I have recently spoken with Alan Perry, one of the sculptors behind the original big hat range alongside countless other sculpts we grew up with , including a lot of the first waves of the LOTR minis.
He, and perhaps his brother Michael, may be up for doing an interview for our humble little zine!
Now caveat: this isn’t a dead cert like the Priestley one. I already had a dialogue going with Rick around a game of his that I play and write fan rules for. This is a different situation. It’s completely out of the blue and they are going to see if and when they can fit us in.
@chitzkoi got their contact info for me and I messaged them last week. Alan said he’d read the the Rick interview and it brought back some good memories and that he and his bro may be able to answer some questions for us. He also said the big hats were half a lifetime ago so he’s try his best but he may be a little vague!
He’s got a busy couple of weeks so I’ll send him
Some questions 2-3 weeks from now.
So - just like last time gents. What would you like to ask these members of wargaming royalty about?
Amazing! Some technical stuff.
I always noticed how the bull centaurs bustos are more detailed that regular chaos dwarfs. Is there a specific reason behind, who made them?
How the concept of bull centaurs was developed. There were some concept drawings or came out of the blue from the Perrys’ genius?
Hobgoblins. One of the best concepts ever in Warhammer. How they developed their aestetics? The phrigian hats, why? The belly… too many questions
The fathers of the best models ever produced!
Were there any possible mythological inspirations for those classic sculpts? the exaggerated facial features of the Stone Trolls are incredibly evocative of Henson and Nordic arts etc.
And also, did they get any say with the art direction of a factions like the CD or Bretonnia? Did they come up with the ancient civ motifs like Lamassu and the beards?
Its an interesting evolution to see their aesthetics change, like with the Brets from the citadel fighters to the 5th edition sculpts (which still hold up better than the newer plastics)
This is a tough one, but doing cool stuff is never easy. I think the most valuable thing would be to send them the SOLS pages for the bighat range as a starter to make sure they are primed properly.
Then, I would start with:
What’s your recollection of the “bigger hats” story from back in the day?
When you look across the bighat range, what pieces stand out to you as a sculptor and why?
Your sculpts have defined an entire genre of dwarf, with legions of artists and sculptors following the design cues and motifs you set down. Why do you think the aesthetic has been so resilient and popular?
Your passion for historical and realistic miniatures is evident from your current work. Does inspiration ever strike for “one last job” in heroic high fantasy?
And yeah sending pics of the range alongside questions is a good shout. We have to remember that these dudes have sculpted thousands of models over many many decades. It would be hard to remember and exact one.
I’m considering a question about how these two greenstuff experts feel about the rise of digital sculpting, whether they’ve tried their hand at it, and what they think about the future of “traditional” sculpting.
We are a forum with a foot in both camps. For every Fabelzel and Red doing amazing things with a computer we have a Fuggit or an Admiral doing equally impressive things with classic methods.
I like all of these questions so far, so consider this a vote of support for everything already asked. I have some new questions as well, though screen the question about Michael Perry’s injury for appropriateness. The justification (which I understand might not be acceptable) is that I taught myself to write with my left hand during the COVID lockdown, but I still can’t draw, paint, or sculpt with it.
Could Michael recommend any tasks or exercises for people who wish to learn left-handed artistry, whether sculpting or drawing? Are there any methods of training that hand which worked particularly well?
Does Perry Miniatures have any plans to release any books about the Anglo-Afghan War similar to the books for other campaigns?
Currently, the earliest campaigns which Perry Miniatures covers are the Crusades, the War of the Roses, and the Samurai range. Are there plans to sculpt miniatures for any earlier periods?
This is a real good Q. The fact he retrained like that after the injury is AMAZING. For a lot of guys that would have been career over. Just an amazing story of resilience and self discipline. Would love to hear more about it.
Extra question from me (to be reworded properly at some point):
GW used to credit sculptors. We knew growing up that this was a Kev adams goblin, a Jez goodwin noise marine or a Perry Bretonnian.
In later years the crediting ceased. Did this begin during or after your time at the company? How do you feel about this choice? Is it because minis are now sculpted by teams as opposed to individuals?
is there a reason for the remake of chaos dwarf centaur body 3 and them being sold under the same catalogue number?
A couple of years ago I posted the picture of the 2 different versions (here from the wiki: http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/wiki/index.php?title=Image:Bull_Centaur_with_axe_3a.JPG). and there was topic on this body variants on the old forum.
I can’t recall if somebody had an answer, but it would be great to know if the Twins can tell us something about.
If we are going to be that specific, I’m a bit curious about how the bull centaur dwarf torso never quite matches the bull part. It’s like they got the orientation of the oval round the wrong way for the bull.
Il put the Uber specific questions to them , but bare in mind it’s been a long time and countless projects since, some of these answers may not be able to be recalled. No harm in asking though
