Sci-Fi Combat Armour & other things.....

[Lord Cypher]

Hey guys,

Once again its been a long time since i got a chance to post anything on here! Ive had some downtime from work recently so decided to crack on with Judge Dredd.
I just need to finish his hands, glove pockets & all important badge. Ive already moulded & cast most of his accessories.....
All being well i should have him done & moulded next week some time.
Anyway, gotta dash.....im supposed to be cooking dinner! Thanks for all your comments.......Mah crub - im honoured that a life long Bat fan approves!!

bye for now

[Deon]

Your Judge Dredd is just so stunning!
May I ask what you cast the parts in?

[Lord Cypher]

Hi Deon, glad you like him. The parts are cast in a fast cast resin called Bi-resin. It has a really nice ivory finish & sands nicely as well.....which came in handy for the helmet. The only downside is it VERY expensive for the amount you get. I only used it as a mate of mine had some left over & i used it to cast out Dredds head, i was impressed with it so got some more......after grumbling about the price for a bit. I'll stick with it for Dredd but will cast the other figures in a cheaper fast cast......theyre all pretty much the same really they just have different working times etc.....but yeah you can certainly find suitable equivalents at much cheaper prices for greater amounts.
If you fancy giving the bi-resin a go then you can find it here:

http://www.tiranti.co.uk/subdivision...0&Subdivision=

Cheers,

Michael

[sloopster]

you can get that resin from the fiberglass shop cheeper i belive.

[Lord Cypher]

Hi there,

Well, Dredd has been moulded & cast......something like 25 or so pieces in the end i think, not too sure. Now he sits in a box waiting to be put together, finished & painted......& also for me to finish the other 2 guys that go with him!!
Im a bit Dredded out at the moment so ive moved onto something else in the meantime to have a break from him.
My girlfriend is a big fan of The Punisher & she hinted at me perhaps maybe having a go at sculpting one for her which sounded good to me. She wants him to be realish & not too comic booky but still pretty buff. Im doing him at 1:3 scale, which puts him at about 23 inches tall......i just felt like it!
Anyway ive been playing around with him for the last couple of weeks when i can & all he needs to complete him is his trenchcoat which i'll do when ive moulded his head & recast it in resin, the collars of the coat are pulled up so i dont want to risk mashing the head up as it took me 3 days! I may as well mould his accessories while im at it as theyre pretty much ready. I got the M-16 from a website in the US and will mould that too so ive got an M-16 mould which will probably come in handy again.
I shot some video footage too:



I also made the mistake of checking out the review of the Sideshow Collectibles Punisher Comiquette that was in the list of vids down the side..............my heart sank. But hey ho!! She didnt want a comic booky Punisher!

[Lord Cypher]

Hey guys, gotta warn you theres ALOT of words in this post so please feel free to just scroll down to the pictures!

