Converted Tyranid Tyrannofex - #Gunbeast4

In case you're not familiar with my past work on Tyranids, it could be said that I've got a THING for big, beefy Tyranids, and for Tyranid gunbeasts. So it should come as no surprise that my most recent Tyranid project consisted of marrying those two interest into a BIG BEEFY GUNBEAST!

As this is the fourth gunbeast I've made after my Exocrine, Dactylis, and upscaled Dactylis, I decided to organize my posts about the project under #Gunbeast4. 

When Life Hands You Lemons

It all started with me learning the hard way that, if a deal on the internet for a model kit seems too good to be true, IT LIKELY IS. 

I got what I thought were two Tervigon kits for a STEAL of a price...only to find out it was the seller who'd stolen from me when what I received in the mail were two shitty, chinacast recast of a Games Workshop Tervigon kit.

How to Sculpt: Getting Started with greenstuff

I've done a number of sculpting tutorial videos over on YouTube, but if you're just getting started with greenstuff, and you have only 3 minutes to spare, here are my quick tips that you need to know. Once you've got these down, I very much encourage you to check out my other video tutorials on YouTube.

Also! If you're already familiar with my tutorials, and you have a suggestion for other videos I could produce, let me know in the comments below what I can help you sculpt.

Tyranid Broodlord Genestealer Patriarch Conversion - Nyarlathotep

I can't say no to a commission that involves creating a horrible monster. Ostensibly, this one was meant to be a big Tyranid beastie: either a Broodlord or a patriarch for a Genestealer brood that had taken a decidedly Eldrict turn somewhere along the way.

However it could just as easily be any kind of horrible chaos demon.

Usually clients allow me a lot of freedom when developing the design for the beasties they ask me to build for them. This client, however, was pretty exacting about keeping the design very close to the source material, which was this Yugioh card for Lovecraft fan favorite: NYARLATHOTEP!

HORAY TENTACLES! IA! IA! FTHANG R'LEH! 

AHEM.

To say I was thrilled by the challenge would be an understatement. Not only did I get to give flesh to an ancient horror, I got to do it in the service of the Hive Mind!

How To Sculpt Organic Armour - How to Sculpt Miniatures Episode 7

I've been dragging my heels on this one for more than a little while, but I'm happy to announce that my next full-length How to Sculpt video is live on my YouTube Channel!

This one focuses on sculpting organic armour, of the type most commonly seen on Tyranids. However, in this video I also detail how the process for sculpting Dark Eldar armour plates is essentially the same. I also do the whole sculpt big, then sculpt small approach in this one.

I hope you find it useful!

And if you've not been over to my YouTube channel yet, please head on over and subscribe as I'll be releasing a couple more videos soon, and subscribing on YouTube is the best way to get notified about them as soon as they drop.

Happy Sculpting!

How to Sculpt Stitches & Sutures - How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 5

Sculpting stitches using greenstuff / epoxy putty is a process that looks like it should be fiddly and complex, but is surprisingly easy to pull off when you have the right instruction. It's for this reason that I'm so excited to share today's video with all of you today. This is easily one of my favourite things to sculpt :D

So, just like how I did with the spinal columns video, I will start by showing you the process in large scale using plasticine (ew), and then move on to show it in small scale in actual greenstuff mixed with apoxie putty.

The immediate application for this technique is for sculpting flesh that has been hurriedly stitched back together on something like a pit slave or a haemonculus flesh construct. However, if you hold back on all the puckering and stretching of the flesh around the stitches, and leave it more smooth, you can easily use this technique for creating roughly stitched leather for things like Ogre Kingdoms, Oruks, and Skaven. Heck, I'm sure that a chaos general could even apply this tutorial with great effect :)

I didn't mention it in the video, as it can be obnoxious, but please click the link to the video on YouTube and like, comment, and share the video from there to get a few more eyeballs on it. I spend a lot of time and effort making these videos for free, so I'd love it if you could help me get them to the widest possible audience!

If you've got any suggestions for videos you'd like to see, please leave them in the comments below. Our next video will be about sculpting organic armour plates for Tyranids and Dark Eldar, and after that I'm wide open for suggestions :)

< Previous: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 4 - How to Sculpt Spinal Columns

How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 4 - How to Sculpt Spinal Columns

Well, it's been a while, but—inspired by the warm and fuzzy comments on YouTube—I climbed back on the hobby tutorial horse. I present to you How To Sculpt Miniatures Episode 4: How to Sculpt Spinal Columns!

