![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_172.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This conversation happens about once a month, generally at work or at family gatherings:<\/p>\n
And then I show them my pictures, but I can tell that they’re disappointed, because that isn’t quite the same as being able to hold the model in your hand.<\/p>\n
After a decade of having this conversation, I decided to finally do something about it. That’s right, kids: I am sculpting some models just to keep for myself. And what’s more, they aren’t going to be models for any particular game– I just want to draw a cool picture, then sculpt the character I drew, and then never paint the model, and have all of that be okay.<\/p>\n
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Jump Ahead!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Do you hate words?<\/span><\/p>\n If you answered “yes” or simply moaned a long vowel sound, the unbroken string of pretty pictures on Page 7 may be more your speed.<\/span><\/p>\n Let it never be said that Captain Spud does not accommodate readers of all Piaget stages of cognitive development.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since I was making a model just for me, I decided to make something that appeals to my biases. Some of these biases are things I’ve alluded to on the blog in the past– a preference for costumes and armor that make sense, for one. Character designs that reflect and evoke an actual personality and backstory, for another. But while these principles come up fairly regularly in the work I post on my blog, there’s one bias that is a huge area of interest for me that I’ve simply never gotten around to discussing here:<\/p>\n Badass ladies in badass heavy armor.<\/strong><\/p>\n I try to avoid getting into political and social commentary on this blog. Not because I’m afraid of alienating readers– you need to have<\/em> readers first– but simply because I consider most controversial issues to be off-topic and irrelevant to what I do. But this particular issue is extremely relevant to today’s project, so I hope you’ll permit me one brief rant.<\/p>\n *ahem*<\/em><\/p>\n The representation of female characters in sci-fi and fantasy art (movies, tv, video games, digital art, miniatures– pretty much everywhere) is an utter embarassment.<\/strong> With a few notable exceptions<\/a>, female characters are relegated to a truly disgraceful assortment of demeaning tropes and exploitative designs. Female characters…<\/p>\n The entire situation is a travesty, and we should all be humiliated to be a part of it.<\/p>\n *deep breath*<\/em><\/p>\n Alrighty, that felt good.<\/p>\n Rant over.<\/p>\n I care deeply about this issue, but you’ll all be happy to know that the next thing I’m going to say is not<\/em> “…and that’s why we need to complain\/boycott\/never play [X]”<\/span>. Protest of that variety is pretty pointless as far as I’m concerned. The change I want to see is a long-term, possibly even generational matter, and there are only two effective ways I care to act on it:<\/p>\n All of which brings me to my birthday project. I wanted to sculpt a cool model, and for me that pretty much entails “ass-kicking lady”. In this case I sort of felt like doing a fantasy model (as I’m still not totally comfortable with the smooth lines necessary for sci-fi minis)<\/em>, so I spent nearly a month doing concept sketches to come up with something that caught my eye; I iterated through styles of armor, types of weapons, and heraldry\/theming designs; at the same time, I spent a lot of time on Google Images looking through awesome drawings and minis I found inspiring, and compiling muscle reference for various body types. As it turned out, it was during my search for muscle reference that I came across a person who short-circuited my brain for a moment:<\/p>\n Source: Fit Grills<\/a><\/p>\n This lady’s name is Shay Massey, and she’s some sort of… bodybuilder? Weightlifter? Fitness model? I’m not totally clear on that. When I saw her, my honest reaction was to stop, severely scrunch my brow up in confusion, and comment aloud, “I… did not know that there were people who looked like that.” Specifically, I did not know that it was possible for a woman to develop a bodybuilder’s physique without ending up looking like an overcooked strip of bacon<\/a>.*<\/p>\n [ *To be clear: yes, I am judging these women based on their appearance. But I am only judging the portion of their appearance that they chose to inflict on themselves. I sort of get the working out part, but WHY ARE YOU ALL SO GODDAMNED TAN?! CUT IT OUT! IT’S FREAKING CREEPY! ]<\/em><\/p>\n Source: Fit Grills<\/a><\/p>\n Despite my “Ineffectual Internet White Knight” obsession with positive female character design, my brain had mostly ruled out bodybuilder physique for the female characters I drew (with the odd exception of Trollkin<\/a>, who I couldn’t possibly imagine being anything less than beefy) <\/em>because all of the examples I had ever seen were freaky to look at. I have historically emphasized badassness mostly through strong posing<\/a> and logical armor design<\/a>, but admittedly only significantly diverged from “combat<\/a> waif<\/a>” body proportions when making my lady characters fat<\/a>. Until I came across photos of Miss Massey, it had honestly never occurred to me that there was such a thing as a “badass beefy pretty lady**”. I mean, I’ve seen them here and there in art, but always assumed that they were as fictional as Gaston<\/a>.<\/p>\n [ ** second “to be clear” item: Despite my earlier list, I’m not AGAINST characters of either gender being pretty. And in fact, I prefer my media to tend toward a prettier standard than real life, because GODDAMNIT ESCAPISM. I just ask that there be a balance: some pretty folks, and some less pretty folks, in roughly equal distribution across the genders. Or in other words, WHERE THE HELL IS OUR FEMALE STEVE BUSCEMI?! ]<\/em><\/p>\n So, yeah. Once I rebooted my brain from its several-second-long lockup, I stopped searching around for ideas, because I knew immediately what I was going to sculpt. It still took me another week to teach myself how to draw that type of musculature and to come up with the exact getup I wanted her dressed in as she waded through her foes, but from the instant Google Images inserted Shay Massey into my search results, I knew that I would be spending my birthday arraying her for war.<\/p>\n I did some concept drawings to create a character around my newfound muse, ultimately settling on a design the night before my birthday. My schedule for the next four days was cleared of other engagements up to Sunday night (when I had my Pathfinder campaign)<\/em>, with the idea that I could just start working Thursday morning, then plough ahead through Friday and Saturday and then be as close to completion as possible at quitting time on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n Since I was going to be advancing the model fairly quickly, I decided to try something I had never done before: live blogging my sculpting process on Facebook. Spud is a very low-level social media user (one blog article a month is hard enough– I have no idea how I would manage to come up with something worth reading every few hours)<\/em>, and generally posts on The Face Books about once every 3-4 months. So, the 20ish updates I posted that weekend ended up confusing the hell out of a lot of my FB friends, many of whom had actually long ago forgotten that I had an account there. