Started on terradons

So, here's the start to the terradons. I'm trying a different approach with these -- I've got a base frame started. I found some cheap, medium-gague copper jewelry wire (about $3 for 7 or 9 yards). It's got a good amount of tensile strength but is still flexible. I had to use pliers to clamp and twist the wire at the heads, but was otherwise able to craft the frames with my hands.



The wings are made of stencil material. It's light, flexible plastic that's easy to cut. The frame is made of two lengths of copper wire, connected with a blob of Milliput. The wings were forced into the putty when it was still wet; I then shaped the wing vanes to the wings, added a dab of super glue, clipped them and let them set overnight.

Second, I began working on the body. I'm going to cover the vanes of the wings in Milliput, like this; it's really rough right now, but most of that will be smoothed out and later sanded down. Superglue was added to the Milliput and wing intersection; I really want to get those wings sturdy!

You can see the back here. It looks really silly right now, but I think I'm going to need it that tall. I'm going to be adding a lot of shoulder muscling with green stuff, and I'll also be smoothing out a lot of the body with green stuff. (I have a suspicion that these guys are going to be expensive -- about $10 in materials is my guess. Thank goodness I'm planning on casting them, not making more.)

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!

One model down -- what'd we learn?

I feel like I have to enunciate what worked -- and what didn't -- about Tetto'Eko. Organized reflection is the best way to make sense of an experience, so I think it's important to review what I learned while making him.

The bad:
1) Organization. This is a broad topic, so I'm going to break it down a little bit.
First: I had no precise vision of what I wanted. In the future, I'm going to create a sketch of what I'll be sculpting. While the final composition worked for Tetto'Eko, having a reference -- even if I end up deviating from it -- will reduce some of the experimenting I ended up discarding. (There were going to be vines on the palanquin, for example, but modeling showed it was just too busy.) I typically do things somewhat fast and loose, so I don't want to bind myself too tightly to a predetermined design, but Tetto'Eko was a little too loose. A perfect example: Tetto'Eko's staff. Not only is the staff itself really rough -- partly a result of not having a solid direction for it -- but neither the palanquin nor Tetto'Eko were designed to carry it. Oops!
Second: For organic shapes, having a physical frame to build from will be invaluable. I mentioned this earlier, but connecting blobs of Milliput for Tetto'Eko's core was a major pain in the rear. I pinned them -- that is, I connected them with small pieces of metal -- but building on an existing frame would be much better. I'm going to try building on small blobs over a wire frame next time. (At this rate, I may actually finish off my box of paper clips that I use to pin and frame things!)

2) Craftsmanship. Again, a broad topic.
First: Part of the success of this piece came from the fact that I didn't have to sculpt small, intricate pieces very often. When I did, I could usually cheat a little bit and do them in two dimensions. (See the plaques on the palanquin's back.) However, where I had to do actual, three-dimensional sculpting, I typically failed. Examples: the base's cornices, which I had to rebuild; the knotted rope around the base of the horns, which I had to repair; Tetto'Eko's staff. Part of the solution is just being more patient and aware; that will go a long way toward not damaging soft green stuff and in ensuring that it's properly shaped the first time. Another is in the use of my materials; the staff would have come out a lot nicer if I cut thin strips of mostly cured green stuff and glued them into place, rather than trying to craft concentric rings. I've got shaky hands, so trying to go the more delicate and intense route was just a silly idea -- better to fake the piece a little than try something beyond my current skills.
Second: Better tools will go a long way toward helping, too. I was constantly wishing I had good files (mine are all clogged and disgusting, and weren't that amazing to begin with) and real sandpaper (I was using this stuff called glass paper, which is supposed to be reusable. Maybe it would be if I didn't take the grain off it with one go!). I'm also going to keep my eyes out for a squared-off bit of metal on a handle. Having something to square corners will be much-welcomed (I had been using the back edge of my hobby knife, which wasn't terrible, I guess). In terms of work area, I'm going to see if I can't find wax paper that's a little nicer than the kitchen variety; I had a consistent problem of the wax sticking to my green stuff bits, making them lose their tackiness. This wasn't normally a problem -- we have super glue for a reason -- but when I needed the green stuff to stay sticky, it was a huge pain in the rear. Also, I'll probably get a small jar of mineral oil to lubricate some pieces; green stuff doesn't stick to water, but water beads up, making it less than ideal for working on the wax paper or on small pieces. On Milliput, water's a no go for lubrication -- the stuff reacts to water a lot like clay while it's uncured.

The good:
1) Detail wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Building up the detail, bit by bit, worked out well. When I tried cutting to create definition, it usually failed, but it was all easily repaired by just building up again. When building, underestimating something's size is better than overestimating it; it's easier to build up than to pare down.

And the neutral:
1) The composition of a miniature affects painting in ways I never really considered before. While Tetto'Eko himself works on his palanquin, he would have been a failure as a stand-alone model -- he's just too bare! Painting him by himself would have required some creative use of color to make him interesting. When I make my terradon riders, I'll keep that in mind -- a little bling will go a long way to breaking up the miniature, especially on those long wings and crests the terradons will sport.

What's next?
Terradon riders are my next big project. I'll be building three of them. The major differences won't be in sculpting, but what I'll be doing afterward: Once they're built, I'm going to saw them into pieces and cast the parts with resin. This way I'll be able to have several riders. Eventually I'll purchase the real ones so I can play in tournaments (though I'll probably keep using the ones I made whenever possible), but this will let me play the game at a not-insane monetary cost in the meantime. (And let's be honest, I've sunk a lot of money into the hobby over the years anyway.) Additionally, I'll be sculpting extra legs for the terradons -- they start the battle carrying rocks, which they can drop on enemies; once they've dropped 'em, that's it for the aerial attacks. The resin casts will be half with rocks, half without; I'll have a handy visual guide to who has rocks still.

After that, I'm going to make a kroxigor. I have old ones, and those will do for now, but I want a really big one. The ones I have are 2 1/2, maybe 3 inches tall; the new ones are a little bigger still. I want to make one that's 6 inches or taller, in a nice action pose -- mouth open, fangs bared, charging forward and preparing to swing a massive club into a line of enemy troops. Essentially, I want the brute to be as big as possible for its base size!

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.

Help!

All real artists have assistants, so I figured I'd hire one. All I could afford was my cat, Chicken.



Here she's learning by observing.

And now she's helping! She's helping, everyone run, too much help!

Salamanders

Salamanders are fire-breathing lizards. These are, again, older models that are no longer available, which is a shame -- the new models look like a cat had a baby with a fish and it learned to look absolutely hideous.

I don't plan on using these guys, which are sort of the war machines for lizardmen, in my smaller armies -- they serve a purpose, but terradon riders seem like a better overall unit when huge sets of infantry won't be around. They'll show up in my 2,250-point forces.



The two I have have been minorly modified. Both got heavy bronze piercings in their dorsal fins -- something I'm kinda meh on now, and may remove -- and both had heavy chains added to their necks. This one got the really heavy chain; it looks ridiculous, but I love it!

They both have been hit with a base of paint; this one got the bright red, the other got the brick red. I'm still learning how to use the new washes; sharp-eyed viewers may notice that some of this model is washed, but the midsection isn't. That's because I watered this wash down too much, and it ran to the lower parts of the model. ("New washes?" those in the know may ask. Games Workshop hasn't released a new wash in years! ... aaand I was still using those old washes. I really stocked up!)