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theCrowe sculpts anthro animals for Burrows & Badgers, Taking to the skies!  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Hi Dakkanauts. It's me, back once again with another sculpting project. This time I've got a proper game in mind. None other than Burrows & Badgers.

It's a game I've been excited to explore ever since I came across Mike Lovejoy's wonderful minis while looking for a suitable Hedgehog mini for my boy. Maybe you already know How that went suffice it to say I've had a good start at sculpting and I'm keen to keep at it, continue to hone my skills and improve.

So I'm beginning my journey with a lovely hard back edition Rulebook (Published by Osprey) and a Warband B starter set.


I'm going to be looking very closely at these miniatures and trying to emulate the Lovejoy style (slim chance, these are absolutely gobsmackingly gorgeous sculpts) in an attempt to create some of my own unique Burrows & Badgers inspired creations.

Wish me luck.

This message was edited 8 times. Last update was at 2023/03/03 07:25:59


   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






Good luck! I’m sure they’ll come out great if Hedgee & friends are anything to go by!

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Thanks Gobert.

Hedgee's Heroes are making up a significant proportion of the boy's Wild Beasts Warband. My guys are led by R-mour Dog of course so it looks like I'm going Royalists. That said I'm not focusing my sculpts specifically for a Royalist (armoured soldiers type) Warband. I'm going to just see what I come up with and let the sculpting tool decide.

   
Made in us
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





Oh! I love those minis, and I loved your work on Hedgee and Co, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what comes out of this!
   
Made in us
Nimble Ellyrian Reaver






Those sculpts are great. Looking forward to what you do with this project. I was tempted to get some for my little Burrows & Badgers collection, but then I saw the "Critter Kingdoms" line from Dark Sword Miniatures at a nearby brick and mortar shop and went with them. Be prepared to hold back on your children with the game - it can be absolutely unforgiving. It's a lot of fun and has some great room to develop a story in.

   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Yes, Critter Kingdoms is a beautiful range. Gorgeous even. I'll deffinately be looking to those for inspiration but if I buy more minis for this I'll most likely buy direct from Oathsworn again. It helps that they're UK based and postage is low too.

So here we go then.
Ive started things off with some resin casts I made of these two sculpts I did for my kids.

Sniffy and Cheesy.

The casts...

We're kind of rubbish.

And the second time around.

An improvement but still a little on the small side for Burrows & Badgers scale mice or shrews. But still, a decent vehicle upon which to build, I reckoned. So I skipped the wire armature and filler stage and went right in with the greenstuff. (After a few careful snips)

The result.

Sniffy cast number one became a Slayer shrew, complete with slayer axe, hairdo and a big tummy. Sniffy cast number two is toting a mordheim crossbow and has a bit more by way of clothing.

Then there's the Cheesy casts.

Cheesy Cast number one (noseless due to a bubble when casting) I decided would look well as a bat. So he got snipped back and wire framed for wings. I made the main wings base out of milliput (not sure I'd really recommend that) but he's still at a pretty early stage.
Cheesy Cast two on the other hand is finished in a classic spearman (Spearmouse?) configuration, pointy hat and all.


All these resculpts so far have been bulked up considerably around the legs and arms, and with clothing and weapons they're becoming more in line with the correct scale.

Though I'd say they're on the small side of small. Maybe they'll look more the part on a proper 30mm base. These temp bases are just placeholders for now.

So that's all for now. Work on the bat continues apace. Hopefully I'll have completed picks of him soon.

   
Made in us
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





Thrifty reuse of the casts, and some great details. Bat wings are already looking good, and the size looks like you nailed it.
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Cheesy Cast number one resculpt is complete

That thing in his claw is a cricket bat. You know, cause he's a batman.

   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






I'm always amazed when people on this board start to sculpt, great job on both rats! And love the batman (wordplay and sculpt)
   
Made in de
Furious Raptor





Germany

Heh, batman. I love it

Have a look at my scupting blog The things I do  
   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

Nicely done Crowe.

I'm sooo, sooo sorry.

Plog - Random sculpts and OW Helves 9/3/23 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Thanks guys. I'm having fun.


More wire frames

And actual proper milliput on them this time since I'm making an effort to do this right.

Think I'm on target for scale somewhere in the medium beast range between a rabbit and a squirrel. Can you guess what these two will be?

   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

Woo the bat! That one is my favorite so far.

Is there going to be a mole in there? And will he like turnip pie?

I've got these rules and i'd love to do something with them, but i'm short on approriate minis, so it's really neat to see what you're up to here!