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n So, since I already have a bit of writing completed on this project thanks to my unprecedented social media blitz, I figured it might be fun for me to reproduce my Facebook updates throughout today’s article. These only amount to a few periodic snapshots, however, and completely skip the intermediary steps; so in between the reproduced Facebook posts, I’ll post my usual excruciating details to explain how I got from one to the next.<\/p>\n Should be fun. \ud83d\ude42 Also known as “my actual birthday”. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n I took a four-day weekend off for my birthday. Hoping to fully sculpt a model by the end. We’ll see. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Pictures to be added as things progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n My concept drawing. I’m trying a different body type than my typical lady models– this one will look like she could lift a car. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I’m a fan of using animal motifs in character armor because they’re a quick way to communicate personality traits without doing any actual work. For this character, I chose the emblem of a ram, because I wanted to emphasize: #1 power, and #2 a generally disagreeable demeanor :P.<\/p>\n I dressed her in a piecemeal array of heavy plates, incorporating the ram emblem into her hammer and one gigantic shoulder pad. The areas around her knees and elbows were left clear of plating, as I envisioned her prioritizing mobility and charging speed over personal safety.<\/p>\n The vast majority of my sculpting work is done at 30mm scale. Even the larger pieces I do (Trollkin, the Dynastic Council, etc.) are at that same scale– they’re just supposed to be larger people than the ones who actually fall at 3cm tall. I keep to this scale for a pretty obvious reason– my models are mostly sculpted as game pieces, and they’ll look strange next to their brethren if they’re any larger or smaller.<\/p>\n For this project, however, I was creating a model that wasn’t intended for any gaming table; I just wanted to sculpt something cool, and so I was free to make it whatever size I liked. Given that unprecedented freedom, I decided to allow myself a bit of fun by sculpting a model at 40mm scale.<\/p>\n That may not seem like a very big difference, but it ends up making everything vastly easier, because while the dimensions only increased by 1.33, that corresponds to nearly doubling the area<\/em> of each piece. Which means that I had twice as much room to detail the face, the fingers, and every other detail of the model.<\/p>\n The image above shows the skeleton diagram I’ve been using for years, courtesy of Patrick Keith, which I blew up in Photoshop, modified for female skeletal proportions (smaller ribcage, larger pelvis, same size limbs)<\/em>, and then printed out to let me begin creating the skeletal armature. I’ve placed two models beside it to give you an idea of the size– on the right is a fairly average Reaper mini, while the left is the tallest Infinity model I could find in my collection. Ram Lady will tower over both. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n As usual, the armature is twisted from 20ga aluminum picture wire. A loop is created for the head, then the two sides of the wire are twisted down the spine before being split apart to form the legs. I make sure not to let the wire go out too far on the hips, as this will generally poke out of the final model.<\/p>\n The armature is then turned sideways and given some additional adjustments– creating the feet, curving the lower legs backward slightly, and creating an inward dip in the lower spine (not pictured, but visible a few pictures down)<\/em>.<\/p>\n The arms are created as a separate piece, with a tab in the center that will make it easier to attach them to the spine.<\/p>\n Both wires before mounting.<\/p>\n The feet were sunk into a wide cork, and then everything was carefully twisted into the desired pose with pliers. I ordinarily attach the arms to the torso only with glue and a bit of putty, but the larger scale of this model afforded me the extra space to wrap a thinner wire (22ga, I believe) around both pieces to keep them firmly together.<\/p>\n Thursday 10am: wire armature complete. I’m sculpting the model at 40mm scale to give myself more room for details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thursday noon: clay over most of the model.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Quick summary for anyone who’s new to the Spud Sculpting Process: Fimo doesn’t stick to metal. To get the first layer on the model, Green Stuff epoxy putty is first applied directly over the entire wire skeleton, and then Fimo is wrapped around the Green Stuff while it is still soft and uncured. This allows the Fimo to bond to the skeleton without sliding off.<\/p>\n Once the base layer of Fimo was in place, I started applying small bits of clay to bulk out major muscle areas.<\/p>\n These were blended into the foundation layer to fill out the required volumes. At this stage I wasn’t trying to create the final musculature levels yet– just to start building up the areas in the first of what would be several incremental additions.<\/p>\n Basic volumes on the back.<\/p>\n These were bulked out with additional clay (mainly around the thighs, but also a bit on the calves)<\/em>, then given an initial smoothing with clayshapers.<\/p>\n Thursday 2pm: Lower body musculature (front). The model will eventually be almost totally covered with plate armor, so muscles are only being built as vague shapes instead of being clearly defined.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next, I moved on to the upper body, where I started filling out her shoulders. Here you can see how I typically apply clay to the model– not as a single large wad, but as a cluster of small scraps that I subsequently blend together.<\/p>\n …like so.<\/p>\n The upper body has a more complex array of muscular clumps that need filling out, but they all proceed much the same (apply scraps, blend and position with metal tools, smooth with clayshapers)<\/em>, with material laid down on the back muscles, belly, shoulders, and biceps.<\/p>\n I’ve been drawing superheroes since I was 9, and at this point I can draw a reasonably accurate muscular body from most angles without any need for reference. However, this really only applies from the front– back muscles, whether male or female, are probably the only muscular anatomy I’ve never been able to completely memorize. I don’t know exactly what the mental block is there; I think it might be the fact that the muscle groups don’t poke quite as clearly out of the skin the way they do on a very toned abdomen or arm, forcing me to make guesses based on whatever small bumps I can see protruding.