Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

(Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files books - highly recommended reading. He's a wizard and has a talking skull called Bob that helps him)

Oh, that's why i didn't get it lol :-) nope, never heard of him! but I am going to have to check it out now aren't I

So the spirit skulls are a previously undiscussed third option? Or will there also be zombies or banshees?

Shhhh Rawson, ..... go....back to sleeeeeep....... there's a good boy :-)

I'm gonna vote for just the spirit skulls by themselves and then i'm gonna place a bet that rawson will disagree with me lol! ;-)

 nerdfest09 wrote:
i'm gonna place a bet that rawson will disagree with me lol! ;-)

I only do it out of principle

I like the spirit skulls more than the zombie idea, but I still like the book banshee the best

Gah! book banshee Pffft, who hasn't seen a book banshee before! do somethin' different....... Book banshee pah!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lols :-)

yes, the skullz were the undisclosed emergency option
While I do love the banshee sculpts, they're just a bit too BIG to work with the book - if the book were bigger too, I think it would be better, but as it is, they've been voted out of the graveyard; maybe on another project ladies!
The zombie has also been voted off too - I got hands from the crypt ghouls, and they're enormous! Not terribly subtle. The skullz are cool enough by themselves, and because they project out from the base a fair way, I don't think there really needs to be anything else (famous last words).
Just have some greenstuffing left to do on his right shoulder, and probably on the joints of the skullz, and then he's ready for undercoating

This looks great! Really looking forward to some painting and more modelling. As one tiny-weeny criticism the arm you re sculpted looks abit too far out, but that might just be angles...

it might be, yeah - the right arm was a bit of a bugger to position.

lots of bitz have arrived, so a bit more planning done on the Dark Eldar (The Black Sons/The Black Suns). It all seems fairly doable, but I have yet to have a go!
Lots of weapon-swaps.
I'm not totally sold on a couple of them, especially the one with the spear - just doesn't seem strong or dynamic enough.
One of the problems is that my sketches aren't really in GW miniature proportions, so the real things might be somewhat dumpier and less elegant... but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The hardest part that I foresee is getting the legs and hips to fit to the body. Lots of greenstuffing I think.

... I have no idea about basing yet...

Awesome sketches- particularly like the last one with the double handed grip on the sword.

Man I WANT THAT BOOK.

Very beautiful work, definitely gives me some ideas for my own recently acquired Eldar, looking forward to some serious conversions for the wraithlords

Very nice.

I think eldar of either type are a good outlet for your skills; you seem to be quite good at fluid, dynamic poses. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.

Nice drawings Finn, I really wish I could draw!

Looking forward to seeing what you produce

D

It's the holidays thank goodness, so I can have a bit of a rest and recharge my batteries for next term, and hopefully get some hobbying in too. What with the start of the year and my new fitness regime (loving yoga, but bugger me, pilates is HARD!), I haven't had the time or energy to do too much.
All the Dark Eldar have their bitz now, and are bagged up and ready for clean up and assembly. I might do a banner on the double-handed sword guy... not sure yet.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
there is something more boring than watching paint dry - waiting for sodding glue to dry! Working on the first of the DEldar; one of the hands a bit dodgy, will probably have to do some greenstuffing of fingers, but otherwise coming along okay. Pics to come.

This makes me happy that I am not the only one who uses small bags to keep models together!

First of the Black Suns on the way - still some greenstuffing left to do around the arm and the hips.
Pretty happy with him so far - left leg a bit dodgy to attach. I was going to pin it, but it actually got in the way a bit, so I took it out, and shaved off a bit of the hip and it fit snugly enough to glue, and the greenstuff will help too.
Whip arm was pinned, and the greenstuff was needed to fill in the gap in the armpit. Left arm was WAY too short - damn GW scaling! So I chopped it in half, drilled both parts, inserted some pin and am in the process of greenstuffing it back up, so it can be attached at the shoulder and still have the fingers touching the ground. I'll probably have some filling in to do around that shoulder too, and I'm wondering whether to put a shoulder pad on that side, just to disguise things a bit.

Looking good already.

Well, I think you hit your sketch pretty much dead on. That's pretty impressive to be able to transfer an idea from paper like that. Well done!

Sorry I missed the explaination earlier: these guys will be allies to your eldar?

Wow, Fin this is already looking brilliant! so smooth on the GS work and the pose is eye boggling good! the transfer from sketch to model is perfect, i think you may just be a little bit better than you think you are mate! this is going to be truly inspiring and with your paint...... I just can't wait!

Oh, and good luck with Pilates dude! that gak is nasty when you start!

thanks everyone : )

There was no explanation Rawson, so you didn't miss anything lol I was wondering yesterday whether they could be an allied squad for my Craftworld. The original plan was just to do something funky for Golden Demon, but an allied squad could be fun too. I'm tempted to paint them with a slash of yellow to show their support to the Craftworld, but not convinced on that... have no real idea/plan for their colour scheme at all yet! (Still can't decide whether to call them The Black Suns/Sons or the Dark Suns/Sons!)

nerd - pilates is a bitch, but they do the trick! Luckily I'm not going this week as it's the holidays (and my birthday to boot)

Looking awesome Finnan, your GS is amazing! Look forward to more progressm soon!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and Happy Birthday!

note to self: don't try and reposition stuff with a scalpel, you idiot.
... I need to go and tidy up the blood now...

