Holiday Sophie 2011

 I wanted to say the 2011 Holiday Sophie Ornament was a really terrific project to work on and I enjoyed collaborating with Reaper Miniatures to make this holiday collectible very special. I wanted to thank Ron, Ed, Tim and Martin for all great collaboration and the opportunity to bring the image and ornament to the fans.

It was a thrill to be able to paint the cover art for Game Trade Magazine's December issue based on Tim "Talin" Collier's design. I worked from a scan of Tim's pencil art and painted the image digitally in Photoshop. It was pretty cool to get to dust off the ol' Wacom tablet and do a bit of scribbling again. Hopefully it did his pencil work justice.

I also wanted to commend Martin Jones on doing a super bang-up job with painting the final ornament. It is also a thrill to see my sculpt work painted by others and his piece turned out exceptional. See if you can spot all the cool names on the list!

Happy Holidays everyone!
 - Patrick (The Sculptdude)

Pathfinder pieces for November

Impact! - Galak Halfling Chef

I was approached a few months ago to make a commemorative piece to surprise Tom Anders of Impact! Miniatures. It seems to have worked. Check out all the back-story and details on Ramsay's post here.

Pathfinder - Cleric of Urgathoa

 Reaper and Paizo have posted a preview of the Cleric of Urgathoa figure I sculpted for the Pathfinder range.

The pose for this figure made for a very challenging sculpt due to the negative space in the original art. It was also pretty tricky to get the scythe handle to line up properly and still be thick enough to allow for molding and casting.

Here are a couple of other views.

 

Lamia - Center Stage Miniatures

Here is the new Lamia piece I sculpted for Center Stage Miniatures. The focus was to make it "old school D&D" in flavor. Below is a series of progress shots I photographed during various stages of the sculpting process.

Vicky and I also painted their studio model which is featured in their online store.

Pathfinder's Merisiel, Iconic Elf Rogue

In anticipation of the release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box I have completed a revised Merisiel sculpt of the Iconic Elf Rogue character. Her pose is reminiscent of the action from the box cover art and is a companion piece to the black dragon that will be coming out later this year.

Both of the pieces were shown during GenCon at the Reaper booth. I have since cut the dragon apart and am in the process of keying the pieces for moldmaking. Reaper will also be releasing a generic resin treasure hoard base that would make a suitable display to recreate a diorama of the fantastic box art by Wayne Reynolds.

New Pieces for IMPACT!

 Someone leaked to the "press" that I sculpted a couple of new pieces for Impact! Miniatures again.

The first up is a Valkyrie-esque figure similar to what you may expect to see in a certain dream sequence of a movie involving a bowling dude.

She has two sets of arms to make the figure a little more cusomizable.

The other piece is a hobgoblin cheerleader set to bolster your greenskin team to victory. Or at least to make a lot of racket as they get their heads ripped off. Either way, they should be available soon from the online store at the link above.

 - back to the workbench . . .

Pathfinder - Ameiko Kaijitsu

Ameiko Kaijitsu has been posted in the previews section over at the Reaper site and on the Paizo site.
 
She appears in and on the cover of The Brinewall Legacy, a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by James Jacobs. This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

Although she appears on the cover, the art was flipped during the layout process. The art I received by Wayne Reynolds for the character design was facing the opposite direction. Such is the publishing biz.

Pathfinder - King Castruccio Irovetti

King Castruccio Irovetti has been posted in the Previews section over on the Reaper site.

"King Irovetti, ruler of Pitax and potential rival to the leaders of the eastern Stolen Lands, opens his gates and hospitality to the lords of that realm. Within his city of shallow indulgences and crude decadence, he hosts a tournament ostensibly meant to foster friendship and peace, but fraught with dangers all its own."
Pathfinder Adventure Path #35: War of the River Kings (Kingmaker 5 of 6)

I recently completed this sculpt along with several other new Pathfinder characters, some of whom will be displayed at GenCon next weekend at the Reaper booth. If you are at the show, drop by and take a look.

A Band of Orcs

The band is here! Now available individually or as a set from Impact! Miniatures.

The sculpts are based on fantastic designs by Chuck Lukacs for the awesome characters from A Band of Orcs musical group. These pieces were a real treat to work on and very different from some of my other stuff. Great care was taken to capture the art and character in the likenesses and hopefully is a fitting tribute to the band and the artist.

Art Deco Bot

Here is my recent little fem-bot for Reaper's Chronoscope line. She is sort of a re-sculpt of another bot I did several years ago that was very thin and quite soft in the details. Taking my inspiration from the art deco designs in the movie Metropolis, I wanted to sort of reinvent her a little sleeker and trim.

The original design required an actress fit inside the costume. Here I was able to for the shape more lean and light. The lines on this figure are also much crisper than the original one I sculpted out of "greenstuff". This one is all ProCreate over a wire armature and she is aproxamately 30mm tall.

Sculpting models like this with ProCreate works better for me because this particular material has less "memory" or elasticity than the green Kneadatite putty used by many of the other figure sculptors. There is still quite a bit of flexibility to the gray stuff once it is cured but the working properties are very similar to the feel of Kneadatite's brown putty. Gray stuff can be drilled, filed, scraped and sanded once it cures but it is not brittle and prone to crumbling or breaking like brown Kneadatite. I find it extremely versatile.

