Seamus "Hellspawn" O'Reilly - commission #2, SA State Team fundraiser

Another commission piece that I am doing pro bono (and hey, let's face it, at my prices that's what you're likely to see), Seamus is the limited edition miniature from Southern Shrike Bowl 2010. This is my take on the figure and it is currently on auction via eBay: LINK

Ice Vixens #2 - finished sculpt

Well, the sculpt is finished and, while it's not quite professional quality in its execution, I learned a great deal and the painted result will fit in quite well with the team I am working on.

So here she is, the first blitzer of the Ice Vixens norse team:

Sculpt 1 finished!

She is done! I finally finished my first sculpt. Now I didn't do all of it, the basic armature is a Reaper heroic armature and it is also a Reaper head, but basically all the rest is procreate sculpting. I'm not going to waste too many words here because I explained the rationale and so on in my previous posts, but here she is...

My other scuplting job is also coming along, here's where I'm at with the air spirit...

Sculpting again

So, I have been neglecting my sculpting... or have I?

Well, my prior work - the were-fox - is still on the sculpting table and is progressing very slowly, largely because I am not happy with the relative lengths of the thighs. So, in this regard, yes I have let it split a bit.

But when I ordered the Reaper Grave Guard I also picked up two packs of sculpting armatures and they are incredible!

What I have found is that my sculpting abilities are not too shabby, it is my capability to get the perspectives correct in the basic build that really let me down. These armatures allow me to have that already done, and I have a couple of projects now underway that I am really excited about.

The first is a beserker for my Valkyrie team. There is very limited variation in the original Valkyrie miniatures, so I wanted to do up something different for the blitzers/beserkers. The idea was a model in the same uniform as the others, but more wild and unkempt to represent the Frenzy skill.

So I used a female armature as the base and did very little to the basic stance. I also used a Reaper head and positioned it so it looked as if she was screaming at the sky in frenzied rage. From there I started sculpting. I decided she would have lost one boot in her raging and would have a torn and frayed t-shirt (when I paint her up there will be blood spatter as well). I am almost finished, I just need to add the final details to the helmet (wings and their distinctive visor/goggles), perhaps add a little bit of definition to the left arm, and base her up properly.

The only real problem I have with her is that one glove is slightly bigger than the other, and it is exacerbated because the bigger one is also the one on the arm without a sleeve. Hopefully a little bit of bulk on the arm will fix that. I'm also not 100% convinced about the chainmail brief. It might look better painted, but I think it is too round. Still, I'm just getting my head around this, so next one will be better.

The other job isn't as far advanced, but I think you can still see the idea. When I stood back and looked at my wood elf (feral elf) team, the Duskrunners, I just didn't like the wardancer options (currently two centaur-like elf figures). I have been talking about using air elementals for some of the star players, but I figured, perhaps a better option is to use them for the wardancers! I couldn't really find a decent model to represent what I was after though (the Malyfeaux Squalls being the closest) so I figured I would have a go at sculpting them.

Here is the result thus far. The idea is a female armature as a base, hovering in the air and swept back into the wind. I don't want too much detail in the body, it being just a rough humanoid form the spirit is taking, and the face will basically only be eyes - which makes it much easier for me to sculpt.

I have only done a basic sub-structure for the swept back air and some of the sculpting that sweeps from areas that are "deep" in the layering process (like behind the knee, under the breast, around the neck). The next step (when this layer dries) will be to add some sweeping, from the bottom up, on the higher areas like the calf, thigh and hip, shoulder and head. Then I'll need to also add the arm and complete the foot. Of course, that's just one side, then I have to also do the other side!

I probably won't have these ready for AusBowl, the first real outing for the Duskrunners, but who knows! Stranger things have happened.

Duskrunners #5 - team shots

And here's the full team shots of these guys. Enjoy...

Duskrunners #4 - final recruits

This team is now officially finished. Here I would first like to show off the last few members of it, and then (in a following post) I will show you some shots of the entire team.

First up is the last couple of line-elves:

Line-elf Ten:

Line elf Eleven:

The Apothecary (the model could double as a wizard, although I rarely use them):

My score counter:

And, the one I'm sure you've all been waiting for...

The Great Earth Spirit (treeman):

This last guy is awesome, a grave guard (or something) from Reaper miniatures. I deliberated about what to use for the treeman and I figured this team would use elemental spirits of earth and air (the mediums they run through and on). So, when I get to them, one or more of the star players will be represented by an air elemental too.

So there you have it, stay tuned for the full team shots!