Back in March i was lucky enough to be part of the team that created the Batmobile for the new Batman Live show thats currently touring Europe & then the world. I was working in the mouldshop at Asylum Models & Effects LTD here in London & our job was to mould & cast out the parts that made up the car.
The car itself was designed by Formula 1 car designer Professor Gordon Murray. That design was turned into a computer model which was then cut out of a high density foam on a CNC machine. These pieces were then reassembled & given to us to mould. I think we made 8 moulds in total - fuselage, both front & rear wings, rear spoiler (which was 2 moulds) , a giant Bat emblem that made up the back of the car & a nose cone.
We made fibreglass moulds of the parts, the largest of which was the fuselage which measured around 15 feet long. That particular mould had steel reinforcements attached to avoid warping of the mould & took at least 8 people to lift one side of it! Once the moulds were done we cast out the pieces with fire retardant fibreglass resin. We also had to place the steel framework inside the pieces that had been created by the engineers. They were then given a basic clean up by us & handed back to the model makers who assembled the parts & sanded them to a pristine finish. Various electrical & working components were added which included & working retractable canopy & an afterburner.......no real flames unfortunately but the custom built smoke jet & lighting rig looked just as good as the real thing. We made two Batmobiles in total which could be mounted onto a track system that propelled the car along.
Everything was pretty much winding down on the Batmobile when the boss strolled over clutching a handful of pictures of the Arkham Asylum Batsuit. It turned out that DC Comics & Warner Bros. dint like the Batsuit that had been created for the show by another company & the costume department had approached us to ask if we could make a new one in time for the shows opening which was just over a month away! Luckily for me i was, at that time, massively addicted to the Arkham Asylum game & set about pestering the boss & being an utter nerd on the subject untill he decided i could sculpt the new Batsuit. I think i had a big cheesy grin permanantly stretched across my face for the next 3 days......despite the fact that i would only have 7 days to do it in!
We were supplied with a lifecast of one of the three actors that plays Batman & i set to work.
The design was based on the Arkham Asylum suit but couldnt be an exact copy (which i was equally gutted & relieved by) but they did want me to try & match the proportions of the video game character....hes a big chap & it was quite a challenge to put those proportions into a suit that a man of average build could wear & perform in convincingly & obviously compromises had to be made, mostly due to the time constraints, but also to avoid it looking ridiculous. I sculpted it so that it consisted of a torso vest piece, seperate arms (with gauntlets on the forearms) & the thighs which were worn like shorts. I didnt have to worry about the lower legs as he was wearing boots (though i did also sculpt shinpads that went over them) or the cowl as this was the only part of the original costume that survived. That was a shame as i would have liked to have done the cowl but ultimately i had enough on my plate already. I managed to complete the sculpt in 6 days. Obviously i wish id been able to spend much longer on it & as a result there are parts of it that im not keen on (MASSIVE SHOULDERS!!) & parts that i absolutely hate (probably shouldnt say really) but ultimately i was happy(ish) with it & thought i hadnt really done so bad for 6 days. Most importantly though all the important people were very pleased with it so we moulded it, made cores & cast the suit with a pre-coloured polyurethane rubber......yeah i made it well known that i wasnt particularly......thrilled with the colour scheme but it was better than the other horrifying schemes (sorry!) that had been considered. In fact it turned out that the costume designers assistant was as big a bat geek as me & we had both been harrassing him about how it should look. Thankfuly he's a very gracious man & all round cool guy & took our concerns on board. Ultimately it works perfectly in context with the show so its all good.
The various suit components were handed over to the fabrication department so it could be made into a working, wearable suit & was then handed to the painters to give it some final touches of shading etc. As i mentioned there are three actors that alternate playing Batman/Bruce Wayne for different performances & as i only made one sculpt on one lifecast the suit obviously looks best when worn by that particular actor. There was alot of chopping & cutting done for the other two suits but im just one of about 4 people that notice.
So, everyone was very happy with the new suit. So much so that the costume designer, Jack Galloway, asked us to do a new suit for Robin too! Yep, 7 days to do it. Luckily it was to be the exact same design (bar the emblems) as Batman. The cool thing about this was it didnt have to have the massive proportions of the Batsuit & was to be a bit more natural. Also id had a week or so to analyze the Batsculpt so this time round i could change the bits i didnt like. So i was essentialy doing the same thing again but armed with a knowledge of what worked & what didnt & as a result i ended up with a much, tighter better looking sculpt which im quite happy with. I took the liberty of making a couple of alterations to the design with the gauntlets & the detail on the arms to give it a bit of difference & to give a nod to the costume in the comics. I think i managed to do this one in 5 days, mostly due to the fact that id already done one so was able to approach this next suit with much more confidence. It also helped that the actor was not much bigger than a hobbit.
The completed sculpt went through the same process of moulding, casting, fabrication & painting & i have to say this is my preferred sculpt. Who knows, maybe theyll need new Batsuits one day & if im lucky enough to be involved again i might be able to convince them to let me sculpt a new one That'll kick this ones arse!
Anyway, enough jabbering lets get the photos out
I do have to say that all pictures appear c/o Asylum Models and Effects Ltd & i also said i'd put a link to the companies website on here, so here it is:

www.asylumsfx.com

[Bongsplat]

Wow Lc, just Wow!

You are such a lucky B@stard!! ha ha! I would kill for a job like this! or any of the stuff this company does! what awesome opportunitys you seem to have! I pray one day i will work in this field.

Excellent stuff, I love the batmobile! and the suits look very cool.

