Twilight Giraffe

[moonmin82]

Random question but does anyone know of any companies that make Giraffe mini's? My other half has a b'day coming up and I wanted to surprise her with one if possible,she's got a thing for giraffe's (they are pretty damn cool though,right?).Anyway they could be anything really,a straight sculpt of an actual giraffe or even one of those funky 'Visions In Fantasy' mini's from Dark Sword.Any help would be greatly appreciated and score me a ton of brownie points,especially considering I'm spending close to AU$900 on Kingdom Death:Monster in a few days.
Cheers.

To help out a friend in need, may I introduce Geri: Twilight Giraffe!

10 sittings in and she's nearly finished! This project has been a lot of fun and I feel that I've learned a lot.

Hopefully she'll be done by the end of the week. Comments welcome

No prizes for guessing at the various sources of inspiration!

 

[me_in_japan]

Ooooookay...

that totally wins the prize for "weirdest mini I've seen today."

nice sculpt, though. Animals are pretty hard to get right, but that is without question clearly identifiable as a giraffe with a lantern.

I never thought I would ever write that sentence that I just wrote...

*edit* is that giraffe really ​wearing knee high boots?

 

[KruleBear]

I don't know why this this thread made me smile...maybe the knee high boots

 

[Wyrmypops]

I think it's safe to assume that all the viewers of this thread that refrained from posting where sitting there with a mixture of ... and wtf?

That is one cool mini, and ruddy weird.

 

[moonmin82]

WTF indeed! I think this sculpt perfectly captures my unusual sense of humour... The brief I set myself was to create a Kingdom Death player character with the giraffe enthusiast in mind(!) Whilst brainstorming the concept the various pinup aspects slowly crept in. The Twilight Knight, Saviour and Rawhide Dame provided inspiration as did the pinup art of KD illustrator Lokman Lam.

Is she really wearing knee high boots?! Well, no, infact they are knee high socks (LMAO)! Inspired by the KD Saviour Snow sculpt. As the hooves took shape i was almost tempted to add stiletto heels...

 

[10 ball]

Lol, great sculpt mate

 

[moonmin82]

Cheers!

Last night I tackled the cloak:

I'd been dreading this stage but in the end things almost went according to plan! I mixed some putty and left it for a little while. I put a thin layer of vegetable oil on a sheet of plastic, flattened my putty over it and left a while longer (on the radiator for a short length of time...). When I couldn't handle the wait any longer I cut the rough shape and applied the clean side of the putty to the mini'. I joined the two ends around the neck (which I'd earlier carved down a bit to give the impression of it being longer) and added folds with clay shapers.

Here is this mornings progress:

I've completed the ears, continued the lantern and added a broach / clip to the front of the cloak.

I added another section to the bottom of the lantern as it didn't look right once I added the detail to the top section.

All that remains is the detail on the bottom of the lantern and (time permitting...) a stone faces base...

[Edit] I added another leg bracelet to balance out the design. It was intended to be a piece of leg jewellery (from the White Speaker Nico art) but (comically) looks a bit more like a stocking or garter. I guess it could be painted either way!

 

[sagh]

Like I told you before, you did a great work!
The sculpture really captured the essence of the original sketch.

Don't forget to show us some pictures of it after painting!

 

[KruleBear]

Will the stone faces base be of circus animals instead of human?

 

[Oktane]

When I first asked someone to help me out with a finding a giraffe mini for the GF I never thought I'd end up with Moonmin sculpting one for me.Paul my friend,you've done incredibly well,Jess will love me forever more (and maybe forgive me for dropping so much on Kingdom Death:Monster!) and once she's painted it up I'll have to go and buy a decent camera to take a few pics with so's I can post them up here,seems like thats a good excuse to buy a new camera anyway.Thank you Paul and thank you everyone for appreciating the fine work he has accomplished.

 

[moonmin82]

Doesn't everyone love a happy ending!

Like I told you before, you did a great work!
The sculpture really captured the essence of the original sketch.

Don't forget to show us some pictures of it after painting!

Thanks again mate! More clowns to come soon ;-)

Will the stone faces base be of circus animals instead of human?

That's actually a pretty good idea, however I intend to stick with the KD theme and keep it in line with the existing mini's. Plus I intend to sculpt some KD survivors based on myself and some friends (http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?52225-Kingdom-Death-Survivors) so this will provide a great opportunity for me to practice!

When I first asked someone to help me out with a finding a giraffe mini for the GF I never thought I'd end up with Moonmin sculpting one for me.Paul my friend,you've done incredibly well,Jess will love me forever more (and maybe forgive me for dropping so much on Kingdom Death:Monster!) and once she's painted it up I'll have to go and buy a decent camera to take a few pics with so's I can post them up here,seems like thats a good excuse to buy a new camera anyway.Thank you Paul and thank you everyone for appreciating the fine work he has accomplished.

Cheers man! Glad it met your expectations. I hope Jess blesses it with a paintjob that defines it as a giraffe and not as the camel / goat it could easily pass off for ;-)

 

[moonmin82]

I've been working on the stone faces base:

Sunday: reference sketches:

...two faces sculpted:

Monday: Instantmold casting: 9 moulds prepared and 18 faces cast. Sorry, no pic's!

Tuesday: Faces cut to shape (and the odd one fragmented to add interest):

...faces glued in position. I prepared two bases, just incase her legs don't fit well on one:

...gaps filled with putty and textured:

Wednesday (tonight!): I will need to straighten out the excess wire on her legs and pin to the base. Locating the four drill holes could prove tricky. I'll have to fill the remaining empty space with textured putty too.

Hopefully I'll find the time and energy tonight. It's been a terrible day at work (yet again) and another day of late working.

 

[secretpaintgeek]

WOW! really different and interesting thread here. This sums up what i love about lurking round in here

 

[moonmin82]

Thank you!

Nearly finished, just a little tidying up to do...

 

[moonmin82]

Finished!

Here's a better look at the base...

 

[me_in_japan]

Bravo, sir! Lovely work. I'm sure the recipient will be very happy with it. It's absolutely unique, and in this day and age of near-infinite space marines, that's a fine thing. Hats off

 

[KruleBear]

Bravo, sir! Lovely work. I'm sure the recipient will be very happy with it. It's absolutely unique, and in this day and age of near-infinite space marines, that's a fine thing. Hats off

Ditto! Well done.

 

[moonmin82]

Cheers guys! I (tearfully...) waved goodbye to her this morning...

I have an idea for a follow up to this miniature but don't know at what point I'll be starting it. For now it's all very hush hush, but I hope to cast the outcome...

 

[moetle]

That was bloody brilliant!

Moe

 

[Oktane]

Quick update on the Geri situation,the GF loves it and asked me straight away if she use it in Zombicide.Still trying to come up with some decent rules for her but thats half the fun isn't it.She still needs to be painted what with our conflicting schedules at the moment,I work mostly nights and she's doing a PhD so is at uni all day.Also got me out of the doghouse for spending so much on Kingdom Death:Monster.Win-Win.Thanks again Paul.And keep an eye out for a future KD:M update from Adam,you may just see Geri.