In 2008 I put together a few conversions of Blood Pact troopers inspired by the Gaunt's Ghosts novels by Dan Abnett. At the time I had planned to do some Tanith too, however other projects got in the way and it never happened...until now!



Now there are already models available from GW to represent Tanith guardsmen, but these don't fit with either the cover art by Adrian Smith, or my own vision of how they should look.



Having used Catachan and Cadian parts for the Blood Pact, and with these parts being so common in most guard conversions, I wanted to go for something different and even more unique. This, however, means a lot of sculpting and converting will be involved!

To ease the burden of sculpting somewhat, I have decided to use Elysian legs from Forgeworld for the legs of my guardsmen. They fit the look of the Adrian Smith artwork and are also realistically proportioned, sized and detailed.

Sadly however, this means that most parts from the existing plastic guard ranges become unusable due to sizing issues. This means lasguns, heads and equipment all need to come from other sources. Luckily Forgeworld makes a variety of equipment sets that should come in handy, along with the Elysian equipment that comes with the kits.

So far the plan is to do the Gereon Mission team which includes most of the main characters from the novels and many of my favourites. As artwork for specific characters is in short supply, I'll be making a lot of judgements on appearances based on my own mental image evoked while reading the novels - one thing is for certain, they won't look like the overly scruffy dregs that the metal figures make them seem!

Today I spent some time working on the first test model with an aim to getting a standard equipment loadout and appearance sorted. It's early days yet and plenty is open to change, but I think he's shaping up quite well.



I intend this figure to be either Bonin or Mkoll, hence the scout berret (which will have tanith cap badge added). The muscle definition won't show on the finished figure as he will have a sleaveless uniform jacket and shoulder pads etc over the top. The head is from the Catachan command sprue (the new heads fit much better size wise than the old ones), though the jaw and cheeks etc have been drastically shaved down.

The intended pose has him leaning with back to a wall, knife in hand and waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting enemy - very fitting for Tanith scouts I figured!

More on this project soon as I begin to get all the bits and pieces I need together and continue with the sculpting.

I'm liking it so far...

Subscribed!

S_P

Excellent, just finished the third trilogy recently and looking forward to these.

Always enjoy your work CMDante.

Subscribed! I'm looking forward to this

It's like the music from the opening crawl of a star wars movie just started playing

A Gereon Resistance Killteam has always been on my list of things to do. Can't wait to see your take on them.

/subscribed

Just finished the first trilogy, so I'm kinda psyched for this. Keep it up!

Currently reading the books. This has my attention.

Sounds interesting - subscribed!

Love the books, love the tanith, cant wait to see what you have in mind

Sounds like a great project for someone with your talent.

Cheers// Toby

Loved your blood pact, cannot wait to see what you do with this concept. I was a little confused about the pose until you said "leaning against a wall" and then it clicked together in my head. Perfect.

Great start so far. Looking forward to see more.

Looking forward to this! I never did like the GW ghost models and your sculpting skills should produce a super looking army!

Awesome!

Ok, didn't expect to see this one back on the first page given it disappeared pretty quick!

I have actually made some progress on the test model last week:





I'm very proud of the cap badge - it is truly tiny! I'm in two minds as to whether to add the dagger behind. I know it is part of the badge, but I'm not sure whether it will spoil the look or not.

I've since done more work on the musculature, adding in the neck and starting the armature for the left arm.

Still lots to do though!

Cheers,

Dante

Very impressive sculpting my friend!

Don't let that first Korvidae post make you think people arent interested in your stuff, it's just luck of the draw sometimes!

Plainly, your fans are still here

Did you sculpt the head entirely btw? If so, amazing smooth work, love it!

Amazing progress so far CMDante

MajorTom11 wrote:Did you sculpt the head entirely btw?

CMDante wrote:The head is from the Catachan command sprue (the new heads fit much better size wise than the old ones), though the jaw and cheeks etc have been drastically shaved down.

S_P

Very nice, will watch this project. Glad your starting with Mkoll since he's my favorite Ghost =) ("Why doesn't his chair squeek?")

Space_Potato wrote:Amazing progress so far CMDante

MajorTom11 wrote:Did you sculpt the head entirely btw?

CMDante wrote:The head is from the Catachan command sprue (the new heads fit much better size wise than the old ones), though the jaw and cheeks etc have been drastically shaved down.

S_P

You sure? It's awfully... green

Your skills are impressive. Can't wait to see this progress

Nice. I too am a big tannith fan. I'm subscribing.

Oooh, can't wait to see how this develops!

I like where your heading dante, but I fear that the head is too large.

Fan-bleedin-tastic skills, and it looks perfectly proportioned to me. I initially thought that'd be Meryn, since Mkoll's both bearded, and was never young - But something tells me you've thought this one through

MajorTom11 wrote:

Space_Potato wrote:Amazing progress so far CMDante

MajorTom11 wrote:Did you sculpt the head entirely btw?

CMDante wrote:The head is from the Catachan command sprue (the new heads fit much better size wise than the old ones), though the jaw and cheeks etc have been drastically shaved down.

S_P

You sure? It's awfully... green

I think he shaved down the head and then rebuilt it with green stuff and made the beret.

It'd explain the greenish-ness, plus I recognise that head - you can see it on the plasma gunner here:



S_P

Actually guys, as I said before, the head is from the Catachan command frame. All I did was shave the jaw and mouth down and remove the neck stump and eagle on the beret and add the cap badge - sadly I can't claim it as sculpted by me!

@ Empchild - The head will be fine. It's probably hard for you guys to see from the pics as the sculpt work is just armature mass but I have added the base of the neck in and filled out the right arm a bit now and the head is definitely perfectly proportioned.

I honestly can't find any descriptions for Mkolls appearance that describe his face or tattoos. I recall some mention of a beard but I imagined it being a more groomed goatee style. This certainly fits with artwork from the short comic from an old inferno:

http://www.concept-artist.net/apps/photos/photo?photoid=41730808

Been a busy weekend so nothing new worth showing yet. Hoping to get back into the swing of things tomorrow evening though so expect more progress shots soon.

Thanks again for all the kind words guys, your comments and support are much appreciated.

Cheers,

Dante

Ah, I see - that's a cool little comic, never seen it before. My mental image is based upon the GW conversions from the 3rd ed White Dwarf article: http://redelf.narod.ru/w40k/ig/w40k_ig_gaunt2.html but your dude is lean and mean, which is going to be cool anyway.

I think in my head he's got short hair and a full but well-trimmed beard, but what you're creating there is awesome, so who cares?

Also, something I was wondering - how're you planning on making the armour look? I've seen a few Tanith conversions around on the web, and a lot of them are too chunky, either being Catachan-muscley or Cadian-armoured. I think a pretty simple tunic, a-la Tallarn, is about the most protection they'd have, or maybe something roughly equivalent to current combat armour. What's your plan?