Also the dread is looking amazing! are you making this into a kit? i would love to have a go at painting that bad boy!

As usual, very inspiring stuff

[bp.]

Absolutely blown away by the sheer quality of work. Stunning, simply stunning!

I see some Warhammer 40k pictures in the background of some of your pictures, are there are plans to make a quality Space Marine model?

[obloquy]

Is that fran and jenny in the background of some of the pics at asylum?

[Lord Cypher]

Hey guys me again!

First your comments:

Bongsplat - Its entirely possible that you will work in the industry, you certainly have the talent. However (theres always a however!) bear in mind that you will be freelance like the rest of us & there will be periods, sometimes LOOOOOOOOOOOONG periods, of little or no work. Since the Batman job finished i'd say ive worked for a total of 2 weeks!!! And thats since August which on the plus side gives me a chance to work on my own stuff but on the downside means that im not sure how im going to pay my rent in January!! Its the nature of the job though & to be honest im giving much consideration to looking into the computer games industry as it would seem to provide a greater level of job security. I'd most likely go the route of 3d character modelling as ive dabbled with Zbrush & sculptris in the past & thoroughly enjoyed it. However (theres THAT word again!) im more than aware that the digital sculpting is only one aspect of that job. Theres loads of other stuff you have to know about like retopology & maps & stuff that i have no clue about & lots of other software. Its much like the FX/props industry i guess where sculpting the thing is the first part of the process.....then you have to mould it, cast it, tidy it up, paint it etc & there are many different ways to achieve what youre after. Anyway its just a thought for now & im rambling

bp. - Thanks for the kind words.......and yes i have been planning to do a Space Marine for quite some time. He's currently front runner in my mind for the next project. I'll probably do him at 23 inches as i like that scale......he'll require a bit of planning, not to mention deciding which Chapter & armour variant to create. Trouble with 40k is there is SO much awesome stuff in that universe that once i think ive settled on a design i usually see a cooler one within a few days!

Obloquy - Yep it is indeed the delightful Jenny & Fran! Or Steerforth & Thorndean (local street names!) as i like to call them when i pretend theyre my servants!! I am obviously now intrigued as to your secret identity......hmmmm

Right. Ive been working on The Punisher & he's nearing completion. Ive already moulded & cast the head, gun, hand & accessories. next im going to detach the coat flaps & mould them so i can work on the legs......i think i'll beef them up a bit. Im also a bit concerned that his head is too big!! I may have to sculpt another slightly smaller one!
Also ive assembled Dredd & given him a coat of primer, so for all intents & purposes he's ready to paint.........i just need to finish the two perps that go with him. I cheated with the badge by getting a mate at work to draw one up in the computer & then got it printed out on the 3d printer. The material that its printed in is much like fast cast resin so i heated it up & formed a nice curve to it as the original printed badge was flat. I also remodelled the detail under the name as i wanted it a bit more pronounced. I havent moulded it yet but gave it a coat of primer anyway so i could have it on there for the photos. The accessories are just stuck on with blu-tak for now so i can take them off when i come to paint it.
So without further ado heres some new pics!

Take it easy

[lordluud2]

Damn! Your work is so clean and crisp! I could only dream of becoming as good as you.

Keep up the amazing work, I'm already a fan!

[JI7]

You are definitely an amazing sculptor. I was wondering what types of clay you use. You mention spraying the helmet and armour. Does this mean you were using a mineral clay. Just confused since I always thought mineral clays were a bit of a pain to work with for this kind of sculpting. I would have assumed you would use chavant for something that was going to be cast but you are the expert here so can you clear this up for me. Also, your proficiency and efficiency in sculpting are astounding. I have been working on a sculpture for like a year and still have so much work to do to finish it. Saying that, I don't actually work on it very regularly. Take a look at this introduction video of it if you like; it's nowhere near your level of skill but its a level up for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnoK8achekU

[dreamsorcerer]

Duuuude!!! Wow wee! You have been super super busy haven't you? You worked on Batman Live???? Funk me that's like... wwwwwwwooooooooowwwwww!!!!!!!! Amazing work bro.. When i first met you online, I showed my friends in Birmingham your work and they love it too, and that was some time ago, I have to say that you just go from strength to strength and I'm well happy for you :-) Take care and chat soon!