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Correctamundo! The one on the right is indeed a mole. I can't say for sure how he feels about turnip pie. Is that a Redwall reference perhaps? I've only just discovered Redwall since encountering it among Burrows & Badgers fandom. My mole will owe more to Kenneth Grahame than Brian Jaques I suspect.

   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

 theCrowe wrote:
Can you guess what these two will be?


Spoiler:




No wait, between a rabbit and a squirrel... um...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 theCrowe wrote:
The one on the right is indeed a mole... My mole will owe more to Kenneth Grahame than Brian Jaques I suspect.


Hang on, I was right!

Not that I discourage the use of milliput, but any particular reason to view it as the 'right' way?

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2020/08/07 21:50:09


I'm sooo, sooo sorry.

Plog - Random sculpts and OW Helves 9/3/23 
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

Crowe,

At it again with the cute and the fuzzy?

Cheers,

CB

   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

My considering milliput the right way is more as opposed to my previous method of bulking the frame with PVA glue and tissue paper. It tended to produce quite thin frames to build on and as a result many of my older sculpts are quite fine. Not nearly as bulked out as your typical heroic 28mm figure. I'm noticing with the milliput the material has limitations on how thin a sausage can be before it crumbles so by nature it creates a bulkier base to build on. I'm sure there are many other materials and options out there but I'm finding this to be right for me and for what I'm aiming for.

That said it's kinda horrible stuff to work with. All chalky and sticky.

   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

Yeah, i was thinking redwall. I was a huge redwall fan when i was a kid! But it's good to have other inspirations.

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in us
Nimble Ellyrian Reaver






Sculpts are looking great, crowe. Kinda inspiring me to try my hand at sculpting for Burrows & Badgers, but I still have plenty of High Elves to work on. Things like Redwall and Wind in the Willows from my childhood are what drew me towards Burrows & Badgers, and I see references to them all the time. A little surprised you had never heard of Redwall until now. I suppose it's more niche than I thought.

   
Made in ca
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






The impression I got is that Redwall was much more popular in the UK than in the states? I grew up with it here in Canada though.

See what's on my painting table Now painting: Kruleboyz Gutrippaz 
   
Made in us
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





I did in the states as well, and actually have only vaguely heard of the Wind in the Willows--may need to read those at some point.
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

It may be that it was huge in England. The rest of the U.K. Maybe not so much? It might just be me, I wasn't a big reader until I left uni.

Anyway, lots of new sculpts on the go. I'll take some pics and update soon. Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement.

   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

The old stop-motion Wind in the Willows show was one of my favourites when I was a kid. The book's not too bad either. It's got that kind of edwardian middle-englander feel that you might get out of Tolkien. It doesn't go too epic, but there's not too much distance between a mole-hole and a hobbit-hole.

 theCrowe wrote:
My considering milliput the right way is more as opposed to my previous method of bulking the frame with PVA glue and tissue paper. It tended to produce quite thin frames to build on and as a result many of my older sculpts are quite fine. Not nearly as bulked out as your typical heroic 28mm figure. I'm noticing with the milliput the material has limitations on how thin a sausage can be before it crumbles so by nature it creates a bulkier base to build on. I'm sure there are many other materials and options out there but I'm finding this to be right for me and for what I'm aiming for.


Fair enough!

That said it's kinda horrible stuff to work with. All chalky and sticky.


Sounds about right. It's the only putty where I have to go wash my hands right after mixing it. It takes some getting used to, and there are a couple of tips that might help, like leaving it to firm up for twenty minutes or so (inconvenient); being spare with the water if that's what you use to lube tools; the fact that it's fairly easy to sculpt after it hardens; and especially, mixing some greenstuff into it.
Try mixing half-and-half or 1:2 GS:milliput to begin with, for bulking out the core of a sculpt. Maybe less greenstuff when you get the idea, but too little won't have much effect. Anyway, you should be able to see how the GS helps bind the chalky texture of the milliput.
On the other end, a little milliput added to GS can help loosen it, if it's a bit too stiff.

Looking forward to see what's up next, whatever you use to make it.

I'm sooo, sooo sorry.

Plog - Random sculpts and OW Helves 9/3/23 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Captain Brown wrote:Crowe,

At it again with the cute and the fuzzy?

Cheers,

CB

Stick with what you know and all that. I don't like sculpting human faces, I'm bad at it and I don't like practicing at things I'm bad at when I could be having fun doing what I enjoy. It's a bad work ethic, I know. I'm not taking any commissions so I'll pick cute and fuzzy every time.

