looks lovely.

I will definitely consider it as a future purchase. It seems like a steal at 68
(or even the standard 75!) bucks.

if you don't mind my asking, how did you go about sculpting the thinner branches?

*edit* oops nvm ^^;; that will make it less fragile hehe

It is accurate to say that the Treewoman looks quite naked without her little branches, but after you paint each layer its own tree color it starts to look much more treelike. Then you just gotta go for a short walk around the block and gather up some very thin twigs and branches. Even straw from a broom makes a great branch. Glue the little twigs to your painted and sealed Treewoman and you have a very original looking centerpiece. Its also free and requires no painting!

Another idea is too simply buy a Woodland Scenics or model railroad tree, cut off the branches and simply glue those onto the Treewoman branches. I will be doing this for my next Treewoman as I want to giver her a green and lush springtime feel. Fairly cheap and very easy.

This is the website that got me the whole 'glue on branches' idea. Some of these trees are so great they even got little leaves! This is where I'm buying my next batch of branches from. http://www.miniaturetree.com/

I would suggest gluing the branches to the back of the arms, back and head and not the fronts. This makes her a little less cluttered. I tend to move the Treewoman around on the battlefield by her arms and base. It is a great fit with smaller scale miniatures since she is raised off the ground a bit and models tend to rank up nicely next to her. The skulls and skeletons on her base pull things back into the 28mm world.

Transporting the miniature is now a chore as you have to protect your branches, but for me I just stick everything in a case and hold my Treewoman in my hand. I suppose you could figure out more interesting ways to transport it around, but yeah it is trickier than usual.

Her price is pretty darn low in my opinion, especially compared to other companies that sell large scale resin miniatures for an arm and a leg!

That giant is amazing. The head and especially the expression on his face are just fantastic. I love the shape of the head - humanoid, but not quite human. And the expression isn't raging giant, it's more like he's spotted something new and is thinking, actually thinking about what he's going to do next (ie. like he's just seen another giant, a dragon, or something as big as he is, and is wondering if he can take it on).

The Treeman... or Treewoman I 'spose, is nice, and from a sculpting point of view is very beautiful. The problem is it just looks like a leafy woman, not a hulking tree-person. All Kool Aid comparisons aside, the old Treeman was a big scary monster. This new one is neither scary nor a monster. Maybe that's what you were going for - something feminine and graceful - in which case bravo, mission acomplished, but if you were going for a replacement for the old treeman, this one just doesn't look 'big' enough.

BYE

Solid critique H.B.M.C. and I agree that the new Treewoman is a graceful thing and not very monstrous. I just really wanted to indulge in a feminine monster for a change and she came out looking perhaps a touch too pretty. Perhaps I will offer my old Treelord as a scarier option on my website as he tends to get a good reaction. Thanks for the input!

Is it just me, or does the Treemaid look a bit like Holle Berry when she played Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson in "Die Another Day?"

Hehe, I was honestly going for the body proportion of Jenifer Lopez. Dang, check out that bootay!

I checked it out earlier, and it is quite magnificent. Though I felt mentioning THAT would be too cliche for a gaming forum.

LOL

Just for a size comparison question; I don't really like the new GW giant. The big fat gut makes no sense when the rest of the model has spindley arms and legs. The proportions of your new one are spot on, and makes it look like a really big almost-human person. So, my question is, as far as size goes, how tall is your new giant compared to the GW one?

Reason I ask is that we're slowly (very slowly) thinking about starting Fantasy in our group to take a break from Warhammer, and I like Orcs & Goblins, want a giant, don't like GW's and I think your one is ace. Is it 'big', as in big by Warhammer standards, or is it smaller than that (or bigger even!)?

BYE

At the local games store I have my Merc Giant next to the store painted GW Giant. It makes the GW giant look kinda like a pregnant boy, since mine is a little taller and a lot more proportioned. Tho my giant is larger he is still relevant to the heroic scale since he has skulls, sheilds and various items on his belt that are all in the 28mm scale.

You do get a lot more customization options when assembling the GW giant, but having an Ultraforge giant is about as rare and customized as you can get becuase we are such a teeny tiny company. The base size is the same, and I find mine a little easier to navigate around a tabletop since it is heavier and sturdier than a hollow plastic giant. I personally love working with plastic and I find resin performs in a similar way tho has the added bonus of weight.

I actually like the GW giant for certain specific reasons. The Ultraforge giant just provides another option to someone who is interested in a different body proportion and facial expression etc. and will give you an edge on scale and detail if there are another other giant owners about!

I kind of like the old ones more. The new ones look more like humans that were given new skin. They still look awesome but I like cartoon comics more than graphic novels.

I personally love all four versions and I'm sure we all wish our "failures" could turn out so well, so bravo to you.

While the newer versions most certainly feature some marked improvements in both detail and proportion, the old versions also have a fantastic style to them in a completely different way.

If I were to play Fantasy I would most certainly consider picking up any one of those models.

