Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Eldar: More Jetbiker Sculpts

Continuing my quest to upload some more of my stuff, here's a Jetbike Farseer and three Jetlocks I did up several years ago. These were done shortly after I completed early sword-wielding version of my Farseer. So these were some of my early forays into larger sculpts. This was also prior to my getting a second lamp, so the source lighting is a little painful. Still, maybe they'll inspire anyways. Plus, I think it's good for people to see that everyone starts somewhere...

This first was a Farseer I've not ever put on the web. Again, I wanted a more dynamic pose than the slouched normal Jetbike look. Still, he's not quite as daring and only rising up enough to cast his spell.
Here's the initial fit test. Most of the basic pieces are in place but there's little to no glue and no sculpting yet.And BAM!, here's the nearly completed model! Sorry, I didn't have much "in progress" on this guy. Most everything was single run sculpts anyways.
The right "casting" hand was taken from an old Guardian arm. Two of the fingers were CAREFULLY cut with a very sharp X-acto knife and then bent to give shape. The middle snapped anyways and was repositioned with some glue and filler putty.
The left arm was also a Guardian arm. (I think...) The upper arm just wasn't converting right, so I just sculpted the whole thing. The legs were also converted from a Guardian's. I don't like the "feel" on that foot position, but it wasn't enough to redo everything.
And here's another view. The right foot was later bent to fully touch the footrest. He also got some other clean-up on the neck and back of his jacket, but otherwise was done.


Then there's Warlock 1...
Here's the basic wire-fit version as usual. There's hidden heavy pins running through most of the model, but concealed by other parts at this point. I promise I'll show more on that sort of thing sometime.Here a basic spirit stone was added to his chest and other filler sculpt done. His head was from a miscast Ranger I had around and the sword from a Howling Banshee.
And here he is with the simple vest/jacket done. The main torso used was a Guardian. Legs and right arm were from a normal Jetbiker.


And Warlock 2...
Another guy sourced from the same basic kit as Warlock 1. Again, dry fit and nothing spectacular here...
And here's the raw sculpt of the runes on his chest. I hadn't really learned fine line control and I didn't shave his chest down, so they REALLY bulked his armor out. Hah. I hadn't realized that bottom line was off-center either. :-p
And here's the final. The coat/vest thingy reduces the bulk of the Rune Armour, but it's still a little off. It was a great learning experience.


And then my favorite of them all, Warlock 3...
Here's the raw wire fit. Note the pin visible at left elbow and how her head is "floating".
Finished version from the front, and a cameo of some of my noble Dwarves! (I still miss them every now and then, but would never have finally quit Fantasy if I'd kept them...)
An over-exposed view from her right. The head was taken from an old Wood Elf Wardancer. I still consider it one of the best female elf sculpts I've ever seen. Has the right touch of "otherworldliness".
Sadly, I screwed up on an alignment cut when removing the head from the original fig. In the process I managed to whack off the bottom 1/2 of her jaw. I tried resculpting the piece but couldn't get the GS to work for me. Every attempt just looked off. So I sculpted over the entire flaw and just gave her a rebreather mask.
My first attempt at blending hair. Wow, it was much easier than expected. It was literally just "stipple with a bit of flick down and in when removing the blade".
And a close-up of the final.


Cheers and hope you've enjoyed this rattle around my images folder!

3 comments:

  1. Excellent! I wish I had even a 10th of your ability and skill at modeling and green stuff. I look forward to seeing what your finished Seer Council will look like.

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  2. Those are truly epic! It makes me realise how much I have to learn about sculpting. I tend to concentrate more on the painting aspect, but being able to master this skill would definitely open up so many more options!

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  3. @Magilla: Sadly, you won't ever see these guys in a finished state from me. I traded them off. I've a few ideas for doing ones for my own army but am still in the "sketch" phase. I've got a dozen Reaver Jetbikes in a box that I'm thinking of doing up as Harlequin counts-as Jetlocks...

    @Iggy: Heh. Funny thing is, I see these and just shake my head at all the inaccuracies and mistakes. I've always been loathe to post much on them because. (Did I ever mention I'm over-critical of my own work?)
    BTW, I don't know how much of my back-posting you've hit, but I do have some basics on Sculpting starting here: http://40kmaunderings.blogspot.com/2009/07/sculpting-101-tools.html
    Give sculpting a try sometime. It's (extremely) frustrating at first, but really opens a whole new world of expression. I think the best part is the freedom to try more complex conversions. You don't stress (as much) about cutting a $20 model in half if you know you can repair the damage if things don't work out.

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