Looking forwards to seeing some more pics,

Cap'n R

The DKoK lasguns that Pariah Zero over at Warseer kindly sent me arrived today so I can begin to move things on a bit again now that the lasgun issue is solved (DKoK lasguns fit perfectly size and scale wise!).

Captain Roderick - yes, totally agree on the armour front. What I plan is for military fatigues (probably sleeveless jackets on all or most) and shoulder and kneepads in the style of the Adrian Smith artwork.

Basically, one side with smooth surfaced shoulder and kneepad and one side with padded leather knee and shoulder pads.

Like this (GD Spain winner by Banshee):



Cheers,

Dante

yowza, that is utterly insane beauty.

I look forward to your models being better than that...

i can't wait to see more of this wip,i love the characters in the books.

Great sculpting and an interesting subject ..good work with the cap badge, and any chance of seeing his rear so to speak , would be a shame to miss out on any of your exsuisit work.

Looks awesome. I'm looking forward to the finished piece.

What sculpting! Fantastic work!

Interesting dante, and I see your point on the head. I am intrigued all around, but if your looking for backround/ descriptions dig around in lexicanum online as they have some great back round that is all from the books.

Wonderful stuff can't wait to see more is the Gereond kill team the one from the Guns of Tanith?

Llamahead wrote:Wonderful stuff can't wait to see more is the Gereond kill team the one from the Guns of Tanith?

No, the Gereon mission team is in Traitor General.

Been watching the JAG Miniature Mentor sculpting tutorial and taking some notes for the sculpting on this project - its a great tutorial by a tremendously talented sculptor!

Cheers,

Dante

TANITH!
Nice thread man, wondering when someone would do this. I like the way you are designing them, most everybody else does glade guard. Fools .
But Jeez, these are nice.
Subscribed.

So after a bit of a delay due to a busy last week and a half, I finally have some more progress to show!




And a final back shot since you asked neil! Nothing much to see there as the camo cape will cover much of it anyway.



Obviously still lots to do and I may have to carve a few areas back to allow some of the webbing, shoulderpads and camo cape to sit right, but I'm pretty pleased with how the proportions and musculature have turned out. I've found that a 2/3 ProCreate to 1/3 Milliput mix is brilliant for soft materials such as flesh and clothing!

More soon - finally he's beginning to take shape!

Cheers,

Dante

That is beautiful. Simply beautiful.

My only gripe is the lack of hands and a belt. But that's kind of a given at this stage.

S_P

Space_Potato wrote:That is beautiful. Simply beautiful.

My only gripe is the lack of hands and a belt. But that's kind of a given at this stage.

S_P

Ha, yeah but they will come soon enough - patience grasshopper!

Cheers,

Dante

I'm always amazed at how natural your clothing and pose looks, splendid work!

Again, I lik how he is shaping up. Keep up the great work. Will there be more Ghosts after this one?

Scrazza wrote:Again, I lik how he is shaping up. Keep up the great work. Will there be more Ghosts after this one?

Indeedy! Gaunt included - I'm thinking he may have to be an almost full sculpt though

This looks awesome.

Have you considered casting the bare torso, so that you do not have to sculpt a new one on every mini?

Cheers,
Piousman
P.S. - Subscribed

CMDante wrote:

Scrazza wrote:Again, I lik how he is shaping up. Keep up the great work. Will there be more Ghosts after this one?

Indeedy! Gaunt included - I'm thinking he may have to be an almost full sculpt though

Great! That'll make this blog even more interesting. Here, have some motivation:

If you do that sculpt gaunt with his gouty. like he is in de last books.

Looking good so far, but, IMHO, the torso seems a bit too bulked out in my eyes to look like an average Tanith guardsman. That could be one of the beefier ones, of course. By the way, do you do commisions

Cheers guys.

More progress from yesterday:





As you can see, I've started to add in the Adrian Smith artwork styling of the shoulder pads and knee pads. I've also removed the Elysian harness straps and groin plate, along with the thigh padding. I've done this to remove the obvious Elysian elements and make the legs even closer to the artwork in styling.

A lot of inspiration has also been taken from Alfonso Giraldes' excellent 54mm Major Rawne sculpt which won the Slayer Sword in the 2006 Spanish Games Day.

Next up is the belt and some of the smaller details on the torso and then the cape which should be a lot of fun (maybe!).

Would love to know what you all think.

Cheers,

Dante

That looks really good. How do you get the hard edges along the armour plates? Is it down to choice of material? I've been sculpting for the first time using GS as its all I have around ind it seems to slump a little at corners.

I really like it! great job.

Though looking at Major Rawne, I always pictured him differently.

Flinty wrote:That looks really good. How do you get the hard edges along the armour plates? Is it down to choice of material? I've been sculpting for the first time using GS as its all I have around ind it seems to slump a little at corners.

The putty I am finding very useful on this project is a mix of ProCreate and Milliput (about 60:40). The addition of milliput makes it a bit softer and easier to work with, but it dries harder meaning it's easier to get crisp lines by sanding and scraping the surface a bit after it cures.

Also, there is a technique to sculpting sharp edges that I learned from a James Van Shaike (sp?) tutorial - basically you have to pull the putty from both angles towards the hard edge you are trying to make - it's easier to use a metal tool (such as blunted scalpel blade) for this. Repeat the pulling process from both sides until the edge is sharp and then let it cure. Once cured, sand it/scalpel scrape it sharp.

Scrazza wrote:I really like it! great job.

Though looking at Major Rawne, I always pictured him differently.

Ta mate. He fits perfectly with my mental image but one thing I'm certain of from this project is that everyone has a different perception of the Tanith look. Some people think they should look wild and scraggy, while others think they should look a bit more clean cut, but tattoo'd. I believe the latter as I think this is how the descriptions in the later novels come across.

Cheers,

Dante

I always pictured mine the same. Tatoo'd but somewhat clean. I didn't meant how he was kitted out, concerning kit, weapon, leather armour, etc, I just meant the look. For a reason unknown, I always pictured rawne with slightly curly hair. Dunno why, though.

Fantastic job, I hope everyone can see all the subtle nuances you are getting amazingly right, like the skin on the back of the neck, and his new 'fly' lol!

Tom, cheers mate! The new fly actually needs some more work added!

platypuscorps wrote:Looking good so far, but, IMHO, the torso seems a bit too bulked out in my eyes to look like an average Tanith guardsman. That could be one of the beefier ones, of course. By the way, do you do commisions

Sorry, missed this one before.

I don't think he looks bulked out at all to be honest - it's hard to tell from the pics with nothing to compare to but the arms are probably half the width of a regular catachan or cadian arm and the torso has been done to the same proportions an unarmoured Elysians would be.