Now, if you'd only consider making something that fits into the realm of the 41st millenium that isn't demonic. . .maybe a giant Orkish brute, perhaps on a bike?

looks great. if i had the $75 to drop on a model i would totally buy the giant.

I really like these new versions, especially the Dryad. Maybe a Plaguelord sculpt is in order.

Jazz is for Losers wrote:I really like these new versions, especially the Dryad. Maybe a Plaguelord sculpt is in order.

I think you just named my new mini for me! (work in progress)



Perhaps the term dryad is more applicable to the Treewoman? Dryad being a "divinity presiding over forests and trees; a wood nymph." I suppose that would make the Treewoman one huge dryad! A dryad queen perhaps?

The differences between the old and the new are like night and day. Your new sculpts are absolutely stunning with the attention to detail, tone, and graceful execution. On the same token, your old minis are full of style and playfulness that you don't see very often (even something GW is having issues capturing as of late...). I like all four for different reasons. The new giant screams of fierceness and malice, While the old seems to be screaming "Get Back 'Ere!!" ^_^. And the new treewoman has an elegance and grace I don't think I've seen for a long time. Where the old treeman has a lumbering "i'll get there eventually...and when I do....." appearance. The amount of character in these figures is greatly appreciated, and a welcome refresher from the same old stuff.

Are you planning on re-releasing the old models?

Your WIP sculpt is looking amazing so far, looking forward to seeing it completed.

I was cracking up while reading "i'll get there eventually...and when I do....." Priceless. Well said.

I have to now seriously consider offering some of my old miniatures on the website, tho it was not what I had originally planned. If there is genuine interest and requests mailed to me I will go ahead and cast up a bunch. If not I am just going to try to sculpt in a wider range of styles and try not to take my minis look terribly hardcore all the time

I just finished the rivets on the Plaguedude's armor tonight and hope to get him shipped off for casting by the end of the week. Ill post some pics as soon as he is all done. Thanks for the compliments.

Ahhhhhh, UltraForge!

Just happy to see your stuff again, and that you're up to new tricks too

The new giant is, as noted, really something, and I agree with HBMC on the treewoman not being monstrous enough for my tastes. Looking forward to the new plaguelord, that was one of my favorites of yours originally.

- Salvage

All four of them are different in thier own way.


I say sell each of them. The more variety the better. It isn't about which one is better in this case, its about what different people can do with the different ones.

I have to say that the female one, really doesn't look like a giant tree/ per say. Its more of a table setting, or a sculpture for the mantal.

They all have difeerent feels to them, which is a good variety.

Good variety= choice.

The sculpts are amazing, can you make some squads or heads in the same style as like that new giant in 28mm?
They would make absolutly great diggas.

Strange thing to say, but I like the belly of that giant. The Gw one is just...well...In german it would be "Plauze", dunno about English, but it just looks far more realistic with the skin sculpted like you (you do it, right?) did. Other than that I agree with most other posts.

To the Dryad, I think it's a bit out of place for the run out of the mill Woodelf army, but if you have somewhat of a theme going on (Dryads, female woodelves if there are models) then it would be perfectly. Other than that, it reminds me a bit of the keeper of secrets from Forge World and that is saying something!

Any chance for international shipping?

Greets
Schepp himself

P.S. oh, and the Plaguelord looks fantastically ugly!

I think they are all pretty awesome. Kudos to you and your skill.

Sophia wrote:Hehe, I was honestly going for the body proportion of Jenifer Lopez. Dang, check out that bootay!

Sold! I am a fan of the bootay!

The newer giant is amazing. Like HBMC said... you can see him thinking. He is also far more detailed than the first without being GW over the moon!

The newer tree chick obviously represents some amazing work. Breath taking. I like that you went for a more "feminine" look. Even with that I think the face needs a bit more nastiness to it. Not ugliness. The model puts me in mind of Galadriel describing herself as "Beautiful and terrible."

Did that make sense?

Keep up the great work.

ender502

Schepp himself wrote:Strange thing to say, but I like the belly of that giant. The Gw one is just...well...In german it would be "Plauze", dunno about English, but it just looks far more realistic with the skin sculpted like you (you do it, right?) did. Other than that I agree with most other posts.

Exactly my first thought! Plauze is kinda like beer-belly i suppose.

Otherwise, all has been said by grey-death! I´m looking forward to seeing more

I gotta agree with Grey Death on this, all four sculpts are awe inspiring in their own way. Even though it seems like the new stuff is the direction you are wanting to go, the old most certainly have their place. The "Tree Women" is my fave though and if i didn't hate Wood Elves with every ounce of my being i would start an elemental host with that baby at the front.

Also don't be sad about that Kool-Aid man comment, i challenge you to find a single person who doesn't love and want to party with the big man. OH YEA!

The Face of the new giant reminds me of someone. First I thought of the Butler of the Adams Family but no , then maybe "Tiny" from Rob Zombie Movies but still not there.
I like this serious "You next!" glare in his eyes. Although I like miniatures more which are on the move this one is pretty nice.

@Schepp Himself I think the word is "paunch" in english.