<\/p>\n So when it came time to render the model’s back, I had to carefully follow my anatomy guides and the fortunately plentiful reference photos and videos of Miss Massey that Google provided me, Here I’ve applied material for the little “chestnut” where the shoulder muscles slide underneath the triangular spinal muscles (yeah, I don’t really know any of the names… grade 9 health class was so long ago… >_< ); it starts as a tiny ball like the one on the left, and then gets blended in like the one on the right.<\/p>\n The muscles of the back are ropes that all converge and attach to a point just above the pelvis. This central hub has very little muscle over it– rather, it’s a junction point where tendons and other tissues grab onto your vertebrae. As a result of all this, that point on your back tends to be “sunken” in compared to the surrounding areas, regardless of whether the figure is muscular, skinny, or even obese.<\/p>\n Thus, when creating lower back muscles, I apply cords of clay, but take care never to let them spill over into that sunken area. The lower cords are the top regions of the butt muscles, while the higher cords eventually lead into the side muscles that give really muscular people their triangular torsos.<\/p>\n Once it’s all applied and smoothed out, you end up with a flat diamond-shaped pocket in the small of the back<\/p>\n Turning back to the front, I added one of the few bones that still pokes through even heavy musculature– the collarbone, which runs a straight line from one shoulder to the other, with a small dip in the center just under the neck (added in the next shot).<\/em><\/p>\n Thursday 4pm: Upper body musculature (front). Putting more detail into this part as the entire left arm and right upper arm will be visible on the final model.<\/p>\n Thursday 4pm: Upper body musculature (back).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At this point I spent a few minutes smoothing and evening things out. I balanced out her boobs slightly, and roughed in the abs. I also returned to the lower body briefly to add additional volume to her thighs, which appeared slightly undersized now that the upper body was there to compare against.<\/p>\n Thursday 5pm: Last update before heading out for dinner. Added the always-creepy skull in preparation for sculpting the head later tonight, and put a penny in the shot for those wondering about scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One really important note about the skull: this was the point at which I officially changed the model’s scale from 40mm to “Uh… 42? Maybe 43ish?”<\/span> See, back when I was fusing the leg\/spine armature piece with the arm piece, I mounted the arms ever so slightly <\/em>too high on the spinal column. The placement was probably only about 1mm off, but the result was that the wire piece that remained poking above the shoulders, which is supposed to carry up to the model’s full head height, only stuck out to about where her nose needed to end up. There wasn’t any way to fix this at this point other than to start over, so I made the only correction left to me– I made her taller, with the top of her skull ending about 3mm higher than the original wire.<\/p>\n In the case of this particular project, this adjustment made essentially no difference, because a display model’s scale is fairly irrelevant. However, if this was being sculpted to fit into a tabletop game’s minis range, this type of “small” adjustment would be a complete deal-breaker; a few millimeters more or less is what created some of Privateer’s most famous off-scale models. The Black 13th are about 2mm short, and everybody calls then “ridiculously tiny”. The Convergence bird lady is 2mm too tall, and she towers over other human models. 2mm may not be a very significant measurement in our world, but at a 30mm or 40mm sculpting scale, it tends to be extremely obvious to any moderately interested observer.<\/p>\n This is why it’s so completely crucial to get the skeletal stage of the model absolutely perfect<\/em> before moving on. And it’s one of the biggest lessons that I still need to learn as I progress– I always rush the skeletal stage because I find it really boring, but it’s absolutely the most crucial and irreversible step of the process. Time spent on the skeleton is never wasted.<\/p>\n I just wish it was more fun. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n The skull was left to cure overnight. In the morning, I began applying a thin base layer of clay around it, using an even thinner interstitial layer of additional Green Stuff to bond the two.<\/p>\n Moving around the skull, this eventually yields the classic “ninja mask”, which gives the higher layers of clay something to easily adhere to.<\/p>\n Thursday 11pm: Back home and back to work. \ud83d\ude42 Clay laid down over the skull; hoping to lay down most of the face meats before bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once the ninja mask base was down, I started adding basic facial forms. I always prioritize adding the mouth before anything else, as it represents the second most important landmark on the face (after the eyes) for locating all of the other features.<\/p>\n A new clay scrap went underneath it and was blended into the chin and cheeks. I couldn’t locate any profile photos of my unwitting model to tell me how far forward to place the mouth, so I just sort of guessed. :\/<\/p>\n With the mouth line set up, I started adding more material to her brow to bring the average line of her face further forward relative to the eyes. I also filled in the gap between them to give me a spot to deposit her nose.<\/p>\n I next added the bridge of the nose; still to come later would be the two nostrils and the bulb, though I would need to fill out her cheeks more first.<\/p>\n Continuing around the face, I applied some very small slivers of clay above her eyes and blended them into her brow.<\/p>\n Two more slivers underneath formed the lower lids.<\/p>\n Which were, again, blended into the surrounding tissue.<\/p>\n This left the eyes well-framed in the center of the face, but they were far too wide, ending all the way on the side of her head. I applied some clay around the outside to begin closing them off.<\/p>\n With the major volumes in place, I went in with a clayshaper and started smoothing and rounding everything. I cleaned up the outline of her eyes, and added some definition around her mouth (while avoiding creating any outright creases, which would immediately age her).<\/p>\n At this point I had a pretty convincing “blank” face; the remaining steps would be about making it more specifically look like my reference model.<\/p>\n With that said, I had never sculpted a likeness of a real person before, so I wasn’t planning to pressure myself into creating a perfect facial match; I just wanted to create someone who had the same general type of face.<\/p>\n Friday 1am: Basic face meats added. I must have done a pretty reasonable job because Facebook is trying to identify her on my Friends list. XD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n The “blank” face was fairly slender, but Shay’s face is quite round, so I added more meat to her cheeks and jowls.