60085 Lirianne, Pathfinder iconic gunslinger: sculpt B. Jackson, convert/paint D. Schubert (the WIP thread)

[dks]

I like the Pathfinder iconic character designs. 

I've painted most of the figures of them that Reaper makes.  (I even sculpted some of them.)

 

Reaper makes a figure of the iconic gunslinger from the Ultimate Combat book: a half-elf named Lirianne. 

link to Lirianne art, by Wayne Reynolds

link to Lirianne backstory, by Crystal Frasier

 

 

The Reaper figure is good and has fine detail, but Bobby Jackson sculpted her during his recent "small head phase". 

link to photo of unpainted Reaper figure

The other iconic human/elf/half-elf figures have heads that are 1/6 to 1/7 of their height; the head of the Lirianne figure is about 1/9 of her height and she has very narrow shoulders, so I think she would look out of place next to the other iconics on my display shelf. 

Resolved: I'll resculpt her head at a size consistent with those of the other iconics.

The bigger head will also provide me enough room to paint those freckles on her nose.

I'll make some other adjustments to suit the bigger head, such as broadening her shoulders and reshaping her hat.

The figure wears a cloak, but I interpret the outer garment in the original art as a short-sleeved leather duster (coat), so I'll resculpt the cloak, resculpt the red scarf as a separate article, and resculpt the sheathed sabre so it appears to be on the outside of the duster.  I'll also fill out the poofy sleeves of her shirt, and I'll extend the butts of the pistols a bit.

 

Step 1-A: Chop.  Using my flush-cutters, I cut away most of the head, leaving a nub over which to sculpt a new face.  I also started to reshape her hat -- not visible in the photos.  I cut away part of the back surface of the cloak, but I didn't consider that the sabre should really go on the outside of the coat. 

Step 1-B: First application of putty = a new face!  This took about an hour, with one batch of Green Stuff.  I also added some putty to the butts of the pistols (though the putty later fell off of the right-hand pistol).  I put some putty on for the new "coat", but quickly realized that the sabre should go over the coat, so I scraped off most of the still-soft putty.  You can see the remnants of the green on her back.

Step 1-C: Chop a lot more.  The flush-cutters made short work of the cloak, including the connection to the back of her right leg and the back of her scale-mail skirt.

Step 1-D: When the face had cured hard, I carved away some of the forehead so the hat will look natural when fitted on top of the head.  The head is therefore flatter than it would be if she weren't wearing the hat.

Step 1-E: Cut into the front and sides of the neck, so there is just enough metal that I can repose the head.  I turned her head to the right, so she can be looking up and to the left as in the concept art.

 

Here's how she looks after a busy Step 1.

I didn't take a photo of the figure earlier because I didn't expect to post this WIP thread, but I intend to document my steps from here on out.

 

Thanks for reading,

Derek

 

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

Step One: Re-sculpt most of the figure.

 

Oh how I long to get to reach the point of having the skills to off-handedly make that statement.

 

Seriously, this looks great and I will be following this to glean any techniques that I can steal ahem, borrow to add to my bag of tricks.

 

Thanks for doing this one as a WIP so we aspiring converters can watch and learn.

[Maglok]

Derek is doing a WIP!

 

*grabs popcorn*

[CashWiley]

 

 

[dks]

@Dilvish the Deliverer: Step One was mostly chopping. There's plenty more resculpting left!

 

Step Two: A batch of Green Stuff this morning, for several little tasks: add the ears, rebuild the neck, add the puffy sleeves at the elbows, thicken and resculpt the surface of the scaled sleeve on her right upper arm, lengthen the pistol-butts, lengthen the feet (as boots), redo the fingers on the left hand (but I'll probably have to do some carving to adjust the shape after they cure).

 

Half-elven ears are tapered but don't stick up much higher than human ears. Good thing they don't, or else she would have a hard time wearing her hat! (Elves, of course, know better than to wear brimmed hats. Imagine an elf with her lovely long ears pushed out to the sides under the brim of a cowboy hat ... how sad!)

