How to Sculpt Tyranid Carapace

 Though long-time followers of the blog will know I've done a video before on sculpting Tyranid/organic armour, I took another run at it as part of my How To Sculpt Tyranids subseries. In this episode, we bulk Terry the Tyranid up with some armour plates!

How To Scupt Tentacles

I've got a fresh new How To Sculpt video for you on one of my most-requested topics: sculpting tentacles!

This was actually posted a few weeks back on my YouTube, so if you're not already subscribed over there, make sure to do so and get notified about all my new videos and streams: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernSynthesist/

How to Sculpt with Nivea and Lubricants

 One of the materials that has really changed the lives of people getting into sculpting with greenstuff is a proper lubricant. If you ask me, that is nivea hand cream, and I haven't looked back since I started using it!

However, people also regularly ask me if you need to wash your models after sculpting using nivea before you prime or paint them. I got so tired of repeating that NO, YOU DO NOT NEED TO WASH YOUR MODELS that I decided to do a little experiment on video to show you how well primer sticks to cured putty that's been lubricated with different materials. Here's hoping you find this helpful!

And this video was actually posted a few months back on my YouTube, so if you're not already subscribed over there, make sure to do so and get notified about all my new videos and streams: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernSynthesist

Converting Upright Termagants for the Viridian Stalkers Tyranid Killteam - #StandaGaunts

So just in time for the release of the new edition of Kill Team, I've become completely enamoured with a new take on the humble termagant. Namely: making them stand upright!

This dude was my proof of concept for the idea, and I honestly liked him so much that it wasn't long until he was joined by a friend...

...and then a whole bunch more!

I really liked how this new pose seemed to give your average gaunt more agency and individuality, but I didn't really understand it until a particularly brilliant person on Instagram pointed out the difference.

"Gaunts were kind of white noise in an army before. Not anymore."

Dr Tabletop Drop Top Review (hobby stream)

 For this week's WIP Wednesday hobby stream, I start off with a review of the Dr. Tabletop Drop Top, which was created as part of a kickstarter to convert citadel paint pots into dropper bottles. As a long-time proponent of transferring my citadel paint to dropper bottles, I was interested to see how these new Drop Tops would measure up to the old standard of just transferring paint, both in terms of ease of use and cost.

Once I get through messing around with that on the video, I get to more sculpting on my #DominaNid3 Tyranid Dominatrix project, doing some more work on one of its arms.

Sculpting Live Streams on YouTube

For anyone who is still tuned in to the ol' bloggerino:

Thank you.
And I'm sorry.

Thank you for keeping on keeping subscribed to this blog and for checking in on it regularly. 

And I'm sorry I'm not as good at keeping it up to date as I may like. As captured well in the recent Between the Bolter and Me stream/podcast episode, hobby blogs may have a bit of dust on them these days, but they're still super valuable records/repositories for hobby content. 

The challenge is that, like hobby forums of yesterday, they don't always make it super easy to share content as fluidly as social media does :(

Therefore, if you're ever wondering what I'm up to, the most up to date source will always be my Instagram (and you can check it even if you don't have an instagram account...though the sneaky buggers may force you to sign up to expand a post >:P).

However, I've also gotten a lot more active on my YouTube channel recently, having made my first forays into hobby streaming. I didn't think it would be interesting for folks to just watch me sculpt. Apparently, I was wrong.

So it's now the case that I've gotten into the habit of doing a live hobby stream on YouTube every Wednesday night, around 8 pm / 20:00 EDT. However, I know that's not always ideal for people in other parts of the world, so I'll work at also doing streams on weekends or at other times when more folks can join. 

The best place to find updates on that kind of stuff is the community page of my YouTube Channel. If you were to check that now, you'd find that I've got a stream coming up this Tuesday, September 15th at 2:30pm / 14:30 EDT, or 19:30 GMT. 

Even if you miss the live stream, I archive the videos of each stream, and I've embedded the Hobby Stream playlist above. Though there's a goodly amount of random chatter with the folks commenting, the videos are good opportunities to learn to sculpt things. For example, on the most recent stream, I showed how to sculpt hakama / pleated pants, and quick and dirty hoods:

Here's hoping you'll be able to join one of the streams!

How to Sculpt Ribs: Video tutorial 9, ft. Hydra

Next up in the How to Sculpt Miniatures video series, we have another guest post from Brother Hydra,  This time focusing on how to sculpt ribs. As this is one of the main textures on Tyranids, it's a really useful one to get down.

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.

How to Sculpt Teeth: Video tutorial 8, featuring guest sculptor Hydra

Faithful blog followers, I owe you an apology. If you also follow me on YouTube, you'll know that this How to Sculpt video has been up for.... a while (COUGH--3 months pretty much to the day--COUGH). I'm sorry it has taken me so long to share it here, but I'd say that's more proof that you should probably subscribe to my channel on YouTube to get the freshest content as it drops!

To make up for that disappointment, I've got good news: this video features special guest sculptor Hydra. Why should you care about Hydra? Well, he's the guy who taught me everything I know about sculpting, so there's that! He's also got a sexy German accent >:)

Enjoy!

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 Amatures - How to Sculpt Miniatures: Video Tutorial 6

Got a BRAND NEW How to Sculpt video coming at you, this one focusing on getting started with armatures.

It's also the first wholy new video I've shot in nearly 4 years! I got a bit disheartened with how much work goes into these things, and how little folks seemed to care about them.

But I've been getting a steady stream of subscribers to my YouTube Channel of late, and that, combined with a swift kick in the ass from my brother Hydra, inspired me to get this video shot, edited, and uploaded inside of 24 hours! No dragging my feet on synching audio and editing down. Just a one-shot, direct to digital product.

So it's a little rough around the edges in places, but I hope you like it and find it helpful!

Note: I'm also posting this from my phone, so I'm sorry if it Le Bust.

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: Video Tutorial 1 - Tools

Here's the first tutorial in my new series of How To Sculpt Miniatures videos!

The first three videos will rehash the information I shared in my original How to Sculpt Miniatures posts, and then we'll move into new territory, like sculpting armour plates, stitches and sutures, and I'll return to sculpting spinal columns with a proper, non-shakey-cam video.

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 2: Putty
< Previous: How to Sculpt Miniatures 6: How to Sculpt Hoods