I grabbed my sculpting kit comprising of my tools, some green stuff, my little pink tin of vaseline (the one with the daemon faces) and a piece of plasticard to work on.
So, I found myself on Saturday afternoon watching the kids play and decided to break out the sculpting stuff and kill some time. After a little thinking about what I should sculpt, I settled on stowage for my vehicles. I've run out of the GW stowage and the new kits don't automatically come with the accessory sprue, so I figured making my own might be a good idea. A few hours later, I came up with this .....
First off, I had a go at getting the basic shape with the straps and cloth flap, I also tried to put some texture on it, but that turned out a bit of a fail.
After it was done, I realised that it was a bit static and didn't really look like it was hanging off the side of a tank so the next one, I worked on making it look a bit more natural. I also added some more pronounced creases by the straps.
That one turned out better, so I gave it another go trying to get more of a hang to the material.
At that point, I was quite happy with how the material looked hanging and decided to try and up my game by adding a buckle to a strap. I managed to get the basic shape of the buckle down but failed on the strap and didn't even attempt a pin.
After getting the basic shape of the buckle down, I tried to improve on it with the next. This one came out a little chunky but all the details were there. I had the buckle, pin and the strap looked ok.
Next up, I tried adding the straps separately after getting the basic shape of the cloth down. these turned out a bit chunky, so I slight fail there but I added a central strap and buckle which was a lot smaller than the last ones and ended up looking ok.
Finally, I put together everything I'd practiced earlier and came up with some stowage with double straps with buckles. I'm really pleased with how this one came out, there's room for improvement but I really feel like like with a bit more practice I'll have them down to a tee.
I always feel that close ups of sculpting show up all the flaws, much like close ups of painted models, so here's a pic that's close to what it looks like in real life (at least on my laptop screen - lol).
Another plus was the fact that they were all done with the GW sculpting tool. In the past, I've never been able to use the metal tools and so all my work was done with the clay shapers. Now, I can't see how I managed to sculpt with the clay shapers in the first place.
So my camping trip was a good weekend and gave me a chance to up my sculpting skills - double win!
14 comments:
Love it mate. I am still really nervous with all the sculpting stuff myself and never have really given it a go.
I am envious. :)
Well, that's excellent work!
I guess you just solved the problem I would inevitably face when I'll finally get to buying some new vehicles for the Guard.
Those are reallt excellent, and they prove categorically the point - practice practice practice :)
The buclkes and straps are particularly good.
if theres one thing to work on, it's the folds on the cloth. some of them look a little like they were just scored in with the tool.
I would suggest working on them to the same degree you would on a cloak getting some nice, sharp furrows that blend into the bulk of the material.
and maybe next time.... try a few bags too :)
This is great!
Really looks good - and the buckles are especially good.
I really like it.
So will you use these as "master" and do a mold?
Cheers
klaus
Great work, Colonel! It's really interesting to see your progression in refining your stowage techniques, thanks for taking us through that process.
Nice! cast them in resin and sell for few dollars per set.
Bloomin' heck: praise from Klaus is praise indeed!
Great stuff here, Corbane, and what a fantastic way to take the hobby with you on your travels!
darnit! your good! Now I gotta try this for my tanks...
They look great! I admire your willingness to practice by doing the same thing over and over. I think my patience would run out!
My only criticism in the last one (which otherwise looks fantastic) is that the folds look too "regular". That is, they are evenly spaced, and they all look to be the same length. Vary that a little bit, and I think it would be flawless!
Fantastic work as always. I really need to give this a try. I'll keep this article in mind next time I'm working with GS. I've already made a daemon face with the last batch.
I'm curious on this one though. Shouldn't the strap go under the bottom loop of the buckle?
For me, the hardest part is actually picking up the sculpting tool and focusing on getting something done. You overcame that with flying colors.
Cheers matey!
Great idea for camping. I may have to create a "Road trip" sculpting kit for myself.
Good stuff Col.! This makes me want to sit down and try some sculpting like this - I've done a few bits and pieces, but haven't sculpted anything from scratch yet.
Thanks for sharing all of these!
@Agama - Cheers mate. The best advice I can give is just to give it a go and don't get disheartened if it doesn't turn out that well. Just keep plodding on and learn from your mistakes.
@Hal'jin - Thanks matey, I was really gutted when GW dropped the accessory sprue from the kits although it's forced me to up my hobby game. Just need to perfect them and try some different types of stowage next.
@Karitas - Thanks matey, must admit I did struggle trying to get the clothe realistic. I didn't have any GW pieces to hand to work from so I'll be working on the texture with the next batch.
@Klaus - Thanks matey, they're nowhere near your standard but I'm getting better slowly. I'm planning on casting stowage pieces up in the future, but I'm a long way off that as of yet.
@PapaJJ - Thanks mate, hopefully I'll have more progressive pics coming soon.
@Magiler - Cheers mate, I think I'm a long way of doing pieces that will be sell-able and there's plenty of people who are already doing that who are way better than me. As long as I'm saving £8 on the accessory sprue, I'm happy at the mo, but who know what the future holds.
@Admiral Drax - Cheers matey, RE Klaus - Isn't is just! I think I got the travelling hobby from one of your old posts mate.
@CanolliCrusader - Thanks matey, if you give it a go, post some pics as your stuff is excellent.
@Darkwing - Cheers mate, I think it was easier to keep practising because there was nothing else to do whilst camping. I'm hoping I can improve the folds with the next batch but like all things, it's going to take some practice as I'm not really artistic in nature.
@the other Kevin - Thanks matey, can't wait to see what you come up with, post some pics of your daemon faces. Yes, the strap should go under the buckle, that's another thing that's got to go on the to-learn list. At the mo, I just blame lazy guardsmen - lol.
@Col. Hessler - Yeah, as I said, not having anything else to do but sit in a field really helped with the motivation for these. I need to go camping more often - lol.
@Randl - It's now become a standard part of the camping gear, it's amazing how many people wander up to see what you're doing when you're sitting outside your tent sculpting. If you do it, don't forget some reference material as that was the one thing I forgot.
@Frag Dad - Cheers matey, just give it a go mate, you've got nothing to lose and you'll only get better with practice.
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