If I remember, I'll include a comparison shot with a regular GW plastic guardsman so you can see the proportions more clearly.

I do, do commissions, though not that regularly - unfortunately I find very little time for the hobby these days that my own work obviously takes priority when I do. Feel free to shoot me a PM though with what you had in mind - always happy to take a look.

Cheers,

Dante

Absolutely amazing sculpting can't wait to see the finished model, what tattoos are you planning on doing?

How many models are you aiming to do?

Keep it up!

Thanks. Haven't really put too much thought to the tattoos yet to be honest.

As for the number of models - I was thinking about 5-7 minimum but time will tell I guess!

Cheers,

Dante

Veryyyyy interesting. I like the direct Dante and look forward too seeing it through.

Cheers mate.

As promised, some size comparison shots and a mock up of the intended pose for those who still seem confused by it:




Finally a couple more shots of the pose and a possible armature for a Gaunt sculpt:




Yes, my hobby work place is currently quite a mess as it typically gets when I get heavily involved in a project - as you can see, plenty of test fitting parts to get a good idea of posing goes on and not every part makes it when walking "glory road"!

Cheers,

Dante

Wow that is amazing. May take awhile to make any sort of army... but wow.

Interesting Dante veryyyy interesting.

you have some real nice fine details in their , it really is an amazing sculpt. the cape osulder pads and knee pads all look very nice. Good choice of lasgun also. the comparison shots really show how much more detail you have achieved! thanks for the back shot. no scrimping there considering its not going to be visible! rear of the yera award goes to Dante, thanks also for the putty tips , and mini tuts. was it hard to cover up all your nice torso sculpt ?

Can't wait to see more of these guys (and gal).
These are quite possibly the best 40k characters ever, and
GW did not cover them as well as they should have. Good luck.

This is shaping up to really be something special. It is going to be a pleasure watching this whole process. Push it hard CMD, and I think a Golden Demon is likely in your future!

now that you've shown it from different angles, and the proportion comparison with a regular GW mini, it looks truly amazing - as in, I am actually amazed *rubs eyes* still amazed. I take it he's going to have one hell of a scenic base?

And will Gaunt be in a heroic pose, like on the covers, or maybe something even better - taking down a wirewolf or a CSM?

MajorTom11 wrote:This is shaping up to really be something special. It is going to be a pleasure watching this whole process. Push it hard CMD, and I think a Golden Demon is likely in your future!

Here's hoping - want to improve on my bronze from last year (first time entering)!

Captain Roderick wrote:now that you've shown it from different angles, and the proportion comparison with a regular GW mini, it looks truly amazing - as in, I am actually amazed *rubs eyes* still amazed. I take it he's going to have one hell of a scenic base?

And will Gaunt be in a heroic pose, like on the covers, or maybe something even better - taking down a wirewolf or a CSM?

Not too big a scenic base, he is intended to be part of a squad so probably try to keep him to a regular 30mm base. For Gaunt, I was thinking something suitably heroic as he is often depicted on the novel covers.

calgar 2.5 wrote:Can't wait to see more of these guys (and gal).
These are quite possibly the best 40k characters ever, and
GW did not cover them as well as they should have. Good luck.

Thanks, I feel exactly the same way which is why I have planned doing this project for a long time!

neil101 wrote:you have some real nice fine details in their , it really is an amazing sculpt. the cape osulder pads and knee pads all look very nice. Good choice of lasgun also. the comparison shots really show how much more detail you have achieved! thanks for the back shot. no scrimping there considering its not going to be visible! rear of the yera award goes to Dante, thanks also for the putty tips , and mini tuts. was it hard to cover up all your nice torso sculpt ?

Thanks. No it wasn't hard to cover it up, I never intended it to be visible, the muscle definition was just added as a guide for when I was adding putty over it anyway really.

Cheers,

Dante

Cape tutorial pls, I never got the hang of cloth...

The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Awesome work, the GW model looks very ugly next to yours! It looks so natural, keep it up, looking forward to seeing more!

MajorTom11 wrote:Cape tutorial pls, I never got the hang of cloth...

Can't exactly claim to be a master myself given this is my first time sculpting a full cape!

Rest assured though, I will share my experiences!

BrotherStynier wrote:The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Patience sir!

I do plan to add proper military webbing to this model if that's what you mean. I want to differentiate the scouts from the regular troopers visually though. Meaning they will be the only ones with berret's and typically without uniform jackets.

Mohaniker wrote:Awesome work, the GW model looks very ugly next to yours! It looks so natural, keep it up, looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks, exactly what I'm aiming for! Good to see another fellow Scot on here too!

Cheers,

Dante

Yo Dantay! Nice work so far, it's annoying that the best sculpting is always done very slowly, means less pics to admire. Anyway i was wondering where you got those precast armatures? (The ones currently forming Ibram Gaunt)?

CMDante wrote:
Rest assured though, I will share my experiences!

BrotherStynier wrote:The model is looking great so far, but that said I do have a small gripe that may just be style and sticking to close to what is said in the books, but don't the Ghosts wear some sort of Tactical Vest?

I'm fairly sure they are mentioned through out The Saint omnibus.

Patience sir!

I do plan to add proper military webbing to this model if that's what you mean. I want to differentiate the scouts from the regular troopers visually though. Meaning they will be the only ones with berret's and typically without uniform jackets.

Ok, makes since for the Scouts, to have just webbing and stuff. For the Regular Ghosts perhaps put on something like a Vietnam Flak Vest? It would help to differentiate more, also I'm think they mention Caff and some of the other Ghosts wearing them, which is what I was originally getting at. But now that I know more I can be patient, T-Shirts and Webbing, sounds good.

Bit more progress - the right hand has been done and some more details have been added (strap across the chest, folds on the t-shirt etc:



I feel like it's really beginning to get there now, having moved from a rough idea for the pose and appearance, I have now reached the point where I have both a much better feel for the pose and mini in general now that the details are being added, and a good idea for how the rest of the team will look in terms of equipment and clothing.

The hand was a little fiddly to do given the outstretched fingers and small size so it took a couple of stages to get to this point. The strap across the chest needs a little bit of cleaning up to get the edges sharper and it still needs the buckle etc added. I've also tacked on a couple of pouches just to see what will fit and where without making him look overloaded.

I had originally thought about giving him some proper military style webbing (as discussed previously), but when it came to doing it, it didn't fit right with the appearance I wanted. Basically it made him too thick around the waist, changing the flow of the "lines" I wanted for him. Hence, the cross body strap, as seen on Banshee's Major Rawne, worked better as a way of adding some detail to the centre of the mini without changing the general shapes. I will probably look at this again for the regular troopers since the clothing will be slightly different, but here, the webbing just didn't work.