<\/p>\n Once again I smoothed out this extra bulk to avoid creating any hard lines.<\/p>\n You can also see in this shot where I’ve gone in and done more work all around the face, adding the bulb and nostrils to the nose, sharply delineating the lips, and shaping her brow into a determined furrow. Material for ears was also added; detailing can be seen in the next shot.<\/p>\n The face looked very pretty, but the smile was wider than Shay’s in most of the reference shots I could find. To narrow it down, I needed to fill out the mass around the mouth, so I added some extremely tiny flakes there to re-position her dimples.<\/p>\n Once blended in and pulled back into a smile, this finally made the face look about right. I would ultimately come back and poke at it many times throughout the rest of the process, but this is about 90% what the final face would end up looking like.<\/p>\n Once I was happy enough with the face, I started adding hair. I had initially planned to diverge from the source model by giving her some sort of combo “shaved sides\/braided top and back” thing that I’d never actually quite figured out. However, after spending over a day looking at photos of her for muscle reference, it became harder and harder to picture the character with anything but Miss Massey’s tousled punk-y hairdo, so at this point I just shrugged and went with it.<\/p>\n The nice thing about sculpting a model just for myself is that I can be as fickle and wishy-washy as I like. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n As always, tiny bits were laid together in the desired shape, then smushed into their surroundings with metal tools and clayshapers. The hairline was set in place first, and then some more clay was added over the crown of her head to even everything out.<\/p>\n Friday noon: Muscle Pixie* has hair! Also, my desk lamp just broke. So, mixed progress this morning…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Note: I didn’t realize at the time that this term I had seen in my research was someone else’s nickname<\/a>. And now that I know, I sort of have another person I want to try sculpting… \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n The head was “good enough for now”, so I moved on to her adventuring outfit. I always create my models in logical layers– skin, up to inner clothing layers, then outer clothing, then armor, then accessories. I detail each layer as if it were being left visible, even if I plan to mostly cover it up. This dramatically lengthens my sculpting time for each project, but it helps me to figure out how much material actually belongs in each area, and it covers my ass if I realize later that I need to leave some scrap of underlayer poking out through what I thought was going to be an unbroken outer surface.<\/p>\n The style that I had come up with for the character’s armor was that of a rough hodgepodge of heavy plates strapped to relatively loose-fitting clothing. The character as I envisioned her wasn’t interested in the complete protection of full plate armor; she wanted enough plating to let her roll into incoming blows where she was protected, while leaving her otherwise unburdened enough to sprint, climb, jump, and feint her way into arm’s reach of her foes.<\/p>\n If we’re pretending that she’s a D&D character, she is most definitely a Fighter. Specifically, the kind of Fighter that leaves the party cleric constantly sighing and shaking his head. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n So for the feet where I started working on her outfit, she wasn’t wearing a set of full metal boots; instead, she had simply had a blacksmith strap and rivet a few thick plates over a fairly plain set of fur-lined leather boots. Leather boots let her feet flex better, making it easier to bound about the battlefield. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Friday 2:30pm: A bit of facial cleanup (the eyes were too big), and the start of the model’s outfit. I’m going to be sculpting the costume in layers– first creating the interior cloth layers, and then piling the armor on top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I planned to do the entire cloth layer for the model before adding any armour. With the fairly simple booties roughed out, I started delineating the pants. Anywhere I want to create the edge of an otherwise sorta-tight piece of cloth, I apply a thin clay snake and blend it back into the “skin” in one direction, while leaving the edge visible on the other side.<\/p>\n Even skintight cloth doesn’t wrap itself perfectly around the meaty bulges of its wearer; it drapes from one tension point to another, following the laws of gravity in the space between. As a result, converting the initial muscle layer into clothes involves filling a lot of cracks and fissures with clay snakes to show where the cloth bags loosely over them.<\/p>\n My Mighty Ram Warrior would be wearing Mighty Ram Capri Pants, because… I don’t know know. I just like how they look.<\/p>\n DON’T JUDGE ME<\/p>\n Cloth wrinkles were added very gradually by stringing clay snakes between tension points– for example, here I’m starting to model the slightly baggy crotch area by hanging the cloth between the high points around her thighs.<\/p>\n This is still something I struggle with a bit, so some areas of cloth came out better than others.<\/p>\n The backs of her legs were made much more wrinkled than the fronts, because the cloth would be fairly baggy where it hangs from her butt (i.e., no major tension points to pull the cloth tight).<\/p>\n Friday 5pm: Pants! (front)<\/p>\n Friday 5pm: Pants! (back)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once I was happy with the pants, I started building her shirt in a similar fashion, though with much less effort spent on creating folds and creases since only a tiny area of this would end up being visible.<\/p>\n As before, clay is laid down into any trenches and voids in the body layer, then smoothed out.<\/p>\n The armour I had planned out for her involved a heavy chest plate with rows of additional plates hanging down over her belly. I figured that she would wear a shirt tailored to cover all of this area to avoid having metal touch her skin (since I’m told that ranges from “super uncomfortable” to “super dangerous”)<\/em>, but didn’t want to put her in a full tunic or gambeson, so I just made the front and back of the shirt hang down lower than the sides.<\/p>\n Friday 7:30pm: Added the under-armor shirt. I went with a sleeveless tunic type thing so that her big beefy left arm can be left visible at the end. The right arm will be partially covered by the huge ram shoulder pad; not sure what I’ll use for under-padding there. Might just extend her poofy fur cape thing over that part, or I could add a separate cloth bit underneath. I’ll probably do a bit of research and steal something that looks good.:)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With the major cloth bits in an adequate state of completion, I proceeded on to the armour plates, again starting from the feet and working up.