A D O G S B L O G G

Terry Pratchett Amazon.com Interview

2011-11-21T14:52:00.000Z

I found this link to a Terry Pratchett interview and I am guessing that folks who look at this blog probably like Terry Pratchett and his fabulous world and characters. So watch away.......

Exclusive Amazon Interview with Sir Terry Pratchett from Neal Thompson on Vimeo.

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Gary Chalk Interview

2011-10-28T21:02:00.008+01:00

After much hunting on the internet I have managed to collate some artwork by one of the many fantasy artists that have inspired me a great deal over the years. There are of course many, many magnificent artists out there, too many to name or put in some kind of favourite order, many of whom have also inspired me in one way or another. But this particular artist's work was some of the first fantasy art I saw that immediately captured my imagination, the man I am talking about is Gary Chalk.

Gary is well known for his work on the Talisman board game produced by Games Workshop in 1983 and the extremely popular Lonewolf series of fantasy gamebooks written by Joe Dever. After his time at Games Workshop Gary and a colleague moved on to produce their own miniatures wargame to rival GW's Warhammer called Fantasy Warlord which ran for two years. Gary has recently been doing work for French miniature company Rackham and producing illustrations and concept art for their mini's and if you read the interview following the illustrations you will see what he's up to currently!

Some of Garys work....

Talisman First Edition box art.....

Fantasy Flight Games produce the newest version of Talisman - Revised 4th edition which is available from many game stockists. There are also a good deal of expansions available now as well including new ones not released for the old game. The Dungeon, The Highlands, The Sacred Pool, The Reaper, The Frost March, The Dragon. Its an excellent boardgame and a classic to boot. If you played it as a kid, you won't be disappointed with these new versions!...

Fantasy Flight Games - Talisman

The book series Gary is most famous for illustrating is Lone Wolf series. Lone Wolf introduced a progressive skill set throughout the adventure which was great and something not found in Fighting Fantasy at the time.

You can read more about Fantasy Warlord here.

Some work for Rackham.....

And the rest of the artwork I have found. Of course this is only a small sampling, but enough to give you a good taste nonetheless. Enjoy.

It was a bit of a struggle to find high quality images created by Gary on the internet, but a big thanks to those who posted them up and especially big thanks to the Project Aon team and its volunteers who do so much to keep Lonewolf alive and available on the net. Most and nearly all of the original books are available to play freely online due to the genorisity of Gary and Joe Dever so head on over to Project Aon here.

Gary Chalk Mini Interview - The Unvarnished Truth

Gary, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions, and before we start I have been asked to pass on the thanks and gushing admiration towards yourself from many fellow gamers on the forums!

I have already expressed the fact that your art made the fantasy games I played come to life and fired up my imagination, creating a great love for fantasy art. But who and what were your inspirations when you began your artistic life and how did you begin your artistic career, was it in the field of fantasy art?

I actually started my working life in a graphic design studio, where I learnt all the things they had neglected to teach me at art school. This was practically everything. We produced all sorts of stuff, from leaflets to pizza boxes, but precious few orcs. While I was working there, I started looking for freelance illustration and eventually found enough to earn a precarious living.

How did you come to be involved with the Lonewolf gamebook series and the Talisman boardgame?

I was working for Games Workshop with the important title of Games Developement Manager. I had a drawing board and a staff of one - me. I had joined the company while they were developing Talisman and they had a rough board for play testing which was rather like a an aerial view of a landscape. It wasn’t very exciting, so I came up with the idea of turning the landscapes on their side, running them together and drawing them in detail. People liked it.

Lonewolf came about because Livingstone and Jackson were looking for people to ghostwrite their fighting Fantasy books for a pitiful royalty. They approached myself and Joe Dever, who was working away in the bowels of their warehouse. I thought,that if we were good enough to write their books, we were good enough to write our own. That’s how we came up with the idea of Lone Wolf which was loosely based on the world that Joe had used for his D&D games.

What were the reasons for you leaving Games Workshop and what do you think of the modern face of the company?

I left Workshop to work the Lone Wolf books, which was extremely easy as GW had never actually given me a contract! I must admit, the world was perhaps more interesting in the days when there was more gaming diversity about. I find the modern Warhammer worlds mind-numbing dull, but since they have been specifically designed to appeal to twelve year old boys, rather than sad old gits like me, that’s not really very suprising. As for White Dwarf, it isn’t really a magazine, it’s a monthly product catalogue and a very well designed one at that.

I don’t think that Workshop products have been made to appeal to adult gamers for years. Adults are no longer their target market. If adults want to buy their products, no doubt they are pleased, but their buyers are adolescent boys who buy boxes of orcs for about two years until they discover girls.

My only problem with this is that the omnipresent GW shops have helped kill off a lot of small games and model shops. However, you can find anything on the internet these days, from independent figure makers to saucy young women who have forgotten to put any clothes on. If you want a different fantasy game, invent a world, draw a quick map and download a free set of rules. That should take about two evenings. You can find figures in any scale or material and you can paint them any colour you like. That’s why it’s called « fantasy » gaming. By the way, nowhere is it written that orcs are green…

When you left Games Workshop you created your own wargame "Fantasy Warlord", do you have any regrets about this game not continuing, is there anything you would have done differently with hindsight?

Fantasy Warlord was a ghastly mistake. It cost me a lot of money and the stress turned my hair white. That, by the way, is absolutely true. I had utterly misjudged the market. The gamers actually wanted what Workshop was producing for them and not a game that used pseudo-military tactics to determine the outcome of fantasy battles. The gamers really wanted an infinite number of badges and lots of spikey bits. The world had changed, but I hadn’t changed with it.

In addition to all this,the launch coincided with that of Grenadier’s Warlord game and a major economic crisis that the then Chancellor of the Exchequer told us was going to a little « blip ». Never trust a man in a suit.

With hindsight, I would have left the gamers to play Warhammer and run screaming over the horizon.

Given the nature of fantasy art and the clients imagination versus your own some frustration must occur on occassion with differing visions. So, when you are working, do you find the ideas for a piece come easily to you? Or do the confines of a brief often limit your imagination or what you'd do given total freedom?

The ideas come easily, but trying to work out what an editor wants is more difficult. Fantasy clients are relatively easy to please. They know what they want,and they let you fill in the details. Brilliant!

The children’s book market is a different kettle of fish, however. The editors are largely middle class young women with no training in design and even less idea of what children actually enjoy, especially boys. They think that twelve year old boys are still playing with wooden trains, rather than enjoying the dubious delights of Grand Theft Auto. In order to work out what they actually want you to draw, you may have to employ a ouija board. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoy fitting drawings into odd shapes etc.

Do you have a favourite piece of art created by yourself?

No, not really…

Are there any projects you would have liked to have done but never got the opportunity to be involved with?

Only about five and a half million. Classic stories like Treasure Island and The Last of the Mohicans appeal greatly to me and I seem to be getting very interested in the Steampunk genre. I’ll draw whatever anyone asks for, though, that’s part of the fun of the job.

Do you play any games yourself or have time to paint miniatures (photos!!?) ?

I play historical wargames with miniatures. The English Civil War, Darkest Africa and I have two new armies, Bolshevik and Chinese for the 1920s along with a complete Wild West town with and all its inhabitants. I also play games with a huge Norman army and a pirate fleet - « Aha Jim Lad« . Sorry, I don’t know what came over me there for a moment…

My main problem is a lack of opponents. I live in rural Normandy and there’s not much in the neighbourhood except cows. The nearest three live an hour away in deepest Brittany and the designated driver has been suffering from a bad knee. I’ll have to wait a bit before he can press the pedal to the metal and speed up the autoroute from Rennes, with a boot full of little men.

What have you been doing over the last year and can you tell us about any new up and coming projects you have been working on?

In addition to a couple of drawings for the french version of the Lone Wolf RPG,
I am currently working on the Lone Wolf boardgame with Jamie Wallis of Greywood Publishing. At the time of writing, we are about 90% of the way through the artwork and graphics.

We are hoping to produce it book form, yes, book form, and as a number of downloads. If we produce it as a book, it will make it easily available online and it should be a bit cheaper for the gamer as there is no VAT involved. Take out the staples, cut out the playing pieces and it’s ready to go. We want to make all the components available as downloads, so that players can expand the game at will with extra boards and playing pieces in whatever way they like. So, if you want to fight with the armies of the Dark Lords in the Streets of Holmgard, you can add two village maps together to make part of a city. If you want to double up the size of your giak army, you can simply download a second set of playing pieces at a reasonable price.

People who enjoyed Cry Havoc, should enjoy this game too. Although the rule mechanisms are different, it has the same feel with highly detailed individual warriors and attractive, colourful maps.

I’m also working on the background for a series of online gamesbooks, but I can’t tell you to much about these as I am waiting for the contract to arrive for signature. There will be three to start with and they will be in a totally new setting. Swords and sorcery with just a whiff of gunpowder.

And finally, errrrr.....can you sign my complete collection of Lonewolf gamebooks?

I’ll sign anything except a cheque….

Gary, I just want to thank you for taking time to answer these questions, you have made a fan very happy indeed and I am sure fellow gamers will be very interested to see what new work you have in the pipeline.Thank you!

You can visit Gary's website here and follow him on twitter "@garychalkpics".

Until next time!

Footnote: Gary offered to supply some pictures of the Lonewolf game pieces and I also asked if he had any of his gaming table/painted miniatures. At time of posting I am awaiting a response but will post it up when I get them!

dfb

Anthony Watkins Dragon

2011-10-13T21:52:00.001+01:00

A sculptor whose work I absolutely love and whose speed for doing them is as equally impressive as his skill in creating them is Anthony Watkins. Here is one of his dragons that I'd thought I'd share with you given the recent enthusiasm for some very cool dragon releases from some of the mini companies - namely the Forgeworld one, Cang the Implacable from CMON and the Heresy dragon sculpted by Andy Foster. Who would win in a fight, I don't know, but enjoy this bit of eye candy anyway....

Matt Levin Chess Set Complete!!

2011-09-29T20:36:00.000+01:00

Okay, here are the final photos of Matt Levin's fantasy bust chess set and it's massive. Here are the shots of the black pieces and a complete set photo at the end. See a couple of posts down for the white pieces. Matt recommends a board size of 4" per square!! Thats one massive chessboard! But if you love cabinet making with a little bit of wood carving and art you could go to town on a wonderful elaborate design as these pieces will be cast which is great news. I think the board would be best designed as a whole table really but I would love to see what a skilled woodworker could come up with to complement this set - I'm imagining a lot of Narnian or Mid Summer Nights Dream type imagery. Utterly insane sculpting, here they are.......

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A Test Post

2011-09-29T20:03:00.001+01:00

Just a Test post from my phone and to see if the marvel of technology promised by this Android Blogger app is all its cracked up to be. I think some photo hosting intregration or lack thereof is the first issue I see. I believe the photo size often gets messed up when uploading direct from your pc. I have been forced to put everything on hosting. Hmmm......

