|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 15, 2015 16:14:06 GMT
 Those are absolutely perfect! I love everything about them. Now I have to find some poppy pods.... How do they hold up? Are they dried out and brittle? PVA glue wash to strengthen them? Tell me more  Yes, they are wonderfully alien-looking! They'd also work geat in SciFi terrain (tyranids, anyone?) They're surprisingly sturdy. Of course the heavy hotglue texturing on the stems helped to strenghten them even more. If you're still unsure, you can insert a strong thread in the stems, but I didn't find that necessary. The only PVA I used was to close the holes around the pod, because the tiny seeds kept falling out. [update] Finished the first one: Fired...  ...and stoned:  I like it, but I'm curious how they look in green and blue... |
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 15, 2015 18:29:28 GMT
Finished the spores:  |
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 22, 2015 14:51:27 GMT
The mushroom shrineUnfortunately I don’t have the time to create an elaborate story around this as I did with some previous entries. Basically, it’s a humungous fungus: 30 cm high, 40 cm diameter. Tutorial --> see next posting.   Q: Why? A: That is totally the wrong question. Why not?  As I wrote recently, I wanted to double the biomass of all my fungoid creations I’ve done so far with a single mushroom, but if I’m honest, that wasn’t the deciding point. In fact, I had already started the project when I wrote that, so that statement was more of a teaser. I guess the real reason is that simply wanted to do a truly humungous fungus... Q: What for? A: This mushroom will be not only a NPC in my underdark campaign (possibly the weirdest one the party ever encountered – he’ll ‘talk’ to them via telepathic or empathic spores!) but also a piece of terrain: There will be definitely a fast-paced fight with this thing in the center! And as I made the underside of the cap as detailed as the top side, I will have someone cast a ‘reverse gravity’ spell on the party and some enemies. They’ll ‘fall up’ on the underside of the cap (giving me a nice reason to reduce their hitpoints a bit, after all the party is around level 11 (2nd edition ADnD)), I’ll reverse the cap and we’ll have I fight between the lamellae. The whole thing is quite top-heavy, so I might have to fill the pringles roll with something heavy, maybe several small bags of sand... You might use a giant fungus like that as the centerpiece in a campaign/encounter in Hraak Azul* (4E’s Underdark sourcebook), or Araumycos** in the Forgotten Realms, or any other self-invented trip to fungiland. * Hraak Azul: A giant fungal fortress/realm that slowly crawls through the Underdark and is co-inhabited by troglodites, or Araumycos in the Forgotten Realms  (picture from WotC’s DnD 4E Underdark sourcebook) Fanfiction from villains-harkenwold.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/as-you-delve-into-the-underdark** Araumycos ...okok, I did it: Here’s a small story. Couldn’t post this thing without some context. Sir Gneld, the nurseAfter Sir Gneld of the Four Scales stepped through the ancient portal, he found himself surrounded by a quartet of ancient ruins, eroded beyond recognition by untold ages in the moist, dripping darkness of a huge cavern.  After his eyes adjusted, he found that there was light: Funghi glowed everywhere, more species than even the self-appointed fungus expert knew.  Everything was silent and peaceful, but the gnome knew that he was in more trouble than one might suspect. His giant nose (which he was extremely proud of) told him that the air was filled with myriads of spores, some could be seen as glowing mists drifting through the air, but most of them probably invisible. He hadn’t any protection against them, so he had most probably become infected the moment he stepped through the gate. There was nothing to do against that now, so better get on, take a quick look at the environs and then back through the portal and as fast as possible to the nearest temple to get a cure. Sir Gneld began exploring the huge cavern, and after a few steps encountered the largest mushroom he had ever seen. This green-glowing, tentacled bulbous monstrosity was as large as a human house, and it mind-talked to him. He couldn’t understand specific words, only vague concepts and mental images. It seemed to be some kind of herald or keeper, but keeper of what?  