Showcase: Snake Mystic, Spirit Warrior, and More!

I'm showing off another batch of Freeblades minis this week, and is it ever an A-Team of mixed talent.  The group of four includes a summoned bandit Spirit Warrior, bandit Thug, Urdaggar Snake Mystic, and a Haradelan Muster Archer.  Let's take a look!

At long last I finally got my hands on bag of birch tree seeds (a few weeks before Kent P.'s birch tree shed its own) and put them to good use on the bandit bases as fall leaves. Secret Weapon offers birch seeds for $10 at your friendly hometown hobby store, but if you can gather them up for yourself for free that's your best bet.

Two of the models in this group received special attention: the bandit Thug, and Haradelan Archer.  Jon C. wanted a Thug with a "baseball" swinging stance instead of the stock option.

Both the Thug's armed were chopped off and pins put in place for replacement sculpts.  I also bent his legs into a "squash the bug" pivot (for all of you who played baseball as kids out there) to complete the body motion of an all out swing.

Here he is with two brand new arms and a paint job!

I was excited to do a five o'clock shadow on this thug as it fit perfectly with the rough-and-tumble nature of the bandit faction.  Clean shaven is so Haradelan.

The Thug's leather armor is studded with rings and slugs to bolster its defenses.

The Spirit Warrior is a model that can be summoned by the bandit Enchantress.  For this one I went with the classic spectral glow, adding blue light around his feet and where it reflects on the tree stump behind him.

Here they are, a live and dead bandit, back-to-back fighting in the fray.  Trivia!!!  If you can name the image that inspired the bandit's bases you will win one free paint at my Level 2 showcase quality!  So, what was the image (probably something from Freeblades, hint, hint) that inspired the basing scheme on these bandits?  Be the first to comment with the correct answer or email me at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll paint one of your infantry sized models for free!

This Snake Mystic is an Urdaggar model released for the DGS role-playing game Bright Swords.  It will be included in an upcoming Urdaggar faction, but you can get the model now!

I couldn't resist doing another... Urdaggar... redhead.  Ok, one of those was a guy, but yeah, I can't help but want to paint my Urdaggar females with red hair, I've had to fight the urge to do it on each one!  The Snake Mystic is a great model for red hair though.  It contrasts nicely with he drab clothing and the bright green snake and makes the model pop.

Of course, I wanted to do a bunch of snake tattoos on the mystic and so I decided to do a shoulder sleeve and one lurking around her pelvis... bow chick wow wow.  I have found myself doing this on a number of female models as well.  I imagine these free-spirited  and war loving women are a bit randy as well.

The final model in the group is a Hardelan Muster Archer.  Like the archers I've done for Haradel before, I wanted to add some umph to this model with an arrow and bowstring.

Here's another archer I've done before with an arrow and bow string.  It really is that extra bit that pushed the model over the top.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my Freeblades minis!  Come back next time to see what's cooking over here at the Monster Lab!

Showcase: Urdaggar Tribes of Valor

My first studio painting commission is in the books!  The group I painted was the six starter set models (seen above in their box art photo) and an additional follower and leader model for the Urdaggar Tribes of Valor.  This was a truly exciting project for me as it was the start to my career as DGS Studio's official studio painter.  From here on out I'll be painting their first set of master sculpts, and then those models will be used for photos for everything from packaging to advertisements and rule books images!  This is what every aspiring painted hopes to achieve, and I'm very thankful I was the one chosen to do it!

Let's take a look at the models for this commission up close..

  

This is the Urdaggar's Bear Mystic, their resident spellcaster.  The Bear Mystic was one of my favorites from this batch of models, I love the sense of motion and dynamism of her sculpt.  

One goal that was given to me for this project was to come up with original tattoo ideas for each model.  In Urdaggar society a warrior accumulates individual tattoos as they achieve feats in battle.  For the mystic, I wanted to put forth designs that were uniquely bearlike.  I found myself doing things in three, mimicking the three claws on a bear paw.  That pattern was echoed on her face (three claw marks), arm (three bands), and torso (a bear paw under her breast).

The Urdaggar Hunter is another exceptional model from the range, I think the sculptor gave him the perfect look, that of a stalking predator.  For the hunter I did an eagle design on his shoulders and clawlike devices down his chest.

Two talon designs that I experimented with were the side-view of a desceding talon with lightning bolts shooting from it.  The idea of a ranged warrior's metaphorical "bolts" was a perfect match for the hunter.

The other talon design was a front-view of splayed claws.  This turned out to be a good design to incorporate with the classic "banding" patterns that typifies Urdaggar achievement art.