Chess set photos from Matt Levin coming very shortly don't go away.

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Some Wonderful Paintjobs

2011-09-26T16:54:00.002+01:00

No text required I think, enjoy....click to enlarge this full resolution shots will blow your socks off.

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Way Back When....

2011-09-06T11:38:00.001+01:00

I was recently thinking about the first miniatures I ever owned and endeavoured to track down some pictures. It didn't take me long, not even minutes in fact!!! Big thanks go to all those people out there who go out their way to maintain websites on all the small things in life!!!! Here are some pictures of the first mini's I ever got my childlike paws on, I can't remember which of the two exactly came first, I'm thinking it was the wizards, but anyway - these two sets were my first and began my love affair with miniatures and models...

All these old models are cataloged over on www.dndlead.com where you will find plenty of information about them all. It's a shame I have no photographs of any of them that I painted myself, oh hang on - no it isn't lol.

Check back soon, I am working on doing the next proper blog entry. Might even be updating the workbench soon to with new progress photographs.

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Awesome Chess Set

2011-08-31T23:02:00.000+01:00

Some wonderful new sculpts found, by artist Matthew Levin. I don't think there are many chess sets in existance that are more impressive than this......

My own workbench page has now been updated, click the link over on the right to see some painting, sculpt photos soon.
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Predator Metal Sculptures

2011-07-21T02:11:00.000+01:00

I found these a couple of weeks ago and meant to post them up. Better late than never though I suppose. Unfortunately these photos were from several sources and I am unsure of the artists names or if they were even mentioned. Whoever done them deserves big kudos anyway!! Enjoy.

New Work

2011-07-13T17:55:00.000+01:00

Well, I guess it is about time at last! I am starting a mystery project, oh yeah!! I dont think what I am doing has been done, I personally have not seen it but I maybe wrong. As to details, sorry its a mystery!!!

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Just A Quick Post

2011-07-05T21:16:00.001+01:00

I recently posted the fabulous illustrations of Russ Nicholson, well I thought that whilst kind of on the subject of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks I might mention its main rival of the time the LoneWolf series by author Joe Dever. Many of you may remember these wonderful books that added the element of leveling up within the series, with each following book continuing the same quest. Lonewolf was massively successful in its day and is kept alive by an online project which has converted many of the books to a variety of formats PDF, MOBI and HTML in several languages. Some of the later books are still being worked on, but the whole project is an officially endorsed endeavour being backed by Joe Dever himself and all of the illustrators who worked on the books. The project is called "Project Aon" and you need only follow the link below to enter a gamebook paradise and relive adventures of old.

Project Aon

EDIT: Another edit to add some additional content. I recently learned of what looks like a very good quality Fighting Fantasy Fanzine called "Fighting Fantazine". It seems very professionally producing with contributions from people involved in the books when there were written. I have yet to check them out in detail, but here is the link to the back issue page where you can download for free.

Fighting Fantazine

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PS: Keep your eyes peeled for more great life size predator sculptures soon...

Death From Above

2011-06-29T17:02:00.000+01:00

The Shiflett Brothers are working are a rather awesome sculpture entitled "Death From Above" when I saw it I was actually looking for an idea of something to practice drawing - so I chose this. Here is a picture of the sculpture itself and of course the drawing I did of it.

Russ Nicholson Fantasy Illustrator

2011-06-23T01:24:00.002+01:00

I know this blog is usually dedicated to great sculptures and paint jobs and so on. But these 3D works are more often than not inspired by 2D work - be it inspiration from a movie, a book, comic book, concept art and so on. So I am going to show a little love to the 2D guys as well from time to time on this blog and I am kicking off with the magnificent Russ Nicholson. Russ is renowned for his black and white pen and ink illustrations, which is one of the main reasons I love his work as this is my own preferred medium. Russ does colour illustrations to, but is particularly known for his black and white Fighting Fantasy gamebook illustrations for Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson as well as working for the likes of TSR and Games Workshop amongst others. Many of you will remember The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - the very first Fighting Fantasy book, and one that was illustrated by Russ and I am going to kickstart the pictures with an awesome picture of an alternative entrance to Firetop Mountain that was not actually used for the book ( I think it is better than the one they did use).

So, plenty of great illustrations for you there. I have a few more up my sleeve, but the best thing you could do would be pick up some of these old gamebooks from somewhere and admire them in person. My own collection was partially thrown away as a lad, but I repicked up most of them from ebay. And Play.com recently had signed copies of an anniversary edition of the Warlock of Firetop Mountain which I bought as well.

The work of Russ Nicholson has definitely been a big inspiration for me on a personal level, these gamebooks served as my introduction to the whole genre of fatasy gaming and it was Russ' illustrations and the basic D&D cover artwork that got me into loving fantasy art. I got the opportunity to send a personal thanks to Larry Elmore on Facebook a while back, so this is a little tribute to Russ for the enjoyment given to me as a kid when I played the books, and now when I look at the art and appreciate the skill.

EDIT: I'd just like to make a small ammendment to this blog post rather than make a new one and cause "clutter" so to speak. Following on from the Russ Nicholson illustrations from the Fighting Fantasy Books I have managed to locate a few interviews with him from other sites so here are a few links if your interested to read a little more about him.

Fighting Fantasy Interview

Sci-Fi-O-Rama

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Joseph Tsang Predator for Hot Toys

2011-06-20T18:15:00.000+01:00

As promised, the uber talented Joseph Tsang Predator sculpts. This is but a small sampling of his work. He does have a blog which will linked at the end of the post. Enjoy these pics though...

Joseph Tsang Blog HERE

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Portal 11 Out Now!!

2011-06-17T20:55:00.001+01:00

Always up for a freebie, here is the lovely e-zine Portal. Head on over and check it out!!!

PORTAL

Download it from the WAMP site and enjoy folks.

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Ghostrider Bike

2011-06-15T23:18:00.001+01:00

Please take a look at this wonderful video of the sculpting of a 12" Ghost Rider action figure, I am sure you will enjoy it....

To add a little more info to this post the name of the sculptor is Joseph Tsang, a very talented and amazing sculptor - he has done some great Predator sculpts so be sure to look out for them when I add them to the blog. I believe I have come across Joseph before, he hangs out on the Clubhouse forums and he has a blog also, which is great if you can read Cantonese. But dont worry, the pictures are in English :)

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2011-06-02T18:48:00.000+01:00

A short while ago I posted some steampunk sculpture. Well I would like to continue that theme with the work of many talented artists on Deviantart.com. It may not technically be sculpture, but there can be no doubt of the skill involved and the fabulous craftsmanship and artistry put into the pieces. If it's cool - it's in as far as I am concerned. Here we go.

New Steampunk Utility Corset
by *LillysWorkshop

Steampunk Crab Sculpture

by *CatherinetteRings

Steampunk Leg Finished
by ~Skinz-N-Hydez

Steampunk Arm Finished
by ~Skinz-N-Hydez

Pilots Steampunk Time Piece
by ~Skinz-N-Hydez

Steampunk Helmet Front View
by *TomBanwell

Steampunk Ray gun 2

by ~Diarment

Well these are just a few things I found. I could carry on posting all night, but I think that will have to do for now.

dfb

A Flight of Dragons and Stories To Be Told

2011-06-02T05:04:00.001+01:00

No sculpture today, but still essentially on topic...

I recently have been thinking nostalgically back to fantasy films I enjoyed in my youth and a couple in particular stuck in my mind. Such things serve as the inspiration of our works and I personally hold such memories dear. So here's a couple I have been trying to get hold of on DVD.

The StoryTeller by Jim Henson - a series of short, dark fairytales from various cultures which was told in a slightly unusual way of blending in the action within the setting of the StoryTellers immediate enviroment. Utterly fantastic costumes, monsters and stories featuring many famous faces including John Hurt as the Story Teller himself. One tale even featured Sean Bean! There was a short follow up season based around Greek fables and starring Michael Gambon as the Story Teller. The big crime here is that they are very hard to get hold of in DVD format and certainly not widely available in the UK after a hunt on ebay and other online stores. Luckily these shows are available online, as dodgy as that may be, these shows are great for fantasy fans and not to be missed. But if you do spot them in a shop be certain to snap them up.

The Story Teller Season 1

The Flight of Dragons was another classic cartoon that is again, unfortunately very hard to get a copy of if you are in the UK. Customers in the US are more fortunate however and are able to order it via Amazon. It is oddly manufactured to order and comes as a direct no thrills attached copy of the VHS version. But for the folk who cannot order it, it to is available to watch online and if you havn't seen it, I recommend it as a good classic fantasy cartoon.

Flight of Dragons

Back To Reality

2011-05-31T15:54:00.000+01:00

After returning from Las Vegas and New York City I am shattered, my body clock is all over the place and I have been ill. Nonetheless I am hoping to start some new work soon and get my paintbrush back in hand. I have been sketching, both in my pad and on the computer, only little heads and mainly goblins, I'll post them up when finished.

Grey Matter Figures, have a painted version of their "Bad To The Bone" sculpt I produced for them a while back. A wonderful job by Rob Hendon. The photo is a little small, I'll see if I can get hold of some bigger versions to post, but in the mean time here it is...

A great paintjob I'm sure you'll agree. The bust is available from Grey Matter Figures website HERE.

dfb

Joaquin Palacious Norse Lord

2011-05-10T12:22:00.000+01:00

Here is a recent work by Joaquin, Norse Lord on a throne. Not so taken by this one in all honesty. I think the Santa Claus sculpt he did will take some beating - that was truly amazing and the dark elf rider remains my favourite. Nevertheless, I would say that Joaquin is in my top three favourite mini sculptors. Here is I believe, his latest piece and some other older pieces for those who might not have seen them.

This is a small selection of Joaquin's (Freeman) work. You can check out his gallery on Cool Mini Or Not HERE

Thuggorre Paint Job

2011-05-10T12:03:00.000+01:00

I was looking through some old photos I needed to upload for the new Cool Mini Or Not 2010 Annual submissions and I realised I hadn't posted all of the photos of the fabulous paintjob done by SkelettetS from CMON (Stefan Johannson) on the Thuggorre bust. The original pictures were made into a flyer type design so I havn't posted them in their full glory. So here they are.

Stefan done an amazing paintjob and photos on my sculpt for which I am very grateful.

Thats all on a personal note, I am feeling my artistic desire increasing so I hope to start some projects soon and get back to painting now the winter is over. Unfortunately I did not get around to doing much over winter - it was a lot colder than I expected in my garage studio due to a poor quality door and the frame. An issue yet to be resolved.

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Superman Vs Darkseid - FIGHT!!!

2011-05-09T18:43:00.000+01:00

Here is some fantastic work from my numero uno favourite large scale sculptor Ray Villafane. This time some DC Comics, I prefer Marvel characters as they are more in your face and dynamic, but the DC line up have a more classic old school feel to them, which I like to.

