{"id":7217,"date":"2020-04-09T07:02:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T11:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=7217"},"modified":"2020-04-09T07:01:35","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T11:01:35","slug":"top-heavy-part-iii-the-f-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=7217","title":{"rendered":"Top-Heavy, Part III: The F-Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I feel like this is a good spot for me to mention that I’ve never seen the old A-Team show and have zero desire to do so.<\/p>\n

The Bradley Cooper movie was pretty fun.<\/p>\n

*shrug*<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As with the last<\/a> two<\/a> articles, all of the models in this installment follow the same basic construction steps, so a lot of the explanation text in the article is going to be identical from one model to the next. Anywhere you see text in<\/p>\n

this attractive green box<\/div>\n

you can rest assured that its text is a repeat of steps covered previously in the series, and can safely be skipped over unless that’s literally the first model you’ve looked at. Which– honestly, that’s totally possible. These articles are completely ridiculous (the whole series looks like it’s going to come in just north of 35,000 words @_e ) , and I hold no grudges against anyone who saw the size of the scrollbar and shouted “EFF THAT”. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

With that housekeeping out of the way, let’s head out on the home stretch of this Excellent Decision I made for myself!<\/p>\n

The Mastermind<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I have such complicated feelings about Hannibal. To start with, can we please talk about the fact that Corvus Belli has decided that the Foreign Company in general, and the Soldiers of Fortune core quartet, are supposed to be the A-Team? Because, like… I don’t really see it. You have Hannibal, sure, and I don’t think it’s fair to even call him a reference– he’s literally the same name and character concept from the show, just lifted into Infinity and given a different outfit. The rest, however, are way less clear. I can kind of<\/em> see Valkyrie being Mr. T, just based on “muscle person with interesting tall hair”. Which… okay, fine, whatever.<\/p>\n

Someone told me that Massacre is supposed to be Murdoch since he’s crazy, but that comparison feels a bit hollow, since Massacre isn’t a pilot. And then we have Laxmee, who basically has zero relation to Face that I can see.<\/p>\n

So, yeah. The whole “HEY GUYS, LOOK IT’S THE A-TEAM” thing wouldn’t do a lot for me, even if I did have any nostalgia for the property.<\/p>\n

Plus… I know this is subjective, but I just really<\/em> don’t like Hannibal’s outfit. His hair feels way too punky, his chest armour feels like a rough draft that never got finished (if you look across the different illustrations and sculpts, you’ll notice that even the artists weren’t totally clear about what was supposed to be going on with it, as they all draw or sculpt it a bit differently)<\/em>. Also, he tucks his sleeves into his gloves, and it looks like he’s just wearing slacks and sneakers, and I cannot forgive these fashion faux-pas.<\/p>\n

Ugh.<\/p>\n

In short, if Hannibal wasn’t literally the centerpiece of the Foreign Company and the entire reason it exists in the fluff, I would probably not have made him. But he is, so here we are.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alright, fine, let’s do this one.<\/p>\n

As I’ve mentioned for the two previous models that were holding guns, I like to build the large objects my models will be holding before I start working on the rest of the model, as the props influence a lot of the posing decisions.<\/p>\n

A step I skipped on the last two guns was how exactly I figured out how big the weapons should be. On a normal-scale model this is a non-decision, as you just find out how big Corvus Belli makes the weapon and match that. However, chibi models follow a really strange scale where everything at the top of the model is distorted to be massively oversized, and then the scale tapers down as you drop, until the feet are barely there. So the scale of any given prop depends a lot on where in the model’s vertical space it will be held; a gun that looks fine at chest height might look massive at ground level or teensy if held up to the model’s face.<\/p>\n

I did quite a bit of experimentation to figure out how to answer this question, and ultimately decided that the most important scaling factor was for the weapons to fit naturally into the models’ arms. It’s okay for them to be small compared to the head or big compared to the feet, as long as the poses that the models use to hold them look more or less correct.<\/p>\n

