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I have decided to bite the bullet and actually do something with the box of Dwarf sky-pirates I bought from GW (Arkanauts). I have already put scale pix up in my Squat thread on here and it was immediately obvious that they were not suitable for that army... so I thought it was the right time to try out making a Demiurg instead. The Demiurg are another race in the GW universe but they have very little fluff and even less in the way of images so I have had to use poetic licence.

Anyway, here's the first one. The arms are just tacked on and will be replaced when I have decided what with:



The plan is to use these as Squad leaders for drone units. One of the back stories about the Demiurg includes information that they provided Ion tech to the Tau so I will likely be trying to find something that fits the bill. I have also decided that some form of control staff is in order.

As you can see, it's early days yet but at least it has started .

I have decided to make three Demiurg to start off with; a leader, a controller and a technician. That way I can get them finished and painted to go with some drones that I already have . I am still waiting for various bits and bobs to arrive but the Thunderers turned up today so here is where I am at with the first three:



From left to right we have a leader, technician and controller.

I have decided that I can use my Ghar suits as drones for these... which is really handy because I was looking for some troops to go with them so it kills two birds with one stone:



I also plan to have some shield drones for the Demiurg and some targeting/spotting drones as well.

I have been thinking about colours and I reckon it would be interesting to have each unit like a knight and his household with their own colours. That way, I won't have to paint the same colours all the time and also will look nice when painted up... but it's early days yet .

Green stuff work is most excellent - look forward to seeing it progress - unique project for sure - top work!

Now that my components have arrived from Anvil Industries, I have been able to finish the first two Demiurg. The controller is on the left and the technician on the right. The pistols, back-pack and spanner head are all from Anvil. The technician's head is a little more bony than the controllers because he is older :

looks cool, I always wished GW would make more Tau allies.

Cheers ... I agree with you too... a few more alien species certainly would add flavour to the relatively samey colour schemes of a Tau force...

I have now finished the first group of three Demiurg. From left to right: Controller, Leader and Technician:



I guess I will fill in the dimple in the base and get these painted but I won't be able to paint the bases yet because I need some of that crackle paint to make a martian desert effect

So... I was going to paint them... in fact, I got as far as spray priming them, letting them dry and getting all my paints out. Then... I couldn't work out what paint to use so I put my paints away again.

It isn't all bad though. I have got as far as cleaning and assembling the bodies/bases for the next three. I've also put the first dome of putty on for the three of them.

I have also sourced enough sky-pikes for all five of the Controllers (plus a couple extra, should I need them later).

Ticking along

Why not paint them in a variant Tau scheme (Dal'yth, being a trading hub, comes to mind).

My Demiurg aren't T'au and aren't allied to them (they just trade with them) so I don't think I'll be painting them T'au colours.

I am planning to make each unit a 'Knight' and his retainers (in essence)... That way, I can have a range of colour schemes across all the units.

With each squad having a good leader, if individual squads from a 'house' are present then I don't need to worry about command squads. If there are a group of squads from the same 'house' present, then I may create a 'lord' unit... which will most likely be a mecha of some description... but the lord and his units will have the same scheme.

I want these to be quite varied in colour to make them a bit more interesting than my usual, single colour-scheme armies .

Ok, in that case, you could check out some high medieval stuff, like French and English heraldry.

Great greenstuff skills! How did you do the heads?

How are you going to use them/count as?

Heraldry is a good idea (for the drones at least) - plenty of flat surfaces. I also have lots of old GW transfers with crests on them so they may come in useful.

How do I Sculpt the heads? Like this:

1. Sculpt a dome of putty directly on the body. Let it Dry (LID)
2. Add the bottom lip, brow and a frame for the nose. LID.
3. Add the cheeks and ears. LID.
4. Finish the nose, add the moustache and the ridge around the head. LID.
5. Finally, I add the head plates and crest. LID.

It is quite drawn out because I have to keep letting things dry... but it turns out OK in the end.

As for what I am going to use them as... I don't game. This is just a little collection of miniatures with no rules attached to them

They look awesome.

Talk about going above and beyond. I expected a mere 'count as' thing here - not that such a thing should be sneered upon - but nevertheless, this is just awesome. Excellent conversions, i especially enjoy the idea with the bots

Cheers

I ended up changing the leader slightly:



...and have primed the first three and started the next three:



You can see what I mean about the 'Domes' that are the start of the head sculpts in the above image

 Inso wrote:
Heraldry is a good idea (for the drones at least) - plenty of flat surfaces. I also have lots of old GW transfers with crests on them so they may come in useful.

