I have just today started to built me my own Chaos Dwarfs army.
So far i have built one from greenstuff, who awaits priming and his arm with axe. And maybe a hat, i still dont know.
This was my first try at sculpting something from greenstuff (well more my first try at sculpting anything) it was quite time consuming, but with some patience(aaaahhhaaaahaaaa! :mad ) i got nearly to the result i wanted…
Heres how i started:
This is the base, shoes and i had some leftover gs, so i built a shield from it.
After that i did the torso and when it hardend a little helmet, mask and with the leftover bobs the left arm.
Then i decided to do the beard and change the base a bit, i made the torso and base a bit small so i thought he could use a skirt (?) under his armor so he got a bit bigger.
the beard turned out great with the help of xanders excellent video tutorial, thanks a bunch for doing that xander! It was to no little feat your inspiring videos that brought me here and made me want to build CD’s. And i must say the armys showcased on this site really do look quite excellent, havent seen so good CD’s anywhere.
The base with the skirt and foot gave me some trouble, because i messed up the beard trying to hold the little guy and getting the feet right, so next time i shall put a stick in his, ahm, bum and things should work easier that way.
with the leftover bits i made some more masks and a little bag.
I havent quite decided if i give him a big hat, any comments on that :hat off
Anyway, i hope you enjoyed my little builders blog. I hope to do more soon. It took me all day tho, so i prolly will try to convert the next ones, before i start another scratch built one x.x
I hope the picture size is ok, if not let me know and i downsize them somewhat.
Thanks I did start with the bottom and tried to give it a torso at the same time bit that didn’t really work, because when i tried to add detail i distorted the other bits quite a bit, the GS really is a bit like chewing gum in that big a size.
So i put a blop down on my little metal piece, that stuck on pretty well, i pressed it down good so it wouldn’t slip. Then i used a scalpel, toothpick, and some cut drinking straws, i cut them off, so i had round and sharper tips, so i could do little cuts or bigger round cuts and indent the GS. With some water added the tools wont stick to the GS, without water the can pull at the surface of it, with water you can add detail, cuts, dents or smooth it.
Took a little while to get the basic form of the lower armour, then i made the ridges at the sides and back&front, after that i made the little plates in between. The main problem is, while you work on some thing at one side of the gs, you push the stuff on the other side around, one should probably use some sort of solid piece with the rough shape to add the detail later on top of it to avoid that. Thats why i mainly decided to do him in little pieces that i stuck together one after another, so i could shape them individually and not worry to much that i destroy already built things. I did it in that order bottom->torso->helm->mask->left arm->beard->skirt and feet
every bit first on the metal plate scuplted then i put them together after the first bit dryed a bit i stuck on the next one and so on.
I think the next one i will do rough base shapes, let them dry, add them together,let dry, add detail. Maybe some sort of wire skeleton inside could help, i saw that in some sculpting tutorials later on. Should one also give something to hold onto, i nearly had to redo half the beard when i did the foots to early and squished it a little…
Anyone got an idea tho how to do bigger parts with ease, like the bottom or the torso? I think one could use something else inside and cover it with greenstuff to sculpt it only on the outside. I am quite impatient, so waiting for the stuff to dry got on me nerves a bit hehe.
Love your work Mario ! Now problem I have found with greenstuff is that its like a a japanesse buffet you cant rush in and pile your plate high you need to do it in small peices over a long period of time. If you wanted to use a base like you mention I dont think you could go too far wrong with a pawn from Em4 minitures on this page
Thats an great idea, i shall pillage my old game collection for those! I think i want sushi now… Yeah i am way to impatient, i always have to slow me down when i paint so that i dont do it to thick or make a lot mistakes…
So today i had very little time but i worked a bit more on him, he is now primed and ready, i have some ideas for the base and i changed his shield a bit around, also i think he will get a bigger hat… Stay tuned, ill start painting him tomorrow
So i have painted em up, still a bit to go, but i am reasonably happy so far.
Have a look, any constructive critic welcome, i am here to learn.
click pic for bigger size.
Ah and he got a name, thanks to the great name generator i found on the forum! :hat off
You are right about the hat zanko, it is still a bit bland and i will change it somewhat, with detail. In the mockup i removed some of the lower edge because i thought about changing its form, but i havent done that yet, i will need to cut some pieces and work with GS a bit for that.
I was eager to assemble him and paint a bit. Eventually he will get a blunderbuss to i think, making him a little hero or something.
So what do you think, its my first greenstuff, my first chaos dwarf and i have so far maybe painted 60 minis in total :o
I have to say, whilst scratch sculpting a CD is admirable, aiming to scratch sculpt an entire army (if I understood that correctly) is a massive project… I could sculpt maybe 3 models a week, and I would not attempt this.
For the practice I think this is a very good effort, but the time involved you could have made a unit of battle for skull pass ones by now!
You are right and i will get the bfsp box and convert away i think, i just wanted to see if i can do it at all and built one from gs really.
When i first started with the warhammer stuff in end January, i was even hesitant to start painting because i thought i need to learn more to paint better and all that before i could do the “good” units. In the end i realized i should just get started and do stuff.
The more i try the more i learn, this was an test really. I can see so many things that are wrong with him, yet it is so satisfying to see one guy who i did nearly all by myself, the only thing i didnt do was his left arm and axe, those i got from a friend.
I know where you’re coming from, I went through a phase of feeling like the true test of my skills was to just completely scratch sculpt everything (still not entirely out of that ;)), but as a bit of general advice I suggest you only sculpt things that you cannot find better simply by converting existing stuff.
Hands are a classic example, it’s much easier (and often more effective) to just use existing stuff.
The other bit of advice is to always start sculpting from the back of units. That way by the time you get to the front your sculpting will have improved a bit. Save character models for later as well.
For a first sculpt it was certainly ambitious. It’s a good start I think, because the main thing that holds back sculptors is the drive to push your skills with every new model.
Thanks Loki He was looking odd without a hat, now he is the right size (maybe a little tiny for a dwarf, but ok)
heres a quick size comparison with a mates dwarf and my empire swordmen:
I have some trouble painting the red highlights, with blood red tho, maybe you can give me a tip, it always looks streaky and a bit like chalk sometimes. I paint it over my base coat of red gore.
I tried thinning it more or less but that didnt really help much either.
So it has been a while since i did anything for the CD’s, i have been busy painting away at my empire army, getting to the pistoliers there after the main regiments, its a lot fun.
But i got some really good news; a friend of mine got a big box of fun from his cousin, with lots of bits and armys and what not.
And he told heres some odd looking dwarfs, do you want those? I said, well if you must insist So it seems i will get some nice CD’s supposedly older ones, i have to see when they get here really looking forward to that.
Still wouldnt mind advise on red really, whenever i paint blood red it comes out weird and streaky, maybe i can take a pic of it, i will try.
Still wouldnt mind advise on red really, whenever i paint blood red it comes out weird and streaky, maybe i can take a pic of it, i will try.
Mario
If you are trying to paint a vibrant, bright red, try mixing some skull white into the blood red. Apply the pink to the model, repeat if necessary. Paint the blood red over this undercoat and the result is a very bright red.
Rot deckt schlecht, vor allem auf dunklen Farben, das gleiche gilt für Wei�Y, also mal lieber in mehreren dünnen Schichten um eine deckende, kräftige Farbe zu erhalten.
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So it seems i will get some nice CD’s supposedly older ones, i have to see when they get here