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Post by Erasmas on Sept 26, 2014 19:39:53 GMT
Sorry for the juvenile title, but in truth... that's what I'm having a problem with. The creature is far from finished but he's coming along nicely (in my own opinion). I used some of the techniques shown by DMScotty in his Purple Worm video to create the body of this guy. The campaign that he is for will be Oriental in nature and he is supposed to be a golem that is comprised of the gravemarkers/cemetary statues from dishonored ancestors, held together by their unrestful spirit energies. I have the idea for the execution of his body and it it already in full swing. However, I think I may have painted myself into a bit of a corner by putting him on a base that is a little small (5"x5"). The issue I am having is what to do with the design when it comes to his backside... I don't want to do a "tail" per se, and would love to have it look like the spiritual "essences" are gathering up to form his core. One of the biggest issues it that I want it to blend into the roundness of his body enough to not draw attention to the transition. The other is that I am afraid of leaving the end of whatever I craft off of his base, and that being too fragile to handle. My initial instinct is to build an armature, slap some toilet paper mache (a la DMScotty) on it, wrap it a section of plastic grocery bag for base texture, and then hot glue over the top of that. But, I thought that I would ask around here first before attempting anything. So, any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Post by beetlewing on Sept 26, 2014 19:53:42 GMT
Two thoughts spring to mind:
First, because you have a tiered base, it'd be really easy to add one more layer that extends back further, so those 3 square bases would be sitting on a rectangle.
Second, your idea for the rear sounds great. You could also cut channels into the existing butt and taper it to help with the transition. For some visual impact, have the tail curl around one side of the creature/base, rather than just go straight back/down... Like he rose up and twisted around to one side.
Edit: just reread it and realized that you don't really want a tail, lol. You could also have his backside disappear into the doorway of a ruined mausoleum that's been tilted pretty far back, like the spirit part came from there and added the gravestones as he emerged.
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daveb
Paint Manipulator
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Posts: 139
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Post by daveb on Sept 26, 2014 22:52:08 GMT
Have you considered sculpting it with crumpled up aluminum foil and coating with hot glue for strength and texture? I'm not exactly sure what you're thinking of, but when I read your description I thought of the base for this model: www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Nagash
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Post by Erasmas on Sept 26, 2014 23:37:40 GMT
Dave: Yes, something like that is exactly what I was trying to get my head around! I had initially envisioned a thicker "stalk", but I like that soooo much better and think that it will be easily to achieve and make look more the way I want in my head. Here's what I'm thinking for a gameplan - thick gauge wire bent into shape for the tendrils (likely coat hanger or something similar), coat the mess out of them with hot glue, blend it in with foil and/or toilet paper mache and more hot glue. And I think Beetlewing is right... I was trying to avoid making his base even larger than it already is, but I think it's an inevitability if I want to keep them from getting bent/broken.
Thank you guys very much for the advice!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 16:59:14 GMT
That is quiet possibly the coolest monster I have seen.
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Post by Erasmas on Sept 27, 2014 18:56:36 GMT
Thank you, DanceswithHippos! I certainly hope that it turns out that way in the end.
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Post by beetlewing on Sept 30, 2014 16:40:14 GMT
I certainly hope that it turns out that way in the end.Ha! I see what you did there!
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Post by Erasmas on Sept 30, 2014 17:03:45 GMT
LOL
It wasn't intentional. Butt then again, maybe it was!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2015 14:18:11 GMT
Did you ever finish this?
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Post by Erasmas on Jun 3, 2015 14:45:44 GMT
Nope, not as of yet! That campaign is still very much in the works. I have been slowly accumulating more Asian "grave marker" type things to affix to him, so as to fill his body out more.
But he will see his day in the sun, for certain!