This then led me down the rabbit hole of: how big are guns? I am not even remotely a gun person, so I had to do quite a bit of digging through reference photos to find my answer.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

The answer turns out to be, “the two hand grips are the same distance apart as the shooter’s shoulders”. There are probably lots of other landmarks that are important for sizing guns in the real world, but for the purposes of my re-scaled chibi guns, matching the distance between the grip points for the two hands to the model’s shoulders will allow that model to assume a relatively natural pose.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So, how big are my model’s shoulders, then? The male Zero has the cleanest and easiest-to-measure anatomy of any of the models in the army, so I use it to make all of my scale measurements. And it turns out that the Zero’s shoulders are around<\/em> 8mm apart.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I used that measurement to make a bunch of test Combi Rifles in 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm grip separations, and then put them onto wire armatures to see which ones looked correct. And to my surprise, the 8mm rifles looked a bit ridiculous; the ones that seemed to fit correctly were the undersized 6mm guns (pictured here)<\/em>. I’m not sure of the exact reasoning for this, but I suspect that it’s something to do with that scaling distortion issue again.<\/p>\n

Or something?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, fine. I took that measurement into Photoshop and mocked up a bunch of guns at 6mm and 8mm scale and printed them out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And after some more experimentation, it turned out while combi-rifles and Hannibal’s marksman rifle looked correct with a 6mm separation, the bigger weapons– the HMG and the Feuerbach– actually do <\/em>look more correct at the wider 8mm grip spacing, which is why the ORC’s Feuerbach was built at the larger scale.<\/p>\n

So in the end? I’M SUPER CONFUSED AND HAVE NO REAL ADVICE FOR YOU. Just take a guess and make paper mockups and see what looks the least bad.<\/p>\n

I dunno. :\/<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Soooo, I’m going with the 6mm grip separation version of Hannibal’s marksman rifle. I trace the outline of the weapon onto my sculpting surface with a sharpie.<\/p>\n

Unlike the other weapons you’ve seen so far, I sculpted this one on a cookie tin. This turned out to be a bit annoying because of the size of the tin and the raised lip around the edge limiting tool access. This is ultimately why all of the other handheld accessories I made later were built on wooden blocks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I get out some thin 22GA brass wire and twist it into the vague shape of the contour, leaving space on all sides to bury it in clay.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Just as with the models themselves, the clay on the weapons needs a putty foundation to stick to the metal. I wrap a bit of putty around the wire…<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

…and then lay shreds of clay over top of the still-soft putty and flatten it all together. Throughout the process, I’ll be continually watching the pencil contours to ensure that I don’t stray outside the weapon’s contours.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I continue adding small bits of clay and blending them to the outsides until I’m happy with the silhouette. Next, I look at the reference drawing I made and add in some of the interior details, pressing in small lines to define the [ PART ]<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I continue pressing in details until I’m pretty satisfied with my replication of the original gun. The entire process is done by pushing out basic shapes with metal tools and then smoothing with clayshapers.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

When I’m happy with the first side of the gun, I bake it in my halogen oven (250 degrees F for about 6 minutes). Once the first side is baked solid, I use a knife to carefully lift it off the wood block, and then I turn it over.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I use blobs of Green Stuff to provide supporting pegs to keep it firmly level while I work on the reverse side.<\/div>\n

Note: I left a wire “handle” hanging off the back of Hannibal’s gun because I thought that would be useful later on when doing cleanup on the gun. This was completely wrong, it was just annoying and got in the way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The process for this side is largely the same as the other side– I smear a thin layer of Green Stuff over the silhouette as an adhesive, and then press shreds of clay into it and smooth the shreds together with metal tools.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The entire process is much faster the second time, as I can use the already-established edges of the first side to easily guide the placement of every piece on the flip-side. I do a bunch of cleanup, bake the gun, clean up the seam between the two sides with a sharp knife, and then see how it looks on the model.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As you can probably tell, making the gun 33% bigger (6mm -> 8mm)<\/em> would have been completely ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Anyway, gun looks fine. Let’s move onto Hannibal himself.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The generic armature was twisted into shape using needle-nose pliers. My armatures terminate at the tips of the toes, and then I leave a bit of extra slack to let me embed the extra wire in a wine cork, which becomes a handle I can hold onto throughout the sculpting and painting processes.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

