Plodding Along on The Gaming Table, Part I: Updated: 06/05/116

Thanks, Guys...I'm glad you liked it. I worked long & hard at becoming a CRAZY Old Man; it gratifying knowing I've succeeded in my endeavor.

Laney wrote:

Very cool - loving how it is developing - one question: Is the orange on the table there to represent the beginnings of a new level?

Most of the flat areas on the rock formations will have structures. The Orange [actually it's sort of a terracotta] is a different rock strata...there will be three or more different colored layers of rock. There will, however be a gatehouse or something similar on the oval section.

Laney wrote:

I love the denizens, in particular the ogre (is he a magus by any chance?).

Laney

The Ogre is a Hired Sword; the design on his abdominal armor is a Night Goblin thing.
Here are some individual shots of the Lads:





















The Stump Guy isn't really part of the Maudeheim Scene; he just wandered in & promised not to eat the rest of the Crew if he'd get his picture taken...I took it anyway .







Next time I'll post some pics of the Staff at Fast Flo's & other miscreants.
Comments & critiques are MOST WELCOME...mostly.

Those are awesome! Love the terrain and the goblins, the tree thing very cool.

Thanks, Daemoinus...glad you liked them.
Mordheimer got me going with the photography...SO I hope to be putting up LOTS of photos of my Little Horrors. I'm not sure if this is something you Guys should be looking forward to or dreading; if the latter, it's ALL Mordheimer's fault.

Ahahahah...Wily Tell...the famous swiss crossbowgoblin


The one who pinned an apple with one of his bolts in his master's forehead...

Awsome job...as always!

No words ....

In Spanish mean "cojonudo"

Thanks for the kind words, Guys. My stuff isn't really for the "serious" modeler/painter; it's more for Folks like myself with a strong sense of the absurd who look for the punch lines of life.

I've used my new but equally Demonically Possessed Camera of Continual Contrariness to take these photos of amazing mediocrity to show off my new additions to The Spooky Woods project. When I figure out the macro thingy, I'll inflict close-ups of the Beasties in you.

This is the prototype & the only remaining W.I.P. member of the initial batch of Strange:







AND the finished Whatevers:







As always your comments & critiques are MOST WELCOME...mostly.

Ace trees/treants - love the look of the whole thing (I might have to nick the idea for some future scenery projects!)

Laney

Thanks, Amigo; glad you liked the stuff...feel free to borrow any ideas you like. I managed to take some close-up of dubious quality; SO you should get a better idea what the Beastys look like; I'll be delighted to explain any procedure in the making & I may do a tutorial since it's been requested by one of the Guys on Tom's Forum.

Photos after the Braves' Game...CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

YEAY TUTORIAL!


I told Deaf that his creepy forest could make for an awesome game of Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland gone... wrong! HAHAH! Amazing work!

Thanks, Mord! I was thinking more Labyrinth or maybe The Nightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride, but the spooky woods from Oz might work.

NOW...READY OR NOT: HERE COME THE CLOSE-UPS:

































Comments & Critiques are the usual.

AND NOW THE FLOEDEBOLLE TREE from HELL!











The photo of the Notorious Dwarven Bandito, Johann Ringo, is here for a sizr comparison:



Sure DON'T leave a comment or critique & break an Old Man's heart.

I really like the trees! I mean, hehehehe.... sorry.... normally, terrain for me is something to have as a background. But YOUR terrain moves to the center stage! I would take even longer playing in the table with it... so many photo opportunities! HA!

I have not seen any 'angry' faces on the trees... I don't know if that fact makes the trees even creepier... it's like they KNOW I'm going to die... horribly!

Excellent work! I can see all of them in the goblin table. BRAVO!

There is so much win in this thread it hurts.

Thanks Guys...the kind words are appreciated.
With the number of painted minis building up & a low possibility of actually gaming with them, I'm drifting into making scenes to take photos...also sending some off as surprise packages to fellow gamers. This is probably yet another sign pf imminent senility.

This isn't much of a tutorial but what the heck.
The Mushroom begin life as a cone of either plumber's epoxy or G.S. depending on what I have mixed up or the level of detail/size required; i.e., the G.S. holds detail better & is easier to work with if the Mushroom is going to be small.

The cone is stuck onto a cocktail stick or bamboo skewer for larger Mushroom...a drop of crazy/super glue is a good idea.

Once on the stick, the edge is squeezed flat & tapered outward. For interest, the cone is gently twisted to give a spiral effect.

When dry another bit of putty is made into a cylinder & flattened. this is pressed onto the stick below the cap; pressed against the cap; & twisted into the spiral effect again.