Without further ado..........

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Wolverine For Starters

2011-05-08T22:26:00.004+01:00

Wolverine has become a fairly iconic superhero character over the last few years due to the popularity of the X-Men movies and the back story movie - Origins. The success of the various superhero movies has brought the comic book characters to a wider audience which is a great thing. Many characters from the Marvel Universe along with the Star Wars universe have been given the miniature treatment over the last year or so by a company called Knight Models. The sculpts are amazing, the characters are carefully selected and represent the most popular and I'm sure they will expand the range over the coming year. A good deal of you reading this know all that, but I am saying it anyway for the sake of those who of course! Here is a link to the models in the Cool Mini Or Not shop - please check them out.

Knight Models

The market for superheroes in resin has unfortunately had to be met by the "Garage Kit Industry". Essentially unlicensed models sold in small numbers illegally by talented sculptors and producers. The official merchandise has always tended to be prepainted statues and busts of a much larger scale. Not my cup of tea really, so here I am going to show off some cool stuff I have found. Wolverine for starters, a few traditional sculpts and some computer sculpture in z brush.

This one has to be my all time favourite sculpt of wolverine - hands down easy. Sculpted by the awesom Mark Newman. Click for larger images.

This one sculpted by a forum user known as Morhawkee. Sorry I don't the sculptors real name! I like this rendering for managing to capture the mood nicely.

I like the piece above for its fantastic energy and bursting colour that makes it seem like a comic book page come to life.

Obviously these three sculpts dont even begin to scratch the surface of the amazing work out there, but I chose them each on their own merit, its not always about technical perfection of the sculpt itself. I have seen some less sharper work convey feeling beautifully. Here is an example of that. It is a paperclay sketch of Logan. Done by the Shifflett Brothers.

Very simple but the face conveys a lot of expression and also offers a slightly different look to him which I like.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/printthread.php?t=61535

An amazing z-brush rendition of wolverine in a classic comic pose. This looks utterly amazing. Lets hope that gets produced.

Anyway, hope you liked these three - there will of course be more over time.

dfb

X-Men Kids

2011-05-07T19:17:00.000+01:00

Just a quicky post today, here they are - sculpted by the brilliant Troy McDevitt. Enjoy the picks and now I have to dash..................
(Insert blinding flash special effect)

dfb

Steam Punk Sculpture

2011-05-06T20:27:00.000+01:00

I received a personal message from a fellow CMONer the other day containing a link to some rather cool steam punk sculpts . After a quick search I found the artists website and found some very impressive work which should be of interest to those that visit these pages. Steam punk is a very interesting style that allows for great innovation and imagination and I love the vibe of old mixed with new. The Pictures below represent a small selection of the artists work. The artist is one Pierre Matter and you can visit his personal site HERE.

Enjoy these and the Pierre Matter website. Tomorrow some comic book stuff and then some more steam punk....

dfb

Beast Rider

2011-05-05T12:57:00.000+01:00

This is a sculpt from a while back really from a competition run on the Shiflett Brothers forum. The challenge was to create a monster and its rider and it attracted many big name sculptors to do an entry. The prize was pretty sweet to being a vast array of resin kits all signed by the brothers, pretty much their whole range I believe it was. Anyway, this was one of the entries. Sculpted by Ryan Firchau - a character and creature designer who works in the video games industry. So yes he's awesome. I will be posting some more of his stuff soon to. This piece is entitled "Earth Shaker".

Enjoy.

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One Shot By Soda Pop Miniatures

2011-05-05T10:57:00.001+01:00

Many of you may have seen the Soda Pop Miniatures new release "One Shot" model. A girl and her mech is a nice design idea and the sculpting of the piece was done by the masterful MIKH, a freelance sculptor responsible for many Rackham and Helldorado pieces amongst others. I asked MIKH if he moulded the symmetrical parts for purposes of speeding up the process and symmetrical precision - he did not!!! All individually sculpted, with the use of a simple sculpting trick of doing the symmetrical parts back to back to keep a check on the symmetry itself.

Here is the model, there are no details on who painted it unfortunately, should I find out I will update the post.

This model is available from the CMON store, direct from Soda Pop and is available at many other miniature retailers.

The purpose of this post is to highlight the interesting article on MIKH's blog about the creation of this piece. There are plenty of the original technical drawings to see and a description of the process. Part 1 is up on the blog now and a second part is to follow, if you're interested in checking it out head on over here.....

MIKH's Blog - One Shot Creation Part 1

Enjoy.

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Wild Troll By Romain Van Den Bogaert

2011-05-03T13:00:00.000+01:00

Many of you will have seen some of the wonderful busts sculpted by Romain Van Den Bogaert and distributed by JMD Miniatures. Well, here is the latest peek I found on another forum. There are no details as yet as to who will be producing it or doing the studio paint job for it. But enjoy these photos in the meantime....

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The Child Catcher

2011-04-27T23:21:00.001+01:00

Here is a piece I fancy sculpting myself oneday, a fantastic rendering of the evil Child Catcher from the classic film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Sculpted by Darren Harvey of DHEffects. The bust will be available to buy sometime later this year and I will put up further details about that when I have them. I personally would love to paint this guy up. I will be practicing shading black first though!

The character was played by Sir Robert Helpmann, an Australian dancer, actor and producer. He certainly has a haunting face. You can read more HERE.

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Obsidian Painting Videos

2011-04-13T23:53:00.000+01:00

Just thought I'd share a video made by Obsidian Painting. It is a great little tutorial on wet blending painting technique. Enjoy the video, after purchasing quite a few tutorial DVD's downloads from Miniature Mentor and Natalya's DVD set (both of which I would highly recommend) its nice to sit back with a coffee and enjoy a freebie!! Cheers Obsidian Painting!!!

Cool Mini Or Not Annual 2009

2011-04-04T23:00:00.001+01:00

I was quite surprised to find the magnificent looking latest Cool Mini Or Not Annual in the shop section of the website yesterday and what a pleasant surprise that was as I have not spotted any news on it for quite some time. For those who have purchased the 2008 annual, you will know that the CMON team did a great job putting together a magnificent showcase of the best miniatures of the year in a very well presented, quality book. It looks like the format has stayed the same, which is a good sign and allows me to recommend it wholeheartedly. Preview pages are available in the shop, along with a index listing its contributors if you need to check whether your submission was included. I made it in myself for a second year which is a pleasant feeling I must admit.

You can buy the book HERE

dfb

Figure of the Week

2011-03-15T12:40:00.000Z

This week I choose a Studio McVey piece as my favourite from the Cool Mini Or Not top twenty of the week painted by Iacton. Lots of other great stuff in the chart to, so always hard to choose, but this one jumped out at me most. Check out my favourites list to see a whale load of great minis all collected together for easy convenience. Its not exhaustive yet, but click on the Cool Sculptures Archive to get to the link and check out the work of some of the best mini painters in the world.

The Work of Adam Beane

2011-03-12T00:05:00.000Z

A sculptor I admire greatly, his large scale statues are utterly perfect, clean, crisp and come with bags of character, movement and emotion - in short everything you need to make a great sculpt! Here is a little video showcasing his work. Enjoy!

dfb

Alien Intelligence

2011-03-09T19:39:00.000Z

After browsing the CoolMiniOrNot website over the last couple of days I came across a stunning bust sculpted by the ever amazing Jordu Schell (http://schellstudio.com/) and painted by the painting machine that is "Jarhead" (Roman Lappat) of CMON. You can check his impressive group blog here - http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/ and please do, it is one I always enjoy reading and there is plenty of stuff to learn and plenty of eye candy to blow your eyes from their sockets. It is run by a small group of fantastic painters, not just Roman, so features work from several artists.

Today I finally started some sculpting again. I was just playing about - doing some alien face sketches when I hit a shape I liked and I kept going at it. Its nearly finished and now I need to figure how to use it in a sculpt. It is a withered face, very much Drow like so I may get it cast and try a few designs out. I like the idea of a warrior and a wizard character, so watch this space.

dfb

Fantasy Garden Sculptures

2011-02-17T21:31:00.000Z

Today I have discovered a few more gems and I must admit some jealousy here as I am sure would many others reading this. This post is dedicated to the work of artist and sculptor Bruno Torf who's fantasy sculptures populate some wonderful gardens in Australia. Here is a bit of information from his website....

"After several years of this lifestyle, Bruno and the family made a decision to pack up and move to Australia to create a sculpture garden that he would run as a permanent attraction.The family arrived in Melbourne and shortly after had found the perfect place in the small Victorian village of Marysville. The luscious sub-alpine forests of the surrounding area – were the ideal setting for Bruno's plan and luckily the property he purchased he a large section of rain forest attached. After five months of backbreaking work Bruno's art and sculpture garden was opened to the public. Also on the property was a gallery that housed over 200 of his artworks brought over from Europe that included oil paintings, sketches and smaller sculptures.

The garden began with just fifteen life sizes terracotta sculptures, today there are over one hundred and fifteen pieces on display and Bruno is still making regular additions. The unique experience of the garden and its wondrous inhabitants attracts thousands of visitors a year. Bruno and the family still live there and always take great pleasure in being able to share their magnificent art treasure with all that come."

Very Impressive work I'm sure you will agree.

dfb

Hooray I can Post Again

2011-02-08T14:24:00.000Z

After upgrading my Opera web browser the Blogger controls now actually work and I can once again post updates. This entry is a general collection of things....

First up some fantastic sculpts by Cyril Roquelaine. This very talented guy has some videos up on Youtube where you can watch him sculpt some pieces. These are two of my personal favourites I saw when I visited his site. You might want to turn the sound off if you dont like repetitive jazz though.

Cyril Roquelaine Apeman Video Tutorial

Cool Mini Or Not Figure of the Week

Whilst many lovely painted miniatures as always lurk in the top twenty of the week over on Cool Mini Or Not and more often than not it is tough to pick a favourite, this just had to be my pick of the bunch. Amazing work.

Games Force Magazine Issue 19 is now available in the UK - Just received my copy very swiftly delivered by El Greco Miniatures (I received this in 2 days flat!) I have used this company several times and can whole heartedly recommend them. No problems and swift delivery. It contains many articles by some of Cool Mini Or Not website artists - Jarhead (Roman Lappat), Arsies (Javier Gonealez) and Jeremie Bonament Teboul amongst others and a fantastic interview with Alan Carrasco.

Irregular Magazine Issue 7 is available to download free. This is a fantastic quarterly magazine and you get it at the link below....

IRREGULAR MAGAZINE LATEST ISSUE

Tyre Sculptures

2010-12-16T10:07:00.001Z

Okay, back to business with some more cool sculptures. This time made out of old worn tyres. I like it anyway.

Okay, I have missed a few weeks of top minis (hopefully I have not missed out on anything too wonderful) so here is my pick for the Sunday just gone. As a massive Spiderman fan, it could be none other than this wonderful piece painted by the extremely talented Crackpot.