<\/p>\n It hadn’t been part of my original design, but when I got down to her boots, I realized that the only choice that made sense for this character was to shape her boots like cloven hooves. I was sort of “getting to know” the fictional character I was creating in the way I always do when I spend hours upon hours drawing or sculpting something, and I imagined that the person who was emerging before me would have specifically requested that alteration when commissioning her armour from a head-shaking blacksmith. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n The “front of ankle” plate was given a steep slope to make it appear to run almost straight down from the leg to the toe (effectively minimizing the angle of the foot)<\/em>, furthering the impression of a goat hoof.<\/p>\n Her armour plates sit on top of her normal outfit, but in all cases I made sure that there were leather straps coming out of each plate to moor them to the clothing items underneath.<\/p>\n Friday 9:30pm: I decided that since her armor is ram-themed, she must have Goat Boots. XD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saturday 11pm: Dual Goatboots Complete!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saturday 1am: Added kneepads before bed. Not totally decided on the shape; I may go back and modify them after the hip plates are on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n It was painful to apply clay over the thighs, as they were the most distinctive part of this particular character’s musculature. I crossed my fingers and hoped her bulk was still communicated through the layers of cloth and steel.<\/p>\n It is a minor tragedy every time I need to cover up layers that I like, and the pain of each is experienced as if for the first time.<\/p>\n Let it never be said that I have not suffered for my art.<\/p>\n ;_;<\/p>\n The upper plate that I had created for the boots ended up working reasonably well on the kneepad as well, and at that point, I had sort of tripped into a visual motif that could be replicated elsewhere. So as I moved up to the hip plates, I shrugged and decided to shape them in a similar manner.<\/p>\n Saturday 1pm: Got off to a bit of a late start this morning because it turns out that my bed is comfy, but the hip plates are now on. I realized that I’m not going to be able to finish the lower body armour at this point since there’s no wire support right now for the loincloth and I don’t want to risk bumping anything when I add it, so I’ll probably leave that area incomplete for now and then add the loincloth and associated plates after the model’s been baked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Copying the plates to the left leg was a bit more challenging, as the arm got in the way pretty badly. In this shot you might be able to spot how I initially made the hip plates much shorter than the initial set on the right set, which required me to smush the clay back into a blob, add some more at the top, and then re-sculpt the divisions between the plates.<\/p>\n The freedom to undo and redo like that is the primary selling point of Fimo. You don’t have to settle for bad details just because your putty is halfway hardened– you can keep working at something until it’s actually done right. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Once I was happy with the two sets of hip plates, I added a belt to hang them from. Ordinarily I would sculpt loops and buckles onto this piece, but given that it would be almost entirely covered in thick plates at the end, I left it as a simple band.<\/p>\n First belly plate!<\/p>\n Second belly plate!<\/p>\n I decided to keep the visual vocabulary of the lower body plates going, which led me to reshape the bottom of each of these plates into a small angled outcropping.<\/p>\n Before going any higher on the front, I turned to the back to add butt and lower back plates.<\/p>\n The lowest such plate hangs below the crotch of the pants, so I had to reinforce it with some extra material underneath.<\/p>\n I really like the way the plate on the lower back curves inward– the same sort of dual curvature that I liked on the ankle piece.<\/p>\n Yes, Spud is easily amused by simple shapes.<\/p>\n DON’T JUDGE ME<\/p>\n Saturday 3pm: Midsection plates (front). She’s really starting to come together now! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n I made an artistic decision to leave her sides unarmored, purely so that the various layers (skin, cloth, leather rigging, and plating) can all be seen at once. This would certainly be a very bad idea in real life, but given that my personal aesthetic already discards helmets because bare heads are more fun to sculpt, I don’t think this increases the suspension of disbelief too much.<\/p>\n Saturday 3pm: Midsection plates (back). As I work through the different plates, I’m giving some thought to how each one attaches; the two butt plates are part of her belt, while the concave lower back plate (as well as the two belly plates on the front) will hang from the breastplate.<\/p>\n Yes, it’s important to plan all of this out– knowing which pieces attach to which other ones tells you where to put straps and rivets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I created some straps to hold the lower back and belly plates together, and then laid on the forms for her breastplate.<\/p>\n Next, I added material for the back plate. I didn’t spend much time on the back piece because one of the next steps would involve completely smothering it with a fur shawl.<\/p>\n Next I started adding the gorget. This part was kind of a nightmare to set up, because it was going to be a thin strip of freestanding clay with no support behind it; I wanted to leave the neck largely open to show the neck of the tunic underneath. I do this type of thing on a lot of my models, and it’s probably just sculptor’s vanity– I guess I like to leave traces of my lower layers visible past the higher ones so that people can appreciate the work I’ve done.<\/p>\n Maybe if they see that, finally they will love me.<\/em><\/p>\n …<\/p>\n …maybe?<\/p>\n ;_;<\/p>\n Friday 5pm: Added the breastplate and gorget. The gorget is proving to be fairly challenging to shape, as there’s no structure behind it to hold it up. I’m hoping to use the extra mass of the fur mantle to reinforce it and allow me to go back and clean up some of the wobbly parts…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Back plate. It’s horribly asymmetrical, but given the amount of clay that’s about to go down on top of it, it really doesn’t matter. It’s there as a thickness marker so that the shawl sits in the right spot, and little else.<\/p>\n The shawl was going to be a thick, shaggy triangle of fur that anchored on both sides vaguely around the collarbone. The back required a lot of clay to create the needed volume, but even this wasn’t an excuse to apply one huge blob– as always, it was put together with a fusion of many small chunks.<\/p>\n I smushed these pieces together to get an idea of where the shawl would end on every edge. It hangs much lower on the left side because she wears a huge asymmetrical shoulder pad there, which requires some padding to keep it off her skin.<\/p>\n Hopefully that will give me enough material.