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Ok, so as a little side project from my blood pact I decided to treat myself to a few of the DKok pieces from forgeworld. In particular, the commissar (1) and the quartermaster set (still waiting on it arriving).

So, first up, the commissar:

I wanted to make him look a bit different from all the other stock versions floating about. What can I say, I like my models to be different and unique! Anyway, here was my idea for the pose:


And here is how the hand is currently shaping up:





At the moment I've just defined the positioning of the fingers and pose at this first stage. You'll notice I've not actually sculpted the index finger at this stage, it will be much easier to do in the next step. I was thinking of making the middle and ring finger sit inside the skull, perhaps making the tip of the ring finger protrude from an eye socket. Any thoughts on this?

Yes, yes, I know its all very hamlet but I just thought it so fitting for the pose and the whole theme of the DKoK!

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Dante

Before reading the end of your post I was going to suggest fingers from the sockets. Might be nice to have the hand ungloved; would be a decent metaphor for life and death and the difference in colours could really stand out if you get the skull right. After seeing your work on the Blood Pact trooper, artistic skill is obviously something you are highly proficient with, so I can't see you having a problem making this work.

Very ''Hamlet''.

From an anatomical point of view it would be better to have the fingers on the outside.

The foramen magnum (where the spinal cord comes out) is the only hole of any significance in the underside of the skull.
So unless the back of his head has been blown away, or your guy can dematerialise, the pose won't work in real life.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:From an anatomical point of view it would be better to have the fingers on the outside.

The foramen magnum (where the spinal cord comes out) is the only hole of any significance in the underside of the skull.
So unless the back of his head has been blown away, or your guy can dematerialise, the pose won't work in real life.

I agree with Gonads, fingers outside the skull. Great pose btw.

'Alas poor yorick, I knew him well.' Hamelet

How very Shakespearian! Is this going to be just a few models, an army or more along the lines of what you are also doing with your Blood Pact?

Yeah maybe your right about fingers outside the skull, I'll see what looks best in my eyes.

@ Malika - Just a few models, similar to the blood pact. I originally got them just to see if they would be possible to convert into some =I=munda stuff but theyre such nice models I couldn't bring myself to cut them apart so they're staying as is.

Cheers,

Dante

Oh a DKoK =I-munda team would be amazing! Keep them as "normal" and "regular" as possible while still adding that amazing level of detail to them. So not too many "unique" characters like the Blood Pact in which everybody is truly an individual. That might be a modeling challenge for you as well, so still keeping it very detailed while taking away their individuality.

I agree with Malika2 a DKOK Imunda team would be amazing!!! Especially with all the added detail/fiddily bits you could sculpt.

Mmmmm detail!

I think I'll hold off committing too heavily to the idea of doing a DKoK =I=munda team yet. I still have the blood pact to finish and I also planned to do a "good" =I= team, increasingly I'm leaning toward making this eisenhorn and retinue as I love the artwork for gregor and team.

We shall see!

Cheers,

Dante

Ok, almost finished with the hand now. I'm sticking with the fingers in the skull, don't see why it couldn't be natural and work and it looks good in my eyes which in the end is all that matters.

Cheers,

Dante

Maybe some skull fractures to make the hole in the skull seem larger than the foramen magnum alone?

I'm very excited to see some DKoK models from you. I absolutely love these models, it's just the price that keeps me away. Though with Munda games, I could possibly make a small purchase of them.... >.>...

Ok, having some trouble with undercoating. Living in a city centre flat and having nowhere to spray models I was planning on undercoating by hand. Finding it a bit frustrating though. Think I'll try and find a spraying solution.

Anyway, here's the finished pose. The hand has been given a wash with milliput to fill tiny gaps etc. Looks a bit scrappy in the picks but now its perfectly smooth.





Hopefully painted pics soon.

Cheers,

Dante

The way the fingers are now looks fine.

wow, your realy good at poses.