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Post by tauster on Jun 3, 2015 18:39:25 GMT
Nope, not as of yet! That campaign is still very much in the works. I have been slowly accumulating more Asian "grave marker" type things to affix to him, so as to fill his body out more. But he will see his day in the sun, for certain! Here's two ideas that might help you with your butt problem (SCNR *g*). 1) Add trailing ghostsI recently found a way to use strips cut from plastic bottles as an 'trailing ectoplasma' effect (see here and here). You can add these guys to the monster itself, either permanently glued on, or - even cooler - make them modular: Add magnets on their lower ends like I did, then glue on your dragon (and disguise between the tombstones and the paint) some metal scraps so you can click the ghosts on whenever and wherever you need them. That way you could make them 'body parts' of the main monster so the players can banish or kill them spearately. Give them separate hit points, and when the players dispose an individual ghost, you can simply detach it from the dragon's body. Spontaneous evil DM idea: Only when all ghosts are done with the dragon becomes vulnerable. 1B) Or, if you don't like the 'swooping ghost' idea, you can use these plastic strips to craft a curly tail end of ectoplasma (i.e. 'ghost stuff') that trails off into nothingness. 2) Make a separate tailThat's what I did with my giant Purple Worm (tutorials here): I made a separate tail end that I can put wherever I want on the battlefield (most probably around a 'hole in the ground' crater marker). If you make it light enough and add strong enough magnets, you could even put the tail on vertical surfaces so that the monster can walk through walls. 3) Bonus ideaYou could combine this with the first idea and make a separate end out of trailing, swooping ghosts.
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Post by Erasmas on Jun 3, 2015 18:52:37 GMT
Excellent, thank you for the fantastic ideas!
I will certainly be incorporating some of those.
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Post by tauster on Jun 24, 2015 19:12:51 GMT
any news on the project? I'd love to hear (and see) how this is coming along!
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 24, 2015 19:28:22 GMT
I'm in agreement with Tauster. Show us more
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Post by Erasmas on Jun 24, 2015 20:25:25 GMT
Sorry you guys, this is still sitting on my shelf for the time being!
The campaign is still somewhere around a year away... so the fire under my own butt is unfortunately not that big yet.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2015 21:58:36 GMT
Reapers next Kickstarter contains a large graveyard golem that looks pretty cool.
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Post by Erasmas on Aug 31, 2015 15:33:15 GMT
So, I finally got back to working on this guy this weekend! And boy did I get a ton of progress done. Thank you guys - it was the suggestions and enthusiasm from you guys about this issue that helped me to break through the roadblock and finish him up! After talking with my wife, and mentioning that I needed something like aquarium tubing to do this, she reminded me that I had saved all of the medical oxygen tubing that the NICU sent home with my son five years ago. Perfect! I got to work... First, I laid out my rough plan of attacking that ass. Surgery was up first. This was one of those moments as a crafter where you are standing on a precipice - where the next step that you are about to take will either propel the project forward or fill you to your core with regret for ruining all of the time and effort you have put in thus far. So, I took a deep breath and went for it. Alright, the cuts were now made. No turning back now. I had two different thicknesses of tubing at my disposal... and plenty of both. I needed a little more rigidity to these tendrils than the tubing alone could provide. So, wire coat hangers to the rescue! Inserted into the tubing and hot glued in place. This might just work! And I anchored it to the existing base, since the "energy" is supposed to be leeching up through the ground. This will be the point of origin. I tried simply hot gluing the various tubes together where they crossed, for adding support, but any moderate flexing along the length of them (such as reshaping the ends of these things with pliers) just popped the joints apart. So, I got some jewelry wire from my wife and lashed them together where it was needed. And then I just covered up the lashing with more hot glue! Coming along... And the proctologist's POV... I also added a few more of the "tombstone" decorations into the tendrils. Finished and ready to prime!
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Post by tauster on Aug 31, 2015 19:44:04 GMT
So glad to see you continuing on this beauty ...and her butt. I have these on-and-off projects all the time, btw. Interesting idea with the tubing. Can't wait to see it painted!
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Post by Erasmas on Sept 4, 2015 19:14:02 GMT
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Sept 11, 2015 16:22:04 GMT
Where did you get the bits you used to make him, if I may ask?
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