If you've got a long memory, you may recall that this is our second run at a spinal columns video. However, I assure that this video is far more...um...professional...than that video, and far less German :P

This should be useful for any flesh crafting Haemonculi out there, any Hive Tyrants, particularly those looking to craft some massive Tyranid terrain, or maybe even plaguelords or other chaos generals looking to make some fleshy, daemon constructs.

I hope you enjoy it. It is a good deal more in depth than previous videos as it focuses on one topic, and my future videos will be in this style.

If you've got any suggestions for videos you'd like to see, please leave them in the comments below. Our next video will be about sculpting stitches and sutures, and I've got one more slightly Niddier one in the can, but after that we're wide open for suggestions :)

< Previous: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 3 - Skills & Applications

How To Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 3 - Skills & Applications

For the third How To Sculpt Miniatures video, we're going to be combining what we covered in videos 1 and 2 by applying different tools to putty to see the effects they create.

Once again, these first three videos will rehash the information I shared in my original How to Sculpt Miniatures posts, which is best geared at sculpting beginners. However, even experts may discover some helpful tips :)

With this one posted, we've finished covering the first three articles, so next time I'll be sharing a re-do of the shakey-cam How To Sculpt Spinal Columns video I did back in the day.

As always, please let me know in the comments below if you have ideas for things you would like to learn to sculpt in a video.

> Next: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 4 - How to Sculpt Spinal Columns
< Previous: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 2 - Putty

How To Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 2 - Putty

Next up in my series of How To Sculpt Miniatures videos: how to use epoxy putty!

These first three videos will rehash the information I shared in my original How to Sculpt Miniatures posts, which is best geared at sculpting beginners. However, even experts may discover some helpful tips :)

Once we've got the first three videos taken care of, we'll move into new territory, like sculpting armour plates, stitches and sutures, and spinal columns. I've also been rolling around the idea of doing a tutorial on sculpting nurgle-y things like worms, pustules, gross drippy stuff, and third eyes. Anyone interested in that sort of thing?

As always, please let me know in the comments below if you have ideas for things you would like to learn to sculpt in a video.

> Next: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 3 - Skills & Applications
< Previous: How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 1 - Tools

How to Sculpt Miniatures 6: How to Sculpt Hoods

When posting photos on them online, someone requested I do a tutorial on how to sculpt hoods, so here it is: my long-delayed return to my How to Sculpt Miniatures series!

So remember these guys? They're my Genestealer Cult Enforcer squad, which is a fancy, made-up name for a bunch of hooded, shotgun-totting Neophyte who are meant to escort my cult's higher-ups into battle.

To make them stand out and seem covert and insidious, I wanted to give them hoods to match the hood I will eventually put on my Primus, based on this guy:

So, without further ado, I'll get into the materials, tools, and process you need to follow for sculpting your own hoods!

Haemonculus Venom Coven Conversion (Flesh Friday)

So, in case you're new around these parts, or I haven't talked about it enough, my main goal for my Haemonculus Coven of the Unmarred force is to create a converted, Haemonculus version of every non-haemonculus unit in the Dark Eldar Codex.

A long, long time ago, in a country far, far away, I came up with a concept for a Haemonculus Raider:

It's mostly a Raider with some gribly bits attached, and a Talos as its engine, and I'd played with the idea of having some spidery arms growing out of the middle of it for carrying its passengers. However, it never really worked for me, so I left the spidery arms off.

I've since given more thought to the Haemonculus Raider concept, and the idea of having passengers suspended from it on some kind of meat hooks, and when I make my revised concept for it, it's going to look a lot like this Coven Venom

Introducing Vestigial Twin: The Modern Synthesist Podcast

Hi Everybody!

It's Brother Pink here, and I'm certain that everyone was as thrilled as I was when Mr. Pink started kicking his flesh-crafting into high gear!

I was so thrilled that I started to hound Mr. Pink about recording a podcast with me. By hounding, it was more like this:

Brother Pink: Let's do a podcast!
Mr. Pink: Do I have to do anything?
Brother Pink: No, I'll do everything.
Mr. Pink: SURE!

I decided to call it 'The Vestigial Twin' as it suits the twisted nature of flesh crafting as well as our relationship. If you're wondering what a vestigial twin is, all is explained in the podcast.

Mr. Pink and I are brothers and one of the things that is most similar is our voices. Listening to a podcast with two guys with the exact same voice wouldn't work. I got really pumped about doing some voice acting, so the host of the first episode is Kraekorr, the haemonculus. I really tried to rein-in the theatrics. Also, Mr. Pink addresses this character exactly as if it were his brother.

If you really enjoy this character, I left a couple of extra bits with Kraekorr at the very end, which you are in no way encouraged to listen to.

This first episode we just talk about Sculpting; the action figures that first inspired us, how we first started sculpting, various materials we have attempted to sculpt with, and projects and people that really inspired us.

