Very good start! Don’t hesitate to add all manner of little realism details and challenge your skills a bit to make this sculpt a must-have masterpiece for many evil dwarf collectors, not only Oldhammerers.
Very good start! Don't hesitate to add all manner of little realism details and challenge your skills a bit to make this sculpt a must-have masterpiece for many evil dwarf collectors, not only Oldhammerers. ;)
Good call, I’m going to do some more work on the face, especially round the eyes. I was going to go for a more squinting look. Hairy eyebrows would look good too. Lots of warts will be added to the skin. A chain on the rear legs too. Mayhap some Glymphs and runes on the manacles.
Looks good! Here’s some tips to help you take this to the next level. I hope you consider them carefully, because this model deserves that kind of attention and it could help it sell well, or at least be even better received by customers.
How about scoring a few wounds/scars/gashes in the demon monster? One could even be over one of the eyes. If even further brutality would be wanted, score a wound somewhere on the body and then sculpt some stitches suggesting it’s been sewn shut. Just to show its mistreatment at the hands of the Dwarfs. Likewise, if you want to give its fur and hair a more ragged appearance, it might be worth adding a few rogue tufts of hair sticking out from the sleek flow of fur and hair already on the models, a bit akin to these rugged furs.
Also, as a mark of ownership/demonic servitude/ritual enslavement or whatever, how about adding a raised scar tattoo in some rune shape to a flank or thigh of the monstrosity? A bit like in the picture below, but way more sparsely.
Likewise, a nose ring could help impress the image of a tamed animal, though it would stray from the original ass cannon look decidedly, given how focal the face of a miniature is.
Bulging veins, akin to those on this AoW Dwarf or on Rozmax’s berzerkers could be added, but be careful and don’t overdo it by making too many, too long or too fat veins if you were to sculpt them! The key to bulging veins on miniatures is less is more, and place those few ones strategically. It can really add to a model, especially one this big. Some potential veins (and warts) could be placed onto the spine barrel, adding a bizarre sense of organic matter. Plus, bulging veins will make the ass cannon look like it’s straining hard. Veins would work on the back of the hands, too.
As for the plank platform onto which the demon is shackled, how about adding a few gnarled bones, half a skull, maybe a cut-off hand or similar evidence of feeding? Likewise, tongs and other tools could be lying flat on the deck to give some sense of artillery equipment strewn about. Details like these would help make the model “pop”, though they should not take over by sheer abundance.
Something else to consider, is adding a new separate piece to the mould(s), namely a pile or pyramid of bomb shells, preferably with Daemonic faces (eg. one could leer, a second jeer, another cheer, a fourth could be surly, while yet another face could just be a whirly spiral). The ammunition pile in Clam’s diorama piece works well and adds to the scene, thus to have such a pile included in the kit would be great, particularly with faces on the cannon balls. It would even be possible to attach a small gunpowder keg, pot or water bucket with a rag on the edge of such an ammunition pyramid if one wanted that extra artillery sense.
Very good! Better by each update, and thanks for using the tips.
A couple of more stray ideas:
Old cannon barrels often sported a pair of horns or hoops on top, rings for hoisting them about, effectively. I have no idea if this would be appropriate on your ass cannon, but I mimicked those hoops on a cannon conversion of my own, in the shape of horns. You might want to consider adding something similar and not overly large to your sculpt, but it could end up cluttered or difficult to cast.
Another thing which I’m not so sure would work, is a couple of small patches of overlapping scales sticking forth from a few choice spots, in effect having the fur transit into jutting areas of scales in odd places (but not replacing any existing fur), such as behind the ears and halfway down the barrel in parallel with the knees. This would underline the otherworldly demonic nature of the monster.
Besides, those broad manacles will look great with runes on them!