Monsters Creatures sculpts Greens

[Alan maguire]

3 Headed Bulldog sculpted for L72 miniatures.

[ErikB]

Wow!  These are remarkable!

A few ideas, while you're in the R&D stage.

* One thing that kinda bothers me is when an otherwise wonderful mini appears too flat.  Some of Copplestone's and Pulp Figures' minis can be like this.  I know it makes it easier to cast but it makes them appear a little too two-dimensional.

To get around this, could I suggest making them in such a way that you can bend the limbs at the joints into a more 3-D posture.

For example, Breath of Inana was a little flat but she was malleable enough that I could rotate her arm so the blade pointed forward and I could bend her elbows.  Viola!  A more 3-dimensional pose on a beautiful figure (no pun intended)

https://www.lucideyepublications.com/product-page/breath-of-inana

* For those tentacles and tails, if they are not connected to the body and they are long and thin enough, they can also be bent forward and backwards and make a more 3-dimensional mini.  Those tails can be bent a little to fit on different sized bases.

* Swapable heads are also always good.  We can rotate them, change the pitch, put on other heads or use yours on other minis if desired.

Hopefully, these ideas can help improve the balance between dynamic postures and ease of casting, not that yours are lacking ANYTHING, mind you.

Just my wishes when I see someone at that early sculpting stage.

I LOVE that BIG mutated guy with the big gun as well as the Three Wise Men.   

[Alan maguire]

Thanks ErikB,

what is R&D stage ?

yes i agree sometimes a multi part is the best option, if not all the time to enhance the end result of the miniature.

If the miniature is cast in metal then yes it can be bent to create different poses in the miniature but not if it.s resin, unless you slightly heat it up, "at your own risk" ...

Thank you for the info...

[ErikB]

Sure thing, buddy.

R&D stage... research and development.

So, you're going through a process to create a product, right?

I figure you go through several steps, something like this:

Concept (the idea) --> Research (draw pictures, figure out themes, details, equipment, blisters, tentacles, etc.) --> Development (modify your design so it is castable, economic, decide if you want to do multi-part, separate heads, optional equipment, bendable limbs for posing, decide the material) --> Manufacturing (figure out how to actually make it all work, make those moulds, figure out the right metal/plastic/resin, release agent, stuff like that)

Any step could send you back to another one where you find that your idea is not practical and you need to do a re-think.

For example, you have a cool dynamic position in mind but you find that you cannot cast it.  What to do...?

Go back to the Research or Development stage and make those limbs thinner so they can bend at the joints (if you're using metal), make those joints narrow (short sleeves or long sleeves rolled up so the bicep is thick and strong and the elbow bends naturally), or maybe cast in several pieces.

If your artistic style is heavy and heroic, like Copplestone or Pulp Figures (two of my all-time favorites) then this may not be an option, you'll have to come up with another approach.

I'm a software engineer who has worked in design, development, and testing, so I've been through the process in big, expensive projects.  I'm used to having to plan ahead in order to avoid "aw, man, if only we had thought of xxx!!!!!!" later on.

I hope this makes sense.  I hope this helps.

I love your mini designs and can't wait to see them come to fruition.

[Alan maguire]

Oh OK, i know what that is just didn't know what it was you were referring too when you used the initials R&D ...


I do appreciate your interest very much . thank you...

Yes i have lots i want to sculpt and will get around to them as time goes by


Thanks Erik !

[ErikB]

My pleasure.

One of my personal dreams is to make a line of minis, something creative and completely my own idea, from concept to production, and, ideally, have people love it, of course.

I just want to come up with something nobody else has and have it embraced.

That's why I'm so interested in this.

I can paint but I am not much of an artist, otherwise, so it may be a long time before I come up with anything....

It's exciting watching others turn their creativity into solid "fruits" I can hold in my hand.  I love that.

[Alan maguire]

OK here a few questions for you :

What genre do you like?

What scale do you like?

What proportions do you like?

Do you like slim proportions? cartoon proportions?

Do you like stylized proportions?

Do you like chunky?

Do you like humans?

Do you like creatures / monsters etc ?

A few things to think about...

[Alan maguire]

The kick starter consist of 6 miniatures and will be soon up and running.

A set of Hob goblins...

They are 20mm to the top of their heads...

For 28mm gaming...



I will keep you updated as it happens...

I would very much appreciate if you could share this about.

Thank you very much Guys!

Alan...

[ErikB]

OK here a few questions for you :
What genre do you like?
What scale do you like?
What proportions do you like?
Do you like slim proportions? cartoon proportions?
Do you like stylized proportions?
Do you like chunky?
Do you like humans?

I like chunky/heroic, skeletons for fantasy (I love Mierce Jutes), sci-fi crews like on Firefly or Riddick, and cartoony whimsical like what Josh makes with Zombiesmith (Quar, Shieldbash, Hook, Jaloof, etc.), all in 28mm to 32mm (1/48 scale).

I was thinking of a Galactic Marshals project, intergalactic cop-bounty-hunters.  They'd have all sorts of sci-fi gadgets available, fit in with most other themes, work as special mission groups in other games and themes, and so on.

[CookAndrewB]

OK here a few questions for you :

What genre do you like?
What scale do you like?
What proportions do you like?
Do you like slim proportions? cartoon proportions?
Do you like stylized proportions?
Do you like chunky?
Do you like humans?
Do you like creatures / monsters etc ?
A few things to think about...

Well, if we are able to give some feedback, why not!
I like post apoc/sci-fi. I would say I only dabble in fantasy stuff. In my mind the post apoc/sci-fi mixes well in something like a Fallout style universe and has plenty of use across many games.
I am quickly becoming a believer in 15mm. I game in 28/32mm but I'm moving away from that.
I like heroic proportions. I think that is a pragmatic view, as true to form proportions tend to be frail and a real muther#$&! to paint. As much as I refuse to get into WH40k, the old school figures had the right balance. Not so sure about the new stuff as it has become bigger and incorporated more little frail bit. Sort of the worst of both worlds in my mind.
I think any good line needs a mix of creatures and humans. If you want to run human on human games, that is easy enough to sort out, but outside of historical/modern games I think there is almost always some kind of non-human protagonist. That said, I would love to see some creatures that aren't just humanoid aliens, or anthropomorphic. I remember as a kid how much I loved the Dralasites from the old Star Frontiers game (space D&D, basically). They were Amoebas, so the "what they look like" basically became what you could think up. For the benefit of using some equipment, they became a bit humanoid, but...

Not entirely.

Star Frontiers also has a host of other great races:

[Alan maguire]

   ErikB .....

Hi Erik,

I had a look at zombiesmith and i like some of the concepts, they are full of character and energy which always gets my attention...

 Galactic Marshals sounds like an interesting concept and the intergalactic cop-bounty-hunters is a really great concept and has a lot of scope to it...

Can you post here one  picture of something that really gets your attention when you see and inspires you? please...

Regards

Alan...

 

[Alan maguire]

   Hi CookAndrewB,

Thanks for the feedback and info!

I like some of the concepts in your second picture.

They look like they would be fun to sculpt  But someone has already sculpted i'm guessing ?

That is what i find great about sci-fi that it has many directions you can go in with regards to different races etc, it's basically endless really!

Regards

Alan

[6milPhil]

Have you ever sculpted 6mil?

[Alan maguire]

 6milPhil

No i have not, smallest has been 10mm i think.

Although i'm very sure i could.

Why do you ask?

[6milPhil]

Well it's my fave scale y'see? And there's not many people who can do it, I'll send you some examples of makes if you're interested.