The Night Hunter is a veteran marksman within the Urdaggar tribe, and sports some pretty impressive tattooing.  This was one of the few models where I received specific instruction as to what the studio wanted done with the tattoos.  The unique wing-mask tattoo on her face is typical amongst veteran Night Hunters and ends up looking really cool in 28mm.

I found myself wanting to find a way that the ranged warriors of the Urdaggar would express their tally of kills.  I came up with the idea of finger bands and dots as a way that they would keep track.  A band signifies five enemies killed, a dot one.  These dots and bands can be found on the draw-hand, the one that delivers the killing blow.

Yet another exceptional model in the line, with all his broad musculature, the Boar Warrior is a great model for doing some elaborate tattoo designs.  Whereas the bear had claw marks, and the eagle had sharp talons, I wanted to differentiate the boar by doing something different.  While thinking about it I began doodling tribal designs on a piece of paper that included the curved horns of a boar, and then it hit me and I knew exactly what the designs would look like!  Boar tattoos are dominated by sweeping curves and loops that turn back on themselves and curl up to mirror the image of tusks.

Another little touch I added to this boar warrior was his flushed nose/cheeks.  I imagine that he's a pretty hard working guy and that swinging a battle ax around (not to mention a belly full of mead) would put some color on his face .

A novice in the ranks of the Urdaggar, the Unproven have the fewest tattoos of all.  For this guy I wanted to do wolf tattoos, tight knit designs that echo a wolf howling at the moon.

Another wolf tribesmen, the Wolfkarl is the only member of the freeband to wear chain mail.  The Wolfkarl is a veteran warrior who has weather countless engagements.  To depict this guy's venerable years I added a touch of gray into his beard and roots of his hair.  Though much of his skin is covered up, he has a bunch of tattoos peeking out from under armor and undoubtedly more hidden underneath.

The Slinger was a fun model to paint, and I wanted to try something a bit different for her.  Like many fair-skinned people with red hair and green eyes, she has freckles on her cheeks, chest, and upper arms.

The last member of the freeband is the Berserker.  Wielding animal claws and a fur cloak, this guy rampages into the fray with little concern for his personal safety.  I imagined a character like that would have more extreme tattooing, so this guy got a healthy amount of face tats.

Look for these models in game stores in north-eastern Kansas and western Missouri this spring/summer (those who participated in the latest DGS kickstarter have gotten theirs already) and at gaming conventions like GenCon!

Thanks for checking out my work, be sure to come back next time to see what we're bringing to life here at the Monster Lab!

Building a Better Demon: The Skethar King

December has definitely been a month for green stuff conversions and modeling for me at the Monster Lab.  Last week we saw a Ghetorix conversion I made for Michael P. and a few weeks before that I showed you how to make your very own Skethar alpha from two existing DGS Skethar metal models; that project was for my long-time customer Jon C.

Doing all these conversion projects got me itching to do something from scratch, so I pulled out my green stuff oven, my modeling tools, and world's best modeling epoxy and got to work sculpting an original Skethar alpha model, one that I'm calling the Skethar King.

Let's take a look how the work went from start to finish.

All great sculpting projects start as a humble wire frame.  My good buddy and fellow hobbyist Kent Plumb pushed me to get a soldering kit and I'm thankful he did, it beats waiting for green stuff joints to dry.

Next, I bent the mannequin into its final shape.  I wanted to have the S.K. in an animalistic "on-all-fours" pose, leering at some ill gotten treasure he's cradling in his front left hand.

A little bit of 'stuff on the frame and the S.K. began to gain a bit of bulk.  I didn't want him to be too pumped up so as I proceeded I tried to keep the muscle tone lean.

When I sculpt I like to do it step-by-step from one muscle group to another.  Doing it this way I feel a more natural muscle tone is reached.  The key is to make each group stand out, but not so much that they look like flayed muscle.

At this point, I have all the muscles in place and the frame is completely covered, now it's time to build the finer features of the model like hands and a face.

This is the beginning to a head that I ultimately scrapped.  It was 99% complete before I trashed it! sometimes you have to completely start over to get exactly what you want.

The Skethar King is holding a human crown.  I like the idea of the S.K. slaying his kingly victim (or stealing it!) and coveting his ill-gotten treasure.

And he's done!  In the end, I wanted to incorporate a few traditional "devil" themes like a spade-tipped tail, horns, and ridges on his tail to really bring the model together.

The end result is a capricious demon, skulking on all fours and reveling in his mischief.

The S.K.'s nasty grin captures the personality of a Skethar perfectly, malevolent and mischievous all at the same time.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my work!  Come by next week to see what hobby projects are being brought to life here at the Monster Lab!