Mystery WIP

[cybersquig]

Hey all,

Rather than confine myself to platoon britannica with this one I thought I\'d post a wip on here too...

So this year I\'m going all out for GD, so all my wips are in the members section on the PB website. However, several things have happened, and as it won\'t be for the competition, I\'m going to post it here:

1. I made a new years resolution
2. My house(caravan) flooded
3. I was reduced to the depths of dispair and tortured to within an inch of my sanity. Actually come to think of it, this is more a sub point of number 2.

Allow me to explain myself...
firstly I made a new years resolution to sculpt a figure totally from scratch. That one is easily explicable.

The second one goes like this - I had a truly appauling night on sun eve when my pipes froze and burst flooding my bathroom, kitchen, hallway, spare room, and parts of my lounge and bedroom. suprisingly little damage to my stuff, so I\'m thankful for that.

The upshoot of this was that I couldn\'t disconnect the water and I had to sit up all night (I live on my own), watching the shower adaptor/hosepipe/electrical insulation tape jerry rig I\'d put together to make sure that it didn\'t collapse and utterly sink my house. So, I was faced with 10 hours of sitting watching running water. I\'d call it torture, I now struggle not to panic when I hear running water...not good. I had to stay awake, I had no choice, but I don\'t do well when I\'m tired, so several things were out - I couldn\'t read, that\'d send me off quicker than you can blink, I can\'t just watch the tv, because although that was still dry, I\'d deffo fall asleep if I just sat there, so my mind turned to factor no. 1 above, the new years resolution thingumy. I couldn\'t paint or sculpt or convert any of my GD entries, because I was stressed and tired, and I\'d have ended up accidentally painting them pink or something silly, so I grabbed my magicsculpt, gs, rubber brushes, assorted sculpting tools and photographs of ladies, and overnight, I (forced myself to) sculpt something from scratch. Something that would push me. Something that was so out of my league that I should never have even begun to have the audacity to think I could do so on any normal day. But...I\'m not going to tell you what she\'s going to be yet. You\'ll have to guess as she takes shape. I\'ll give you one little clue though...chaos.

firstly I made a new years resolution to sculpt a figure totally from scratch. That one is easily explicable.

The second one goes like this - I had a truly appauling night on sun eve when my pipes froze and burst flooding my bathroom, kitchen, hallway, spare room, and parts of my lounge and bedroom. suprisingly little damage to my stuff, so I\'m thankful for that.

The upshoot of this was that I couldn\'t disconnect the water and I had to sit up all night (I live on my own), watching the shower adaptor/hosepipe/electrical insulation tape jerry rig I\'d put together to make sure that it didn\'t collapse and utterly sink my house. So, I was faced with 10 hours of sitting watching running water. I\'d call it torture, I now struggle not to panic when I hear running water...not good. I had to stay awake, I had no choice, but I don\'t do well when I\'m tired, so several things were out - I couldn\'t read, that\'d send me off quicker than you can blink, I can\'t just watch the tv, because although that was still dry, I\'d deffo fall asleep if I just sat there, so my mind turned to factor no. 1 above, the new years resolution thingumy. I couldn\'t paint or sculpt or convert any of my GD entries, because I was stressed and tired, and I\'d have ended up accidentally painting them pink or something silly, so I grabbed my magicsculpt, gs, rubber brushes, assorted sculpting tools and photographs of ladies, and overnight, I (forced myself to) sculpt something from scratch. Something that would push me. Something that was so out of my league that I should never have even begun to have the audacity to think I could do. But...I\'m not going to tell you what she\'s going to be yet. You\'ll have to guess as she takes shape. I\'ll give you one little clue though...chaos.

I\'ve never sculpted a woman before. Don\'t think I\'ve ever even sculpted any part of a woman. What a unique challenge! I would need to do it again another 12 times before i even began to do the female form any sort of justice - too many compound curves. However, I don\'t intend to endure any more forced all nighters either. This little project kept me sane that night when I couldn\'t do anything more but wait, and best of all she\'s entirely waterproof!

I shall be continuing with her as and when I can. Pics to come!

James.

 

[Kester]

Looking good so far. Keep us posted.

 

[cybersquig]

An update if I may (note the increase in quality of the photography )

The hand I\'m particularly pleased with, though I haven\'t paid the wrist any attention yet. The wings are still just the frame, I\'m gonna be putting a layer of detail on both sides soon.

Just the tail, rest of the armour and sheer cloth left to add now, and then the smoothing can begin. any idea about a base for her? whatever it is it will be totally scratch. I still really struggle (still) to sculpt rock. Any advice?