Vermis wrote:The old stop-motion Wind in the Willows show was one of my favourites when I was a kid. The book's not too bad either. It's got that kind of edwardian middle-englander feel that you might get out of Tolkien. It doesn't go too epic, but there's not too much distance between a mole-hole and a hobbit-hole.

Try mixing half-and-half or 1:2 GS:milliput


Very interesting! I'd never considered mixing them. I'll have to see what I can do with that. Though half the point is to use less greenstuff. But knowledge of better ways to work when necessary are great tools to have, so thanks.

I love the Wind in the Willows- the title itself is a clue to how poetic and absolutely gorgeous the writing is. Honestly, if you have a love of the English language and aren't too fussy about internal world consistency in your stories then it's an absolute gem. The chapter whence comes the title is just increadibly beautiful. Its an adventure and scene understandably absent in the delightful stop motion animation which was long enough without it and didn't rush you along either. And David Jason's Fabulous Mister Toad is pure magic. Anyway, I'll not wax lyrical about it any more. I'm not making the river bank gang in Burrows & Badgers, just one mole. (And a weasel, I'll spill the beans)

And here they are so far.

A good ways still to go on both as you can see. And what's been keeping me?

This guy.

He's a Large size hound, or will be. In Burrows & Badgers, (for those who don't know) each creature is either small 30mm base (mouse,) medium 30mm base (rabbit), large 40mm base (otter) or massive 50mm base (Badger)
In this picture the new hound is shown between a Large Otter and a (bit large for a) medium Rabbit.

So of course if Hedgee is the boy's leader my leader had to be, R-mour Dog! (Even though a dog is a rubbish leader in this game.)
R-mour Dog has also gotten to a half way green stage

Is it cheating to use the stuff from GW out of my bits box? It is I suppose but it's getting the job done.

That's all for now folks. Thanks for looking and for all the comments. C&C welcome and encouraged.

   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

 theCrowe wrote:

Very interesting! I'd never considered mixing them. I'll have to see what I can do with that.


Used to be a common thing for some pro sculptors to mix brown stuff or even fimo into their GS to loosen it. And then there was the time when a bunch of us on a tyranid forum got hooked on doing that with apoxie sculpt. Here's a blog article by one of those guys to explain a bit more.

Though half the point is to use less greenstuff.


Surely! You can try less GS over time, just to see if it gets you over the milliput hump.

I love the Wind in the Willows- the title itself is a clue to how poetic and absolutely gorgeous the writing is. Honestly, if you have a love of the English language and aren't too fussy about internal world consistency in your stories then it's an absolute gem.


I might have undersold it.

Brilliant work on the mole's clothes. I'm also pretty impressed by the detail of the claws on his feet, not to mention R-MourDog's hair and mail. And no problem at all with bits box raiding!

I'm sooo, sooo sorry.

Plog - Random sculpts and OW Helves 9/3/23 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Progress for tonight.


Mole has one paw left to do along with the pick axe he'll be leaning it on.
Not really happy with his face but we'll see how he paints up. If I ever get round to painting anything.

Weazel is all done. Pretty happy with him though he's not really long enough in the body, but that's ok.

R-mour dog is coming along one armour piece at a time. Slow progress on that fella.

   
Made in gb
Posts with Authority






Norn Iron

Everything's coming along nicely. I'll pick out that breastplate for special praise, though.

I'm sooo, sooo sorry.

Plog - Random sculpts and OW Helves 9/3/23 
   
Made in gb
Ancient Venerable Dreadnought






These guys are coming along amazingly the crowe! I wouldn’t consider borrowing from your bits box as cheating! More speeding up the process

Goberts Gubbins - P&M Blog, started with Oldhammer, often Blackstone Fortress and Void Panther Marines, with side projects along the way 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Nice work on the sculpts, gotta second Vermis, that armour looks great!
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Thanks guys, I'm pretty happy with the breastplate myself. But honestly it was just the beginning. He's now finished and I'm really pleased with the result.

I'm sure many of these bits of armour have proper names and historical contexts and I'm sure no soldier ever (or dog) wore quite this combination.

I'm happy with the overall look of the character anyway. He's an armoured dog and he looks about the right size to be a large hound in the game.

In other news...

Moley got a pickaxe for breaking rocks and skulls. So that's him complete too.

Time to hit this lot with some primer, I think.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/08/15 08:34:56


   
 
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