Click on this one to see it in its full glory of course!!! You visit Crackpots gallery here and I am sure he would appreciate votes and comments. Crackpot's Gallery

dfb

Tyre Sculptures

2010-12-16T09:59:00.000Z

Okay, back to business with some more cool sculptures. This time made out of old worn tyres.

Whoa Long Time No Post!!!

2010-12-15T21:04:00.000Z

Well, it seems like it was a while since I was last here. Brushes out cobwebs. Anyway,I had some browser issues, when going on the blog the page loaded but text entry box would not load correctly and the timer just kept on going..... Also I've been tired a lot lately, slowly getting used to my new job, not used to heavy physical work and work now feels more like gym! So hopefully after Christmas I will be back on track with sculpting. I have got some painting done however and an old sculpt of mine will shortly be released by Eastern Front Studios, more news on that when I have some. The figure in question can be seen in my Cool Mini Or Not gallery and will be made from resin in Eastern Fronts Dungeon Crawl line as the evil Treant "Ironbark".

Totally off tangent, this afternoon I was engaging in some nostalgia and came across a blog that was dedicated to my former school house competitive events. The school is Windsor Boys School which I attended until age 15 and all of the school houses were all named after old boys who died in World War 2 (err, kind of relevant to the blog?). Anyway, I was in Warwick house and I always did wonder what he did and how he died. Well only 23 years later have I found out. Rememberance Sunday has been and gone, so consider this a belated post on the event. Here is the story of Joe Warwick, founder of my school house and as simple as it may be every soldier had their own story, some heroic,some less so, but all equally important nevertheless.

"Joe Warwick attended Windsor Boys’ School from 1934 to 1940. He joined the R.A.F. as a pilot soon after leaving school and his initial training took him to Scotland, Canada and America (by then also at war). In February 1943 Joe completed his final flying assessment in Florida, USA, successfully gaining his Wings as a Sergeant Pilot. On his return to the U.K. Joe was posted to IX Squadron, Bomber Command at their main base in Bardney, Lincolnshire where he quickly learned to fly the Avro Lancaster Bomber. On his 15th successive bombing run over Germany, Joe’s luck ran out. Having taken several hits from enemy anti-aircraft guns and with perilously low fuel, Joe Warwick attempted a crash-landing on British soil in poor visibility. His Lancaster hit a tree and crashed at Markham Clinton in Nottinghamshire. Pilot officer Warwick rests at St. Mary’s Church, Winkfield, where he had been a chorister and bell-ringer."

By Mary Davis

dfb

Sunday Pick of the Week

2010-11-14T16:49:00.000Z

I thought it might be an interesting thing to do a pick of the week from the top ten minis in the gallery from the Cool Mini Or Not website. Every sunday I'll post up a picture of my personal favourite from the chart. It will be hard as there are so many amazing models to choose from, but I will endeavour to pick something and post it. You can also check out my favourites list on the blog for a very comprehensive list of some of the best minis from the Cool Mini Or Not galleries.

I thought long and hard about my choice this week and I will give this weeks top pick to Tagamoga's Eldar War Walker. The things that strike me about it is the fantastic lighting effects and the sheer detail of the patterned lights on it. The base sets the model off nicely. So here it is.......

Please stop by and drop Tagamoga a vote and if you are a registered cmon member a comment, it's always appreciated! http://www.coolminiornot.com/263528

dfb

The Original Hells Kitchen

2010-11-12T20:30:00.000Z

Okay, forget randomness, I have found some sculptural delights for you. The photo is unfortunately old and poor, but it was the general idea that warmed me to this effort, it is a shame the photo is not more detailed and I have no idea if this establishment still exists today, but enjoy the photo and story below anyway. Image and text from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/flashback/0308/index.html

"A hot spot called Hell’s Café lured 19th-century Parisians to the city’s Montmartre neighborhood—like the Marais—on the Right Bank of the Seine. With plaster lost souls writhing on its walls and a bug-eyed devil’s head for a front door, le Café de l’Enfer may have been one of the world’s first theme restaurants. According to one 1899 visitor, the café’s doorman—in a Satan suit—welcomed diners with the greeting, “Enter and be damned!” Hell’s waiters also dressed as devils. An order for three black coffees spiked with cognac was shrieked back to the kitchen as: “Three seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier!”

Any Parisians who know whether or not this place still exists please post a comment, it is somewhere I might like to visit on my next trip to fabulous Paris!

dfb

Random Shenannigans.....

2010-11-11T16:34:00.001Z

Okay more randomness. Here we have the legendary "Star Wars Kid" (bows) demonstrating why Jedi Masters are hardcore and kick ass. Many of you will have seen it, but this is the special effects edited version, which you may not have seen...

Nothing to do with art, but as the title says......

In this mornings post I received the latest edition of ImagineFX magazine. Luckily it was a Dungeons & Dragons special, as the old red box beginners set is being re-released by Wizards of the Coast and it showed off some nice art from the super talented Ralph Horsely whose variation on the fabled "Ancient Red" box and cover art of TSR's original release by Larry Elmore (bows again) was featured inside. The painting pays homage to the original art (which is featured on the outer box) in its composition but freshens it up with a modern more detailed edge. I still have my red beginners set of D&D books, along with the Expert set and the green rule books (alas the final master set is disappeared into some mystical portal). Many fond memories of playing D&D at school, ahhh.......

Edit: I appear to have accidently edited out the final bit of this post so here it goes again...

The cover you see in the picture above is responsible for my interest in Fantasy Art and is unquestionably iconic to me. Larry Elmore and Jeff Easly were my first two artists that I really wanted to emulate at school but alas, my talent was lacking. I am rebooting it and attempting to make a valiant second attempt and that effort remains to be seen. I did have the opportunity to thank Larry Elmore over Facebook as his name cropped up on a friends Friend List. Didn't really expect it to be THE Larry Elmore but it was and so I wrote a quick thank you for the inspiration message and he was even kind enough to reply back. I guess the message here is never stop trying. I wasted about 16 years with no art. Maybe if I kept at it I would be further down the road than I am now. But I know now to, as the saying goes (Mr Bob Ross (bows)), "Keep on happy painting...."

You can head over to Wizards of the Coast website to find out more here.....

Wizards of the Coast D&D

Inspiration Aplenty

2010-11-07T19:58:00.001Z

I thought I'd share a personal source of inspiration for of late, two magazines that have now replaced my Games Workshops White Dwarf subscription. To be honest, White Dwarf is long past it's sell by date now. I remember the good old days when it was a proper gaming magazine and the best to boot. Then it turned into an inhouse product catalogue. I have noticed a few improvements with painter/sculptor profile articles, but on the whole the content is very limited and I am not really getting anything out of it at all. Subscription cancelled!!! I replaced it with the fantasy art magazine ImagineFX and have never looked back. ImagineFX is an excellent mix of content, lots of artist profiles, including many amateurs and people plucked from deviantart's website as well as professionals and legendary artists (Larry Elmore is featured in next months edition). It doesn't feature sculpture however, but there is a great deal of concept art, artists sketchbooks, workshops and reviews of products (books, films,software,hardware etc). An all around excellent magazine which is a good source of inspiration for the miniatures hobby. It is a monthly magazine and comes with the obligatory DVD stuffed full of demos, brushes, 3D models, textures, video workshops and the like. Plenty of useful stuff on it.

www.imaginefx.com

The other magazine is a miniatures one called GamesForce, published in Spainish and recently published in English and available from Cool Mini Or Not in the USA and El Greco Miniatures in the UK (I am not sure about European suppliers). The magazine is absolutely choc full of fullpage close up photography allowing you to really appreciate the detail and skill of the paintjobs within. There is always a good range of miniatures covered - from terrain, to busts, large scale figures and 54mm, 30mm minis. Pretty much everything. The text is fairly limited but enough to explain what is going on, sharing paint recipes, processes and tips and tricks. I would highly recommend this magazine, even though it does take a while for it to come out, it is supposed to be bi-monthly but it frequently takes longer to appear in the UK. Subscriptions are available from EL Greco Miniatures now however. Don't be fooled by the issue number below. The English edition is only on number 18 at the moment, quite a bit behind......

http://www.gameforces.net/

Today's Randomness

2010-11-02T19:49:00.002Z

Just wanted to post a bit of random stuff really. First off is that Terry at www.daemonscape.co.uk is getting ready to release the Cyborg Daemon, contact here Email: info@daemonscape.com - I think he is taking pre-orders or just pre-booking with anyone who is interested.

I received a couple of goodies in the post recently, an art book and a couple of space marine captains I am going to attempt to paint for ebay. Probably Ultramarines and an as yet undecided chapter, Imperial Fists or Dark Angels maybe. I like yellow though.... The book is by an artist called Glen Fabry who has done a lot of great work and also written a few other books I believe and I will be writing a review for it and posting up in the Arcanium section after I have looked through it more carefully.

Another blog I follow by sculptor and fine artist Alfred Paredes has recently been updated with another interview, video games concept artist Greg Baldwin. These interviews are interesting and always worth a read. Check out the previous interviews he has done as well, these interviews are with some very skilled sculptors and I must say enjoyable to read to someone like myself who is trying to improve my artistic skills. Alfred is a very talented sculptor himself and recently had his work featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Halloween show, carving pumpkins of Vanessa Williams, Steve Spengler and others on the show. The blog is here:

http://apsculpturestudio.squarespace.com/blog/

Also wanted to add that you will soon be able to purchase my busts from a supplier in the USA, more on that when it is all finalised in a few weeks.

All for now....

dfb

Da Da Da Da Da Da DAA BATMAN!!!!

2010-11-02T11:45:00.000Z

Here are some amazing pieces of work by sculptor Anthony Watkins from the Batman Arkham Asylum game. All villains......

KILLER CROC

ZSASZ

SCARECROW

I don't have a blog or website link for Anthony, I'll contact him and see if there is some way to see more of his work.

dfb

Errr.......Okay, I'm Not Confused

2010-10-27T20:44:00.001+01:00

Here is an interesting sculpture for you..........

I really like this crazy idea!!!

dfb

All Hallows Eve

2010-10-26T11:37:00.001+01:00

The Day of the Dead approaches!!!! I, being a truly grumpy person at being disturbed by unwelcome visitors at my door will be following the traditional pagan rules of turning the lights off and locking the door - that should keep those nasty spirits out of my home and away from my precious candy, mmm candy.

In celebration of the event though, I would like to point again in the direction of my favourite sculptor - Ray Villafane. You may have seen his sand sculpture work on the net, I posted a piece within these very pages as well myself. But he is also one of the top pumpkin sculptors around. Check out the work below and the link underneath will take you all the way across the net to his own site where you feast your eyes on more orangey goodness.....

dfb

RAY VILLAFANES PUMPKIN GALLERY HERE!!