I\'m really looking foward to painting her, particularly the armour straps pierced into her body. mmm... chaffing...

ps. Haven\'t looked at the hair yet, though some have said I need to, I like it to be honest. On the subject of the face though, she has had her mask built up now.

Any thoughts on this and improvements?

(I\'ve added one hip, without much success I think, but let me know if you think it works or not)

All my very best to you all,

James.

 

[Crayfish]

Hmmm.. the face seems to be a little flat, maybe a little more definition around the cheek and chin. To work out some more expression!

Looking good so far! Hope it will be finished, because its an interesting pose.

All the best!

 

[cybersquig]

thank you

Yep you\'re right, I\'d like to sort out the cheeks and move the head slightly further foward on the neck. I find that sort of thing difficult to see myself, so it\'s nice to have some c&c on it, thanks.

 

[moonmin82]

as a first complete sculpt its pretty good (and ambitious)! the body is looking great and as others have commented the face is the main point for improvement. faces are hard full stop. looks great!

 

[cybersquig]

why thank you That\'s very nice of you to say

I do have some update pics, though they aren\'t the clearest ever because I was in a rush last night, but I\'ll do a little more to her tonight (if I can face it), and repost again tomorrow. Anyway, enjoy and please let me know what you think...I\'ve chopped the head off, shaved both sides of the face and re-done (parts) of the hair - more needs doing on that obviously. I\'ve moved the head foward to give her more of a chin and neck/throat, extended the hair down to her shoulders (I dropped it at the end, which is why the shoulders look off, becuase I broke the wings off and all the putty work I\'d done to blend them into the body over the shoulders - I was really proud of that bit too! doh!). I\'ve also shaved the bottom of her bum cheeks to give her a better shape and filled in the side of the left thigh to give it a bit more definition. Finally I repositioned the elbow of the lance hand to make it look more natural. Now I\'m off home to hopefully finish the hair, remove and reapply the lips, sort out the side of the nose, look at the exposed back of knee and hopefully reattach those dratted wings!

 

[mud duck]

The hips don\'t look wide enough (angle and pose). Maybe thicker thighs and calves. And don\'t forget to add the balls to the feet.
For the first sculpt this is looking really good.

 

[cybersquig]

Thanks Mudduck, I\'m agreeing with you that the hips don\'t look quite right, but I don\'t want her to look like she\'s been corset trained either...I\'m struggling to find a happy medium.

As for the feet, I haven\'t started working on them at all yet, what you see there is simply the wire to hold the sculpt to the base bulked out a bit with gs to give it rigidity.

Thanks for your advice matey, it is most appreciated

 

[cybersquig]

Hey,

So I was a little frayed around the edges over this one yesterday, and i started to get that nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was never going to get finished, and i had bitten off way more than I could chew. So, I made myself a coffee, chilled out for a bit and then got to work on it ignoring anything above the neck. I\'ll come back to that, but that was the bit that was stressing me, so I needed to ignore it just then.

I smoothed out some of the lumps and bumps in the body, which was theraputic, because it looks more smooth and complete now which makes me happy

i re-did the right wrist and elbow, the right arm pit, the calves, back of the knee as Iacton pointed out (does it still need some filling in in the knee pit?), the back of the other knee where the leg is bent over and the flesh would have splayed and one or two other things, nothing above the neck though. I\'ll come back to that tonight if my sanity will allow it!

 

[mud duck]

Cyber, I\'m digging this sculpt, it is really looking good. But, and here I go again nitpicking, the muscles on the outside of her thighs should go higher into her buttocks. I really notice it in your last picture, looks like her leg had broken off and then re glued in the wrong position. The second thing I\'m not sure of is her neck. It looks a bit long and to far back on her shoulders, but then again it could just be me. Again Just M2C. Keep it up!

 

[GreenOne]

Sculpting is hard!
I\'m liking her face, but I have to agree the neck seems too long.

 

[cybersquig]

Thanks guys, I hope I began to tackle the thighs thing last night, have a look at these pics of my progress and see if you think that I\'ve dealt with the issue of the thigh muscles...Also i haven\'t dealt with the neck yet, and your comments make me think I need to cut and reattach it shorter. hopefully moving the collar bones down towards the breasts will help put her into proportion. a little more.

ok anyway, onto an(other) update -

CARNAGE!!!!

Squggy what have you done?! I hold you personally responsible for suggesting the torso was too long...

