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Hey all! For those that have seen my work before, you know what this is all about, for those new, I go to Adepticon every year and make one massive project. For past 6 years of huge projects check out the galleries on my site.




"I have never yet heard or seen anything serious that was not ridiculous" - Horace Walpole

Mr. Walpole is a comrade of taste and method in a different time and place to me. The first true Gothic author, he would often live and create in an obsessive way, for the sake of it wanting to exist, for a need to create and a want to see something in reality. Walpole had a taste for different and extreme; many of his creations were grand not only in skill and method, but size and scope, for sake of size and scope.

"I sat down and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate."

Much like Walpole at his desk improvising the first novel in the Gothic sense, I sit in my own Strawberry Hill, a secluded place not of traditional function but re-purposed to my own enjoyment and pursuits, filled with my own creations and dreams. Late into the night planning and throwing a million ideas to the wall and waking up to see what has stuck. A Gothic structure in the architectural, in the literary method.

Some would look at Walpole and see an eccentric with poor and unconventional taste. I see a man too confident and driven to care of anything but creation of things great in skill, and as importantly scope.

He was a based brother of the arts, and this project is dedicated to him.







This was by far the most prepared project to date. Six months of buying any interesting doodad and whatsthat I felt a pull from on the shelf. Antique stores, flea markets, craft stores and online marketplaces all were fair game. I have done it so much I have developed quite a skill for it and would be glad to share those methods and thoughts, but that is another post.





HORUS WHY

The biggest individual item to purchase, was the mannequin. A lot of sleepless nights over the one to use, but I finally went for one in a regular sitting pose. The other options were some fully articulating models, but they were much more expensive and I felt not worth the work and joint sculpting for a bit more pose freedom.




A quick test fit on the base. The bottom is a strict size because of the glass case I have.




The first real structure work. The legs were cut off in a particular way to open up the pose, allow it to fit, and way down the road also integrate into the throne.





The right column had to start as two large pieces for support, just stacking boxes was not an option.








Right side shapes up, this side is more of the traditional gothic church. A place where those that pilgrimage to the Throne would worship and pay respects.





Blocking out the left side. Fractals, the rule of three, and imperfect symmetry are important rules of not only art but the universe, and incorporating them into anything is important,













The center, "City of Lost Sons."







Work begins on the face after a timely Smooth On order arrives. I am extremely happy with how his face is wrapping up. So much so I can feel a hefty weight lift off the rest of the work, although it will not be taken advantage of!

Until next time! If you wish to keep up in more real time, feel free to follow on Twitter or Facebook in my signature

curious if any paintings do exist of the golden throne?

There is the John Blanche version. And I believe that was a "vision" fluff wise more than a literal interpretation.

*subscribes to thread*

Subbed. This is amazing!

This is glorious, insane and slightly terrifying.

Keep it up.

Thanks guys!

Taking the day off for Valentines, more updates late into Sunday.

An extraordinary undertaking. I wish you the best of luck and will watch enthralled.

R.

Yeah, I'm gonna want to follow this thread.

Your threads always rule. Subbed.

Subbed, I fething love your projects!!!!

Typing this on a coffee soaked keyboard and through a mist of coffee drippings on my screen....

Blows my mind even to attempt something on this scale & really love the little gothic details!... great work.. SUBBED>

this is awesome man. good job

Amazing as ever GMM. Subbed yet again. What do you do with these projects afterwards? Do you have them hanging out in your garage or do you sell/auction them off after the CON? Just curious

 GMMStudios wrote:

Must be Italian

Srsly though, can't wait for more

Very inspiring project. I look forward to seeing it shape up. I must ask, though, is the mannequin meant to be the Emperor's corpse or a giant decorative colossus attached to the throne? If so, I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. It's a bit too preserved and, more importantly, gigantic. Also, if it isn't the Emperor, where do you plan to put his body?

"For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial." -Pericles

There is a good bit of existing background on the Throne, but luckily for me a lot of room for creativity. Not only in the aesthetic, but also the story. I will save a lot of my writing on the background of this for when it is finished, but for the time being I will say I have always believed the Imperium is an alternate reality where military, technology, science and religion veer off last century or this one, where some horrible fascist regime wins one of the two World Wars, or another in this alternate near future. This should for now explain all visual references and themes, and in the literal sense I see the "crown" of the throne being particular very important memorials from the surface that have been recovered. Very important people in the lineage of the Emperor that he would want to keep and would be seen as relics by those who important enough to lay eyes on the throne. Sort of a family tree if you will, honoring the people who laid the building blocks for the Imperium.

Anyway, enjoy the images for today. Scale is roughly 1 meter wide (same as the throne) and a couple feet high. Watch for Waldo, for scale.














Automatically Appended Next Post:

Darth Bob wrote:Very inspiring project. I look forward to seeing it shape up. I must ask, though, is the mannequin meant to be the Emperor's corpse or a giant decorative colossus attached to the throne? If so, I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. It's a bit too preserved and, more importantly, gigantic. Also, if it isn't the Emperor, where do you plan to put his body?