I sculpt in Fimo, which is a polymer clay available at most craft stores. Fimo doesn’t stick to metal on its own, so you need to apply a layer of Green Stuff putty over the armature as an adhesive layer. The Green Stuff is thinly applied using metal sculpting tools.<\/p>\n

The first layer of Fimo is immediately applied directly over the still-soft putty. Once again, it’s pressed into place using metal sculpting tools; clean surfaces aren’t terribly important at this point, since many layers will be going on top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Clay is added to the model in shreds and slabs to arrive at the desired thickness for each part. At this stage I’m still working entirely with metal tools, as the ability to quickly jam bits of clay together is far more important at this stage than getting clean surfaces. You don’t need very much clay to bulk out an arm or a leg, but the sheer size of chibi heads mean that they’ll invariably require huge amounts of clay to be stuck on.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I keep applying bits and pieces of clay and blending them into each other until the model has the general type of physique I’m after. At this point, I finally do a smoothing pass using silicone clayshapers, which are able to achieve a much smoother finish than metal tools thanks to their pliability.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Once I’m happy with the basic body masses, I start adding clothes. I typically start at the model’s feet and work my way up. Thick garment breaks are added first, and then I add smaller surface details.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Garment edges and fully embossed straps are both done in pretty much the same way– I roll out a very thin clay snake, and apply it either as one long piece or in smaller snippets. The snake is then pressed flat and blended into its surroundings.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You can achieve different effects depending on how you blend it; you can leave a stark ledge on both sides to make the new clay appear as an independent band of material, or you can blend one of the edges into the surrounding material to look like a garment is coming to an end– e.g., the bottom of a sleeve or a pant leg.<\/div>\n

Hannibal’s slacks are pretty loose-fitting, so there are quite a few cloth folds that need to be modeled on. For the pants, I make them quite rumpled around the bottom, but fairly flat through most of the thigh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Slacks hang down a bit from the natural crotch, so let’s add some clay there and blend it in.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His pants are also loose enough to warrant some baggy cloth from the knees to the crotch.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I blend all of the shreds into the legs, and then put cloth folds anywhere that makes sense. A Google image search for “casual fit jeans<\/a>” is very useful reference here. ^_^<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of course, Hannibal isn’t just wearing regular slacks– he’s wearing Space Slacks\u2122, which are made out of many discrete cloth sections for no reason whatsoever. I use clayshapers to add vertical lines down the front, and to press in the angled lines toward the upper thigh. I just try to follow the concept dossier as closely as I can.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oh right, his pants have LIGHTS in them too.<\/p>\n

So you know it’s the future.<\/p>\n

-_-<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hannibal is wearing a bulletproof vest that hangs down over whatever belt he might be wearing. Here I add a snake of clay to form the bottom of the vest.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I blend the snake into the torso with metal tools.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I then add a thin slab of clay to the abdomen to form the first of the vest’s armour plates, continuing to use metal tools to press and shape the rough clay.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I keep moving up and adding more clay to build out the armour shapes. It’s all intended to look like muscle groups, though the final detailing ends up being much more broken up and almost insectoid-looking, as you can see in the next shot.<\/p>\n

Also visible in the next shot is a surprise appearance from a guest star I’ve mentioned six times now and yet never shown to you:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE BRASS EYE TUBE<\/p>\n