Life Is For Living

2010-10-26T10:36:00.000+01:00

Well, yesterday I had some great news about a new job I have been chasing on and off over the year. After 16 years of working for Safeway/Morrisons I will be moving to a new job which is full time over 3 days, giving me 4 days of free-time to actually live life without it feeling like you are constantly working. At any rate this means I can invest more time into my pursuit of art and sculpting, not as much as I would like still as my house is like one massive, eternal DIY project, but at least 1 1/2 days of it. It also means I can ship items more frequently.

At any rate things should be looking up from now on. I will be adding some more things to the blog throughout the course of the week - photography is a hobby dear to my heart when I travel and I will add a section for it, not related to miniatures maybe but photography is a form of art and thats one of the things that this blog is about. Photography from China, USA, Cyprus, Create, Turkey, Paris and many other places I have visited will be featured and I will pick a selection of my best shots. I have some more sketches to add, one is a candidate for a sculpt the rest is just done for fun and practice, but I will be posting all of it anyway.

dfb

Cyborg Daemon

2010-10-24T22:35:00.000+01:00

Well I had some news today that the Cyborg Daemon sculpt is cast, in white resin so the photo is a little tricky to make out but it looks good to me and I can't wait to get my hands on it. The tongues will be cast soon and I will post news when the product is available from Daemonscape it will be a limited production run I believe. This commission was a fun one, the next bunch of busts will be zombies, I will post more news on that when the current project is closer to completion.

dfb

Some Lead In The Old Pencil Yet

2010-10-14T18:41:00.000+01:00

Here is another update with some smart looking and very cool miniature sculpture this time. These pieces are carved from the tips of pencils.....

Obviously there are more to see, this is just the tip of the, err pencil!!!

Click HERE to see more.

Thats all for now, no sculpting news other than the Mammox Rider is still in progress and the Cyber Daemon Bust is at its final destination ready for casting next week.

dfb

More Sand Sculptures

2010-10-03T18:28:00.000+01:00

Here is a very cool dragon I spotted online.

There are some amazing pieces of work done in sand, shame they don't last, I think I would be absolutely gutted if I did this and it was wrecked by the elements shortly afterwards. Anyway, I will find some more and post up soon.

dfb

More Progress......

2010-09-29T21:35:00.005+01:00

Latest WIP pics. I am starting on the banner now, then I will move back to the arms and hands before starting the legs. The arm holding the standard will have scale mail armour and a shoulder pad with a buckler shield on the forearm. The back will have a chain and some shrunken heads attached maybe a skull, war trophies from the powerful enemies this ogre has defeated in battle. Its good to see photos this close up as my eyes are old and cant see in such detail, it allows me to go back to it and touch the problem areas up. As usual comments and crits appreciated....

dfb

Back In Black

2010-09-25T13:31:00.000+01:00

Well, my short break in Wales was very awe inspiring. The drive up there alone was spectacular with some impressive views of mountains, waterfalls, rivers and alot of powerful atmosphere. Very easy to feel at home there. I live in Cornwall myself so the countryside is very similiar, but I did feel a greater affinity to Wales. We stayed in Borth and we were very close to a spectacular beach. Borth itself is very "meh" but it is a good location in general. The beach is close, there is a golf course next to the sea and horse riding if you are into these activities. This was just a relaxing holiday, so it was very much a case of just taking in the breathtaking scenery and a few day trips - Snowdonia and a steam train ride through the Valley of Rheidol to see "Devils Bridge" and the falls there. It's basically three bridges stacked on top of each other. Shame it hammered down when we arrived at the actual bridge entrance to pay. I guess the Devil likes to piss off the occassional tourist!

Devils Bridge is the bottom one (12th century)

If you have read the about me page you know I was brought up on faerytales and old folktales and have a great interest in them. The tale of Devils Bridge is a simple one and I'll cut and paste it here from the official website...

"... around the IIth Century, the Devil visited Wales as he had never been there before and he had heard that the scenery was breathtaking. He soon came across an old lady who seemed upset. "What's the matter?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Oh, I'm in such a terrible muddle and I don't know what to do!. My cow has wandered across the river and I can't get her back".
'Ah!" said the Devil 'What you need my dear, is a bridge, and I am just the man to build you one. Why don't you go home, and in the morning there will be a bridge waiting for you. All I ask in return is to keep the first living thing to cross the bridge!"
"Okay then" she said "It's a bargain. I'll see you in the morning. Nos da, Goodnight"

That night she wondered about this stranger who would build her a bridge. 'What a strange request! Why should I cross the bridge to get my cow back if he gets to keep me in exchange? Mind you it is very tempting offer"

The next day she got up and called for her faithful dog. Together they went down to the river. "Well well" she couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was the best bridge that she had ever seen! I told you that I would build you a bridge" said the Devil appearing from nowhere.
"Now it's your turn to keep your side of the bargain".
I know, you get to keep the first living thing to cross the bridge" and she started to walk towards the bridge. But just when she got to the entrance, she stopped, took out a loaf of bread from her apron pocket and hurled it across the bridge. As quick as a flash and before the Devil could stop it, the dog chased after it. 'Aaaaaaagh!!!!!" screeched the Devil. "You stupid old woman, I don't believe it! Your smelly, hairy farm dog has become the first living thing to cross my bridge. It's no good to me" he screamed and then he vanished.

Well, the Devil was never seen in Wales again as he was so embarrassed at being outwitted by the old lady. High in the mountains near Aberystwyth, there is a village where a very old bridge crosses a deep gorge. Above it are two other bridges built at later dates. But the lowest one....Well, they say that the Devil himself built it!"

Anyway, an inspiring holiday.

Photo Reference Can Be Fun

2010-09-17T21:06:00.000+01:00

After doing some thinking about my new ogre project I decided to research some details I'd like to include on some of the models and thought that some body piercings would be a good place to start as I want a primitive, tribal feel as is the usual cliche for ogres (still desperately thinking on any original elements/angles I can give to them). I came across some fabulous and pretty extreme photos on someones blog and thought I'd share them with you in the link below. I'm not a fan of piercing myself but I am sure you will agree that some people do crazy things. Enjoy!

Piercings !!!

dfb

A New Project Begins

2010-09-15T21:25:00.000+01:00

Moving onto sculpting, now that the cyborg daemon is finished I have been given some DIY orders. Now, I have no intention of this meaning no sculpting or painting for me so I slipped in a cheeky session yesterday and here is the result.... ohh yeah, these are going to be my Mammox Riders. Evil beasts of chaos from the cold north,blah, blah insert dark and foreboding descriptive text in here. Seriously, it will comprise of a standard bearer, with I hope an awesome banner, an ogre warlord and a great hornblower. Maybe a regular warrior to, we will see. There will be three variations of the Mammox creature itself. I am on holiday in Wales next week so I hope to spend some time sketching ideas and maybe even produce some proper concept art to upload to my new section in the blog, yes on the sketchbook page. I have been inspired by browsing through the Cadwallon book by Rackham and am totally blown away by the art of Paul Bonner which I find very much reminiscent of Brian Froud with a scandinavian edge. And even more awesome was when i discovered Gary Chalk did alot of the Pen and ink illustrations in the book to. He was one of my favourite artists from my Talisman/Lonewolf days.

Right, excuse the tangent there and here is the beginnings of the standard bearer. Ignore the legs of course, I am stripping and reworking them. I have gone for a more realistically proportioned figure, although i think he is not ugly enough. I am pleased with the dreads and am working on some kind of head gear, probably the top half of some creatures skull. I need to add a little primitive to them. I am thinking of giving my ogres powerful but stubby legs. Not sure how to distinguish them from big muscular humans just yet. I need to play around....

Comments welcome.

dfb

Final Daemon WIP Photos

2010-09-12T21:52:00.001+01:00

Finally I have the last batch of WIP Shots. The first photo shows the tongue options of which there are four now. I am not sure if the client (daemonscape) is going to offer a choice or include them all with the bust. The photos below show some new adjustments, see what you think. The horned ridge is up for debate, the sculpt shows two options, the original horns/bone bit but the new one I like much better, it is just a tentacle type fatty area to break up the texture and allows some patterns to be painted. So you can do a side by side comparison. I like this much better myself, maybe I have been watching too much star wars/farscape babylon 5 but tentacles and aliens go to together perfectly. Well hope these photos meet with approval, they are not good as there was no outside ambient light, taken late yesterday evening. I would have posted them yesterday but I fell asleep on the sofa with my little dog curled up in my arms :)

Terry - let me know which brow to go with, (**cough** smooth, fatty one ;) )

Thanks for looking!

dfb

Paul Day Sculpture

2010-09-11T17:06:00.001+01:00

Here is another bit of eye candy for you to feast upon. Today I would like to showcase the magnificent and intriguing work of sculptor Paul Day. You can visit his website at the link below.

Paul Day Website

As you will see, much perspective based sculpture and I am sure you will agree outstanding work.

dfb

Two For One

2010-09-07T19:51:00.000+01:00

Two posts in one day again!!! Well, I said I would showcasing the work of others on my website, as much cool stuff as I could find. Well here is one of my favourite sculptors, Mr. Ray Villafane. He works in a lot of mediums and is a professional sculptor, working for Marvel amongst many other clients. If you were to empty the contents of your dustbin on the floor this guy could probably sculpt a masterpiece out of it. Anyway here is one photo to wet your appetite....

To see all the all other mouthwatering pictures click here.

Enjoy.

dfb

Big Changes....

2010-09-07T14:42:00.000+01:00

Well, done a few things to improve the daemon. Firstly the eye was sorted out. So now both are made with ball bearings, new eyelids and mechanical eyelids on the cyborg eye. Other improvements include some torn flesh on the front, the spine has been finished off with more muscle fibres going around the edges to prepare it better for the mould making process and general tidying up here and there. There is one more change I will hopefully be making that requires the client to give the nod to go ahead and do it, but if/ when done should make the bust look much nicer. Photos will be taken when the second tongue is completed, its half done at the moment so all in all the extra time taken to do the tidy up has been very much worth it!

dfb

Bright & Early

2010-08-30T03:28:00.001+01:00

Well, it is just about 3.30am whilst typing this. After what was meant to be 40 winks on the sofa I woke up at 1.00am quite awake and went into the studio to work some more on the cyborg daemon. Finished the reworked skin texture with some nice boils, now just the bony ridge around the skull plate to rework and some modifications in the jaw area.I want to be baking this tomorrow night ideally. After that some sanding, fitting of the tongue and detailing that and then some photos. Time to go to bed methinks.

dfb

Cyborg Daemon

2010-08-28T20:19:00.000+01:00

More work done on the Cyborg Daemon today, the back was resculpted along with the textures and additional veins added. I like veins. This project has taken way longer than anticipated and after a quick start I hit a few problems with it and it was sidelined due to artistic block. I started Thuggorre as I had no other projects on the go at the time to help and then hit problems with him to. But we need to get this guy out there so hopefully by wednesday you will be seeing so pictures of a nice, well evil, daemon right here.

dfb

Project Done

2010-08-26T16:02:00.001+01:00

The Thuggorre project has gone from concept art to finished product and has been followed by many people in the forums. It was certainly an interesting project, sharing the whole process as a typical work in progress thread, if a little time costly taking pictures, uploading, posting across the different forums and so on. Most other companies will give a sneek peek at some concept art, the finished green and then the final painted product. With Thuggorre I wanted to share the whole thing, it was just down to my own excitement and the fact I know I would be interested in knowing all the small details involved with product development by the major mini companies out there like Games Workshop, Forgeworld, Enigma, Rackham and so on. Being one artist in a studio doing all this on a much smaller scale I knew it would not hold the allure of watching the masters at work, but I hope the WIP has been relatively enjoyable nontheless. I would sell my soul to poke my nose into the goings on of some of the major art studios across the world!!