This will be addressed when I finish and actually sit down to write the background. It is sort of both. In short it is worshipped as his body, but it is not literal. But also very few know the truth that the Emperor is weak and almost gone. The fluff will be a warp induced fever dream of the throne, where the viewer, before being executed for heresy, recounts his dream of the throne and his horrific revelation that while the "body" is grand and imposing, comforting but also dangerous, the truth is that humanity is doomed. The throne is falling apart and his body is but a bit of tissue.

This is also the reason for so far, the somewhat dreamlike aestheetic of the architecture. It IS literal, but through the lens of the warp.

Thanks for bringing that up

scuzz_bucket wrote:

 GMMStudios wrote:

Must be Italian

Srsly though, can't wait for more

Haha I am glad I am not the only one who thought that!

Lucazi wrote:Amazing as ever GMM. Subbed yet again. What do you do with these projects afterwards? Do you have them hanging out in your garage or do you sell/auction them off after the CON? Just curious

I still have all of them.

deathalus wrote:this is awesome man. good job

MagosBiff90 wrote:Typing this on a coffee soaked keyboard and through a mist of coffee drippings on my screen....

Blows my mind even to attempt something on this scale & really love the little gothic details!... great work.. SUBBED>

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:Subbed, I fething love your projects!!!!

moonpie wrote:Your threads always rule. Subbed.

Jim wrote:Yeah, I'm gonna want to follow this thread.

precinctomega wrote:An extraordinary undertaking. I wish you the best of luck and will watch enthralled.

R.

Thanks guys, you are all too kind!

I like that a lot, GMM. I really like the reasoning behind the Emperor's enormous size. It's easily possible that being so close to the Emperor's incredible psychic essence would warp one's perception of his true form, and presenting it as one would see it rather than how it is is a fantastic idea. Are you going to add pilgrims climbing the stairs to worship/Imperial citizens standing near or around it to show scale?

Thanks. One big hurdle has been trying to make something unique, but also come up with creative reasoning. As we all know, if there were an "official" throne it would probably be a chair made of Imperial Sectors Not that there is anything wrong with that, just GW's imagery is so heavy there is no other option without some added creativity.

I havent decided if I want to add "live" figures yet or not. I am leaning towards no as they will in my opinion conflict with the scales of the other figures, and actually anchor the scale in the viewers mind more than I would like. I would like it to be a bit vague like the architecture. If people want to look at it without my fluff and see it as a 1:1 scale throne and they are comfortable with the notion of him looking like that, they can.

In a nutshell I tend to err more towards interpretation. Especially considering 99% of the time we are dealing with very literal and realistic forms of "sculpture"


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also I am trying to steer clear of any GW bits. This is not because I do not love GW or their models, but because I want to make something unique. Using a recognizable bit distracts the viewer and takes away from the mystery. Same as human figures, if I start to add bolters it takes away massive amounts of mystery.

And in a similar vein, if I start adding recognizable vehicle parts, this will also distract and become a hunt for the viewer and will cause tunnel vision and distract from the overall view.

So, sorry GW, I love you but in this case, so far I have used 1 GW bit and it likely wont be 2.

And it is also important to note that the throne itself likely wouldn't use STC tech and blueprints. This is would be a one off monstrosity to hold the Emperor of mankind. I can see an arguement for having parts that are recognizable in a thematic sense but I prefer the notion he is much too regal for that. This is fascism after all.

Thanks for the discussion. I expected most of this later after it is done, but fun to talk about it now. I may have to do a blog post just on our back and fort to make sure it is covered over there too.

There can never be enough Kris Kuksi art in the world! Subbed!

Awesome! I am glad someone gets the homage, and I am not the only fan.

The top part is definitely an exercise in that style of decorative assemblage. There are quite a few, but he is most well known as his style is so powerful. He basically took the Rococo decorative flourishing and injected horror and dark good vs evil themes into it. And it is just so over the top.

But I am sure you know that, just had to gush a bit.

I am trying to limit that to the top, with the rest being predominantly my own style. Where he is classical in theme and skirts the line of abstract in his art, I try and be more sci fi and literal. That sort of modelling is my background after all, and I also love old school practical model making, which as a side note is where Kuksi gets the mechanical half of his inspiration as well.

Its a lot of fun doing this sort of sculpture. It is also incredibly expensive. You do not realize how much material it takes until you sit down and do an elaborate assemblage. I imagine his "average" size works (maybe 2-3" round roughly?) cost 5-6000 USD each in materials.

Its really amazing and a nice little "work vacation" to dip my toes in that.

Have you read the old, old BL book called Draco? At one point the main character actually goes to see the Emperor, who is crazy as a fox.

 moonpie wrote:
Have you read the old, old BL book called Draco? At one point the main character actually goes to see the Emperor, who is crazy as a fox.