Hope some of that makes sense?

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Looking great! Keep up the good work .

Looks great mate, though you're making me comment ok dakka

Did you think about using a chest rig style webbing. I wouldn't affect the waist apart from adding attachment points for the straps.

Cheers

Sheep

Thanks guys.

Sheep - I considered this type of webbing:



The vertical straps just didn't fit right visually and as I said, it added an awkward bulk and broke the visual lines of the mini (top left to bottom right on the mini - or top right to bottom left for the viewer).

Cheers,

Dante

dante i agree the webbing pic would look much better than the vertical strap.great skills by the way.

I think it looks awesome... esp the hand, fantastic proportion and detail, esp on the hand!

Quick question. How are you going to realise the tube charges? Or, otherwise, are you going to add tube charges?

Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Thank you all for the comments and kind words.

Scrazza wrote:Quick question. How are you going to realise the tube charges? Or, otherwise, are you going to add tube charges?

Not sure this guys will get tube charges - there is only so much room for adding equipment before the additional mass begins to change the shape of the miniature to a less pleasing look. I still have a knife and grenade or two to add so the tube charge would probably take it beyond this.

As for the look, I've always imagines they look a little like the pipe bombs from The Terminator, so I guess they will be in satchels, maybe on Varl and perhaps Rawne as these two seem to regularly carry satchels of them in the books.

tallmantim wrote:Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Funnily enough, there is no wire armature for the fingers which probably made it a bit trickier than it needed to be. I didn't intend to sculpt the hand when I did, instead I was intending to just add some "dummy" fingers to get a feel for how it should look. Before I knew it I had added the full 5 and started to pose them! They're just a 60:40 mis of ProCreate and Milliput for the basis, rolled into thin sausages and then applied to the flat of the hand. A second layer of sculpting was added with just Milliput (after some super glue was carefully applied to the undersides with a toothpick to add ridgidity) since it can be smoothed with a small brush and some water to work it into the small join lines etc.

Cheers,

Dante

Oooh, so you are going to create Varl as well? Hmm, I always thought Feygor was the one who knew about explosives.

Nice Dante, but if you do want too do webbing I personally would choose a Ranger Assault Carrying Kit or R.A.C.k for short. Google Tactical Tailor as they are a great company to use for ref.

As per the model a good friend with many demons made a solid point too me this past weekend. FW models are great but for the level you are doing don't use the GW heads. They lack the true definition and portions that the FW do. Take it for what it is I still love what your doing but I personally would convert a FW head for use. This is not a negative hit at him anyone just some constructive comments.

Well, Dante, this comment may not seem particularly pimp, but I personally think it's really quite lovely and of the mack daddy category. That hand, in particular, really shows off your skills. I think artistic licence is the key to what you're doing - while it might be enjoyable being technically accurate, the mini has to feel right for it to work. Make your scouts look the way you want them to feel, and let the details come later. If it feels like a tanith scout, it'll look like one too.

Although, adding tube charges to the thighs might not unbalance the model....

Danke,

Cap'n R

That looks great really practical and I especially love the cap badge. any chance of you resculpting the Catachans its how they should look!

tallmantim wrote:Wow - looks awesome.

Reminds me of a T2000 terminator where he had wire for hands!

The sculpt on the hands is amazing.

Love it.

Funnily enough, there is no wire armature for the fingers which probably made it a bit trickier than it needed to be. I didn't intend to sculpt the hand when I did, instead I was intending to just add some "dummy" fingers to get a feel for how it should look.

Scrazza wrote:Oooh, so you are going to create Varl as well? Hmm, I always thought Feygor was the one who knew about explosives.

Yeah but...

Empchild wrote:Nice Dante, but if you do want too do webbing I personally would choose a Ranger Assault Carrying Kit or R.A.C.k for short. Google Tactical Tailor as they are a great company to use for ref.

As per the model a good friend with many demons made a solid point too me this past weekend. FW models are great but for the level you are doing don't use the GW heads. They lack the true definition and portions that the FW do. Take it for what it is I still love what your doing but I personally would convert a FW head for use. This is not a negative hit at him anyone just some constructive comments.

Will take a look. I think with 40k scale miniatures a bit of artistic licence is required to get an aesthetically pleasing finish. Hence, taking inspiration from real world kit, but not sticking rigidly to it in terms of appearance is the plan of action.

As for the heads, personally, I think that many of the GW heads are fine, if not better than, the Forgeworld heads. FW heads often have overly defined proportions, making them appear sunken featured and ill looking. As I mentioned earlier, the head used here has been shaved down quite a bit around the jaw and chin to get it into more fitting proportions. The constructive criticism is welcomed though.

Captain Roderick wrote:Well, Dante, this comment may not seem particularly pimp, but I personally think it's really quite lovely and of the mack daddy category. That hand, in particular, really shows off your skills. I think artistic licence is the key to what you're doing - while it might be enjoyable being technically accurate, the mini has to feel right for it to work. Make your scouts look the way you want them to feel, and let the details come later. If it feels like a tanith scout, it'll look like one too.

Although, adding tube charges to the thighs might not unbalance the model...

My thoughts exactly!

Llamahead wrote:That looks great really practical and I especially love the cap badge. any chance of you resculpting the Catachans its how they should look!

Ha, unfortunately not likely any time soon but the complement is much appreciated!

tallmantim wrote:
You use the white milliput for that then?

No, just the regular greenish/yellow stuff - cheaper and much the same to work with.

Cheers,

Dante

I realize Im probably doing that being picky thing again, which I a sorry times a million for because I do love this model even though there are things I would do differently if I had your skills, but...

I was glancing through The Saint, cause I was hoping to be helpful and stumbled upon the part where they are talking about the Ghosts Headgear. It turns out the Scouts wear Black Wool Caps, while everyone else gets Berets and Forage Caps.

Though I see no reason why the Scouts can't wear what ever kinda hat they want.

Just remember Brother that he is doing it based around the Geron Mission and not all of the participants of that were from the scouts.

the cross body messenger style bag seems, to me, to fit in better with the Tanith idea than would a harness system. looks amazing - can't wait to see it finished.

Nice work striking a balance between fine detail and yet maintaining the large-head GW scale. Even with the incredible detail (like the folds on the t-shirt) the sculpt still fits in well with the GW command model you put it next to.

Can't wait to see the whole squad: likely to be a good GD candidate.

Is that blood pact based on a GD from a while ago? I recall seeing a very similar one with a more elaborate base in a WD a while back. Great work by the way!

BrotherStynier wrote:I realize Im probably doing that being picky thing again, which I a sorry times a million for because I do love this model even though there are things I would do differently if I had your skills, but...