The artist who painted Thuggorre for me has now uploaded the final photos to his Cool Mini Or Not gallery and can be viewed below, please give him your vote!!!

SkelettetS Gallery

Grey Matter Figures will be attending the Telford IPMS Scale Model World show on the 13th and 14th November and Thuggorre will be there available for you to take a look at or purchase. Grey Matter Figures will be licensed to sell selected pieces of work I do and this is the first to be made available. You can of course purchase direct from me at www.dfbstudio.webs.com where I have the webstore set up.

At the workbench today, when I have finished typing this I will be straight onto the cyborg daemon commission, I have to remake the horns on the back of him and do a little bit of retexturing where I hacked half of the back out to start again. I will take the opportunity to work in some more intricate veins as well. When this is done it will be very close to completition and submission of final photos to the client. I must say having the demon on the bench for a long time has really made the super sculpey firm clay a joy to work with and I may do this with other project, time allowing. That or use the fridge to chill it and firm it up in a slightly different manner.

Thanks for reading

dfb

The Paintjob Is Complete!!!

2010-08-24T21:07:00.000+01:00

Stefan has finished painting Thuggorre and the today I put together a little product flyer for him which can be seen below showing off the paintjob and a modified logo. I just want to say a big thank you to Stefan for doing this for me, I am beyond pleased with the work done on him and the photos. Thanks Stefan!!

Well, as I have been sat on the laptop for a good deal of time messing around in photoshop and watching the new Natalya Melnik DVD it is time to retire to the studio and finish up the day with a little painting and sculpting......

Toys, Toys, Toys

2010-08-18T10:11:00.002+01:00

Nurgle Test warrior is complete and can be seen over on various forums in my WIP threads - wip thread most of yesterday was spent getting nowhere fast, although I did manage to work on the cyber daemon for an hour or two and must say he is very much improved. The day just seemed to disappear.

A trip to Plymouth is in order today, pick up some washes from GW and to see Toy Story 3 3D this evening. Lets hope it is good.......

dfb

Hair Tearing Day

2010-08-10T22:29:00.000+01:00

A bit of a hair tearing day today trying to figure out why Photoshop can't do image maps and how to do rollover effects and can I even upload it to a free website anyway??!! Wasted alot of time and got nowhere despite having all the graphics work done. I am just wondering whether to ditch the website builder and just do the whole thing in a proper app and upload the whole site directly. As much as I like the idea of designing a website the actual complexity (well to me at any rate) kind of kills any fun there is to be had in the design process.

On the sculpting front I spent about an hour on the Cyborg Daemon cutting away his back and putting the reshaped muscle back in, some adjustments to the head and neck and I am having second thoughts on the spine. I need this one to be perfect as it is for a client and will definately turn out to be the best sculpt I have done to date, the skin textures are especially nice, lots of little veins, warts, boils and open flesh wounds. I need to rework the horns in places as well, some of them popped out.

The Nurgle Knight test model is finished and his buddies are in progress, I need to find out whether I need to do lots more to make up a regiment to the correct size etc. I am not too clued up regarding Warhammer rules. They will be for sale when I have had my fun at any rate and I think I have taken away something from this painting process. I have achieved a smooth surface finish , the shading and highlighting are not too bad and I achieved some nice skanky metal as well. Definately a neat if unremarkable job on the test model. A set of signed Natalya Melnik (Alezi_Z on CMON) DVD's should be sent down to me soon from a friend who attended GENCON 2010, so hopefully my skills will pick up after absorbing that material and putting it into practice.

Thats all I have been doing lately, and lurking in various forums of course......

dfb

Thuggorre Studio Paintjob

2010-08-06T15:27:00.000+01:00

The official Thuggorre studio paintjob is well underway and we decided to make it a work in progress so people could take a look at the process to, I do believe that most people enjoy following the various work in progress threads on the forums, I know I do. So here is the link.... Thuggorre Paintjob

Nurgle Warrior almost finished, just got the base to paint and add a little scenic touch. Last night I re-evaluated the Cyborg Daemon and decided to make some alterations to his back so I will cutting a section out and reworking that today. The basic tongue is finished. This is a simple version for those who may not like a seriously gross tongue like the superhero Venom. Although the way I see it, you would be mad not to like it!! I also did quite a lot of work on graphic elements of a nav bar for the site. Took me a while to realise that Photoshop no longer has built in web tools and cannot turn an image into an image map. Seems crazy to me but, I couldn't figure it out or find online help to do it either. Better find something that can.....

On my website I promised links to all the cool stuff I find online, well here are two for starters and I am sure you will agree, definately cool work....

Paul Day Sculpture

Ray Villafane Pumpkin Sculpture

More updates soon.

dfb

The Giant Just Crashed Through My Door !!!

2010-08-03T20:38:00.001+01:00

It appears that Royal Mail messed up and the package containing the casts I should have had Saturday was not delivered nor a card left for to collect it with. Nonetheless I have now picked it up and Thuggorre is ready to be shipped. Please order at the link below if you would like one.

http://dfbstudio.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1641947

I have found a better webstore to use and am in the process of setting things up, updates will be posted on that when done.

New things have arisen on my painting desk and I have been sat at my easel trying out some new techniques on some simple old models - Games Workshop Chaos Knights to be precise. They are going to be painted in the colours of Nurgle and have some small conversions on the shields. I need to get back into painting as well as doing the sculpting so I can advance my skills in equal measure......

I am really happy with the graphics work I have done on the logo and packaging and when my current sculpting commission is finished I will be moving on to to put some time into setting up the website into something bearable to look at.

Tomorrow brings some more updates, I will be taking pictures of the Nurgle Knight, new product photography of Thuggorre and more sculpting.......

dfb

Thuggorre Stomping Out Soon!!

2010-07-30T23:59:00.001+01:00

I am awaiting production casts of Thuggorre and Darkhand ready for 2nd August, so if anyone would like to pre-order one please drop me an email at dogfacedboyuk1 at gmail.com - I will only be getting a small amount at a time as I am unsure of interest to be honest. The idea of my shop is basically to allow the purchase of anything I sculpt while I have fun learning, practicing and designing stuff I am interested in, I am not pushing it as a serious business interest until I know it will be successful. That remains to be seen. So if people purchase my work I will put some time and effort into doing stuff that other people would like to see as well as what I want to do and of course commission work.

I have been working on my photoshop skills, below is an example of the product label I have designed for Thuggorre. A studio paintjob version will be shown off as soon as it is finished - the painter received the package today, and I think work begins tomorrow.

The Cyborg Daemon tongues are underway and I am also working on my painting skills. Some Nurgle chaos warriors will be squirming their way onto Ebay at some point , I am doing the test model, the other 5 are all basecoated, base metals on and the scenics are on the base to. Just fancied doing something else for the minute. One side of the face of the In The Shadows rat is done , looks okay. It will hopefully be good enough for Grey Matter Figures to use for their product photography in their webstore!

dfb

DFBStudio Logo

2010-07-28T01:41:00.001+01:00

Here is the logo I have designed for the website and product labels etc. I have to do a banner format as of yet, but that won't take long now I have the main logo done. I think it looks pretty good and once I had the idea in my head the whole process was pretty straightforward.

dfb

The Darkhand Pre-Order

2010-07-24T18:49:00.000+01:00

The Darkhand bust I sculpted originally for the mini-dojo contest is now also available to purchase! Please note I have not managed to work out how to do an accurate combined item shipping charge on the webstore. If you want multiple items please contact me before buying so I can consult the mystical charts of the Royal Mail and work it out!!!!

dfb

Thuggorre Pre-Order

2010-07-24T17:58:00.000+01:00

I have decided to do a pre-order for Thuggorre, the official release date is 2nd August, casts should be availble for shipping that week. Shipping is tracked for security using Royal Mail Airsure. Whilst such a service effectively doubles the shipping costs it provides insurance for me to cover any lost goods and should ensure a more efficient delivery. UK deliveries are also signed for. The webstore can be found at the link below.....

http://dfbstudio.webs.com/apps/webstore/

dfb

Two For The Price Of One

2010-07-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

Two posts in one day - incredible!!! This one is to show off the adjusted Cyborg Daemon with his new eye. He went in the oven today to allow me to start work on the tongue, the designs have been chosen so watch this space. I am hoping to have this finished by next wednesday.

dfb

Thuggorre the Giant

2010-07-21T16:13:00.001+01:00

Received a great big parcel today containing the first set of casts of "Thuggorre". These casts are going to be for myself and the paint master, with maybe one going out for a competition which I will sort out shortly. I am hoping to be getting the production casts for the end of next week ready to launch the following week, so a hopeful launch date of 2nd August where it will be available to purchase from the newly established DFB Studio. I am still working on the graphic design elements I need, although now I have it in my head what I am aiming for with the logo so now its just a case of doing it. Never rush a logo design, you only get one chance!!! Well, unless you are the manufacturer of a well known brand of kitchen towel.

I must say Tim, Mark and Rich have done a great job casting Thuggorre, it came out great, alot of the skin texture has come out slightly less obvious, although it should be subtle in order to be realistic anyway. Whether this is my sculpting or the silicone I am not sure, but either way it still looks great. The mould line running down the right hand side of the bust and is very discreet, so good news for people who hate the prep stage of painitng!

The photos of the resin have been taken and I will upload and edit into this post later this evening, so until then.........

dfb

PS On other news, I also received the Cool Mini Or Not annual today which is an absolutely fantastic book full of great minis, and there is nearly a whole page showing off the Jarheads I made last year. It is indeed Cool.

Something Evil Is Coming......