Best wishes

Kenny!

[Lord Cypher]

You are definitely an amazing sculptor. I was wondering what types of clay you use. You mention spraying the helmet and armour. Does this mean you were using a mineral clay. Just confused since I always thought mineral clays were a bit of a pain to work with for this kind of sculpting. I would have assumed you would use chavant for something that was going to be cast but you are the expert here so can you clear this up for me. Also, your proficiency and efficiency in sculpting are astounding. I have been working on a sculpture for like a year and still have so much work to do to finish it. Saying that, I don't actually work on it very regularly. Take a look at this introduction video of it if you like; it's nowhere near your level of skill but its a level up for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnoK8achekU

Hey there.

Thanks for the kind words. Dredd was sculpted with medium Chavant as i had loads of it lying around. I then took silicone moulds of everything & cast the pieces in fast cast resin. The helmet required ALOT of sanding to get it nice & smooth. Once all the pieces were assembled i sprayed it with bog standard primer from Halfords. Ideally i should have probably used sculpey, baked it THEN sanded it smooth before moulding. Its quite deceiving how smooth something looks in Chavant only to then look at the casted piece & go down to the shop to get lots of sandpaper! In fact the whole thing had quite alot of cleaning up done to it so if i were ever going to turn it into a kit i would certainly remould the fast cast figure!
As for efficiency.........i think i started Dredd about 2 years ago!! And theres still two other figures to go with it! One needs a bit of attention before moulding, the other one, well, im hoping the elves will come one night & do it for me. Trouble is with my personal work is im always getting new ideas for stuff i want to do & its not uncommon for me to heve two on the go at once & i work on whichever one inspires me at the time. Plus work crops up now & then so i spend all my time with that & may not touch any of my own stuff for weeks!

Your Jabberslythe is really cool & you should certainly see it through to completion. It reminds me alot of the creature art of Terryl Whitlach whose famous for creature designs for the film industry & her stuff is certainly worth checking out. Once its done you should go down to your local games workshop & ask them if theyd display it. Dont be put off if they say no though as Games Workshop is infamous the world over for being bastards about that sort of thing. Im sure the dudes in the shop would love to display it, they might just not be allowed to. Ive seen "official" props in various stores over the years, Terminator armour & Orks etc, but between you & me (& the rest of the internet) i dont really rate them at all to be honest. Theyre all a bit naff really! But for all i know whoever made them probably had no time or money as is usually the case. Dont get me wrong though i have seen some amazing Warhammer stuff......just not in any of the store windows (and i dont mean the miniature displays...they are awesome!)

So before i get myself in trouble with the Games Workshop legal team i shall move swiftly on with another Punisher update!
As i mentioned in my last post his head has been bugging me alot so i spent the last few days sculpting a new one which is far more in proportion this time around. I spent about 4 days or so on it & used various reference from the comics that my Punisher mad girlfriend supplied me with. So he doesnt look like any particular Punisher as hes made up from bits of all of them. The rest of the sculpt is pretty much finished & ive started disassembling the figure for moulding. Im taking photos along the way & will have them up as i do it. So for now heres a pic of the new head as it was a day before i finished it.

Bye for now & as always thanks for all your comments theyre really appreciated!

Michael

[OhBrian]

Really great work, I do have a few questions if you can answer? I want to sculpt a helmet from on of my childhood cartoons.

what kind of armature did you use? (any pix available?)

What clay would you recommend?

also do you have any pix of the sculpting process?

[JI7]

His face is spectacular. You can really get a sense of the man behind the Punisher - there is a lot of tragedy and contempt (a life lived hard) in that face. The rest of the sculpt is fantastic of course but it is his face that really gives this sculpture life in my opinion. I actually think he has a kind of John Wayne/Clint Eastwood meets Hugh Jackman as Wolverine look about him. Excellent.

[Lord Cypher]

Hello again! Hope everyone had a good Christmas & new year?