LOOK GUYS I DIDN’T MAKE HER UP<\/p>\n

SHE’S REAL<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I pull the brow clay down a bit, and then press in a small mouth slit to guide the addition of clay bits around the lips.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I want Hannibal to be snarling orders, so I open his mouth slightly. I then start building his lower lip by laying on a small shred of clay.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I blend this into the face with a clayshaper, making sure to keep the mouth distinctly open.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A blob is planted in the center of the face to create the main bump of the nose.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That bump is then heavily blended in every direction, leaving just the suggestion of the bulb and the bridge.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

ANGRY EYEBROWS<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The eyes are given a more expressive shape by laying clay on the bottom of the eye. These will go in different positions depending on the facial expression you’re trying to convey. These are then blended into the face to form eyelids.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

To create ears, a blob of clay is cut in half (to ensure equal size on both sides) and stick down in line with the eyes, about 2\/3 of the way toward the back of the head. The blob is blended with a hard edge on the top, back, and bottom, but blended flat toward the face.<\/div>\n

I press very shallowly in the center to create a very slight suggestion of a ridge around the ear, bulging slightly upward to suggest the earlobe at the bottom.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To create Hannibal’s goatee, I lay a thin clay snake around his mouth.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I use a clayshaper to press parallel lines into the snake to create the texture of the facial hair.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The foundation of the model’s hair is applied with long, parallel strips that follow the direction of the hairstyle.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I join the clay strips partially together with a metal tool, but I don’t blend them flat– instead, I form them into a hills-and-valleys texture to show the direction of the hair.<\/div>\n

Hannibal’s hair is quite spikey, so I spend some time with metal sculpting tools pulling the hair into short ridges. I’ll come back and properly detail everything a bit later.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not looking too shabby there, Mr. Brainysmarts!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alrighty, let’s make sunglasses. Happy as I was with the eyes I made, it’s time to permanently cover them with clay ovals. Boooo. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My research has told me that the bit that connects the glasses to your ear is called the “leg” of the glasses, but I have never heard an actual human being call it that, so it feels incredibly weird for me to do so.<\/p>\n

So, here I’ve created the side supporty bit<\/em> with a clay snake.<\/p>\n

Pfft, totally better.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I shape the contours of the classes with metal tools. The lenses need to be sunk below the level of the frames, so I dig some material out with a pick.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I then smooth this back over and clean it all up with clayshapers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Next up, Hannibal’s coat. Coats can often be quite annoying to sculpt if they hang low or blow in the wind, requiring a lot of wire support to let you work the clay. However, helpfully, Hannibal’s coat mostly hugs his body and is cut just slightly below crotch level, so it’s never far enough away from the body for me to have to worry about extra support. Whoo! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

To start building the coat, I create the lapels by laying down long clay chunks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I keep applying clay over the shoulders, around the neck, and around the sides, joining everything up at the back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I don’t want to get incredibly detailed with the cloth folds, so I just put some simple folds between the armpits and call it a day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hannibal’s coat has three vertical seams, so I press those in with the edge of a metal hoe tool.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There’s a bunch of ambiguous detail on the front of Hannibal’s coat, but as far as I can tell, there’s just a large embossed rectangle that drops down from under the arm and falls slightly below the rest of the coat. I thought it was perhaps supposed to be a long unfastened strap, but no, apparently it’s just a rectangle. :\/<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To build the hands, a bit of clay is applied to form the entire block of fingers. Hands are one of the many elements that are easier to sculpt on a chibi model than on a normal-scale model. You can often get away with a more simplified grooved “mitten”, which then allows each finger to support its neighbours.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The grooves are pressed in about halfway down the mitten, and then things are smoothed out a bit. Once that’s all formed, I use a knife to separate some of the finger tips and slightly pull them away from the rest of the hand. More work would be needed to add individual finger segments on a normal model, but on chibis, a rounded finger looks just fine.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

