Finished Tetto'Eko work (Sort of)

Tetto'Eko's done!



I had to use the flash on these, and they're a lot paler and washed-out than I'd like. Still, you can get a sense of the contrast of the overall piece, and the back of the palanquin is pretty real to life. (To get an idea, the glyphs at the bottom of the palanquin are actually the same color as the gold on the back!)



Here's the back.

While the paint's essentially done, there's still some detail work to be done. What needs changing? I don't know! I sat in front of this for a few hours today, and I'm a little tired of staring at it, frankly. It's like staring at a monitor -- your eyes get tired and you start to glaze over details. I'm going to knock out whatever jumps out at me tomorrow -- things that won't show on camera well enough to shoot -- and then seal the whole thing so the paint won't chip and rub off.

I'm working with my wife, Safiya, on drawing some terradons. Those'll be the next project. Terradons: Adventures in molding and casting!

Tetto'Eko's almost done! Paint next!

The sculpting on Tetto'Eko and his palanquin is essentially done! He got quite a few additions:



High-qualtiy ties around the base of his horns. (Forgive the smooshedness of these, I had to repair them.)



A bowl of ixti grubs to snack on while fighting the hordes of Chaos.



And that's genuine carnosaur hide on the back there!



Here's what it looks like. That's his staff, out front; it's still being worked on and needs a lot more sanding. I may have to start over again on it, truthfully, but I'm trying to salvage what I've got there.



And this is the stand, with color. The snakes are perhaps a little too bright -- I'm hoping they don't distract from the final piece.

This is Tetto'Eko in his primary primer phase (ha ha!). I like to prime models I've had to do a lot of work on once; the paint makes little imperfections stand out. On this pass, I found a few places that needed more sanding and some clipping; I then daubed the primer where the model was bare.

And here's his base color coat with shading His scales are going to be much darker (and red), but basically, those are the colors he's got. Yes, he's also not wearing much bling, a pretty significant lizardman faux pas, but -- you know -- he summons magical explosive comets. I'm not too worried for his reputation. That's a more complete staff in the background.

More Tetto'Eko work

I had to do some changes to Tetto'Eko himself. I'm considering cutting his right hand to have him hold his staff, but we'll make that decision later.



You can see how I added knuckles and bones to his left hand, the one I was so displeased with. I didn't mess with his right hand; if I decide to leave it as is, I'll cut the thumb and forefinger off, resculpt them, then glue them on so the position is very obvious.



Here you can see the vanes in his crest. They're going to need just a touch more green stuff or zap-a-gap, but they're pretty much done.



And his cleaner, neater dorsal line. Much better!



And this is the stand. It's got a mess of ink on it, but I'll probably have to toss some black paint down on some of the deeper cracks. Then I'll have to go back over it with gray again, get some lichen mixed up and down, and the snakes painted. I like the brass color of the pin, so it's going to stay unpainted. I can't really hide it anyway, so I may as well leave it a color I like.

These are bits for the palanquin. At left is the seat's back; next is the base for Tetto'Eko's staff; at far right are pairs of horns that will be jutting from the seat's back.

And these crude things will eventually become an orrery to top Tetto'Eko's staff. They're hideous looking now, but a little more green stuff and a touch of sanding will make them look much nicer. (An orrery is a mechanical device that models heavenly activity; think concentric rings of a gyroscope.)

This is where horns -- not the same ones as above! -- will go into the palanquin. There will be more ivory that will go across these as arm rests. Knotted rope -- made of green stuff, of course -- will adorn the bottom of these horns and tie the pieces together.

Here's the back, at an angle. This is a very bare, core piece and will probably be entirely covered in green stuff by the time I'm done. That dot near the bottom is where a spike will project.

And here's a frontal view.

Tetto'Eko, part II

Tetto'Eko is coming right along.



Here you can see his crossed legs, little upturned feet, arms and face. This was all done on top of the Milliput base using green stuff; the Milliput was rock-hard by now, so it was quite easy to modify. I really like the stuff!



You might notice that his face is much longer now. I had to extend it with the green stuff, but I'm glad I had molded it too short with the Milliput -- it made making his snout much easier. I would have had to sanded back otherwise. It's nice when one learns a lesson without making a mistake.



And there are his hands. They look like they're different sizes, but they're not -- just differently positioned. However, the disparity, illusion or not, is pretty large, and it annoys me. If I do end up remaking this guy, his hands will get the most attention -- they were really difficult! I'll definitely be making them both at the same time; this time, I just made one, put it on, then started on the other.

And here you can see his scales. The dorsal line down his back is uneven; I later trimmed and sanded it, so it doesn't look like an afterthought. It's still hard to tell from this angle, but his right hand is in lotus position, with thumb and forefinger touching. That pose is a large part of why his hands ended up being so challenging -- I'm going to have to wait for the green stuff to harden next time before trying to mold it. That'll make keeping it in shape much less annoying.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my first scratch-built piece. However, I'm really annoyed at those hands!