<\/p>\n On the left side I wanted to leave her beefy arm exposed, so the shawl was kept tightly confined to the space over her armour.<\/p>\n Once I was happy with the general shape and thickness of the shawl, I started the tedious task of creating the fur texture. This was done entirely with an Angle Chisel clayshaper; I would dig the tip in just underneath the “fur spike” above, and then draw it down and back a short distance.<\/p>\n Rinse, repeat.<\/p>\n Fur is often suggested as a simple texture for beginners (“lay out a sheet of Green Stuff, wet it, then stab it hundreds of times with a pin”)<\/em>, and there definitely are ways to get a reasonable result for minimal effort. However, if your goal is quality, then there’s no trick to make the job blow by– you really do need to just sit there and delicately work every little detail with all the care and patience you would afford to the face or hands.<\/p>\n It’s boring as all hell and takes forever, but it’s the only way to end up with a texture you can really be proud of.<\/p>\n Saturday 8:30pm: Fur mantle (front). The mantle leans more toward the right side to provide padding for the large shoulderpad that will sit there.<\/p>\n Saturday 8:30pm: Fur mantle (back). Sooooooo tired of swoopy fur chunks. >_< The mantle was originally going to hang a bit lower, but I decided that I liked the plates on the back and wanted to leave them visible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once the mantle was roughed out (I would later go back and clean up every single fur chunk), I applied some material to make up the shoulder pad.<\/p>\n More material was piled on, and then I smoothed everything out.<\/p>\n And then the path was cleared for… the Engoatening.<\/em><\/p>\n Goat head!<\/p>\n The horns were rolled out as tapered clay snakes on my vinyl mat, and pre-curled before being lifted onto the model.<\/p>\n It was quite difficult to get these attacked to the head and then smoothed out– there wasn’t much supporting them on the front-most part of the curl, so they were quite wobbly and slide around a lot while I was working on them.<\/p>\n Saturday 10:30pm: THE RAM LIVES!<\/p>\n This was actually a huge pain in the ass to sculpt, as it’s a big wad of wiggly clay with no support anywhere within it; as a result, it would constantly lean and slide away from wherever I was working. I *think* I got it back to roughly the center of the shoulder plate, but if I had something like this to do again, I would definitely bake the model first and then add the head afterward with wires dropped in for support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saturday 10:30pm: And with that, the main body is more or less done. \ud83d\ude42 There’s still a fur loincloth still to be added, but that will happen after baking so that I don’t damage anything while sinking the necessary wires.<\/p>\n Despite my gloomy prediction from an hour ago, I’m now thinking that there might actually be a way for me to get this mostly finished before I have to leave at noon tomorrow. It will all depend on whether I can finish the hammer tonight; if I can, it is theoretically possible for me to sculpt the hands tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n (Damn you Dan, filling my pliable brainmeats with foolish hopes… *shakes fist*)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Back shot of the model with the various layers all coming into shape. I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n With my newfound resolve to sorta-finish the model by the end of the weekend, I got to work creating her weapon before bed on Saturday. Her sledgehammer would be created around its own (much simpler) armature, composed of a twisted length of brass rod.<\/p>\n As always, putty was wrapped around the metal to allow the clay to adhere.<\/p>\n Her hammer’s head takes the shape of a charging ram, with its nose down and horns raised. Using my design sketch as a reference, I applied clay over the metal and putty in the approximate shape I had laid out.<\/p>\n This turned out to be pretty fast to detail. My original design had called for a simple round attachment point to transition the hammer head to the haft, but when I was working on it I realized that it was the perfect position to add some tucked-in Goat Feet to give it the appearance of flying through the air mid-headbutt.<\/p>\n Totally better this way. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n I wasn’t confident in my ability to add a layer of putty AND a layer of clay around the haft and have the end result come out smooth, so I opted to do it with only a single putty layer. I rolled out a putty snake of the appropriate length and diameter and pressed it around the brass rod.<\/p>\n I did what I could to smooth it out. The result was… kind of a reinforcement of why I use clay these days. :\/<\/p>\n I used a knife to press a spiral grip pattern into the putty, and then added some tiny clay strips to the top and bottom of the grip.<\/p>\n Sunday 1am: Hammer done-ish. Probably the last update for tonight. Going to spend some time cleaning up the lines on the head and haft, both of which are a bit wobbly at this stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n I only had about five hours to work on Sunday before heading out for D&D, so I got to work as soon as I woke up in the hopes of being able to show a “not actually finished, but <\/em>looks finished enough”<\/em> photo on Facebook to all of the people who had been cheering me on since Thursday morning.<\/p>\n I quickly baked the hammer while I brushed my teeth and boiled the tea kettle. I couldn’t bake this the night before because uncured putty expands and bubbles when baked; you need to give it a few hours to cure first, or else the expanding Green Stuff will crack the clay from the inside out.<\/p>\n Once it was baked, I cooled it by dunking it in lukewarm and then cold water, then dried it off and Green Stuffed it to the model. The two hand wires weren’t quite enough to hold it in place, so I ran a supporting wire up from the base to press it upward into her lower hand by means of the excess brass rod I had left hanging out.<\/p>\n I applied clay around the haft to create her hands. These are probably the weakest part of the final model– I didn’t spend quite enough time working her fingers into a strong, tight gripping pose, which makes the hammer “read” as being far lighter than I intended. :\/<\/p>\n I love drawing fingerless gloves on my models (though I kind of hate wearing them myself in real life). Like all other cloth edges, these were created by running a thin clay snake across her fingers and then pressing it into the hand on one side.<\/p>\n …like so. Another putty snake was added on the forearm where the glove ends a few inches short of her elbow.<\/p>\n I wanted to have fur coming out the back of her glove (to match the boots)<\/em>, so I pressed the edge into two overlapping layers to give me material to form into more fur chunks.<\/p>\n And then I made fur chunks.<\/p>\n These were cleaned up later. For now they looked kinda gross. :\/<\/p>\n I then added metal plates, in shapes that mimicked the ones on the boots. I strongly debated giving her lobstered gauntlets in another imitated hoof shape, but decided I liked the exposed fingers better.