 

Derek

 

[fanguad]

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I love the Wayne Reynolds art for Lirianne and I'm sure you'll do her justice. Too bad we won't all be able to get the DKS alternate sculpt from Reaper after you're done.

 

Digression about Elf ears and brimmed hats

 

It's not quite the same, but Final Fantasy XI and XIV (MMOs) have a race of cat-people. Their hats and helms have either cutouts or shaped spaces for the ears. Maybe Pathfinder elves do the same thing with their hats?

 

Not an amazing selection of images, but here's what I'm talking about

 

http://ffxiv.zam.com/Im/width=189/196950.jpg

http://img2.mmo.mmo4arab.com/news/2010/08/16/ffxiv_screen/ffxiv_02.jpg

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/w/images/9/9e/NaihKhamazom.jpg

http://pics.allthatremains.org/main.php/d/22490-1/Puglist_1-01_600.jpg

 

 

[Mattnuke]

Awesome DKS! You really make this look wayyyyy too easy.

[dks]

@fanguad: Thanks for the digression. I figured that ear-holes in a hat would lead to sunburned ear-tips and rain leaking through the gaps between the hat and the ears. And providing that extra volume for the ears just looks funny to me, since it seems restrictive. But if the cat-people aren't complaining, I won't, either.

 

@Runelord151: Most of the steps are easy, now that I've been sculpting awhile and I know how to use the tools for chopping/carving pewter. (OK, but some steps are still hard.)

 

On with the WIP!

 

Step 3: Carve away more metal behind her right knee, keep reshaping the hat (now visible in the photos) and reshaping her head to fit the hat, add the collar, redo the right-hand pistol-butt again (because it fell off), and add the tails of her duster.

The coattails are made from a mix of about 2 parts Brown Stuff to 1 part Green Stuff -- a mix that cures harder than Green Stuff alone, but isn't as brittle as pure Brown Stuff. That makes it good for weapons and free-flowing items like cloaks or big coats. (A different hard putty, such as Aves Apoxie Sculpt, could fill the role of the Brown Stuff in this mix. I hear that the manufacturer has discontinued Brown Stuff.)

 

I'll be away from my sculpting gear until after Gen Con (mid-August), but I'll resume working and revive this thread after that.

In the meantime, enjoy,

Derek

[ObsidianCrane]

Every time I visit this thread at the moment I immediately see the mini painted up to be an Indogene from Defiance tv/mmo.

 

http://en.defiance-wiki.com/wiki/Indogene

[dks]

Ha, yeah, every miniature goes through its bald (indogene) stage, but usually only the sculptor sees it!

She'll get her hat and hair added a few steps in the future.

Meanwhile, don't mention the lack of hair to her. She is carrying two guns, after all.

Derek

[dks]

And we're back!

Step 4: One more session with Green Stuff last night. I smoothed the back of her duster, including a flap over the upper back and the sleeves (with rivets/conchas) -- her shoulders are now a little wider; I attached the hat to the top of her head (but the crown and brim of the hat still need some work to look correct on her larger head); and I resculpted the fingers of her right hand so they would match the size of the resculpted left hand.

 

Derek

 

[CashWiley]

And we're back!

 

Anyway. It must be handy to be an awesome sculptor! :)

[MamaGeek]

Great fix, Derek! Nicely done!

[dks]

@CashWiley: You betcha, it is handy to be an awesome sculptor.

 

Step 5:

Add the initial mass for the scabbard and attach a bit of brass wire for the tassels on the hilt of the saber; widen and enlarge the hat with Brown Stuff (expecting to refine the shape later by adding or carving away as needed); and add the wind-blown ends of her scarf, also in Brown Stuff for more rigidity.

 

I'm not sure how I'll resolve the back of the hat-brim: folded (up like a tricorne) or not, rounded or squared. Hmmm. Maybe I can find some reference images of real hats.

 

Derek

[Mattnuke]

I'm not sure what I need to do to get Reaper/Paizo to green light this as a new version of Liranne, but begging, pleading, crying, or donating a spare kidney to them are definitely among the ones I'd try!