The mushroom seemed to understand the gnome’s question, and pointed to the right with it’s tentacles. Sir Gneld’s mouth fell, as his eyes followed. And discovered for the second time in the last five minutes the largest mushroom he had ever encountered. What first looked like a giant stalagmite overgrown with funghi,...  ...turned out to be the stem of... wow.     Awestruck, the gnome stood under the cap of the giant. It felt like standing in a cathedral.   Reverently, the gnome cast a fly spell and ascended above the cap. It was so large that the mushroom cap had other mushrooms growing on it, some of them as large as the gnome himself. There were glowing spores growing from the giant, levitating and softly swaying in the breeze.    Then the giant fungus began mind-talking to Sir Gneld. It’s enormous thoughts hit the gnome like a hammer, seeped in his mind like water, anchoring themselves there like the threads of a mycel. TAKE ME TO ANOTHER PLACE. HELP ME GROW.Sir Gneld had no idea how long he had been standing there when the conversation ended. His mind was floating, flooded with impressions of an unknowable age, of piece and the imperative to survive, and to spread. One of the giant spores started drifting towards the gnome. When it was only a inches from his face, it softly burst and enveloped the gnome in a green, glowing cloud. Sir Gneld inhaled as deep as he could. A feeling of tenderness washed over him, as he imagined cradling millions of babies in his arms. Oh yes, he would find them a new home.  
|
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 22, 2015 14:54:25 GMT
Tutorial
The lamellaeCut the shapes of the lamellae, texturize them and glue them to a cardboard ring.    I made the mistake of painting them first because I thought it’s easier to paint them at this stage than later, when they are all glued in. Don’t do this – you want a uniform color scheme and it’s impossible to match the rest of the cap’s underside later.   The stemA pringles roll is perfect for this size. I glued some cloud-shaped pasta on and applied plenty of hotglue for texture.   Some spackle over the whole thing...  ...primed black and drybrushed grey.  A heavy drybrushing of neongreen, plus a very light dusting around these areas to give it the effect of a glow.    The capGlue a pringles cap into the ring   An old cardboard plate as the centerpiece of the mushroom cap  Testing the texture and color concept (spackle, black priming, darkgrey and neongreen drybrushing). This is just for practice and to re-validate if what worked on the stem will look good on the cap as well.  Time for paper maché...   This was the moment it dawned on me how friggin huge this thing will become... The underside showed that I had used way too much paper maché, so I had to rip some out again while it was still wet.  Applying spackle, lots of it.  ...and of course scrap metal for magnetized features later on!  Little clay balls (the stuff you put in your flower’s pots)  Glue them in with generous amounts of whiteglue. You can’t possibly use too much here. Just take care to leave the surface of the spheres clean.   More pasta growths and hotglue veins...  ...and – yes – scrap metal!  Paint the network hotglue veins in solid neongreen...  ...and then hide most of it under a heavy drybrushing coat of black (careful stippling might work even better)   Drybrush the black areas with dark grey...   ...and finally some very light white highlights, plus an extremely fine drybrushing of neongreen to give it that glowing effect (it’s hard to see on the pictures, but this subtle greenish glow really sells it!).  The underside of the capI drybrushed only green and didn’t use any grey. The effect is that green glows more than on the upper side as you have more contrast to the black. Which is logical, because it should be darker below the cap (whatever that is worth in an underdark environment *g*)    The spores I painted in pure neongreen, then put a light black drybrushing on to give it some visual interest. ...finally, here is the missing context that curufin pointed out in the spores posting some days ago!     
|
|
|
|
Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Feb 22, 2015 15:20:24 GMT
Howdy,
I admit it...You have more Fungi than me!
Great work Tauster.
I gotta make more mushrooms,
Kev!
|
|
|
|
Post by michka on Feb 22, 2015 18:03:27 GMT
Holy Cats! That's no moon. That's a mushroom!!!
