Project P30 - Part 6. When inspiration strikes!

I’m a great believer in using real-world references for my mini painting. Most often these images will serve as a starting point rather than being a direct reference. But either way, the use of reference material can help to ground a fantastical paint scheme in reality giving it an extra edge.

Although I’m currently working on Troggoths my Nurgle Tank is also very much on my mind. The time when I will start painting it is coming closer and I need to get my ideas in place. I’m going to have to try and pull out all the stops, and the simple green colour scheme of my old Tank will not suffice.

I’ve decided to try a bolder scheme on my new Tank and make use of the, much increased, surface area by introducing lots of texture and patterning. I’ve already been collecting reference material that includes a range of reptiles and amphibians. So far so good but nothing had really inspired me, until this morning!

Taking advantage of the lovely weather I visited nearby Mottisfont Abbey. While walking around the newly restored walled kitchen garden inspiration struck! The gardeners at Mottisfont are growing a huge selection of gourds in preparation for an autumn festival. With their sometimes gnarled and knobbly surfaces and a range of bold stripes, splotches and speckles the gourds instantly grabbed my attention.

These, more than anything I’ve looked at previously, have something of the look and feel I want to create for my Tank. This is not to say that I want my Nurgle Tank to look like a giant pumpkin, although there’s a thought for Halloween! But the patterns and textures on the gourds give me a great starting point to develop my ideas from.

It just goes to prove that it’s important to keep your eyes and mind open for inspiration because you never know when it will strike!

Rockgut Troggoth – Part 3

Getting back into the swing of things can be difficult after taking a break from painting. Although I’ve been busy sculpting that hasn’t actually helped because the mindset is very different. As a result I’ve had a frustrating few days trying to warm up my technique and get back into a regular painting routine. At first things did not go well! My brush control did not come straight back and I had to re-familiarise myself with the colour palette I‘m using on my Troggoth. Thankfully I’m experienced enough to have expected such troubles and knew that the cure lay in perseverance. By sticking to a steady routine of two to three hours painting every day I’ve managed to work through the difficulties and get my painting mojo back!

I chose to hold off from finishing my Troggoth back in June so that I could use him in my forthcoming Nottingham workshop. He will help in demonstrating the later stages of the painting process, but that meant I would need a new model to demo the early stages. So, as well a getting back to painting, I’ve been making up another Troggoth. I’d forgotten just how versatile the kit is and all options can be a bit overwhelming. But this time I’ve decided to keep it simple and build a ‘basic’ weapon-free Troggoth.

I did this so I would have an uncomplicated demo model but I’m actually very taken with the result. As always preparing a model for painting is my least favourite part of the process and the Troggoths require quite a bit of work. Thankfully there is nothing too fiddly and all of the filling could be done with liquid filler, which made life a lot easier! Once the seams were sanded I gave the model a coat of grey primer and checked it over for any gap or flaws in my filling. This is a bit of fuss and bother but well worth the effort because any gaps, mould lines or seams that you miss at this stage will cause you no end of trouble later on!

Project P30 - Part 5

Every project has it’s steps and stages. Sometimes these are very obvious but at other times they may exist only in the mind of the artist. Either way they give a project structure and the feeling of progress. I’ve always worked this way myself because the habit of breaking a project down is, in my view, essential! In particular it helps when working on a large project, like my Tank, the scale of which could easily become off putting. Those thoughts of ‘this is getting nowhere’ can all too easily destroy momentum and enthusiasm, bringing everything to a grinding halt.

I thought it was time to show my Tank next to a roughly human sized
mini to give an idea of it's size. I hadn't realised what a beast it is!

I’m happy to say that such has not been the case with my Tank. I’ve set myself achievable goals by regarding this project as a series of distinct steps. That has given me a sense of progress and accomplishment, even though there is still very much more to do. That’s been invaluable because the most recent stage of development has been long and involved. I’ve had to keep on sculpting away in order to resolve the body and pose. It’s one thing to have an idea brewing away in your head but quite another to see it realised.

Although this part of the project could be divided into smaller steps, like the belly maw, I’ve had to stick at it to make sure all the parts work together. But, with the completion of the right arm, this overall stage is done! It now feels as if the bulk of the sculpting is accomplished and my initial concept is well on it’s way to being realised.

I recently discovered that, if I convert my pictures to black and white, the colour difference between the grey plastic and Greenstuff disappears. Tonally they are identical and it’s a great way to view my conversion and sculpting. With the distracting colour difference removed I can better judge my progress. 