CURSE YOU AUTO-FOCUS<\/p>\n

This is supposed to be a picture of the cigar I sculpted in Hannibal’s hand. Instead it’s a picture of zero progress added to his torso with a blur over part of it.<\/p>\n

BOOOO.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ehh, you can kind of see the cigar there.<\/p>\n

Oh, right, Hannibal’s raiment of nonsensical accessories also features a big back plate for no reason.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The plate is hung by straps that run around his torso like a backpack. In preparation for adding the straps, I roll out some thin clay snakes and cut them to short lengths.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I apply snakes in all of the requisite directions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I flatten these down with a metal tool, and then sculpt clips into each one with a pick.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At this point, I spend a few hours with a clayshaper making Hannibal’s hair cleaner and wavier. This is just a lot of careful, tedious massaging of the shredded masses into more orderly waves with the silicone tools.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I press the cut-out shapes into his lapels with clayshapers,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Weird detail #426: Hannibal has a 5 o’clock shadow made from a metal plate.<\/p>\n

Because, sure. Why not.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I do a general clean-up pass, firming up a lot of accessory edges and fading the hair down into stubble on the back of his neck and the sides of his head.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alrighty, we’re just about finished. Let’s go ahead and glue on the gun!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once the glue is dry, I apply some Green Stuff over the wire.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I apply a clay mitten over the putty, and separate out the trigger finger.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get any other progress shots, but I think you’ve got the gist at this point. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And, there we go. The army finally has a leader to order people around. AT LAST, THEY ARE RESCUED FROM CHAOS AND DISARRAY!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Painted pictures are on the last page<\/a>. In the meantime, let’s go to page 2 and explore the process of creating the model that ended up being by FAR the hardest to photograph…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Faceless<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the previous page, I complained about not liking Hannibal’s costume because it contains details that don’t make sense or are flat-out ugly.<\/p>\n

I also don’t like Laxmee’s costume, but hers is a far milder sin– absolutely nothing is wrong with any of it (except perhaps some violent colour choices)<\/em>; I just find it all a bit generic and boring. So, that’s way easier for me to get over than details that are actively confusing<\/em>. And I still found a way to have a ton of fun with her, as you’ll see in a sec. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BAM CHIBI VERSION<\/p>\n

Models that aren’t intrinsically interesting can often be their own kind of fun, because you can fill in the interest gap that the original creator left with your own silly ideas. In the case of Laxmee, I created one of my favourite models in this entire project largely because she didn’t have any pre-set personality that I felt a need to adhere to. Instead, I came up with my own fun pitch:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“She’s the team’s hacker, so she’s sitting up on a crate, zoned out on her phone and pretty much ignoring the battle.”<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

The generic armature was twisted into shape using needle-nose pliers. My armatures terminate at the tips of the toes, and then I leave a bit of extra slack to let me embed the extra wire in a wine cork, which becomes a handle I can hold onto throughout the sculpting and painting processes.<\/p>\n

I sculpt in Fimo, which is a polymer clay available at most craft stores. Fimo doesn’t stick to metal on its own, so you need to apply a layer of Green Stuff putty over the armature as an adhesive layer. The Green Stuff is thinly applied using metal sculpting tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The first layer of Fimo is immediately applied directly over the still-soft putty. Once again, it’s pressed into place using metal sculpting tools; clean surfaces aren’t terribly important at this point, since many layers will be going on top.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Clay is added to the model in shreds and slabs to arrive at the desired thickness for each part. I keep applying bits and pieces of clay and blending them into each other until the model has the general type of physique I’m after. At this point, I finally do a smoothing pass using silicone clayshapers, which are able to achieve a much smoother finish than metal tools thanks to their pliability.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Once I’m happy with the basic body masses, I start adding clothes. I typically start at the model’s feet and work my way up. Thick garment breaks are added first, and then I add smaller surface details.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I built Laxmee’s phone on a pie plate.<\/p>\n