Fantastic work sir. You are the master of fungi.
|
|
|
|
Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 22, 2015 22:58:42 GMT
i'm so laughing right now. laughing at the poor gnome becoming the brainwashed slave of a giant mushroom !
very nice work pal. but again... when are we seeing the man sized creature infected by spores and having a mushroom or fungi grow over him ?
|
|
|
|
Post by vestrivan on Feb 23, 2015 6:24:50 GMT
This giant mushroom is really awesome! Thanks for the tutorial!
|
|
|
|
Post by curufin on Feb 23, 2015 13:06:05 GMT
Sir Gneld, Nooooooooooo! Really stellar work, tauster! It's awesome seeing all the little pieces on one playing surface. This is how I imagine Zuggtmoy's back yard looks. Love the araumycos and all of the other fungi growing from it! Great job! |
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 23, 2015 20:07:27 GMT
i'm so laughing right now. laughing at the poor gnome becoming the brainwashed slave of a giant mushroom ! very nice work pal. but again... when are we seeing the man sized creature infected by spores and having a mushroom or fungi grow over him ? Just as a bit of real-world trivia: There is a type of fungus that infects ants and changes how they behave.  Next time your players complain that you're too mean with their enchanted or spore-infected PCs, ask them to google "fungus that takes over ants". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis@ the other commentators: Thanks for the praise!  |
|
julian
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 43 
|
Post by julian on Feb 24, 2015 19:20:31 GMT
I remember seeing an article about that a while back - downright creepy! Now imagine that making the jump to people, hehehe...
|
|
milojaggerson
Paint Manipulator
Laying tile on the floors...
Posts: 161
|
Post by milojaggerson on Feb 24, 2015 20:46:54 GMT
I remember seeing an article about that a while back - downright creepy! Now imagine that making the jump to people, hehehe... "The Last of Us" Sony PlayStation... |
|
|
|
Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 24, 2015 21:15:12 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Sam on Feb 25, 2015 23:57:21 GMT
Your fungi assortment is awesome. Great work on everything. Finally made a few mushrooms myself. Mine are nothing special, but if I need more inspiration, I know where to look. imageshack.com/i/exvCqsRPj |
|
|
|
Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Feb 26, 2015 18:14:20 GMT
Howdy,  Tauster, it's you... I couldn't resist, Kev! |
|
|
|
Post by vestrivan on Feb 26, 2015 18:19:43 GMT
Howdy, Tauster, it's you... I couldn't resist, Kev! The Shroom Lord! |
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Feb 26, 2015 18:41:05 GMT
Loooool! But wait... Uh, oh, erm... mushrooms growing all over the body? Shroom Lord's gotta have one hell of a personal hygiene deficit! Otherwise, awesome mini! |
|
julian
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 43
|
Post by julian on Feb 26, 2015 21:29:13 GMT
I remember seeing an article about that a while back - downright creepy! Now imagine that making the jump to people, hehehe... "The Last of Us" Sony PlayStation... Okay, so had I had to go look that up, but YES! |
|
|
|
Post by tauster on Mar 7, 2015 20:40:31 GMT
More flying spores! This time I left out the wire and simply based them on a bottlecap. Quick and easy to craft (I made all of these in about 1h) and lookin' totally strange. I love them! Pre-texture the caps with a bit of hotglue  Put some more hotglue on the cap, plus a bit on the clay ball. Wait until is has lost some of it's heat, put it on and draw it almost off repeatedly, until you like the results. Heavily blew on it to cool the glue faster. It's impossible to really describe this step better - just play around and find out what works and what not.   I blackbased some and rubbleflocked the rest. (Huzzah - both of my invented words in one sentence!) One thing I could improve though is crafting sequence: It's probably much better to glue them to the finished base, as it is not so easy painting around the hotglue strands... |
|
|
|
Post by michka on Mar 7, 2015 21:36:21 GMT
I was just going to say you might want to prime the base first. These do look awesome! But where's Lady Forscale?
|
|
Those are absolutely perfect! I love everything about them. Now I have to find some poppy pods....
Cheers!