Where the stem & cap touch, with a pointed sculpting tool or pin, the stem is pulled into thread-like extensionson to the underside of the cap. That wraps up the Mushroom proper For those that have faces, I drill two hole about 2/3s the way up the cap. into the holes I insert 2mm beads for eyes:



An example of the cap next to a completed mushroom with the "eyes" inserted.

Now just sculpt the face with Green stuff. For impressive looking teeth/fangs I use the tips from the cocktail tooth picks (not shown here).



Here two completed faces.

AND to demonstrate that Trees really do have faces:



I'd be delighted to answer any questions anyone might have...at least about the Mushrooms & Trees.

HAHAH! Thanks! I started reading the tutorial and I was like "Good... even I could do this!" Then you applied the sculpted the faces. It was like going from this...



to this...


IN ONE STEP! Yes, that is a CAKE.



I feel so small and tiny! Hehehe... thanks for the tutorial!

I thoroughly appreciate your efforts to supply us with a tutorial, but this is where it goes wrong:

DeafNala wrote:

Now just sculpt the face with Green stuff.

Note to DeafNala: we are not Godlike sculptors like you are.

Arachas wrote:

I thoroughly appreciate your efforts to supply us with a tutorial, but this is where it goes wrong:

DeafNala wrote:

Now just sculpt the face with Green stuff.

Note to DeafNala: we are not Godlike sculptors like you are.

...I always figure that if I can do it, ANYONE can do it.

SO once the eyes are in I do the nose...the nose, of course, is the focal point of the face & the center of the soul...gives you an idea of the proportion of my face occupied by my nose. Again it's a cone shape with a rounded bottom.

The point of the cone goes between the eyes.

Press the cone gently in place wit the point extending beyond the eyes.
divide the point & coax the two sections around to form arches over each eye.

Press your pointy sculpting tool into the left & right sides of the rounded part & pull the now flatten part down to form the upper lip. Pinch the nose when it get flatten to keep a thin bridge to the nose.

Next roll a sausage of G.S. with tapered end for the lower lip. NOTE if you are adding fangs, drill a couple of shallow hole where the lower lip will be & glue them into place before doing the lower lip.

Press the sausage into place curving it up or down for a smile or frown.

With the edge of your tool make a depression between the upper & lower lip & press line into the G.S. in the depression to form teeth.

Make three small balls of G,S.

Press one of the balls under the lower lip & work it into a chin drawing the putty down over the edge of the mushroom cap to the stem.

Press each of the other two balls under the eyes.

Form the cheeks by working the ball into a crescent under & around the eyes...do some laugh lines on the outside corners of the eye by pressing
into the tip of the crescent & drawing the lines away from the eyes.

Flatten & pull the lower portion of the crescent down parallel to the nose toward the chin until it forms the outside corners of the lower lip.

AND VIOLA you have a face.

The same method is used on The Trees...The Trees are slightly easier to do as they're larger & the work surface is flat. Looking at the photos of the completed faces make the description easier to follow, so here's the pic again:

Great stuff as per usual.

Next time I break out the greenstuff I'll need to give this a go!

Laney

Hahaha, nice counter. Thanks man, that DOES actually help a lot.

May even break out the sculpting tools Doomie sent me.

Thanks, Guys...I'm glad I got a bit closer to the mark. The next step is to send out samples.

Btw, Mord, my wife spotted that dragon while I was reading this thread. She's totally into baking and can do some awesome stuff herself (sticking a Barbie doll in a cake and making it look like it's wearing a dress, for example), but she nearly FAINTED when she saw that thing.

So nice find.

Wow, never been in this thread before, I'm new to the forums, but wow is everything in here absolutely amazing. I can't even begin to imagine having the skill to do all this, the sculpting and painting is truly incredible.

I too was thinking nice tutorial until you got to the sculpt the faces bit, where I suddenly thought, nope, can't do this. My GS skill is limited to filling in gaps, often badly, I once tried to make a plain mask, like the mask of Jason Voorhees but the only detail being eye holes and it failed miserably.

Well off to dream about making stuff this amazing, keep up the good work

Thanks, dumdeedum; your kind words are appreciated.
While I've been painting for a VERY long time, the sculpting is fairly new for moi. Mostly I've limited myself up until now to working bases, making mushroom & scrolls, & doing the odd spooky face on some of my ruined buildings; all this was done with plumbers epoxy. The faces on the Spooky Trees & Mushrooms is really my first major foray into working with G.S.. I don't think I'm quite ready for any "serious" work with it, but I was surprised that it's much easier to work than I would have thought.
Don't be too hard on yourself; you may not be a World Class painter/sculptor YET, but if you believe you can do it, eventually you will....AND getting there really is an enjoyable trip.