2010-06-28T23:23:00.000+01:00

Thuggorre the Giant and the Cyborg Daemon busts are very nearly completed, been working on them on my days off and odd evenings here and there over the last few weeks. Both are sculpts I am pleased with despite giving me a few delaying headaches, a bit annoying especially as the daemon had such a quick start to a nearly finished state! I will be contacting Grey Matter Figures to do the casting of Thuggorre and hopefully get some US shops willing to supply the bust across the pond. We shall see.

dfb

Conceptual Art Sucks

2010-06-22T11:44:00.000+01:00

I don't know if anyone has been following Junior Apprentice whilst it was on, but one episode struck a cord inside me and has wound me up intensely. The art episode featured the youngsters selecting two artists from 6 to represent at a London gallery where they then obviously had to sell as much art as possible. The artists featured a photographer, a conceptual person, an installation person, a normal artist and an abstract painter. the sixth person wasn't shown. I use the term person in there because art doesn't come into the job and this is the thing that irked me. I believe the term is "conceptual art" (not to be confused with concept art) where the person comes up with some idea and thats pretty much it. No skill required. The conceptual artist is a lady called Jessica Layton who, bizarrely, house sits and looks after peoples pets whilst they are away on holiday etc. She then proceeds to dress up in their clothes hire a photographer to shoot a portrait with the pet and she pretends to be the homeowner. She also moves stuff around abit to mess with their heads as well. All rather disturbing I feel. Even the junior apprentices expressed their horror when they found out what she does. The girl interviewing her couldn't escape quick enough. Further to this I went to her website where I found out she also steals small items from them, sets up a stall and invites them to come down and view it. Wierd. How people view this as art really is beyond me. Art denotes that skill is involved in something. Conceptual "art" requires no skill, anyone can have clever idea. If you can't draw, paint, sculpt, carve etc you are not an artist. The real problem here is that talentless, prentious people are in love with the idea of being an artist, establishments like the Tate Gallery encourage it and provide lucrative rewards like the Turner Prize and then real artists have to pick up the pieces. For thoses who struggle to learn to draw, paint, sculpt whatever and have to make a living from it, these people are a real kick in the teeth to the effort involved. They errode and water down the real art world and encourage talentless people to be involved in a profession they should not be in. Having said that, I'd like to present my Turner Prize entry - imagine a white toilet, filthy inside from heavy use and no cleaning with a floater swimming on top. I have entitled the piece "Behold The Truth of Conceptual "Art"" It's a surefire winner.

This rant could extend into many other areas of modern life to - a mothering government which doesn't let you discipline your own children, simplified exams at school and university levels, television (big brother?) and media (celebrity gossip - who gives a crap about what dresses so and so is wearing), sport (cheating, use of steroids) its just a whole watering down of our way of life and we will be weaker for it.[/rant]

Onto the subject of sculpting. Thuggorre is approaching near completion one side of the front body to do, some additional details on the back of the cloak will be added after baking ( a chain attached to some heads and skulls). Then I have the dreaded eye to do on this and the Cyborg demon (will do both at the same time). seem to have real bad artists block on eyes for some reason. Also did some painting on the wereat assassin bust I did a while back. The fleshtones look quite nice and I am pretty pleased with how that is coming.

dfb

Tunisian Tales

2010-06-15T11:38:00.000+01:00

Well after a "relaxing" week in beautiful Tunisia I am back. Why is that in inverted comas? Probably because I was a little grumpy with fellow holidaymakers lack of manners and rudeness. One spoilt little girl banging her glass at a waiter and demanding water, people just walking straight into you without saying anything and queue jumping galore. And oh yeah don't get me started with sunbeds. I also witnessed a little girl of about 7 attempting to cut her own bread with a razor sharp guillotine, except it would have been all her fingertips that would have been cut if I hadn't stopped her pulling the handle down. I am not a parent, but I am sure most would agree that it was monumental stupidity to let loose a 7 year old on a guillotine with a great big razor sharp 4" wide blade. Anyway, Tunisia has beautiful countryside, seemed to be more looked after than other countries I have visited in that area. Lots of neatly planted agriculture and palms along the main roads. The modern towns are a bit grubby and lots of building work is unfinished or in progress. An old town we visited was very picturesque though. Of course the ruins of Carthage are a big attraction and I was quite pleased to spend a day out looking around despite the ominous police building with armed guards on towers along one perimter edge. I took some photos here that include many sculptures found at the site and will upload these in due course. Some in very good condition some not so much, but on the whole the site was pretty good.

I am now back to work and will be fitting in as much sculpting this week as I can. I have also been sketching and have another sheet of drawings finished and two pages in my sketchbook are in progress with 6 new characters. It is definately good to be drawing again after so long away from my pencils. I have also bought pen and ink so I can perhaps play with that soon again as well. Working in colour is on the "to do" list however and I will be going digital for my colour work, at least to start with. I do have acrylics and oils and would love to do some pieces on board and canvas. My wife is a big Disney fan so I may do some simple scenes and characters from her favourite films to start with.

dfb

CMON Annual 2008

2010-06-05T21:32:00.000+01:00

Good news from Cool Mini Or Not website - their new annual 2008 is nearly set for release. A preview is available in the forum news post and allows ou to flick through a few pages of absolutely stunning minis! I am very pleased that the photographs I submitted of my own qualifying pieces were accepted and included in the annual as well, so that is quite exciting for me and I'm really looking forward to taking a look through the book and having a printed version of some great miniature art rather than just a collection of saved photographs on my hard drive. Check it out in the news section of the CMON forum.

On the sculpting front I have had a few days off, and got back to work on Wednesday, Thuggorre now sits on his new base and sculpting is underway on the cloak and chest armour. Now I was going to add some ringmail to it, but decided against it as it didn't fit in with the way I did the leather armour, so maybe on the next sculpt. I am pleased with it so far. The Cyborg Daemon awaits his eye still and a tongue, I took some time off for this one whilst I awaited delivery of the ball bearings I ordered for the eyes and because the eyes on both sculpts weren't looking right it put me off my stride on it. Back to that soon. The ogre rider sits patiently on the workbench, no work on that this week other thn cursory checking glances.

I am away for a holiday, so won't be doing anything over the coming week although I do have alot of sketches to upload and will possibly get around to doing that tomorrow before I go. The new designs however won't be up for everyone to have their vote on as I have already picked two favourites from the new sketches.

dfb

Bad To The Bone

2010-05-25T13:46:00.000+01:00

Finally, the Rat Warrior is here and he has a name. The sculpt is "Bad To The Bone" and is availble from www.greymatterfigures.com now!! I have uploaded photos to CoolMiniOrNot.com and you can vote and comment on the sculpt there if you wish, its very much appreciated!!

http://coolminiornot.com/251152

I have entitled him "Skrakch Bodyguard To Prince Skim" for my own gallery, and the photos actually do the sculpt justice. Goes to show just how important bright sunshine is for a good picture.

dfb

Rat Warrior Bust Ready

2010-05-20T15:26:00.000+01:00

I got the rat warrior back today. Still unamed as far as I know. Anyway, the casting is fantastic, the mould line barely goes half way around, running through the armour so it doesnt spoil any delicate pieces. Great job by Tim ad the guys at GreyMatter as usual !! Photos will be uploaded over the weekend to Cool Mini Or Not and I will post a link for voting and comments when it is up. About time I put some more stuff in my gallery really.

dfb

Current Progress

2010-05-19T11:07:00.001+01:00

No more pictures today, but the Thugorre/Thuggorre - probably going to be the latter name now - is not far from completion. Skin details need to be put in, the accessories (cloak and necklace), an ear and one eye to resculpt and the bust is done. The ball bearings I ordered to use for eyes arrived a few days ago, this should make life easier for me and I can now try them out on the cyborg demon. I am still sketching out designs for the tongue as there are so many possibilities and I cannot decide!!

On other notes, I may have another commission coming up, more news on that if I am permitted at a later date, but it sounds fun. I have also been doing more concept sketches for various characters for possible future bust projects. Three more to finish shading and they will be posted for peoples comments and voting. They are : Zombie Cheerleader, Orc Warrior, Pus Demon, Cyclops, Thief and Stone Golem. I also completed another sketch for a nazi type character, but more on that another time as it will definately be sculpted. No progress made on web design unfortunately, I am itching to get back to test my photoshop skills once again and know roughly what i want but my logo needs tweaking first.

dfb

More From Thugorre

2010-05-13T17:19:00.000+01:00

Some updated pictures for you. The left side was trimmed down and some facial proportions were adjusted as well as the eyes. Hopefully should look a whole lot better when the next lot of pictures go up!!!

dfb

Thugore The Barbarian

2010-05-05T19:43:00.000+01:00

After a bit of posting around people liked the concept sketch of the pin-headed barbarian I have christianed Thugore, so I sculpted him out today. The roughing in is pretty much finished so I am gonna get to work on smoothing it out tonight ready for detailing and texturing tomorrow. Heres the roughed in bust....

More pics soon. If enough people are interested I might send this off to Grey Matter Figures to be cast and make it available to purchase. Its 60mm by the way.

dfb

Mr Forgetful....

2010-05-05T00:00:00.001+01:00

Well looks like I forgot to post here as well as the forums all the latest progress. Nevermind. There will be one final set of new pics up tomorrow showing off the 99% finished bust. The tongue is the final element to do.

On another note I have started to sketch again after much reading of ImagineFX magazine I have decided to try my hand at some proper concept art and came up with a sheet of characters for my next bust design. I have chosen to do the bald headed barbarian character and started sculpting it already. Pictures of that soonish.

This character is called "Thugore" I imagine as a barbarian, outcast due to his even smaller than usual brain and his cone head. This guy is dumb, even by barabarian standards. Luckily for him then that one of the most powerful sorcerors in the world (like ever) controls his mind from afar and makes this lumbering ox do his bidding (hence the glazed over eyes).

dfb

Another Update...

2010-04-26T19:01:00.000+01:00

Keep your eyes peeled for pictures of the face tomorrow, I will need some opinions. i am just sculpting the teeth now (nearly done) and moving around to the opposite side of the face. The teeth will not be sharp, mainly due to avoid too much rip on the mould when the resin is pulled but also because its fits in with my design and is different to the typically sharp toothed demon. It helps make the sculpt look like a brute. I am also working in some veins now I have a body building mag in front of me I can start doing that tonight. I tried a different technique for sculpting ultra fine veins, most people stick thin rolls of putty into a little trench cut out of the sculpt on larger scale work. On this sculpt it is made just be cutting the line in the final shape and then using simple sculpt-fu to reblend the putty to a raised vein edge. Looks pretty cool and works much better on an already textured surface that you don't want to ruin. Might do a little tutorial one day when i'm not doing the 1000 other things on my to do list.

dfb

New Pictures

2010-04-25T19:50:00.000+01:00

Here are the latest pictures of the bust progress. Some further shots will be posted over the next few days. I'm really liking the direction its heading and hope the client likes it to, but we shall see....

dfb

Denizens

2010-04-20T14:03:00.001+01:00

Well, after knocking out my first, err, 35mm figure, I am quite pleased to announce I have decided on a name for my fantasy minis line as the title has kind of given it away already, yes it is "Denizens". Simple and to the point. I'll obviously have to design a nice looking logo still and so on. It describes what I want to do perfectly - create characters and monsters for fantasy games settings. I'll add descriptive fluff and stuff to breathe a little inspiration and life where I can. All for now. No work on anything today, as today is a me day and I'm going to see Clash of the Titans.

dfb

First "30mm" Sculpt

2010-04-19T22:31:00.000+01:00

Well progress continues on the Cyborg, I have moved around to the front now, built the sternum and have used guitar strings to create muscle fibres. Skinning the pec right now to see if effect looks okay and then i am going to start roughing the head in.