There were a few hiccups: Mr. Pink is a tad too quiet (he now has the 2nd best mic on wirecutter.com), and I have a slight case of the sniffles. The call drops soon after I talk about helium filled terrain ideas and Mr. Pink may or may not encourage listeners to plunge their hands into buckets of plaster (which will cause serious harm).

The Opening song is 'Drop' by a Japanese band called Thee Machine Gun Elephant, and I have absolutely no permission to use it. The song at the end is 'Parasite' by a great band called Gammage. They are such a great band, they actually gave me permission to use their song!

We really hope you enjoy our podcast. Bare with us, it is the first episode. There will be immeasurable improvements for the next one.

Here it is, The Vestigial Twin:
The Vestigial Twin, Episode 1, Sculpting

I think I'd rather be a Blood Angel

Hi Everybody!

I’d like to say thanks to everyone who checked out my posts on the Sniper Scout.

When I dropped those first three articles, I told myself that I would be able to make a post a week... not true.

With the release of the new Space Marine Codex, Blood Angels took a bit of a hit competitive-wise. The title of the article was meant to be a joke about how often I've converted Dark Angels models for my army... Who's laughing now? Still, this article is about a sergeant dual wielding inferno pistols.... what's more BA than that?

Feel More Pain: Wracks' Pain Counters Done

They were pretty far along when last I posted my first update about them, but the Pain Counters for the Wracks squad are now complete. 

I have a good deal of love for the Grotesque squad's pain counters as they were my first and they helped me pioneer the idea of the counter representing one victim becoming more twisted by pain. Still, I think that I'm happier with how these guys came out. They seem a little cleaner (in terms of construction) than the former, while also seeming more messy (in terms of the scenes being depicted).

That being said, for my next set of pain counters, I'm going to go back to the idea of the victim becoming a testament to pain: a kind of twisted sculpture. While working on the coven, I've become obsessed with the whole "external spine" idea, and I think I can get decent milage out of a face-down victim whose spine is turning into a veritable work of art growing out of his back.

Until then, let's take some more looks at these guys. I'm happy these pain counters gave me the chance to get more hemavores out on the field. I think these things are super creepy, but they are in no way present in most of the Coven kits. I look forward to trying to remedy that by sculpting many more of them.

How to Sculpt Miniatures 3: Sculpting Skills

This How to Sculpt Miniatures series is my attempt to demystify the idea of sculpting your own miniatures. It seems that more and more people are taking cracks at it these days as the means of production are getting so very cheap and third-party casting companies are growing like mushrooms. Still, no matter how many head-swap bits are retailed, there is going to come a time when you have an awesome idea for a miniature, and there might not be a compatible, ready-made bit. You're going to have to make it yourself, and it is my belief that the only thing standing in your way is a few helpful tips.

UPDATE: I updated this article on Wednesday May 9 to add in a fourth Caveat. It was the type of thing that seemed obvious, so I left it out, but I have since realized that it is pretty important if you've never sculpted before or are just starting. Be sure to check it out below!

The following is best viewed as a continuation of How to Sculpt Miniatures 2 as I wasn't exactly sure where you break that article. Now that I've gone over the putties I use and have talked a bit about how to get a bit more out of them, I'll be getting into the nitty gritty of how parts 1 (tools) and 2 (putties) come together.

How to Sculpt Miniatures 2: How to use Epoxy Putty, Greenstuff, Apoxie Sculpt

This How to Sculpt Miniatures series is my attempt to demystify the idea of sculpting your own miniatures. It seems that more and more people are taking cracks at it these days as the means of production are getting so very cheap and third-party casting companies are growing like mushrooms. Still, no matter how many head-swap bits are retailed, there is going to come a time when you have an awesome idea for a miniature, and there might not be a compatible, ready-made bit. You're going to have to make it yourself, and it is my belief that the only thing standing in your way is a few helpful tips.

Like I mentioned in my previous article on tools: I don't consider myself a trained professional, just an experienced amateur. Thus, I'm going to be talking about the putties I use, but, unfortunately, I won't be able to tell you anything about super sculpey or milliput, procreate or brown stuff. But that's alright because it's my goal to convince you that all you really need for 98% of your sculpting projects are two reasonably cheap, readily available putties. This article will be a general overview with a few tips about how to have more control over your putty, but it got a little long, so I will be saving hands-on techniques for my next installment. Still, I hope you find this one helpful in getting you better acquainted with sculpting mediums.

UPDATE: I've just polished off the video versions of these tutorials, and you'll find the second video, all about putty, below. The video is best consumed as an illustration to this article, so I'd still recommend reviewing both. ENJOY!