(although, thankfully, I didn't stab myself through the nail this time)

Unlucky Fin...

very aware that I haven't posted anything of substance in a while, so although they are nowhere near ready to be seen, here's what I have of the Dark Suns so far, after all, this is a WIP blog after all.

On the whole, I'm actually fairly pleased. The greenstuffing is okay (all I can say is thank all that's holy for liquid greenstuff, as I could never have done this with the normal stuff), but I still have a lot of it to do - it takes a while to dry so I can only do little bits at a time. I originally planned to get one mini finished at a time, but I've revised that now, so I can have multiple minis drying at the same time.
Crouching Whip Hidden Eldar I'm fairly happy with. Left arm looks awkward in the shot, but I have yet to 'stuff the shoulder.
Jump Trinity! is pretty cool, although I'm going to have to think a bit on how I'm going to attach her to the flying base.
Cartwheel Guy - not really happy with - he's just too stiff, which was always going to be a potential problem. The weight-bearing forearm is also splitting, so I think I'll have to cut it off and glue it back together.
Dodge This is pretty cool for a quick build. I had to flip the pose from the sketch I did because the legs were twisting the other way, but that wasn't a big deal. I have his whip to greenstuff now... which I foresee taking a while...

A fun project so far, so I'm guessing I made the right choice to go with them. Lots of work to do yet : )

Looking good. Nice poses.
I see what you mean about Cartwheel guy, I think the problem is with the legs. I think when doing a cartwheel, the legs are held straighter. Maybe a slight twist of the hips in the direction of travel might help as well.
Just a thought, I've not spent a great deal of time studying cartwheels...

Keep up the good work.

Looks great, look forward to seeing the one with the powersword. As you say, bit iffy left arm on whip guy. Other than that, brilliant!

Just signed up to dakka so I could reply to your post. I've been a lurker for a while now, but since I didn't have anything to contribute I didn't bother with joining - until now! Well, I very much like your artistic skills, modelling/painting as well as drawing. Your work is on a level I can only dream of! Well, I practice...
Expecially your newest sculptings had me. There is something special in your sense for frozen movement, and as you so skillfully demonstrated by providing your drawings, the medium doesn't matter, it's your inner eye and the ability to transfer your vision into expression that exalts.
Yet sometimes there is a moment when you need a look from the outside to improve further... have a close look at that guy touching the ground. There was a reason you had to stretch the arm and why you think about a shoulder pad - the shoulder is not in the right position. Imagine an axis through the spine with the shoulder joints positioned on. You need to bend and turn this axis,the shoulder following the downward arm, so that the torso is - well, torqued, while the whip-lashing shoulder is set back a little bit. Understand what I mean?
Considering the cartwheeling one, I would imagine the key is where are the legs impulse-wise in relation to the overall movement? The upwars leg has given the first impulse, being forwad and FASTER than the overall movement, dragging the rest of the body with it. Now the second leg is lagging BEHIND the movement, because of it's mass, But it will be thrusted forward for the second impulse, So you will need to bend it back at the knee a little bit, because the upper leg is tense preparing the thrust, while the lower leg follows mass inertia.
Or maybe it is much more simple... Just bend that whole figure, so that the upper leg and the arm are not exactly vertical anymore. Then you have movement again, instead of balance!

I am looking very much forward what you will achive with these minis - the beginning alone is so much more than most of us (including me) can bring into realisation!

Hruotland - good to have you on board, and glad I could prompt you to replying... although I wish it was for a better reason than to correct my rubbish posing attempts! ; )

Whip guy - the problem is that the arm isn't crossing over the front of the chest. This is one of the problems with using existing parts rather than sculpting from scratch - the back muscles aren't stretching across to the left to allow for the crossover, it's just the shoulder that's rotating which makes it look off. Not sure what I can do to solve the problem, other than having the arm at less of an angle, which would destroy the cross-diagonal of the composition. I'll have to find another solution I think.

Cartwheel guy... not sure to be honest. I think it's just an awkward pose to make look right in that I think you need to see it moving to understand what's going on.
Having just had a look at some reference images, the vertical leg needs to be more in line with the weight-bearing arm so that the centre of gravity is maintained. The other issue is again muscle-stretch; the shoulder should be on top of the torso, not stuck to the side of it. Not entirely sure how to fix that on the mini as the shoulder has to be attached to the torso somehow... there's a twist and a rotation that needs to take place that I haven't got at the moment. it's also the fact that the pectoral muscle isn't moving with the stretch either.

If I'm thinking Golden Demon for these (which isn't entirely certain yet), definite re-thinking has to take place. Maybe the best of them can be worked into a Duel of some kind. I'd need a minimum of five if I was going to go for Squad.
If they're just for fun I guess it doesn't matter too much either way...