Messalina IV- Empress of Paint

Congratulations are in order to painter Meg Maples! She won the Gold Medal in Reaper's Painter Category for Messalina IV Andromedan Empress. Meg has also gone on to Seattle to be a staff painter at Privateer Press and will be painting all sorts of cool Warjacks and Warbeasts soon.

I commissioned her to paint this piece for me before it was sculpted and I'm very happy with the results. It is now on display in my private collection with my other award-winning sculpts and painted figures.

Thanks Meg!

Wyrd Resin Bases - Morgue Set

Wyrd Miniatures will be releasing the set of Morgue Bases I sculpted for them in June. According to their description:

This set of releases also marks a bit of a change for us for these particular basing inserts as we've moved these bases over to resin, the full base and insert together so its ready right out of the package without glue and having to purchase additional round black bases. Let us know what you think!

The new bases will be available in their online store starting next month.

Reaper Con - May 19-22, 2011

Reaper Con is only a couple of weeks away. My sculpting class will be "Armatures and Anatomy" covering how to get started making a figure from scratch. Two sessions are offered with one on Friday, May 20th from 9am-11am and the other Saturday, May 21 from 9am-11am. Both classes have sold out in the on-line reservation system but there are still a couple of spots available for attendees at the door.

If you are planning to attend one of those two days and would like a guided tour of how to get started making your own sculpts from a length of wire and a lump of putty, come by and sign up!

Sister Maria

Here is a fantastic shot of a piece I sculpted for Reaper's Chronoscope line - Sister Maria. Since this is still Lent for some of you and Easter is a few of weeks away, I wanted to spotlight the fantastic job Angela Imrie did painting this figure.

Angela asked me during last Reaper Artist Con if I would sculpt a little pair of Wayfarer sunglasses in order to make a nod to the Blues Brothers. How could I refuse?

So, if you're feeling in the Easter spirit and you have fond memories of getting smacked by rulers as a child (like I do) grab a copy of Sister Maria and paint her up for the holiday!

A Band of Orcs

Throughout April and May I will be sculpting replicas of the members of A Band of Orcs.

According to SMN News "World of Warcraft addicts A BAND OF ORCS play pummeling death metal. And yes, they are dressed as Orcs, most definitely influenced by Fantasy role-playing games.

Music-wise, A BAND OF ORCS is somewhere in between MORBID ANGEL and SLAYER, with some Tuetonic thrash thrown in for good measure. Some might think the concept is a little nerdy, but one thing’s for certain, they are not just a GWAR knockoff. Their gimmick and costumes might overshadow their talent at first, but deep down, A BAND OF ORCS play brutal, chugging death metal with technical chops. On their 7-track debut EP, WarChiefs of the Apocalypse, these Orcs from Santa Cruz can play."

The band commissioned renowned fantasy artist Chuck Lukacs who has provided work for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing and the fantastic art book Fantasy Genesis, to design the characters of themselves as the Orcs. Chuck's work is superb and I am both thrilled and privileged to be invited to contribute to this exceptional project. The figures should be available through Impact! Miniatures when completed. I'll keep you posted here with more on the project as soon as I am able.

Messalina IV - Andromedan Empress

Many of you may know about my project in long development which is a Sci-Fi setting for gaming. It has been conceptualized as a tabletop skirmish game, a campaign setting for RPGs, a comicbook/movie/tv series, etc. It is also the setting of my 2005 short film escape that features Skip Westmoreland, in one of his many iterations, as an agent of the Galactic Recovery Agency.

When I brought the concepts to Reaper prior to their Chronoscope line I had a range of aliens as yet unnamed. Once I returned to sculpting in 2009 I approached Ron with the possibility of producing a few of my alien characters for their new line. He was amiable to the idea and provided the moniker of Andromidans to my alien species.

So at ReaperCon 2010 I asked Tim "Talin" Collier if he would be kind enough to design the Andromedan Empress for me. This design was later translated into the sculpt for the 2010 GenCon Painting Competition - Sculpted Greens category in which it won the fourth place ribbon.

Now it is available exclusively through Reaper Miniatures and offered in their online store and other fine retail establishments. I will try to add photos of her once she's painted. Currently Meg Maples is working on the studio model.

Death Star Battle Event Blog

I am currently working with a couple of my gaming buddies to put an event together for GenCon this year. Darren West is designing the rules based on Star Wars Saga Edition RPG Starship combat rules.
Brett Amundson is helping with rules, playtesting, table layout and model fabrication & painting. I am working on creating & painting models as well as setting up the Death star surface for the gaming table.

The initial goal of running the Death Star Run scenario is to faithfully recreate the Battle of Yavin at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope but also allow the players versatile control over their forces to achieve a victory with either side. Check out all our progress at the event blog.

Greebo - Silvania Elf Team

Greebo Miniatures (formerly associated with Roll Jordan) has announced the release of the Silvania Elf Team for Bloodbowl and Elfball games that I sculpted for them in November. Impact! Miniatures will be carrying the line as the US distributor and they should be available from their online store within a week or so.