OhBrian - it really depends on what size the helmet is going to be.....will it be life size or a smaller scale? I dont have any pics of the sculpting process other than the work in progress pics on this thread. Saying that though i suppose i could always document the entire process day by day for my next project! I would highly recommend you check out Dreamsorcerers thread as he has a time lapse video of his Nosferatu sculpt from beginning to end:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...109738&page=25

So with christmas out of the way i was able to get the Punisher moulded & cast! First thing i tackled was the bottom of his trenchcoat or "coatflaps" as i called them. I removed the flaps from the sculpt & lay them out on a board. I used clay to build up to the halfway point of the flaps & create a seamline. i decided to mould them in two parts to save on silicone & hopefuly make it a bit easier to cast them out. Once my clay wall was built i poured on a detail coat of silicone & let it set. I also poured a small block of silicone so i could cut it up & use it for keys on the next layer of silicone. Once that was ready (3 hrs) i mixed up another batch of silicone & added some thixotropic to make it nice & thick. This was then buttered on over the detail coat & the keys were added. Another 3 hours later when that had set i removed the clay wall that kept the silicone in place & trimmed off the excess silicone. I then built another clay wall further out from the silicone & mixed up some plaster & applied it over the silicone to act as a jacket that makes the silicone hold its shape when the mould is seperated. Once the plaster had set i removed the clay wall, turned the whole thing over on its back & repeated the process all over again. I had to remodel the inside of Punishers left side flap as when i sculpted it i couldnt really get to it. This was pretty easy though as i just rolled out some sculpey to the right thickness & laid it into the mould.

I dont think ive done a very good job of explaining the process above but hopefuly the photos will help. The body was pretty straight forward as i just made simple block moulds of those parts. I had a bit of a nightmare with the casting as i think i had a dodgy batch of resin as halfway through my part A became milky & weird & when A & B were mixed together it would start to go off almost immediately & then start to froth & expand!!!.....must have been contaminated somehow. Dont really have a clue what happened there to be honest! So i switched to some of the expensive bi-resin i had left over from Dredd to finish it off......only downside is i ran out of that when casting out the coat flaps so hes missing one flap!! I'll get some more though & finish it off when i get paid. In the meantime i can get to work assembling & cleaning up the pieces i do have. In future though when moulding large things like this i think block moulding will have to make way for more time consuming multi part jacketed moulds (like the flaps) as i cained all my silicone moulding this one!! Pricey! Oh well its done now!

Hopefully be back soon with a finished figure

Thanks for looking

[Chijts]

Super duper work here! Just finished reading through your thread, those coat flaps looked like alot of hassle.

I have a question if I may, did you ever study anatomy in the way that a 2D artist would (constant life drawing sketches, anatomy classes etc) or was it a case of learning as you go through keen observation of your source material?

Perhaps a better way to put it would be, did you ever say to yourself "Right, today I'm going to sculpt 20 hands, as I suck at hands."

[Lord Cypher]

Hi guys,

Chijts - I did do quite a bit of life drawing at college though ive never really sat down & sculpted a nose or a hand etc. I just observe really & improve (hopefully) with each new sculpt. Its my great weakness that i never really do any "serious" study.....something my life sculpting friends tell me off for quite a bit. My main weak point would be likenesses.......i seriously suck at it & find it virtually impossible. So i should make an effort to improve in that area the most. I do mean to & plan to attempt more likeness studies, its just that all these cool monsters & comic book characters keep distracting me!! But yes i will this year make an effort to do more real world stuff. At the end of the day its your ability to sculpt real things from life that impress potential employers the most. Obviously they enjoy looking at the fantasy creations but ultimately if you can sculpt an accurate & convincing animal or human then they know you can do a cool dragon or monster. Saying that though i know a few sculptors who are amazing at sculpting from life but have no imagination whatsoever & when it comes to fantasy stuff their work lacks a certain flair & they seem to get a bit lost or stuck. Anyway!

So The Punisher has been assembled & given a coat of primer & i'll be painting him up tomorrow. Heres some pics & a video



See ya later!

[Lord Cypher]

Hey guys,

Just a quickie today. Ive finished painting The Punisher. Im going to take some proper photos tomorrow. Till then heres a pic & another video

Cheers

[Lord Cypher]

As promised ive got some better photos of The Punisher today.

Thanks for looking

[GedTasker]

Incredible work on Punisher mate.. this really is a phenomenal piece!!!