On another note, whilst the sculpt was baking i started my very first 30mm figure which has actually grown to 35mm to top of head. Hmmm, dont know how that happened. Anyway, it was just basically playing around from a simple idea of a bank robber in a clown mask with a gun and a "bang" sign. It is nearly done, more time was spent trying to get the putty to stick to the armature than actually sculpting it I almost certain. Had a few problems with the armature as well, round the arms and shoulders. Poorly executed on my part and it has affected the sculpt more than i thought. I m not that worried - its only messing about. I will post some pics soon.

dfb

I Am Borg

2010-04-15T16:28:00.001+01:00

Well, the new bust is well underway and has progressed very quickly. The design has moved away from the original art considerably after much discussion and a bit of research we decided to do it as a cyborg. The current WIP shows the back of the sculpt. More photos next week when hopefully the front will be near to completition.

dfb

More News

2010-04-05T16:54:00.000+01:00

Added a few bits to the website today, its certainly not how I want it to look at the moment, but it will do for a moment. I'll start work on some graphical elements soon, but I'd like to try and design a logo first and foremost. Has to feature a werewolf, some cool lettering and beyond that its still thoughts and ideas.....

The new bust design is shaping up, almost at a point where I can start the actual sculpting. It has changed significantly from the original photo in the previous post but is along similiar lines. It will be demon from the future, that's all I'll say for now.

dfb

Hunk of Junk

2010-03-31T21:33:00.000+01:00

I am livid - after wasting two hours setting up a Webs free website using their piece of rubbish website builder I managed to get one paragraph up. My web browser apparantly struggled to load the program properly disallowing me use of some basic tools. I typed the same paragraph about 5 times, hitting the publish button and then getting nothing upon viewing the page. I am so angry at this point the laptop nearly went through the window. I switched to Internet Explorer 8 which is slower than a crippled tortoise but actually displayed the website builder tools properly. Shame the text looked like it was being displayed by a ZX Spectrum. Bizarre. When I hit the publish button it failed to do anything. Incensed I nearly kicked my whining dog into orbit but refrained and sent her to bed with her tail between her legs and running for her life. Finally I hit the compatability button, hooray the text displayed correctly and the publish button actually published. Although I am grateful for a free website you have wasted 2 hours of my evening - thanks alot you bunch of goons.

www.dfbstudio.webs.com

This site will allow me to organise my stuff and get some different pages set up. The blog will continue here and be linked back to for news updates etc. I can't see me getting on with that website builder. I can post here in moments, by the time internet explorer loads I can be done.

On a brighter note the Rat Warrior bust is on its way to the fellas at Grey Matter Figures to be cast up. Good news indeed, work begins on the new commission.

dfb

New Commission

2010-03-30T21:30:00.000+01:00

The Rat Warrior is on its way to the casters, so look out for that on www.greymatterfigures.com . A few ammendments and details were done today, some teeth on the skull and a tiny mouth on the worth and some fur tidying up.

Here is the artwork for my latest commission piece, I'm currently doing sketches to work out optimum size for the bust to show off the facial details. Look out for work in progress shots on here and in the forums.

dfb

Possessed By Daemons

2010-03-29T17:42:00.000+01:00

Well, some good news, the commission I was chasing up is still on, so the next project will be of a demon possessed horned character. The artwork is very reminiscent of a Darth Maul character and I hope to capture some strong evil emotion and a penetrating stare in the sculpt. The skin texture will be interesting to tackle to. This should be underway midweek and in progress shots will be posted here and across the forums. The bust will be a limited edition run of 100 and will be available from www.daemonscape.co.uk who sell resin wargames scenery and bases for a variety of scales. They have a great selection of nicely priced gun turrets, emplacements and other pieces, far cheaper than Forgeworlds range.

dfb

WIP Photo's

2010-03-24T21:37:00.002Z

Here are some shots of my latest sculpt, a little more to do on it, but its nearly there. Sculpted with a mix of milliputt and greenstuff onto a resin copy of my super sculpey original.

dfb

Still Thinking

2010-03-17T22:02:00.000Z

Just putting down some further thoughts on how to organise the direction of my sculpting. My fantasy and science fiction worlds are still very much thoughts in progress and at the moment I am really wanting to get down a name for each setting and a logo design, then I will be temporarily happy with that. I'm starting the ball rolling with the sci-fi world. I thought "After World" sounded quite nice until I googled it and found it already existed along with a very similiar setting and theme that I want for myself. Had to scratch that. My setting will be very much based in this world - we have so much culture already in place it seems daft not to utilise it into a story we are all very much aware of and thinking about constantly - our future. 2012 seems like a good starting point for our Apocalypse, and I'll throw in some alien interference and the chaos that follows from the collapse of society and that should be a good starting point for ideas. The obvious things like food,fuels/power, resources and knowledge are key to survival in a series of reborn city states scattered across the earth and my sculptures will reflect the factions and characters of this new world order. The miniatures will be created with a mind to fit into the vast array of RPG's and wargames out there already. Busts and larger scale figures for collectors will also reflect people from this futuristic dustland. I might create a website and keep up some links to it on this blog so you can check out work as it trickles out a little easier.

More work done on the rat warrior. It's nearly there now. I am trying to complete parts on it everyday now and would guess it will be finished within a week or so. This has been a slow project compared to some of the other sculpts I have done due to various factors and some personal troubles but hopefully I can make quicker progress on the final bust in the series - The Rat King himself!

What's next up? Well, more painting on the "In the Shadows" bust and a couple of other commissions to chase up on. I want to get some more personal projects such as my Dark Taeles nursery rhyme characters on the move and another one Legends of Yore (working titles). These are two of my of interests and so it is only sensible to create some sculpture around them!! I have some good ideas, but it is sometimes hard to go somewhere that hasn't been explored before. My Red Riding Hood is bad with attitude, a wolf hunter who is more inclined to say "Oh my what a beautiful fur coat your skin would make!" than talk common niceties. This is obviously not really taking her in a direction that hasn't already been explored but I do love this potential aspect of character and think it works well with her. Where I can, I will push some ideas that are a bit more out there. The Olde world is full of dark and intriguing characters thanks to those Brothers Grimm.

dfb

Almost There

2010-03-12T01:45:00.000Z

The warrior is almost finished, just some details on the side of the helmet, the horn and the cheek guard clasp mainly, some sanding and finishing and the helmet crest left to do. Working with epoxy is certainly slow compared with super sculpey, but I do like the saftey net of not having to worry about damaging it by holding it clumsily and squashing the details. I am pleased with the final look, it is turning out well and think it will be mission accomplished when this piece is done. The scavenger type culture of the were-rats and their look is achieved by creating a slightly disjointed type of helmet, which is worn,damaged and repaired and has a couple of different elements to its design.

I neglected to take photos last week, as I'm moving all my stuff into the garage and now the work is largely finished it seemed slightly pointless. I will now do photos when the piece is completed!!!

dfb

Workshops and Woes

2010-03-04T16:19:00.000Z

February was not a good month, my grandfathers funeral, my in-laws little dog has died and an illness in the family have kept us all busy. But life goes on and march is off to a good start with the completion of my workshop (well near enough, just lighting to sort out and a couple of minor details to finish). A dedicated space for my art work at last! My wife will be glad to see the back of my stuff taking up the room. I have some tools to purchase to kit it out, bench grinder, bench drill (for hopefully creating some useable resin jarheads as well as accurate drilling and i hope to purchase a cheap cnc router later in the year, i already have sourced a very affordable 3 axis cnc. With this tool i should be able to create vehicles and anything else which requires more technical accuracy, press moulds for detailing etc as well as make my own display bases.

The warrior rat has some minor work done, one side of the face is complete and now I am moving to detail the other side of the helmet, hopefully this should go a little quicker as I now just have to mirror what i have done. I am pleased with how its turning out, I will be doing a couple of options on the helmets crest piece just to keep things interesting as well.

Oh Rats!!

2010-01-20T22:56:00.000Z

It has been a while since my last update here, but I am finally back in the sculpting seat after taking December off ( a busy month at work and the dreaded xmas to deal with) from it. I have done quite a bit of work on the Rat Warrior, no photos as yet but the detailing on the helmet is the next thing i will be tackling, bulking out of the face is done more or less, I have added a beard, the helmet basic shape and some details are also done. It should look quite different from the original sculpt of "In the Shadows".

On a personal note, I have recently returned from a trip to London to celebrate a 60th birthday and also had a short holiday. Went to see a west end show, attended the London Boat Show at Excel and visited the Natural History Musuem which i have not visited since childhood. It actually turned out to be a very inspirational visit - the dinosaur displays were particularly useful as were some of the stranger mammals on show. So I hope to bring some of my photos into some sculpts this year. I will post a selection when they have been through a bit of editing.

dfb

Pictures ; Gimme Pictures

2009-11-10T14:42:00.000Z

I have posted a few wip's on various forums showing off the wererat being painted and the batman bust. I will not post here as well, if you wish to follow the WIP you can do so here....

Wererat WIP

The Batman bust is progressing, here is a little taster...

dfb

NaNaNaNaNaNa BATMAN!!!!

2009-11-07T22:46:00.000Z

A fairly productive week this week. A little bit of sculpting done on the wererat warrior. The main project for next week is a painting work in progress for the wererat assassin bust. Painting is well underway, first set of photos done ready for uploading and I'll try and get this put on the forums over the next few days - a little behind with it.

All of the Darkhand busts have been shipped out and some of you have already acknowledged receipt - thank you for that and I hope you enjoy painting them and post the results on CMON!

Main news is the latest sculpt which started as a little diversion. I have always been a fan of the fabulous superhero figurines that you can buy and some of the sculpts done on the superhero garage kits over on the Clubhouse forum. So Batman was probably the first superhero i came into contact with as a kid, with spiderman a close second so these guys have a special place in my heart. I decided to do Batman in the end - a bit more interesting costume wise. It is an approx 50mm size bust, but I am considering designing a very fancy attachment to a base piece, that will be top secret though. I hope to post some pics up shortly of the main bust. It took a mere 40minutes to get it to a nicely roughed out stage which i am pleased with and I think I have captured the look of him quite nicely.

All Gone!!

2009-10-30T20:01:00.000Z

The final bust is now sold, so if anyone else would like one I'll make a list and when I get enough names on it I will order another batch.

No new pictures to post just yet, but the Rat Assassin ("In The Shadows" bust) is undercoated black and ready to start painting. I will tackle the leather hood first and then the mouth.

dfb