I was glancing through The Saint, cause I was hoping to be helpful and stumbled upon the part where they are talking about the Ghosts Headgear. It turns out the Scouts wear Black Wool Caps, while everyone else gets Berets and Forage Caps.

Though I see no reason why the Scouts can't wear what ever kinda hat they want.

Empchild wrote:Just remember Brother that he is doing it based around the Geron Mission and not all of the participants of that were from the scouts.

Yeah, their headgear and even weapons get described in varying manners across the novels to be fair. Also, as I mentioned before, I'm taking some creative licence with appearance in order to produce something that is both realistic, faithful to the novels and still visually "appealing".

I think there were three scouts on the Gereon mission - Mkoll, McKvenner and Bonin.

I'm not certain yet whether to go for the Gereon team or just a selection of my favourite characters.

Madocyw wrote:the cross body messenger style bag seems, to me, to fit in better with the Tanith idea than would a harness system. looks amazing - can't wait to see it finished.

Glad people seem to agree on this.

Savnock wrote:Nice work striking a balance between fine detail and yet maintaining the large-head GW scale. Even with the incredible detail (like the folds on the t-shirt) the sculpt still fits in well with the GW command model you put it next to.

Can't wait to see the whole squad: likely to be a good GD candidate.

Thanks for the kind words! The head really isn't that out of scale any more to be fair. Cutting back the jaw and back of the head really helps bring it back into more realistic proportions, while still fitting visually with regular GW figures.

samius wrote:Is that blood pact based on a GD from a while ago? I recall seeing a very similar one with a more elaborate base in a WD a while back. Great work by the way!

Yeah it took inspiration from the same piece of artwork and from Banshee's 54mm Blood Pact sculpt which won gold at GD France in 2006 or so I think.

Cheers,

Dante

CMDante wrote:

Scrazza wrote:Oooh, so you are going to create Varl as well? Hmm, I always thought Feygor was the one who knew about explosives.

Yeah but...

Spoiler:

he dies on Ancreon Sextus

You're right, but still. I can't imagine non of them dying, they have to at one point.

Sculpting and conversion work finished now (excluding sticking the knife on - currently held in place using blu-tak):




Very pleased with how he has turned out and looking forward to painting him and working on the base.

I had expected the arm holding the weapon and the cape to be much more of a challenge than they turned out to be and both were actually a lot of fun in the end. The hood may look a little odd, but it's been deliberately flattened as it will be against the wall to his back.

More pictures are available on My Blog

Comments and questions welcome!

Cheers,

Dante

Wow.

/Subscribed

It looks great. Now paint it.

Great work can't fault the proportion or detail work. Just not sold on the fact he is wearing a t-shirt like the one i've got on now.

absolutely stunning - I especially like the creases in the t-shirt from the strap across his chest, very nice detail. Hugely looking forward to seeing the next step

These are looking fab. Love traitor General so I look forward to this.
Glad to see that you are going for a more realistic musculature because, frankly, the catachan arms just look ridiculous...
Are you going to do members of the Gereon resitance like Cirk and Landerson at all?

That model is pure class. Gorgeous sculpting, and for me absolutely screams Tanith.
Love the attention to detail, the beret badge, the hands it's all perfect.

You should send a picture of this to FW, they would probably want to put this chap into production. I know I'd buy him.

Ash 1 wrote:
You should send a picture of this to FW, they would probably want to put this chap into production. I know I'd buy him.

Same here!

A Tanith line looking like this would make me start a Guard army, double quick!

Fantastic stuff!

Brilliant as expected bud.... I smell gd gold!

Alpharius wrote:

Ash 1 wrote:
You should send a picture of this to FW, they would probably want to put this chap into production. I know I'd buy him.

Same here!

A Tanith line looking like this would make me start a Guard army, double quick!

Fantastic stuff!

I was thinking of just this on the bus home today...
SEND THEM A PICTURE> DAKKA WILLS IT!

Wow man! Stunning model. Absolutely. Painted a squad of these will possible be THE BEST 40k squad entry ever. So bear that in mind with my commentary!

I think personally with your work (or all miniature art...), I've been most impressed with the fearless genius that pushes the boundaries of 40k imagery. In that sense the Gaunts ghosts are a little boring subject - but your's a perfect representation. Exactly like one would vision them and better than what GW can do!

What I've been most impressed with where the Magos and the early Rogue Trader work. Your immense skill is now up there with the full time pros, but somehow I crave for something raw and fresh. Some rock'n'roll.

This is where I personally think you need the swamp man, Eszrah ap Niht. No-one knows how he looks. This is where you get to add the gothic and the surprise. And where you get to pro-long the "time-line" and claim them your gaunts.


from Wiki:

Eszrah ap Niht
Alive
Eszrah ap Niht is a son of a Chief of the swamp dwelling Partisans, rebels who live in the Until swamplands of Gereon. He was given to Gaunt by his father, after the Ghosts saved their village from attack by Chaos Marines during the events of Traitor General. He is commonly referred to as 'Ezra Night' by the Ghosts, Larkin himself coining the name. Initially, he and the other Partisans could only communicate through Mkvenner (as he is trained in the ways of the Nalsheen, who used proto-gothic as their private language). However, Gaunt now fluently speaks proto-gothic after the time spent on Gereon with the resistance. From His Last Command onwards, it is shown that several members of the Ghosts who were on Gereon had learned to speak Eszrah's language, although not as fluently as Gaunt. Gaunt and Zweil have been shown to help teach Eszrah how to speak and read Imperial Gothic, which he demonstrates his amateuristic grasp in Only in Death to a degree. He has taken the duty of protecting Gaunt very seriously and almost never leaves Gaunt's side. He once goes so far as to offer to kill Ayatani Zweil, the role of whom Eszrah initially does not understand and believes him to be a jestyr. Eszrah is armed with his reynbow, a primitive weapon akin to a crossbow which uses magnets to propel quarrels tipped with a highly dangerous venom extracted from swamp moths of the Until on Gereon. Before battle he smears himself with gray "wode", or moth paste, which has peculiar abilities to somehow blend in with his environment. On Gereon Eszrah received a gift in the form of Sergeant Varl's prized pair of sun-shades to help him cope with the unaccustomed brightness outside of his native swamps and he has never removed them since, except when he briefly lent them to Ayatani Zweil in His Last Command and traded his glasses for the Sword of Hieronymo Sondar in Only in Death, to which he swears vengeance against the Blood Pact, who he believes has killed Gaunt.