I’m well aware that the last stage of the sculpting is likely to involve a lot of hard work. I need to resolve the back of the model and the union of the chimney/spine with the rest of the model. This is a key part of the concept as it’s an area that will feature a merger of biological and machine elements. But I’m very much looking forward to getting to grips with it as I have some ‘interesting’ ideas.

However I think it’s time to take a break from the Tank for just a few weeks. The project has reached a natural breaking point and I think It’s important to sit back, and take stock, before I move on to the next stage. That will also give me some time to get back to my Rockgut Troggoth in preparation for my upcoming Workshop in Nottingham. To tell the truth I’m looking forward to doing some painting after all that sculpting!

Project P30 Building a ‘better’ tank - Part 4.

It isn’t easy being green!

July was a strange month with life in general being busier than it’s been for a long time. On top of all that the hot weather was not conducive to long hours of intensive sculpting. That might lead you to expect a declaration (or confession) that not much has happened with my tank but I’ve actually made slow steady progress.

The stop start nature of recent work has not been much of a problem because, when working with Greenstuff, I like to proceed in stages allowing each application to harden before I add another. I’ve found that sculpting a large mass can result in a squishy mess that resists my attempts to sculpt distinct forms and volumes. Greenstuff seems to work best when used in moderation over a firm foundation.

I’ve found it important to understand that Greenstuff changes in nature as it cures. When first mixed it’s very soft and sticky but over time it becomes firmer and less sticky. This means that, although hard to sculpt, when first mixed it will adhere to a surface very well. It is also soft enough to blend edges with the surface it has been stuck to. However, in order to sculpt Greenstuff with any sort of defenition, it has to begin the curing process. As the Greenstuff becomes firmer it becomes easier to create crisp forms and details.

Put simply using Greenstuff successfully is all about timing! Understanding that you can do different things with it at different stages of curing is vital. Otherwise you might as well try and sculpt with chewing gum!

I’m forever blowing bubbles!

With the teeth and cannon painted, and in place, I needed to sculpt the edges of the belly maw. I decided some time ago not to sculpt lips, and make a literal mouth, but rather to sculpt a ragged mutated wound in which the belly maw had formed. This seemed to be more in keeping with the asthetic of the current GW Nurgle range and appropriate to the model I was creating.
I wanted to create a blistered, bubbly texture and use this as a boundary between different areas on my Demon Engine and, most especially, on the edges of the belly maw. The bubbly texture is also partly inspired by the texture of microbeads and that seemed most appropriate for a Nurgle model of my own creation!

Creating the bubbles is a fairly straightforward two-stage process. First of all I roll out lots of balls of Greenstuff. It’s important to vary the sizes in order to give the bubbly texture an organic look. Then, while the greenstuff is still sticky, I place the balls into position and then leave them to harden. It’s easier to do control the overall look if you do this in several stages, allowing each stage to firm up before you apply the next.

Once the balls are fully hardened I push soft Greenstuff between them to fill the gaps and create a unified surface. Then I use a silicone tipped sculpting tool to work the greenstuff further into the gaps and smooth everything together. This last step is carried out as the Greenstuff becomes a little firmer and less sticky. Filling the gaps, to a greater or lesser degree, will create a more varied and interesting texture.

Over my shoulder

With the belly maw done I turned to the left shoulder and here I wanted to add a shoulder guard. This was built from a section of a plastic shot glass covered with a layer of soft and sticky Greenstuff. I sculpted the shoulder armour using a metal ball ended tool when the Greenstuff began to firm up. To stop my sculpting tools sticking I use a little water. Once the Greenstuff was set I cleaned up the edges with some wet sandpaper and fixed the armour piece into place using a blob of greenstuff. I then built up the shoulder to fill any unwanted gaps between it and the armour.

Crazy arms

The Daemon Engine is starting to come together and now looks more cohesive and complete. The only major parts left are the left arm and the chimneys growing out of it’s back. After a little consideration I decided to tackle the arm next so I have glued the mecha arm into place and begun work on the transition between the organic and mecha parts. Once again I’m using the bubbly texture and will combine this with lose tatters of hanging flesh.

My final pic for this post is just a quick snap but I know quite a few of you are curious to see my old and new Demon engines together: 30 years do make for quite a difference!

Sproket's Troggoth Masterclass in Nottingham

Tickets are now available for my Troggoth Workshop in Nottingham 28 Sep – 29 Sep. You can book then on the Lead Belt Studio website HERE.