I've really enjoyed watching this sculpt progress.. and i'm looking forward
now to seeing what your next will be. I would love to see you sculpt 'Cable'!!!

So is Dredd up next to be casted and painted..? 2000AD is a favorite of mine
and that sculpt you did of him is one of the best i've ever seen!!

Good luck with all your projects mate... you really are a remarkable artist!!

-Ged.

[MadMcGlory]

Fantasticly professional as always. You did say about possibly sculpting some thing from 40k, how about the imperial sniper you have a picture of on your wall?

[Lord Cypher]

Hi there,

Ged - Thanks man! Cable would be pretty cool. Dredd is already moulded & cast i just need to mould & cast the two perps before i get painting. Need silicone first.........
2000 AD is a limitless source of cool characters & id love to do the Dark Judges & maybe even a Fattie!! Judge Anderson would be a possibilty as would Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, Durham Red.....i could go on & on!!

MadMcGlory - Thanks dude. Funny you should mention the sniper. The reason ive got all that reference on my wall is i actually started a sculpt of the sniper. I got as far as blocking in the body & did a helmet. Then i got distracted with work & never really got back to him. I will finish him off at some point & am thinking of redoing the helmet as though i was happy with it at the time, im not so impressed by it now & can do better. Plus i still REALLY want to do a Space Marine!!

This week ive been messing around with Monster Clay & i really like it. Its kind of a mix of chavant & wax. Its very versatile & can be heated up to a liquid for pouring & when cooled is excellent for fine detail work. I noticed lots of sculptors are using it so i thought id give it a go & i highly recommend it. I'll probably be using it for most of my stuff from now on.
Ive been playing around with it for the last week. I stumbled across a cool photo of a Lynx & decided to use it as a practice for the monster clay. It was never meant to be a fully finished sculpt & is still fairly sketchy & very unfinished & i hate its face! I wont be finishing it as it was just an exercise to have a go with the monster clay......& besides ive melted it back into a block now!!

Thanks for looking

[Foxhound[DEV]]

looking good

[Lord Cypher]

Hi guys, me again!

As a freelancer i occasionally find myself being offered an amazing job only for it to end up not happening for any number of reasons. Such was the case last week & i find myself with time to kill. Dredd has pretty much come to a standstill as i cant mould the perps due to having no silicone.....i could paint Dredd but i really want to save that for when all the figures are complete (he WILL be finished sooner rather than later though!).
As i mentioned above to MadMcGlory i did start an Imperial Sniper from Warhammer 40,000 a while back but im not happy with the helmet ive done. Not to worry though as soon as i get some silicone i can mould that helmet, melt some monster clay, pour it in to the mould, let it cool down so its hard again & then re-sculpt the helmet & carry on with the sniper.......but again a lack of silicone puts that on the back burner.
So staying with the Warhammer theme ive decided to crack on with something ive wanted to do for a while, a full on Space Marine. Ive spent far too long pondering over what kind of armour variation & chapter etc to use but all that has been cleared up by the PS3 game - Space Marine. Ive been playing online from time to time & as you earn points you can customize your armour. And so i have finally earned enough points to create some pretty cool looking Astartes Plate. If you play the game online at all you may have killed me at some point as im not very good. I go by the name of Inquisitor76 & that is who im going to sculpt.
Although my dude wears a helmet i started off by sculpting a marines head, i'll do a bog standard helmet as well as the veteran helmet "I" wear online.....i'll probably do some other head/helmet variations later on. I did the head in monster clay (my favourite new sculpting medium) & spent about 4 days on it, i just need to finish up his neck area.
Next up i scanned my preferred Astartes proportions into photoshop. There are endless variations of proportions depending on the character & ive scaled the head to fit the body in a way that suits my taste for a Tactical Marine. I got the body from the concept art book that comes with the collectors edition of the game (did i mention im a MASSIVE Warhammer 40K geek?) i swapped the head from the art with another more detailed head & shrunk it down a bit as the original head size was a bit too big for my liking. I then scaled the image up to 21 inches (none of your usual 28mm warhammer figure nonsense for me thankyou - only joking, theres a supernatural level of skill that goes into sculpting those finely detailed little figures, but i like big things!). I did want it to be 23 inches but as id already done the head this was the size the body ended up being or id have to redo the head. I then printed it out to scale, sellotaped the pages together & then traced the figure keeping my tracing slightly smaller as these would form the basis of the core i needed to make to bulk out the figure.
Ive used a dense styrofoam to bulk out the figure. I used my tracings to mark out the shapes then carved & whittled away. Although they dont need to look too posh they still needed to follow the form & basic contours of the armour. I cut the chest piece in half & laid in some box section tube so i could slot the armature for the arms in & out, theres also tube going from the chest into the torso so i can remove the chest for detailing & moulding etc. I roughly assembled the pieces & held them in place with kebab skewers, masking tape & will power.
Next i had to turn on the game & open up my character. I then photographed the tv screen with my character on it, scanned these into photoshop & cut out the background. These are my reference shots for the pose & my armour. With a little bit of swearing & perseverance whilst ignoring the laughter of my housemates as i manipulated my flimsy, limp styrofoam puppet i managed to get him posed without it falling apart. Im not using the back iron this time as my housemate has nabbed it & seeing as though its his anyway i cant say no! With some heated up monster clay pushed into the bare armature joints & left to cool i can safely say hes as solid as a rock now. Oh yes the laughter has given way to a silent kind of "shit! it worked!".
And thats as far as ive got today. Im going to cut out a bigger better base for him tomorrow & then crack on with sculpting the armour. I plan to work on this daily & spend full working days on it, so i can time myself really as usually with my personal stuff people ask how long it took & i can never really be sure as paid work often means that my personal stuff is rather sporadic.
Anyway enough rambling! Get some photos down ya!!