Luckily it was a riproaring success once I\'d gotten over the fact that I had actually done it...phew! feast your eyes on these boys and girls, I\'ve re-attached the torso (though some more smoothing still needs to happen, and her armour needs re-doing) - I think it looks better now, noone could accuse her of having too long a torso. I also bulked up the thighs, took the dremel to the nose and mouth to take away some of the flatness of her face, and re-did the mouth. I haven\'t re-done the nose yet though, it needs to be made more prominent, and the nostrils need creating. I hope you\'ll agree that her face is rather thinner now. Sorting the nose, putting some more bulk onto the back of her head and re-doing her hair should (I hope) sort that out to everyones satisfaction (if it doesn\'t let me know what you think I need to do to improve it still - I might even listen!).

So...I finally feel like I\'m getting there with the body...any thoughts?

Thanks so much in advance, I learn so much more when you guys give me feedback, and that\'s the purpose of this project

James

 

[cybersquig]

kk, I\'m on a high - I finally managed to do the daemon prince head for the shield! I\'ve had a good few hours of fruitless attempts and the inset belief that I can\'t do anything with an open mouth, I succeeded my gf logged onto the thread and had a read and gave pretty detailed c&c, which I used and encouraged me no end. sometimes that\'s all you need to break through a barrier in your mind, eh?

Right anyway, onto the pictures. Firstly the two layers of detail have been completed for the top (rear facing) side of the wings

actually, having them off the model made this stage rather easier, so I\'ll keep them off until I\'ve done the underside as well Just one final detail layer to get on there wihich will put detail into the transitions from the wing to the claw, the claws need dremelling sharp (if I can be allowed to coin that word) and the muscles need to be added to the transition sections into the body. The pointy thing in the middle is the un-dremelled (if I can coin that word too) first side of the spear head. I\'ll shape it and cast it to get the other side and then add detail to the join between it and the haft of the spear. Not sure what sort of detail yet, any ideas?

Right, another pic... this shows the profile of her head now, I hope you approve of the shape of her nose a little more than before I am feeling like the face is getting to a point where I\'m more happy with it than I was - if you can think of anything more i can do to perfect it then please let me know

And finally ladies and gentlemen, the one you\'ve all been waiting for (or at least the one I\'m most excited to show you)...

Hopefully you can see what\'s going on here - I should say that the shield has to be the head of some daemon prince that she slew...well she\'s lithe and ikkle (even tho I made her waay bigger than she is in the blurb), and carrying around a daemon prince is going to be tricky at the best of times, so I though well why don\'t I do it so she\'s skinned him (with a little of the bone too - aka face off), and peg it to the shield. There are holes in the flesh around the face (including the inside of the side of his lower lip/cheek - hopefully a gross touch!) where I\'ll be sculpting little nails holding it there. I don;t know if you can see too, but there are bits of skull showing at the extreme sides of the face, i think it\'ll be a little more obvious when the model is painted. Anyway, that\'ll be the next step, along with making the shield itself for the face to go on

This is so much fun guys, and it\'s down to you for offering c&c so regularly and consistently - I know I\'ve posted a lot of updates, but letting my own ego go and taking your advice, some times when I didn\'t even think I needed it, has been good for me and opened my eyes to what I am able to do and what I need to work on. One thing is for sure - I\'m a better sculptor as a result of this project. Thanks again!

James aka Cybersquig

 

[QuietiManes]

Having a girlfriend that can and does give helpful c&c in a hobby such as this is a little blessing all on its own, really.

That daemon head came out great. Wasn\'t what I would expect at all (that\'s a good thing). I\'d suggest pushing forward those teeth a bit, they look quite strange in the side picture (like they\'re missing), they\'d follow the curve of the mouth/lips/jaw, usually, you know, on humans and animals, lol, I guess daemons only follow the rules of those imagining them, though. :evil:

 

[cybersquig]

aah good point, I shall do cheers!

 

[cybersquig]

kk, an update. Lots done (obviously), I\'d love to know what you think

Thanks so much,

James

 

[alextheartist]

I\'m not sure about the pose of the right leg, i think it should be more bent at the knee as it look as if she is about to fall over.. if that makes sense... Part from that awsome cool. Also do i spot the mini which is going to beat me so badly in the comp?

Alex

 

[cybersquig]

err...lol! yes you do

I think it might be a little late to adjust the leg - I might adjust the slate she\'ll be based on to match the angle of her hoof a little better that may tie her in a little better

cheers matey!

 

[mud duck]

Cool!

Ah, whats the plastic card quarter round under the left breast? Armor?

The wings look tops, but.... The (personal opinion) the supports that run though them are weedy. I see them most like fingers of a hand, and would be jointed as so. But that\'s just me.