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There are a fair number of critters and characters in assorted APs that I didn't think I'd ever find the perfect mini for. So I set out with a little sculpy and a lot of ambition to make some crude semblance of these monsters to make my players flip their collective wigs. They seem to think I should share some of these crud efforts with the Paizo community. In that spirit I have some photos of something I cobbled together to serve as the Outcast King from CoT part 2. Possible spoilers ahoy. It's one of my first efforts so It's far from perfect. I doubt I'll ever get the skill of a professional mini sculptor (I have difficulty working in detail with epoxy putties.), but hopefully someone besides my players and I will get a kick out of these. linkified
Xperimental, I love it. As a player if you dropped this on the table I would be thrilled. If I asked where you got it, and you said "I made it" I would be impressed.
Keep it up. This is very similar to how I got started making miniatures. Now I've got a couple hundred minis of my own creation and I get a big kick out of dropping them on the gaming table. And so do my players. It's like giving a hand-made present at Christmas, even if it isn't Michaelangelo, I'd rather see your hand-made miniature than the best professionally sculpted, professionally painted mini any gaming session.
Dude, that's pretty cool for a "crude" custom monster! :)
What I would do to take that to the "next level" is add more texture to the body. (Obviously this requires going back in time to before you painted it.) In my experience, it's easy to do this once you have all the form complete and you've baked the Sculpey into its hardened form. Then you add a thin layer of Sculpey over part of it, like one of the arms, and press into it with a tool to make a texture. For example, you could take a toothpick and press little pores all over it, or take a small piece of scale-patterned naugahide and press it against the soft Sculpey, repeating and overlapping so there are no seams. Then bake that. Then repeat for other parts of the body (thin layer on part of model, add texture, bake, repeat) until it's complete and the whole thing has a more organic texture to it.
If you want to get REALLY crazy, you find a physical pattern you like, like a rock or a cluster of suckers. Then use Sculpey to make curved wedge, and roll the wedge over that pattern, and bake the wedge hard. This makes a "negative" of your physical pattern. Then you can use the wedge (in a rolling manner) to impress the pattern onto something you sculpt (the curved wedge is easier than trying to press a flat square against your model). That's what I did for the sucker-like texture on my alien monsters and my "Lumbermouth" flash drive resculpt.
Dude, that's pretty cool for a "crude" custom monster! :)
What I would do to take that to the "next level" is add more texture to the body. (Obviously this requires going back in time to before you painted it.) In my experience, it's easy to do this once you have all the form complete and you've baked the Sculpey into its hardened form. Then you add a thin layer of Sculpey over part of it, like one of the arms, and press into it with a tool to make a texture. For example, you could take a toothpick and press little pores all over it, or take a small piece of scale-patterned naugahide and press it against the soft Sculpey, repeating and overlapping so there are no seams. Then bake that. Then repeat for other parts of the body (thin layer on part of model, add texture, bake, repeat) until it's complete and the whole thing has a more organic texture to it.
If you want to get REALLY crazy, you find a physical pattern you like, like a rock or a cluster of suckers. Then use Sculpey to make curved wedge, and roll the wedge over that pattern, and bake the wedge hard. This makes a "negative" of your physical pattern. Then you can use the wedge (in a rolling manner) to impress the pattern onto something you sculpt (the curved wedge is easier than trying to press a flat square against your model). That's what I did for the sucker-like texture on my alien monsters and my "Lumbermouth" flash drive resculpt.
Yeah I really struggled trying to find a way to add the assorted spines he has so the build up an rebake tip is much appreciated for future reference. I really like those aliens the texture is great. As for the negative idea, I did just that here for my Stygerian water elemental. He ended up just a bit more than huge, and I think the humidity was off when I sealed it since he came out a little shiney/tacky. Oh an also from the depths of the Asmodean Knot. Apparently he was dirty in more ways then one. I had to dust the poor guy off. As if being made of sewage water wasn't indignity enough!
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I'm glad a few people got a kick out of these.
From CoT part 4 -the burning guardian. I didn't quite get the pose right. I went back and used green stuff on top of the Sculpy to add the flames. Unfortunately, whatever issue I had while sealing the Stygerian water elemental seems to have come up here as he is a bit more shiny then I'd like.
What did you use to seal them?
What did you use to seal them?
Clear Krylon. One coat of gloss then one coat of flat. It only seems to be an issue I have with my Sculpy mini's. The metal one's I've painted get the same treatment and I don't seem to have the same issue. I could have just done a poor job with the second coat and not realized it I suppose.
Hmm. Maybe it's the temperature?
Hmm. Maybe it's the temperature?
That's what I was thinking. Either that or the humidity was off. I really don't remember what the conditions were like when I did them, only the after effects :P . Thanks for trying to help though.