He is an expert at stealth, rivalled only by Mkoll, who has an uncanny ability to spot him. His unusual appearance often unnerves people seeing him for the first time, as his skin colour is noted as being 'gun metal gray' due to the effects of the woad. Due to the fact he has worn it for so long, when he is 'cleaned up a little' his skin seems naturally grey. He counts very few people as friends, limited to Gaunt, Ludd, possibly Rawne, Mkoll and Beltayn. That said, the partisan's definition of 'friend' extends only to 'a trusted hunting partner'. When Gaunt is seemingly killed, Eszrah takes the news very seriously. Because he was ordered by his father to protect Gaunt, Eszrah felt that he had no more purpose and decided to go on a suicide mission to kill as many Blood Pact as he could to avenge Gaunt, which he calls the 'blodtull' on the Nihtgane daeda waeg ("Corpse Road" according to Eszrah when Mkoll asks for a translation). Mkoll eventually accompanies him, and during their mission, they come across Gaunt purely by accident and rescue him, after Mkoll mistakes him for a dying POW. With Gaunt alive, Eszrah returns to the regiment. In Blood Pact, set two years after Jago, Eszrah's speech and writing skills have improved greatly, enough for him to hold conversation in Low Gothic and read properly. He attends Zweil's nightly "occasions of enlightenment" to listen to the ayantani's teachings, and is encouraged by the old priest to write down Nihtgane folktales and myths in copybooks. When writing his name, he spells it "Ezra Night".

An entire army modeled like that would force me back into collecting and playing a Guard army. An outstanding job, can't wait to see him and the rest of your proposed force painted.

Mat

I've been telling you people want to buy what you're putting out for a while now

This guy looks awesome as I've told you. I'm dying to see him finished and painted. Having the wall to his back will really drive this model home as the pose really kept me guessing until you wrote about that

Thank you all for the kind words. The continual input throughout has been a great source of inspiration and really helped keep me moving on this.

Scrazza wrote:It looks great. Now paint it.

Not sure whether to jump right in with the painting or start on converting up a few others while I'm in the sculpting and converting "zone".

Perkustin wrote:Great work can't fault the proportion or detail work. Just not sold on the fact he is wearing a t-shirt like the one i've got on now.

You're wearing a t-shirt made of milliput and ProCreate?!

The choice of clothing is one that seems to divide people, however I think there is good reasoning for it. In the Adrian Smith artwork which I referenced at the beginning, the Ghost's are always depicted in green military issue t-shirts. Also, given that I plan to hopefully get around to doing a small squad of these guys, I need to find ways to differentiate them.

Therefore, as Bonin is a scout, I decided that giving him a berret and have him moving fairly light with just a t-shirt, his armour and cape, he would take on a stealthy appearance which would help portray some of his character. The pose and intended base will help further this too.

For other members of the squad I intend to have full Ghost's uniforms, though final painted appearance is also a constant consideration as a fully black uniform and camo capes doesn't really leave much wiggle room to produce an eye catching paint job. It is here that artistic liberties will probably have to be taken and no doubt many which will further divide peoples opinions.

Captain Roderick wrote:absolutely stunning - I especially like the creases in the t-shirt from the strap across his chest, very nice detail. Hugely looking forward to seeing the next step

Thanks, the model could be considered quite plain with it's large, texture-less surfaces, however I think the little details go a long way to adding character and a quality to the finish so I'm always happy when others agree!

Imperial Monkey wrote:These are looking fab. Love traitor General so I look forward to this.
Glad to see that you are going for a more realistic musculature because, frankly, the catachan arms just look ridiculous...
Are you going to do members of the Gereon resitance like Cirk and Landerson at all?

Hadn't really thought about it to be honest! I think they would probably be after I do a few more Ghost's at least if I do, do them.

Ash 1 wrote:That model is pure class. Gorgeous sculpting, and for me absolutely screams Tanith.
Love the attention to detail, the beret badge, the hands it's all perfect.

You should send a picture of this to FW, they would probably want to put this chap into production. I know I'd buy him.

Alpharius wrote:
Same here!

A Tanith line looking like this would make me start a Guard army, double quick!

Fantastic stuff!

Imperial Monkey wrote:
I was thinking of just this on the bus home today...
SEND THEM A PICTURE> DAKKA WILLS IT!

Lol, I'd love to have miniatures cast and produced by Forgeworld one day, unfortunately I don't think they accept non-professionally sculpted conversions! This kind of praise really makes me think the effort has been worthwhile though and I am massively appreciative of it from you all.

MajorTom11 wrote:Brilliant as expected bud.... I smell gd gold!

Lets not get ahead of ourselves!

migsula wrote:Wow man! Stunning model. Absolutely. Painted a squad of these will possible be THE BEST 40k squad entry ever. So bear that in mind with my commentary!

I think personally with your work (or all miniature art...), I've been most impressed with the fearless genius that pushes the boundaries of 40k imagery. In that sense the Gaunts ghosts are a little boring subject - but your's a perfect representation. Exactly like one would vision them and better than what GW can do!

What I've been most impressed with where the Magos and the early Rogue Trader work. Your immense skill is now up there with the full time pros, but somehow I crave for something raw and fresh. Some rock'n'roll.

This is where I personally think you need the swamp man, Eszrah ap Niht. No-one knows how he looks. This is where you get to add the gothic and the surprise. And where you get to pro-long the "time-line" and claim them your gaunts.

Cheers mate, your regular encouragement and nudging to push myself for more is always a big motivating factor.

combat engineer wrote:An entire army modeled like that would force me back into collecting and playing a Guard army. An outstanding job, can't wait to see him and the rest of your proposed force painted.

Mat

An entire army?! Something I don't think I will ever manage!

grey_death wrote:I've been telling you people want to buy what you're putting out for a while now

This guy looks awesome as I've told you. I'm dying to see him finished and painted. Having the wall to his back will really drive this model home as the pose really kept me guessing until you wrote about that

I'll try not to keep you waiting too much longer mate! I've been looking at a lot of military modelling work for inspiration for scenery for the base. I even found some awesome paints for doing chipped paint work that I think will come in very handy! I'll try to stick a little review up of them soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Any idea what sort of camo you are going for with the cape?

Actually when i analyse the mini it is not so much the t-shirt itself it is the floating shoulder pads and lack of equipment. Theres just this unwarlike look to him, he looks like he has only had time to put his trousers on and his cloak.

Initially you were going for a look very similar to the protagonist of Killzone 2 and i was a little disappointed when you scrapped the idea of webbing and waist satchels. You can mention interrupting the lines of the miniature but he should be a miniature soldier first, classical sculpture second.

So in short he does not look like a soldier even, i'm afraid, by ForgeWorld standards (was gonna say GW there but that wouldnt be true lol). This in itself would not be a crime and it is only because of your very high standard of work i say it.

Thats an absolutely honest 100% deconstruction of what i dislike about the model, anything i didnt mention, i like.

Be that as it may, it does accurately represent what we've been show on the Tanith in artwork:



Not the best picture, and I'm sure someone can find a better one, but, there you are!

