Elouchard Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Hi all, The next commission to finish is the old Ral Partha diorama, the Antagonists. The figures are extremely well sculpted and dynamic, but do not come with any base to set them off. I decided to sculpt something to make them appear similar to the box cover art, with flames behind the dragon rider. To start, I used an oval wooden plaque from Michaels and covered it in aluminum foil, then built up a basic surface of FIMO, adding a wire armature in it to make the flames. The finished base, not attached to the plaque, is below. The figures were lead and very soft in the heat (around 80 F in the house), so they were easy to bend. They were pinned and primed, black for the dragon, and white for the pegasus, since that would make it easier to make the lighting effects. The base will be primed white also. Both figures will be made removable from the base for safety in transport. Probably around 5-6 hours involved here, so I need to hustle for the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercius Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Looking pretty sweet so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyHorde Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I have this set, too, waiting on the Shelf of Someday. Love the concept, watching with interest... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted August 3, 2010 Author Share Posted August 3, 2010 This is the pegasus after some basic color blocking, done with GW blue wash + Liquitex magenta ink + white paint. The mix is varied in different areas to block out light and shadow. The idea is that the light source is around the figure's feet (like the box cover painting). The base was given a nice even coat of thinned golden yellow on the fire and lava, and black+purple on the rocks. I did a touch of drybrushed highlighting around the pegasus base to see how it would look. For the most part, this is how I approach most figures, with a color layer and then adding washes of dark or light. A light wash is very useful to reduce contrast but retain the actual light and dark areas produced by a dark initial coat. These first shots are always really ugly until the highlighting starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted August 4, 2010 Author Share Posted August 4, 2010 Highlighting and finishing the pegasus rider. This is a fairly quick job but I may so some more shadowing to enhance the lighting effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonelf3 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 I like the colors and the idea a lot, but the blends do need work. I like where it's going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted August 4, 2010 Author Share Posted August 4, 2010 Did the fire and lava and cleaned up some other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inarah Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 I like where you're going. Thanks for sharing the "ugly" pictures so we can see how it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 I love your sculpting on the base. What is FIMO? Nice job painting the pegasus and the flames. The skin tones on the rider could use more definition, though, and you may want to add some variation in color on the pegasus. It is looking a little too monochromatic at the moment. Use some very, very thin complimentary colors in the shadows to really bring life to the mini. Can't wait to see more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 I love your sculpting on the base. What is FIMO? Fimo is a polymer clay like Sculpey and Super Sculpey. It stays workable until you cure it in the oven. That's about all I can say about it since I haven't used polymer clays. I like Milliput, but polymer clay is less expensive, so suitable for large projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimwolf Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I really like what is going on here. Keep it up. Im looking forward to the next update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elouchard Posted September 26, 2010 Author Share Posted September 26, 2010 I had to take a long break on this diorama to finish the ShadowSea game I was writing, but it is finally done after a few hours yesterday. There was more work put into most of the parts, extra blending on the horse and shading to bring out more contrast. The central focus is the dragon, so it is what has the most lighting effects. The pegasus is more like a light source than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyradis Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 First off - this is gorgeous, and a wonderful process shown to get there. I love the color choices and the smoothness with which you applied them, it all goes together so well. Second - FIMO is a kinda tricky polymer clay from my experience. I used FIMO and Sculpy in art classes, and Sculpy is by far easier for me to use. FIMO is much firmer, even after hand working it. Once it is in a workable form though, it is somewhat more flexible in its use, as Sculpy gets to a point of being overly smushy and sticks to hands. I always preferred Sculpy though, as I have really low hand strength for softening clays. FIMO starts out really tough, and Sculpy is nearly ready-to-use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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