I have not. Would you recommend it? Who was crazy, the emperor or the narrator?

Im always up for old 40k novels. Most of my favorites are 2nd- 3rd edition era.

Its 0 degress outside Farenheit, but made good progress last night. Epoxy and putty have to be brought in for over 1 hour to be usable. And then cool so quickly they get one use out of them.

Hot water has to be replaced in 20 minutes before it becomes unusable for putty work.

Woo!

A new GMMM project?!?! Fantastic!

Fantastic, and fearsome. Gothic and grotesque. Multitudinous and mind-blowing.

I'm thinking if H.P. Lovecraft had been able to visit Chartres with Henry Adams, then scribble his own twisted nightmare notes over Adams's book manuscript... a reader would end up picturing something like what you're creating here.

I'm loving this. And particularly since I never manage to make it to Chicago for Adepticon, thanks very much for sharing here.

Great stuff. What glue do you use when assembling the Kuski type parts? I can't imagine making something like this without using a hot glue gun, but then you lose the neatness.

I understand not wanting to use gw parts, but shouldn't space marines, aquillas, bolt guns, etc be represented in some way like other soldiers and wars from the Emperor's past are? Maybe there could be some abstractions, for example the Emperor vs Void Dragon could be an eagle vs snake tableau. Primarchs represented by their totem animals, that sort of thing.

Speaking of Kuski, the opening credits of the TV show Black Sails are a (pretty cool) cgi ripoff of his stuff if you never saw them.

Edit: Also did you ever see these? Some images of mummified kings, I thought they worked well as interpretations of the corpse emperor http://www.exprofundis.com/leave-a-beautiful-corpse/

tinfoil wrote:A new GMMM project?!?! Fantastic!

Fantastic, and fearsome. Gothic and grotesque. Multitudinous and mind-blowing.

I'm thinking if H.P. Lovecraft had been able to visit Chartres with Henry Adams, then scribble his own twisted nightmare notes over Adams's book manuscript... a reader would end up picturing something like what you're creating here.

I'm loving this. And particularly since I never manage to make it to Chicago for Adepticon, thanks very much for sharing here.

Thanks! I am happy to hear your interpretations as well. This one will be pretty vague in that regard, and open. In the end it will be more enjoyable for everyone. From people that do not understand the references and just enjoy the overall composition, to those that like and understand the underlying themes and make their own story.

Bruticus wrote:Great stuff. What glue do you use when assembling the Kuski type parts? I can't imagine making something like this without using a hot glue gun, but then you lose the neatness.

I understand not wanting to use gw parts, but shouldn't space marines, aquillas, bolt guns, etc be represented in some way like other soldiers and wars from the Emperor's past are? Maybe there could be some abstractions, for example the Emperor vs Void Dragon could be an eagle vs snake tableau. Primarchs represented by their totem animals, that sort of thing.

Speaking of Kuski, the opening credits of the TV show Black Sails are a (pretty cool) cgi ripoff of his stuff if you never saw them.

I use traditional super glue. Slow but clean. Hot glue just isnt good enough for this. Not only is it weak, but messy and too blunt a weapon for tiny parts.

In terms of iconography:

Aquila - I agree, there are more planned though, that is a final detail stage element. There will be several more aquilas.

Space Marines - My rationale and thought is a king does not honor his grandchildren (which they essentially are) on his own throne. He honors himself and his ancestors. He certainly loves his children (Primarchs), which some are/will be depicted, but the marines I do not think would make an appearance.

Kuksi did make the black sails intro if I am not mistaken.

Dude, the weather...

In Draco, the inquisitor goes before the Emperor for some reason I don't remember. When he meets him and the Emperor telepathically speaks to him, he has several voices and attitudes as though his psyche is shattered and scattered. I think it is a play on how omnipotence could lead to a person being schizo or MPD.

The Emperor was a very Mad Hatter type of character.

I've always loved the forced fusion of organic and inorganic elements in artists such as HR Giger's work. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

moonpie wrote:Dude, the weather...

In Draco, the inquisitor goes before the Emperor for some reason I don't remember. When he meets him and the Emperor telepathically speaks to him, he has several voices and attitudes as though his psyche is shattered and scattered. I think it is a play on how omnipotence could lead to a person being schizo or MPD.

The Emperor was a very Mad Hatter type of character.

Well that's definitely pertinent to this project! Thank you for sharing, and I will have to read it at some point. Its probably to late to get the book before this is finished, let alone have time to read it which is unfortunate, but it sounds enjoyable and I will pick it up regardless.

KAPcom wrote:I've always loved the forced fusion of organic and inorganic elements in artists such as HR Giger's work. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

I love Giger's work as well! If you go back in some of my threads, last year one of my projects was a similar sci-fi/horror/Giger project using a huge egg chair and a lot of putty to give it Gigerish elements. You would probably like it as well.