How do I Sculpt the heads? Like this:

1. Sculpt a dome of putty directly on the body. Let it Dry (LID)
2. Add the bottom lip, brow and a frame for the nose. LID.
3. Add the cheeks and ears. LID.
4. Finish the nose, add the moustache and the ridge around the head. LID.
5. Finally, I add the head plates and crest. LID.

It is quite drawn out because I have to keep letting things dry... but it turns out OK in the end.

As for what I am going to use them as... I don't game. This is just a little collection of miniatures with no rules attached to them

Thanks for the info! Might want to give it a try myself. You Demiurg look like real xenos dwarfs and not like dwarfs in space.

No worries

It was always my intention to make Xenos Dwarfs that were in line with what little fluff was available... I already have a Squat army in progress so i wanted to make this army totally different

Id consider a brighter colour scheme. They strike me as very spaceshipy, thus wearing a uniform rather than camo? Maybe a high visibility miner suit?

It all depends on how you do skin, but if you go for a stone like skin a bright orange/white scheme would provide a nice contrast to the darker skin tone.

shogun wrote:

 Inso wrote:
Heraldry is a good idea (for the drones at least) - plenty of flat surfaces. I also have lots of old GW transfers with crests on them so they may come in useful.

How do I Sculpt the heads? Like this:

1. Sculpt a dome of putty directly on the body. Let it Dry (LID)
2. Add the bottom lip, brow and a frame for the nose. LID.
3. Add the cheeks and ears. LID.
4. Finish the nose, add the moustache and the ridge around the head. LID.
5. Finally, I add the head plates and crest. LID.

It is quite drawn out because I have to keep letting things dry... but it turns out OK in the end.

As for what I am going to use them as... I don't game. This is just a little collection of miniatures with no rules attached to them

Thanks for the info! Might want to give it a try myself. You Demiurg look like real xenos dwarfs and not like dwarfs in space.

Tried it a bit myself and failed bigtime. Question: do you add each 'lump' on the face with a separate small green stuff ball or do you place a strip of greenstuff and sculp lumpy sections out of it? I would love to see a step by step tutorial with (dummyproof) pictures. I've you don't mind me asking. I can also send you a PM.

For the brow, I start with a sausage and fix it to the dome, I then work on the sausage to add the indentations, using a clay-shaper. The same for the lower lip and the ridge that goes around the scalp. The ears start as balls of putty which are pressed on, have a hole pressed in the middle and then get the indentations made with a clay-shaper in much the same way as the rest. The cheeks are individual balls of putty that are pressed on and shaped (as before).

Can I recommend you do a tutorial in pictures? Photograph each step. Rolling out the sausage, affixing it to the dome, "action" shot of you sculpting the ridges, etc. it will also give us a better idea of the tools you use - whatever they may be. I find, for me at least, that words don't teach as well as visualizations.

Looking good! Interesting idea too

Such a cool idea. Top sculpting on the faces.

EDC

I'm sorry but I won't be doing a picture tutorial. There are plenty of tutorials out there for sculpting faces and putting a few dimples into a putty cylinder isn't rocket science.

It takes a lot of time to make a tutorial and when you are trying to sculpt it is a massive distraction that can, on some occasions, kill your mojo... and I have far too much sculpting to do to risk that... again, sorry.

These are my tools:



1. Scalpel.
2. Angled sculpting tool (I use the left hand nib the most).
3. Pointed sculpting tool.
4. Size 0, Extra firm, Tapered point Clay-shaper.
5. Size 0, Extra firm, Angle Chisel point Clay-shaper (I use this to put the lines in the ridges).
6. Pin Vice (for pinning).
7. Side cutters.
8. 0.8mm Brass wire (for pinning).
9. Green Stuff putty.

With regards to putting the dome on... roll a ball of putty, stick it where the head should be and smooth it into a dome using a moistened sculpting tool (I use tool 2, left hand nib for that). Keep moistening the tool and smoothing until you get the shape you want.

 Inso wrote:
I'm sorry but I won't be doing a picture tutorial. There are plenty of tutorials out there for sculpting faces and putting a few dimples into a putty cylinder isn't rocket science.

It takes a lot of time to make a tutorial and when you are trying to sculpt it is a massive distraction that can, on some occasions, kill your mojo... and I have far too much sculpting to do to risk that... again, sorry.

No problem! We just all have to improve our sculpting skills ourselves. Meanwhile your stuff is great for inspiration!

But if you ever start casting these heads and sell them just let me know, (hint hint.... )