<\/p>\n And with that mad dash complete, I was pretty much done for the weekend. I had quite a bit of work left to do (as you can tell from the scrollbar on the right side of your screen)<\/em>, but I had plenty enough to show online. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Sunday noon: Hammer attached! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n This is sadly where I need to stop for the weekend, but I’m thrilled with how far I got and with how the model is turning out. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n Work remaining:<\/p>\n …but all in all, this is about 90% what the final model will look like. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Thanks to everyone who cheered me on over the weekend– I literally would not have gotten this far without you, as there were several points where I got bored and started firing up a video game, then stopped myself when I realized that I only had an hour until I needed to post more pictures. The expectation of your merciless judgment was a fantastic motivator. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n I’ll be sure to post pictures of the finished model when I iron out the remaining details later this week!:)<\/p>\n Sunday noon: pic 2<\/p>\n Sunday noon: pic 3<\/p>\n Sunday noon: pic 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The rest of the model was completed on weeknights over the remainder of the week.<\/p>\n The first thing to do was to add sorely-missing detail to the metal plates in the form of rivets. To create these, I rolled out an incredibly thin clay snake, then cut it into super-tiny chunks. These chunks turned out to be way too big, so I cut even those pieces in half with a knife.<\/p>\n Rivets are… kind of small and fiddly, as it turns out. >_<<\/p>\n Rivets were applied methodically– lift with clayshaper, apply to places where a leather strap would be located underneath (whether to hold two plates together, or to hang a set of plates on the rest of the body), blend flush with plate surface with same clayshaper.<\/p>\n The model required quite a lot of them, so… it took a while. :\/<\/p>\n Rivets: Side View!<\/p>\n With the figure’s detailing approaching completion, I started working out how to attach the last major remaining component– the fur loincloth. This would require a strong wire armature to build over, and I wasn’t entirely sure where to attach it. I had been planning to run a new wire up from the base, but eventually realized that it would be easier to completely sink a hoop into the clay around the crotch area; once I baked the model, this would be pretty solid, allowing me to build the loincloth over the top of it.<\/p>\n I smushed the wire into the existing clay, then did my best to cover it over, including stringing some very thin clay strips across the center of it for additional front-to-back support later on.<\/p>\n After two entire days of nothing but cleanup and nit picking, I eventually made my peace with the (admittedly quite satisfactory) state of the model and threw it in the oven.<\/p>\n This is consistently the most painful and scary part of any sculpting project– the point of no return.<\/p>\n \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n (FUN FACT: When lowering her into my oven, my hand slipped and TORE OFF HER SCALP. After my heart started bearing again, I lowered it back down and re-smoothed it into the head. Not exactly a confidence booster when you’re already questioning your work…)<\/em><\/p>\n Once the base layer was baked, I built up the last piece using the support structure I had put in place.<\/p>\n I created the detail to give the impression that the loincloth was simply looped over the top of her belt. The lower section would be the inner leather side, while the top section would be covered in the thick fur that was present all over the rest of her outfit.<\/p>\n Some more fur chunks, and a few additional metal plates, and the Knight of Rams was essentially finished.<\/p>\n All that remained was to cobble together something for her to stand on… and how much work could that be, really?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As it turns out, the answer was “It took longer to make the base than the model”<\/span>.<\/p>\n Seriously. @_e<\/p>\n This next part took place about two weeks later. I had intended to get to it sooner, but I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted her to stand on. Part of me voted for a simple sculpted rock just to get it done, but given all of the work I had put into the model, it felt like cheating to finish her off with something that simple.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
![\"ram_ref_01\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_ref_01-600x600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"ram_ref_02\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_ref_02-600x631.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\nThursday<\/h2>\n
\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_02.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_03.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_05.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_06.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_07.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_02.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_03.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_09.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_14.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_15.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_16.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_17.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_18.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_19.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_20.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_06.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_07.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_21.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_08.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_23.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_24.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_09.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_25.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_26.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_27.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_28.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_29.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_30.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_31.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_32.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_33.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_34.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_10.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFriday<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_36.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_37.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_38.