CMDante wrote:

MajorTom11 wrote:Brilliant as expected bud.... I smell gd gold!

Lets not get ahead of ourselves!

Um... I don't think we are getting ahead of ourselves at all buddy! You are off to a great start, this is exactly the kind of thing to get the attention of both the judges and the fans. The best part is I know the paint job will not let it down in the slightest!

Perkustin wrote:So in short he does not look like a soldier even, I'm afraid, by ForgeWorld standards

Mate, you don't need to be festooned with body armour and belt-kit to look like a soldier.
This chaps got jump boots, commando beret, a rifle, a big knife, spare ammo. Probably also got a Sharp stick and some harsh language to boot - looks 'born again hard' to me . . . .

The Tanith first and only arent exactly renowned for body armour, I was always under the illusion that they were stealthy, silent, and relied on skill not firepower.

But that looks like wonderful GS work, puts me to shame!

Amazing sculpting!

Hi Dante, I dont think iv posted in here before, but i have been keeping an eye on what you've been up to. Firstly, let me say, fantastic sculpting. The lines and details are beautiful, and the pose is 'just right'. The only things i would like to see are a watch face on the right wrist and a little more detail in the cloak pin.

This mini make we want to go back to my IG stuff and really get stuck into some really sculpting again, but i can never find the right inspiration for a piece. How did you decided on what to do and where to go? what was your original inspiration? (sorry if this has been answered earlier in the thread)

Lastly, very rarely do i find a post on dakka that i disagree with so strongly.

Perkustin wrote:Actually when i analyse the mini it is not so much the t-shirt itself it is the floating shoulder pads and lack of equipment. Theres just this unwarlike look to him, he looks like he has only had time to put his trousers on and his cloak.

Initially you were going for a look very similar to the protagonist of Killzone 2 and i was a little disappointed when you scrapped the idea of webbing and waist satchels. You can mention interrupting the lines of the miniature but he should be a miniature soldier first, classical sculpture second.

So in short he does not look like a soldier even, i'm afraid, by ForgeWorld standards (was gonna say GW there but that wouldnt be true lol). This in itself would not be a crime and it is only because of your very high standard of work i say it.

Thats an absolutely honest 100% deconstruction of what i dislike about the model, anything i didnt mention, i like.

If you were to add anymore 'stuff' to the mini it would ruin the line and feel, also IMO it would look a little "unrealistic". The Tanith are light and stealthy infantry, designed for recon etc. Trust me,its hard to be stealthy wearing a rig full or gear.

The mini is easily equal to or surprising FW standard (i know there are a lot of FW and GW bits in there, but still). I have to say, i think that he is a perfect representation of a Tanith soldier, and your should be very proud of your work.

All in all, Great Work! Keep it up!

Holy man, that is some awesome work, best Tanith I've seen (and I've been looking around alot lately) as for the web/LBE gear, meh I think he looks great without it. Besides ask anyone who has ever worn that crap, its damn near impossible to be "stealthy" in it. If it's not snagging on a tree it's smashing you in the crotch when you try to run I may just be angry and cynical about it though. I can't wait to see how this guy progresses, I'm half motivated to go work on my guys and at the same time half discouraged, I sure hope Larkin and/or Brostin are planned, hell any of them really, just keep it up

Thanks for the comments guys.

As I said before, I knew from the start the clothing and equipment choice and style would divide people. At the end of the day, I've gone for the look I wanted to because I feel it makes for the most interesting piece and provides more opportunity for an interesting paintjob while still maintaining a 40k and Tanith look and feel.

I disagree with the notion that the final look and aesthetic should be secondary to "real world soldier equipment" accuracy. As I've said before, the lines and shapes of a model are very important in my opinion in making something that people hopefully enjoy looking at and which holds a subtle "flow" which adds to the character in a difficult to describe way, but which seems obvious when witnessed. Besides, if you look at photography from era's such as the Vietnam war and the Pacific theatre of WW2, soldiers weren't always in full parade ground BDU - I don't think it's difficult to believe that he may have removed his jacket and webbing?

Hits_the_spot wrote:Hi Dante, I dont think iv posted in here before, but i have been keeping an eye on what you've been up to. Firstly, let me say, fantastic sculpting. The lines and details are beautiful, and the pose is 'just right'. The only things i would like to see are a watch face on the right wrist and a little more detail in the cloak pin.

This mini make we want to go back to my IG stuff and really get stuck into some really sculpting again, but i can never find the right inspiration for a piece. How did you decided on what to do and where to go? what was your original inspiration? (sorry if this has been answered earlier in the thread)

Thanks, glad to have helped with the motivation. It's a tricky thing to put a pin on and describe really. I started the project with a rough idea of what I wanted to achieve and then began to collect inspiration images and parts and the figure sort of developed organically from there really. When I first saw the legs, my mind immediately went to "how do I make these look different from the typical pose they are used for?". The first thing that struck me was the idea to have him sliding along a wall with his back to it in a sort of "creeping" fashion. Once I had locked onto this it was all about working out a natural pose for the arms and head that would help "tell the story". From there, it was all about doing the actual masses and details which also develop somewhat organically as the process continues.

I'm not sure if this answer really helps, but if it's inspiration you are after the best place to start IMHO is to look at photographs of similar subject matters to get a feel for poses that look natural and help convey a story or character trait. I have an old "How to draw the Marvel way" book by Stan Lee that has an interesting point about dynamic posing in terms of catching the subject at the beginning and end of motions when the limbs tend to be most animated.

Also, GW produces a phenomenal amount of quality artwork that I always find inspiration from when pouring over it. I've purchased a selection of their art books over the years.

Finally, this place is a great source of artwork that will inspire - http://www.cghub.com/

Artists who regularly work for GW also have portfolios there - http://karlkopinski.cghub.com/

Cheers,

Dante

CMDante wrote:

Lol, I'd love to have miniatures cast and produced by Forgeworld one day, unfortunately I don't think they accept non-professionally sculpted conversions! This kind of praise really makes me think the effort has been worthwhile though and I am massively appreciative of it from you all.

Maybe not conversions, but Chris Fitzpatrick(who designed and sculpted much of the 7th ed Dark Elves line and, IIRC, sculpted some of the 3rd ed Dark Eldar line) DID get a job with the GW studio simply from sending them some of his amateur sculpting from college.

I'm sure if you fully sculpted a Tanith model(or 3) with this much love and detail and send them(or quality pictures of them) along with a CV, it would get the attention of some one at FW. You may even have a better shot if you took the time to schedule an appointment in person.

And you're LOADS better than Fitzpatrick was.

I'm not sure of the in's and out's of Chris' story, but I am sure he will have sculpted more full figures than I have (1).