Thanks for looking & hopefully i'll be back with regular updates on this one!!

[TeaMonster]

This marine is going to be ace, cant wait to see more lovely lovely pics
-and Congrats on the Bats work, fully awesome, and made me very jealous lol.
Keep it up!
(and now you're really rubbing in the monster clay lol, I hear everyone who's tried it loved it. I gotta try some! Did you get it from mouldlife?)

[MadMcGlory]

Cool! I will be following this as it will be great to see how you make it as already its very different to mine. Also I'm going to find out about this monster clay A fantastic stocky, serious looking marine face.


Edit:

So I've had a look at monster clay just now and wanted to post more. I've been wanting to try out some new clays/waxes and other sculpting mediums and the Monster clay works out at half the cost of sculpey. This would be great for me as I want to start sculpting with out worrying about how much clay I can use or need. How different is it to make marks compared to SS and SSF?

[Lord Cypher]

Hi there,

Been steadily progressing with the Space Marine......still a long way to go!!

TeaMonster - Yeah i got my first pack of Monster Clay from Mouldlife though beware!! If youre going to get it from there then i advise you get more than one as once theyve added VAT & shipping the originally stated price of 24 quid or something comes in at just under 50 quid! However the shipping is just a one off charge & doesnt apply to each pack so it works out that 2 packs are 70 or so quid. Either way its not cheap but it is worth the price. Also i discovered purely by chance that the 4D Model shop in London also sells it for £36 a pack. So in future if i just want one pack i'll get it from the model shop but if i want a load then i'll order it from Mouldlife.

MadMcGlory - The cooll thing about the Monster Clay is you can pretty much get it to behave & act like any medium you want depending on how long you heat it for. You can melt it to a liquid, let it cool & it becomes like clay, cool a bit more & its like sculpey, then like plastilene then like wax until it cools completely when it becomes like the harder modelling waxes, though not as hard as something like castelene but it will hold fine detail just as well. The best thing to do is get some & play around with it.

I should become a salesman for monster clay! :/

Anyway heres some pics. Ive had to detail the parts of the suit under the armour before sculpting the armour so its taking a bit longer than usual but everything is still in the blocking out phase. The boots have had the least attention. Im hoping to get the chest piece & knee pads done tomorrow. Once the whole figure is blocked in i'll give it all a tidy up & then get on with the detail, but like i said theres still a long way to go!!

Thanks for looking

[polybuilder]

Masterful work and creations!! I bet I could learn a lot from you !

is Monster Clay very similar to Chavant Medium/Hard Clay??

James