Spraying definitely works.

Interesting -- I sprayed my DKoK in a London Flat, after trouble with hand-painting an undercoat. Just make sure you wash the resin before (you probably have), but otherwise there's a good chance of it running (apprently.)

Cheers.

~sA

Yep, three washes later with toothbrush and warm soapy water and hand painting the undercoat still isn't doing the job so its going to have to be sprayed. Unfortunately that means I wont be able to work any further on him until Friday which is frustrating as I was looking forward to painting him this week. Oh well, just have to get back to the blood pact!

Cheers,

Dante

Argh! I sense the angst of anticipated Paint-Fu joy. 'Twas much the same when my DK came.

Good luck with that anyway.

~sA

CMDante wrote:Yep, three washes later with toothbrush and warm soapy water and hand painting the undercoat still isn't doing the job so its going to have to be sprayed. Unfortunately that means I wont be able to work any further on him until Friday which is frustrating as I was looking forward to painting him this week. Oh well, just have to get back to the blood pact!

Cheers,

Dante

have you tried using gesso? No need to spray then, and it may work ok even with "greasy" resin.

Decided to alter the hand and go for fingers outside the skull. While the posing before was fine, I was getting tired of people saying he looked like he was going bowling so here's how it looks now:




Looks a little scrappy in the pics in areas because of the miliput wash but I'm very happy with it overall.

Cheers,

Dante

Heh...

Nice sculpt on the hand. you can really tell you're sculpting it how you see it instead of sculpting how you think it should be. I'm quickly becoming a fan of your sculpt/posing skill.

That's a totally awesome sculpt man, he'll look totally wicked once he's all painted up.

I think I may have just been inspired to redo the Hamlet veteran marine I did 8 years ago.

Lord Lankington wrote:'Alas poor yorick, I knew him well.' Hamelet

I'm sorry, but I couldn't let this slip past. The line is "I knew him, Horatio." not "I knew him well." Probably the most misquoted line in Shakespeare.

On topic, the Commissar is looking good, can't wait to see the army proper.

Painting of the commissar has hit a wall. Two reasons really. One, I am getting increasingly frustrated with it for some reason and just can't get a feel for the mini. Two, my quartermaster has arrived and I'm dying to paint him up....such an amazing kit!

Pics soon!

Cheers,

Dante

Awesome sculpt, definitely a plus that his fingers are not in the skull. I for one would not go about putting my fingers in some random person's head.

Oh how fantastic! Looking forward to seeing this blog proceed

yes...more more more!

boy those kreig boys are nasty pieces of work.

Ok, I've been well and truly sidetracked by the DKoK quartermaster kit, it truly is an incredible set of sculpts:



I'm aiming for a sort of WWII german green coat and trousers look. As usual, pics have let me down but hopefully you can begin to get an idea for how it looks. Early days yet. The armour will be black with white bones, not sure what colour to do the helmet yet though.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante

Looking very nice so far Dante. Smooth highlights and a great color choice.

Are you using Vallejo model colors?

Thanks mate. I have always used vallejo black, dark grey and basalt grey but initially for the greeny grey I was using a complicated mix of dark grey, catachan green, black and charadon granite. Then I went out today and bought some vallejo german field grey, german camo biege (or something like that?!) and decided to use those instead as it saved mixing.

The greeny grey of the main part of the coat is done using german field grey, shaded with GFG and varying amounts of black and dark grey and highlighted with varying amounts of camo biege and white. The inner coat (pinned back) is done using a mix of basalt grey, dheneb stone and catachan/GFG, highlighted with various mixes of this and white and shaded with increased amounts of black and dark grey. I like the way its turned out as it really has a kind of fleecy inner lining look to it.

The cape is going to be a dark red on the inside. At the moment I just have the base coat and some shading. Basecoat was P3 sanguine base shaded with numerous juices of midnight blue.

More soon.

Cheers,

Dante