Besides, I have a good job which pays significantly more as it is. While being a miniature sculptor would be an ideal job in my mind, I'm not sure how easy it would be to both convince the mrs. and accept the pay cut/re-location required (that obviously assumes I'd even stand an icicles chance in hell of being offered a job in the first place!).

Flattered though I am by your exceptionally kind words, I'm happy to keep doing this as an enjoyable hobby at the very least for the time being.

Following Migs' encouragement, I'm considering starting work on converting up an Ezra model. Think I'll start collecting some inspiration images this weekend.

Cheers,

Dante

Right, I've started work on sculpting Ezrah using fimo for the core body work.

At the moment I'm looking at images of African tribesmen and American Indians for inspiration for clothing and styling, any suggestions or images anyone else thinks would be particularly useful, feel free to share!

In the books, the cloaks, jewels aroun the eyes and warpaint are fairly well described, but I can't remember much of the descriptions about clothing, hairstyles etc. I vaguely recall one Nightgane being described as having dreadlock-like hair and a long drooping moustache, but I don't think it was Ezrah and that doesn't really fit with the image I have in my head for how he looks. Does anyone have any decent descriptions of these things?

I'll maybe post some pics of what I have so far later on, but at the moment it's just simple musculature of the legs so probably quite boring.

Cheers,

Dante

congrats on the finished sculpt , it is truly great! look forward to seeing your work on Ezrah. sorry i havent read the books so i cant give advice on pics that may be suitable , but if your doing american indian , i am sure their are plenty of pics to choose from ;-) maybe Mayan neck bracelets , like the tomb kings and lizard men have.?

Sunglasses.
Ezrah needs Sunglasses

(if i remember the book correctly)

Perkustin wrote:Actually when i analyse the mini it is not so much the t-shirt itself it is the floating shoulder pads and lack of equipment. Theres just this unwarlike look to him, he looks like he has only had time to put his trousers on and his cloak.

Initially you were going for a look very similar to the protagonist of Killzone 2 and i was a little disappointed when you scrapped the idea of webbing and waist satchels. You can mention interrupting the lines of the miniature but he should be a miniature soldier first, classical sculpture second.

So in short he does not look like a soldier even, i'm afraid, by ForgeWorld standards (was gonna say GW there but that wouldnt be true lol). This in itself would not be a crime and it is only because of your very high standard of work i say it.

Thats an absolutely honest 100% deconstruction of what i dislike about the model, anything i didnt mention, i like.

Floating shoulder pads. The pads are not floating. They are very close fitting to his shoulders......

You should send a picture of this to FW, they would probably want to put this chap into production. I know I'd buy him.

Early progress on the sculpt so far:






The plan is to do the core body musculature in fimo since it's unlimited working time allows plenty of opportunity to get it looking right. Unfortunately, champagne fimo doesn't photograph too well so a lot of the finer work is kind of lost - you'll just have to take my word!

Cheers,

Dante

I bought some Fimo after watching a few of the Miniature Mentor tut's, seems that drying time sure would come in handy!

However, it seems like it would be pretty unforgiving of a slip, how are you finding it? Is it drying out your fingers to touch it or it a little easier on the skin than GS?

From the description Migsula gave I get the image of a Dark Age Scot or Pict one of the proper ones not the Hollywood nudist nutters. However the current model has a very modern real world look and I realised there was another soure of inspiration to tap. I thought it would be great to see something rather different and more challenging to produce. The story also reminded me of the Gurkha's and the swamp mention led to me thinking of Vietnam and South East Asia which would give a totally different feel to the model and a whole new face.

Incidentally is it your Empire Duellist in the Warhammer rulebook? I've been meaning to ask.

MajorTom11 wrote:I bought some Fimo after watching a few of the Miniature Mentor tut's, seems that drying time sure would come in handy!

However, it seems like it would be pretty unforgiving of a slip, how are you finding it? Is it drying out your fingers to touch it or it a little easier on the skin than GS?

I find it would be difficult to add layered detail without the easy potential to destroy what's underneath, hence why I'm only using it for the bare body and then switching to my ProCreate/Milliput mix for the details etc.

Its not as hard on your skin being very soft to work. You need to get it warm to make it soft and not "crumbly" so I keep what I'm not currently using between my pinky and ring finger on the hand I hold the figure in.

Llamahead wrote:From the description Migsula gave I get the image of a Dark Age Scot or Pict one of the proper ones not the Hollywood nudist nutters. However the current model has a very modern real world look and I realised there was another soure of inspiration to tap. I thought it would be great to see something rather different and more challenging to produce. The story also reminded me of the Gurkha's and the swamp mention led to me thinking of Vietnam and South East Asia which would give a totally different feel to the model and a whole new face.

Incidentally is it your Empire Duellist in the Warhammer rulebook? I've been meaning to ask.

I don't think SE Asia really works, he's described as very tall and lanky, utterly unlike SE Asians (my family live there). The swamp theme made me think of the Mayans and Aztecs but the general description also brought the native Americans and Africans to mind, particularly the physique.

Nope its not my duellist, not even sure which one you mean?


Cheers,

Dante

Awesome work on the scout there chief, and on your Nihtgane question I always got the impression their paste-body-paint and a lot of their inspiration was from Aborigines.

these guys don't look very 40k, but you can get a vague idea what I mean from this pic:




hope that helps in the shaping of your interpretation, and really looking forward to seeing more,

Cap'n R

I think tribal is certainly the theme.

I'm going to try and develop a bit of a unique styling for him, but the basis will come very much from the sources I've mentioned.

Cheers,

Dante

I see the pose you are going for dante, and like the concept. Having one advance at a low ready very nice. Only thing I would say is push the butt out a little more and angle the legs back a tad as that would be a very natural pose. Otherwise I am excited for this one.

hows this going? not heard from it in a while...

Currently the first trooper is sitting with some basecoat work done on my painting table.

At the moment the project is on pause as the sheer amount of work required to convert up each figure was a bit too much. Combined with the amount of variation in opinion on how they should look and my desire to be able to work on a bit more variety in terms of models and ultimately I've ran out of steam for them at the moment and decided to focus on an Inquisitor warband project to reignite my enthusiasm.

More info on that on my blog.

Cheers,

Dante

I can understand project burnout pretty well... shame though, it was going so bloody well! When you get back to it, just skip asking for advice and do whatever you want would be my... um... advice lol.

That being said, if tanith wanes then inq warband must wax, where is an update for that!

Noticed you hadn't been on much lately, hope you catch the bug again soon bud, cheers!

oh my god.. is all i can say, being i heavily convert and sculpt my guard army as well this is some good insperation thank you looking foward for more

You could always just stick that guy you've already done onto a large base and make it a diorama-him looking through a gap in a wall/around a corner at an unaware enemy trooper at the wall's other side, or the like. Great work on the project nonetheless. ^^