Remember that base Tetto'Eko will sit on? Here it is, all sanded down. You can still see some divets and such; that's OK, it's supposed to be old and worn. Still, I'll have to tighten down on other pieces -- those weren't intentional flaws, ha ha.

This is a size comparison between Tetto'Eko, his palanquin, and the snake that'll be on the base. I said there'd be a significant size difference! Oh, and that's not mustard on the table -- it's half of the green stuff epoxy. Mixing that with its blue partner results in a green putty that's tacky, elastic and moldable; it hardens to unworkability in an hour or two. It's great for detail work, but it's so soft that it's constantly drooping.

Here's the palanquin with the glyphs added. Yes, the cornices are crooked! This was before sanding. I trimmed, sanded and repaired an area I'd smushed while working. (I keep smushing areas and leaving fingerprints everywhere, it's maddening. I imagine at least 15% of what separates amateurs from pros is knowing how to hold a work in progress.)

And here's a taste of what the floating palanquin will look like. Although the same-sized black bases were used to make the floating bit, it's now quite a bit wider than the base, so the whole piece looks a little top heavy; I'm not sure if I like that or not. I may switch over to a larger square base for aesthetic reasons. It'll make playing a game with ol' Tetto a little problematic, but them's the breaks.

There's no way I was going to leave that boring base alone. This got the same treatment as my slann base, but less detailed; I have a lot of snakes that will go on this one, so there was no reason to go overboard on the cracks and pores of the stones. When this is dry, I'll trim up the sides -- right now, it's really messy and green stuff is spilling over the edges -- then paint it. These bases are so quick to get color on that it's pointless to leave them bare. Oh, and that blue stuff is the other half of the green stuff epoxy.

Here's the second tier of the palanquin. It's hard to tell from this angle, but there's a lot of gaps and seams that need to be corrected before I can go forward from here. See how much cleaner the cornices are, though?

And here's the work so far! that palanquin base looks terribly uneven, but I think it's just the photo. It is a little uneven in real life, but not to this degree. The shadows make it worse, I swear! In any case, the next step -- adding backing to the palanquin and handlebars -- should offset it. I still need to add a few little toys to the piece; it'll be rather bare if I just stopped after making the chair. I'm going to have to put Tetto'Eko's staff on the chair somewhere, but I'm also thinking a bowl of ixti grubs for him to snack on. Can't fight chaos on an empty stomach!

Tetto'Eko

Tetto'Eko is pure awesome. He's a skink priest who's been awarded a floating palanquin normally reserved for the slann mage-priests. (For the uninitiated, skinks are the small, intelligent lizardmen that run the cities and attend the slann. The slann are the ancient, powerful wizards who lead lizardman society.) How'd he get such an honor? By pulling a giant comet from the sky and slamming into a nest of rat men. From a fluff standpoint, he's the coolest character in the army book; from a modeling standpoint, he's a great challenge.



There's the Milliput frame for the body. Tetto'Eko is going to be in the lotus position -- folded legs and upturned hands on his knees.

I've never used Milliput before, but it's wonderful. It cracks when molded, making it unsuitable for detail work, but it cures quickly while staying moldable for a while. Something I'd change in the future would be to create my wire frame first -- I added pins to the different pieces as I worked. It also has more tensile strength than green stuff, meaning pieces can be made, propped up and left alone -- no constant watching!



There he is without any scale. Yes, he's rough, and yes, those are my fingerprints. (Hand made!) I'm going to sand down his chin, sand off the fingerprints and then go to town with green stuff. It'll go in all the joints, it'll make up his lower legs, his arms, his facial features and details like his crest and scales.



This is the unsanded base for the palanquin. It's quite a bit larger than Tetto'Eko is, but that's because the lizardmen can't make new palanquins. So, he gets to sit on a floating chair much, much larger than him. The fact that he'll be dwarfed by the carriage makes me laugh every time I think of it. Once sanded, lizardman glyphs will be added to the four sides and a second tier will be added, with hand-sculpted glyphs on its edge. Then large armrests and backing will be placed on the piece. The whole thing will be put on a sturdy brass pin and placed on a medium-sized square base.

These two sets of glyphs will ring the bottom of the palanquin. They're a little shorter than the sides of that piece, so I'll have to green stuff in cornices, but that's OK -- it'll give me a chance to come up with some toppers, like little snakes or skulls or something equally jungle-y.

This snake will be on the actual base of Tetto'Eko's model. Snakes are integral to Tetto'Eko's army; they're the totem animals of Sotek, the highest god of the lizardmen. This snake is very large, and will be a central attraction of the base, but several smaller snakes will dot the base and palanquin.