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_39.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_40.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_41.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_43.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_45.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_46.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_47.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_48.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_49.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_50.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_13.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_14.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_53.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_54.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_55.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_15.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_57.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_58.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_16.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_17.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_18.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSaturday<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_61.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_62.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_19.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_63.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_64.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_65.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_66.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_67.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_68.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_69.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_20.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_21.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_71.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_72.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_73.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_22.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_76.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_77.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_78.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_79.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_80.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_81.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_82.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_23.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_24.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_83.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_84.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_85.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_86.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_87.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_88.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_25.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_26.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_91.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_92.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_93.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_94.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_95.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_96.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_97.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_98.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_27.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSunday<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_100.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_101.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_102.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_103.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_104.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_105.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_106.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nFacebooks!<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_28.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_29.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_30.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_wip_31.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLater That Week<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_110.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_111.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_112.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_113.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_114.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_115.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_116.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_117.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_118.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNovember<\/h2>\n
![\"ram_warrior_base_small\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/ram_warrior_base_small-600x467.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_119.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_120.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_121.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_122.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_123.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_124.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_125.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_126.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_127.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_128.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_129.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_130.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_131.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_132.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_133.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_134.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_135.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_136.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_137.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_138.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_139.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_140.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_141.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_142.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_143.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_144.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_145.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_146.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_147.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_148.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_149.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_151.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_152.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_153.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ram_171.jpg\")
<\/p>\n