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Greetings,

I am very enthusiastic about the 40K game universe. However, I am not always sold on the GW interpretation of it. As a result of this passion for 40K I have decided to develop my own sculpting skills to help me express aspects of the 40K universe that GW may not touch, but interests me.

There is a small problem. I haven't the foggiest idea how to do this. As a bit of background about me; I have been playing this game since Rogue Trader and Space Marines RT01-1(?) circa 1986 or 87. In all of that time I have never touched a lick of epoxy putty. I have never even tried to modify an existing model with such methods.

I have created this Blog so you can follow me on this journey of discover. This way, those who follow in my footsteps can hopefully avoid some of the same problems and pitfalls I will encounter. You folks in return will help motivate me forward.

At this point, I have nothing. So the first step is to arm myself with information. I have printed this tutorial: http://www.miez.nl/putty-n-paint/tut...ting_tut01.pdf all wil be following the steps presented here as much as possible. So the first step is to read and absorb information.

Later this week, I will post what tools I have and my modelling material of choice. Remeber, this is a learning experience from absolute zero up.

Enjoy<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Here I was expecting something from NWA. Good luck though, I'll be checking it as a novice to sculpting, myself!

Now this is interesting. Me gonna follow and maybe try myself !

Off to read that tutorial,

Navin

Okay, I have read the tutorial.

The next step is to assemble my tools. I searched around my local Hub Hobby center and found the following items:

http://www.hobbytool.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=17

and something similar to this:

http://www.internethobbies.com/sqststspset4.html

I looked all over for the "Wax-5" that I have seen mentioned as the Rolls-Royce of sculpting tools, but I did not find one.

The Next step was to find a medium to sculpt. Since I was new to sculpting, I decided to look into the FIMO that the tutorial recommended for practice. One thing about FIMO is that to harden, it must be baked. I found this to be a negative. After some digging around I came across and air hardening clay to use. I felt that this would more closely resemble Green Stuff then FIMO. We will see.

http://www.yorkshireartstore.co.uk/clay.htm

At this point, I did not pick up any Green Stuff, as I wanted some time to practice first. Plus, I only found the GW brand, and I am loathe to give them money for Hobby products. I'm sure in the future i will be able to find it online.

So, now I need to work on developing a concept of what I want to sculpt. Tune in next time for more.

The next step of the Tutorial is to develop a strong concept. I have spent some time thinking about what I would like to sculpt for the 40K universe and have come up with a short list:

Napoleanic IG- I want guard wth Shakos and a tailed coat!

Squats- I think they can be revamped, and I all ready have rules in my Sig to do it!

Harlequins- I all ready have some of the classics, but would like some more sculpts.

Skitarri/Machine Cultists- I would like to explore the Adeptus Mechanicus forces in greater detail.

Cultists (Nurgle)- I have always felt that the 40K range is in need of more Cultist type models.

Mercenaries- I have also been a huge fan of Mercenary forces in 40K. The fluff hints at them, but never develpos them.

Small Xeno Empire- The possability of other lesser known Xeno forces and threats has always intrigued me. My imagination could go wild.

Primitive IG- The thought of a Feral World Ig army is interesting to me. I think they could have a distinct look.

After some thought, I have decided to try an sculpt a Nurgle Cultist to begin with. There are many reasons for this:
1. Use existing LaTD rules
2. Robes are easier to sculpt then legs.
3. Masks and hoods are easier to sculpt than faces.
4. Nurgle's style is a bit more forgiving of errors in the sculpting.
5. Can use some existing bits such as weapons to ease sculpting.
6. Can team with by Freinds Deathguard for Fluffy team play.

There are some Disadvantages:
1. Chaos... do we need more chaos?
2. Comparison to MFV's fantastic work.

With the decision being made, I searched out additional work to help me visualize the final product. I found this, and thought it would be a great start:
http://www.inkvizitor.hu/viewarticle.php?c=244&t=5&s=1

Unfortunately, I don't read Hungarian, but I think you get the general idea. If anyone can translate it for me, please let me know.

So, with my tutorial in hand, my tools ready, sculpting medium prepped, what can possibly stop me? what's that... oh yes....that. I guess I need to build some armatures.

Sorry about the dealys, it was a Holiday weekend here. 

Anywho.  The next step in the tutorial was to build armatures to act as the skeletons of your models.  Clay will not stand on it's own.  With this in mind I gathered up some Giant Gem Clips, (ie. large paper clips) and a two pairs of pliers.  I actually made two proto-type armatures.  I am interested to hear what more experienced sculptors have to say about which will work better. 

The tutorial also mentions using cork as a base for your armatures.  After a long a fruitless search, I did not find any bottle corks.  This looks like the reason I may need to become a wine snob.  Instead, I cut up some pieces of sponge to act as the bases when i sculpt.  I'll let you know how well this works. 

The next step is to start pushing some putty!  Finally.

 

PS- Does someone know how to fix my picture?    

Well, I have some actual sculpts to show now. Overall, they look rather noobish. These took about 5-6 hours of work. I recommend that you work on more than one sculpt at a time, so you have something to do while you are waiting for the other work to dry. I also found using a high wattage bulb in a small lamp as a great devise to speed up drying time (Warning: This is expressly against the manufacturer's instructions for such devices. Use this technique at your own peril!) on the clay.

So without further ado...



On this one I never really completed the hand or the arm.



I think I successfully made him look fat.



This one is the most like my inspiration.

I realize that many of the proportions are off. I have the same problem with drawing. I guess I need to study more anatomy texts. The tutorial I posted provides some handy ground rules for proportioning your figure properly, however I feel that practice will be the best teacher.

Incidentally, I will probably never finsih these three. The reason why can be demonstrated in the next picture...



As you can see, they are out of scale. These guys are closer to 35-38mm then 30mm. I recommend a small ruler and constantly using it while you sculpt. This will help eliminate scale issues.

Welll, back to the scultping table for me. Hopefully, the next set will be better. If you want more pictures or anything, let me know. C&C and tips would also be great.

You have to use HTML code and not bulletin board codes on Dakka.

Thanks,

I am working on it. I'm not very computer literate when it comes to different codes and posting pics. I will do better next time and use your posting as an example of how it is done.   

Dude, keep up the good work. Everyone starts small. Check your proportions, you know, the length of arms to the legs and the size of the head to the torso. Even a wooden dummy in proportion will still look nice.

It's been a while since I have posted here, but I have made some progress.

For a full update check it out here:
http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=4226&st=30

Going forward I will try to keep you guys updated as I go.

Here's a list of helpful links on sculpting in no particular order:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1listSculpting/join?yguid=301761385&finish=sub

http://www.satyrsculptingstudio.com/pages/sculpting-article.htm

http://www.prophetminis.com/tutorials.html

http://groups.msn.com/SculptingMiniatures/howtosculpt.msnw

http://www.lyonstudio.com/equipment.html

Enjoy.

can you post the picture of what you have sculpted but larger so i can see as the pics are to small
good tutorial

I will try. I'm terrible at the pictures here.

If you liked the first tutorial try these links as well. Lot's of great sculpting stuff.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1listSculpti...1385&finish=sub

http://www.satyrsculptingstudio.com/pages/...ing-article.htm

http://www.prophetminis.com/tutorials.html

http://groups.msn.com/SculptingMiniatures/howtosculpt.msnw

http://www.lyonstudio.com/equipment.html