Hi, I have been quiet for quite some time now, the construction last gaming table was stopped apbruptly because of real life having too much influence at the moment...
However, about one and a half years ago, a friend's girlfriend asked me to do a 30mm sculpture in his likeness. It would be just the perfect gift for his 40th birthday. He is quite a close friend, I know him for about 15 years now. Believe me, his man is as enthusiastic about cycling as most of us are with miniatures. He even makes a living of it as he owns a bicycle shop called 'Der Fahrrad Partner' (The Bicycle Partner).
"Sure." I said. "I will get this done somehow. After all, there's nearly two years to do it. Just send me some piccies and I will start right away. It will be a laugh. You'll see."
Time passed. On thursday two weeks ago, Mrs. Vikotnik used her wicked smile and reminded me of what still had to be done. Now. Only half a month left. Believe me, during the last two weeks, I have been a bit nervous about what had to be done and if I really could pull this off somehow...
But eventually, I did.
This proves two things:
1.Sculpting can be done. I know that anatomically, the sculpt is not perfect by far, but it portrays the person it should. Most of the characteristics of him came across sufficiently. I will ask him for permission to put a picture of him in this thread so you can see for yourself.
This is the third sculpt I have ever done in my entire life!
2.Sometimes it really is better to shut up or you will end up stressed out beyond belief. Not to mention the sleep loss.
I know that this thread is not gaming-related by any means, I just want to show you that this special character you urgently need but cannot buy may not be as far away as you imagine it. Just start doing it!
I used Pro-create for the sculpt.
I started by making a wire armature:
Then, I made an 'undersculpture' just to rough out the shape:
I built up more:
I spent some hours to come up with this:
...just to realise that I am NOT satisfied with it!
The shirt somehow looked not right and I simply had forgotten to sculpt folds in the trousers!
I decided not to back down and stayed calm. Then I cut everything off in order to start again.
This is what it looked like after cutting:
Arms and trousers, now looking OK to me:
From this point, it went quite well. I finished the entire sculpt in one day, including curing times.
Body finished:
At some point later on, I decided to redo the feet again, the ones you see here really look stupid, do they not?
I sculpted the head separately, using a cocktail stick as a handle.
I began with the face:
Hm. Looking more like some fantasy heavy metal creature...
I refined the face and added some bulk at the back of his head.
The sausage he balances on his head will turn out to be a bicycle cap:
The small ball at the side of his head will eventually turn out to be an ear.
Finished head sculpt:
A bit blurry, sorry...
Here is what I have come up with so far:
Note that the feet have been redone, the others looked silly, brrr
And...
The finished sculpt:
And primed, I forgot to take a pic before putting on the basecoat of the arms:
With all that sheen eliminated, it still looked OK.
Phew.
If you are not interested in what happened from the on , you can stop reading here.
I decided to put the miniature on a scenic base, something that could end up in a cabinet. So I ordered the one blister by Foundry that included a bicycle. Man, what a bland and boring thing:
It needed spokes:
Not too many. I know. But if you put in more, it simply looks solid. I know.
Because I put in TWICE as many the first time needing four, yes, four, hours for it. Only to realise that it looks, well, solid... So I had to remove all of them, drill new holes in the bike using a different distance then put half the amount of spokes back in.
More detail added, handles and all that:
I primed the bike and set it aside. I would paint it as soon as I knew exactly what to do with it on the base.
I sculpted some bit of sidewalk on a piece of spread out polyfilla which I carefully cracked a bit:
I used Milliput Standard Yellow-Grey for it.
Done:
Bike used for layout on primed base:
Painted bike. Yes, his bike is coloured exactly like this:
I simply had to put everything together now. The paint jobs had to be cleaned up and the lighting and contrast had to be corrected in some areas.
No big deal, as mentioned 1 1/2 years ago.
Finished. Yay!
September 16, 2007, 04:30:25 PM