It took 2 minutes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I ran into a bit of an issue with Laxmee that I never really solved. See, a normal person could easily assume the posture she’s in, and be posed to be looking down at the phone in her outstretched hand.<\/p>\n

However, Laxmee’s head is the size of a wheelbarrow. Given where the phone needs to be and where her head needs to be, there’s basically, like, no way<\/em> she could possibly see the screen over her own mouth and nose. This is one of those situations where the skewed chibi perspective really fights against you. :\/<\/p>\n

I don’t allow the slight disconnect in her eyeline ruin the end result for me, but yeah– it IS there, and you’ll definitely notice it at the end if you look for it. Just, like, try to roll with it so you can enjoy the joke. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The eyes are given a more expressive shape by laying clay on the top and bottom of the eye. These will go in different positions depending on the facial expression you’re trying to convey.<\/div>\n

In Laxmee’s case, her boredom combined with her downward gaze mean that I’m dropping her eyelids about 3\/4 of the way down over her eyes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These are then blended into the face to form eyelids.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A blob is planted in the center of the face to create the main bump of the nose.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That bump is then heavily blended in every direction, leaving just the suggestion of the bulb and the bridge.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I build out the lower lip by laying on a thin clay snake and blending it in. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it on any of the other models, but they all needed a chin to be manually added under the lips, as they all looked really dopey when their mouths dropped directly down into the general bean shape of the head.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As was the case for the crouching Zero, Laxmee’s extremely scrunched pose allowed me to skimp a bit on the chest details, as I just couldn’t reach them properly, and you can barely see any of it without turning the model on her back anyway.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Garment edges and fully embossed straps are both done in pretty much the same way– I roll out a very thin clay snake, and apply it either as one long piece or in smaller snippets. The snake is then pressed flat and blended into its surroundings.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Alright, I know I said I was going to cover the full steps for every model, but I have nothing interesting or informative to say about Laxmee’s courier bag.<\/p>\n

It exists. I made it with sticks and goo.<\/p>\n

Can you tell that I’m getting a bit tired of writing, 22,000 words in? \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Laxmee’s arms are the only part of her outfit that I like. I’m not sure if they’re intended to be prosthetics or an outer layer of supplemental musculature, but either way, she has a bunch of muscle underlay running down both of her arms. I lay out the panels that frame the sides of the muscle areas using metal tools.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Laxmee’s artificial muscles use the PanOceanian braided style from the back half of my muscle video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And unlike with the ORC, I actually did the work on this one and made the braids. Go check out the video for a way better explanation than I’m capable of providing here. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I spend a lot of time carefully massaging Laxmee’s face. The left side of her face is being squished up by the hand she’s propping her head up with, which smushes most of her face meat on that side up toward the middle of her face. This then offsets the nose and mouth slightly toward her right side, and effectively paralyzes that side of her face from assuming much of a facial expression.<\/p>\n

The other side of her face is tricky. I’m trying to tread a pretty fine line between “bored” and “slightly amused by whatever she’s watching”. At this stage, I think she looks a bit too “quietly content”, so I’ll need to probably turn the corner of her mouth down a bit and maybe droop the eyes back down to really sell the boredom.<\/p>\n

As has been the case with several of the other models, I don’t plan to get the face right all in one go– I make adjustments, then move away to work on things so that I have time to observe it from many angles and come back when new ideas occur to me. Faces are super important for all models, but ESPECIALLY for exaggerated chibis, so it’s important to give them the time they need to develop.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

To create ears, a blob of clay is cut in half (to ensure equal size on both sides) and stick down in line with the eyes, about 2\/3 of the way toward the back of the head. The blob is blended with a hard edge on the top, back, and bottom, but blended flat toward the face.<\/p>\n

I press very shallowly in the center to create a very slight suggestion of a ridge around the ear, bulging slightly upward to suggest the earlobe at the bottom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

To build the hands, a bit of clay is applied to form the entire block of fingers. Hands are one of the many elements that are easier to sculpt on a chibi model than on a normal-scale model. You can often get away with a more simplified grooved “mitten”, which then allows each finger to support its neighbours.<\/div>\n
The grooves are pressed in about halfway down the mitten, and then things are smoothed out a bit. Once that’s all formed, I use a knife to separate some of the finger tips and slightly pull them away from the rest of the hand.<\/div>\n

Laxmee has pretty distinct “robot hands”, so I use a pick to define individual segments on each finger.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hair chunks!<\/p>\n

Laxmee’s hair is gonna be a whole thang<\/em>. This is just some early prep work for the labours ahead, mostly because I want to finish her face and knowing where the hairline sits is helpful for that endeavor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A bunch more time later, I think I have a face that I’m happy with. Erasing the very slight smirk felt wrong somehow, but I found a way to temper her look of contentment in spite of the smirk by playing with her eyebrows; the uneven brows give her a look of mild surprise, which nicely communicates the scenario of “very slightly amused by something she scrolled to on her phone”.<\/p>\n

Yeah, welcome to what your face looks like when you’re browsing memes, in case you didn’t know. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alrighty, I’m running out of ways to procrastinate starting this hair.<\/p>\n

Honestly, this part right here isn’t even the issue. This part on top of the head is super easy, actually. It’s the stuff behind it that I’m dreading:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So many individual dreads. ;_;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But, whatever. That’s a problem for Future Spud. For now, Present Spud gets to just paste another text block from his spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

The foundation of the model’s hair is applied with long, parallel strips that follow the direction of the hairstyle. I join the clay strips partially together with a metal tool, but I don’t blend them flat– instead, I form them into a hills-and-valleys texture to show the direction of the hair.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

While the previous haired models had their “hair rows” criss-crossed into each other, in Laxmee’s case I actually do want hem to remain in distinct rows, as her dreadlocks are held tightly in parallel to each other by a pair of hairbands.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, hairband!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The front band is made with a flattened clay snake; the back one, which will mark the transition into the free-standing sculpted dreads, is built out of an entire clay disc.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Each one is adjusted to look like they’re about the same size and shape. I then go in with an angle chisel clayshaper and detail the dreads, adding ribbing patterns perpendicular to the flow of each row. This is very easy to do messily; it takes a while to do cleanly. :\/<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I have to look up some reference online<\/a> to see how the dreads should terminate at the hairline. From what I can find, multiple dreads often converge down to a single “root” of hair, so I do that with most of the rows (basically, anywhere there isn’t space for a row to terminate all on its own).<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of course, these aren’t just any hairbands; they are SPACE HAIRBANDS, and as such, they need weird dots and panels etched into them.<\/p>\n

Obviously.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With the hair coming along nicely, I add the structure for Laxmee’s hacking-visor-slash-prosthetic-eye.<\/p>\n

I’m still really unclear on whether the tech stuff on her costume is prosthetic or just supplementary. Was Laxmee severely wounded in a plumbing explosion, or has she just read too many cyberpunk novels?<\/p>\n

Surely someone knows…<\/p>\n

Note: <\/strong>You may be wondering why I haven’t sculpted the lens over her eye the way I did Hannibal’s glasses. The short answer is, “you’ll see on the painted pictures”. The longer answer is, “I’m not going to explain the process for how I did it until Part IV<\/a> of the series, because it’s kind of awkward to fit it anywhere in this article.”<\/p>\n

You’ll see though, it’s pretty cool. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oh hey look, it’s another holstered gun that I took zero progress photos for.<\/p>\n

Honestly, guys, I’m starting to think you aren’t getting steps for any of these things even though almost every model has a holstered hip pistol. Either I’m making them so fast that there’s no time for pictures, or they’re so fascinating that I zone out and forget to take pictures.<\/p>\n

Honestly, both of those sound like lies, so I don’t really have an explanation for the omission.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alrighty, time for The Worst Part. See these dozen or so wire hooks?<\/p>\n

HA, this is only like half of the ones I’ll need!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I cut holes all around the back of the head, trying to group them slightly closer than the dreads on the side (as I would also need some to form the interior layers)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get a picture of the next step, but: I plant a wire hook in each hole, then press down on the clay surface to seal everything up. One cleanup step later, the wires are all firmly spiking out the back of Laxmee’s head.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing else I can do at this point, so I do my customary hour of cleanup on the entire model with clayshapers and then bake her in my halogen oven.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now that the wires are held in place, I’m free to bend them. Starting with the bottom row and moving up, I bend them into a general draping pattern, getting wider apart as they get further from the head.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I trim them to a reasonable length, and then drop a really ugly wad of putty to fill space in the center and support the outer layers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Apparently I was getting a bit depressed looking at the remaining work on the hair, so I put off the inevitable by adding in her remaining hand instead.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Green Stuff over the wire, clay mitten over the putty, divide fingers with a knife, clean up with clayshapers.<\/p>\n

Y’all know the drill by now. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Also, a thumb.<\/p>\n

*nods*<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oooookay, back to this.<\/p>\n

There’s really no getting out of it, every single one of the dreads is going to be its own free-floating snake. So, I get to it: each one gets a putty snake over the wire, and then a flattened clay snake wrapped around that. I bend the top wires upward temporarily to give me access to work on the bottom layers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hey, remember how I mentioned above that it’s very easy to do a messy and terrible job of adding ribbing to the dreadlocks?<\/p>\n

Here’s how I know.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, it’ll get cleaned up. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When the lower layers look passable, I bend the next higher layer down and work it up in exactly the same way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All told, the hair took an entire evening’s work, about six hours total.<\/p>\n

I like the result, but holy crap. :\/<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The very last step for the hair is to add her bangs. The studio design has a really fake-looking lock of straight hair (read: white people hair)<\/em> here, but I’d rather give my version a more natural look. That’s going to involve a bit of volume, hence the support staple I’ve jammed into her skull here. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I spend a while researching interesting African hairstyles, and settle on a bangs style where the hair is basically allowed to floof out in the front, in contrast with the tightly-wound rows of the dreadlocks. I really like the end result. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

And with that, one of the least interesting stock Foreign Company characters becomes one of my favourite Chibi Foreign Company models. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

*giggle*<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Looney<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alrighty… Space Deadpool time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had a pretty specific idea that I wanted to convey on my Se\u00f1or Massacre model: “This is not a normal person.” See, it’s easy to make models look threatening by putting them in an aggressive or powerful pose. I wanted to go for a more unsettling angle– a character who is moving in a really unusual way, leaving you to speculate uneasily about their mindset.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, the specific way my brain told me to communicate this for massacre was:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Head hung low, barely looking at his target<\/li>\n
  2. Swords held very loosely, almost forgotten<\/li>\n
  3. Overall, kind of a low-energy pose<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Basically, this is a character who spends so much time killing people that it doesn’t even excite him anymore– he’s somehow almost sleepwalking his way through a killing spree.<\/p>\n

    I dunno. it seemed interesting to me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    For now, though, I only worried myself about his swords. There’ll be time to refine the pose later on.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I didn’t need to do a full paper mockup or trace anything for the swords– they’re a pretty easy shape to draw. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    I get out some thin 24GA copper wire and twist it into the vague shape of the contour, leaving space on all sides to bury it in clay.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \n

    Just as with the models themselves, the clay on the weapons needs a putty foundation to stick to the metal. I wrap a bit of putty around the wire, and then lay shreds of clay over top of the still-soft putty and flatten it all together. Throughout the process, I’ll be continually watching the pencil contours to ensure that I don’t stray outside the weapon’s contours.<\/p>\n

    I continue adding small bits of clay and blending them to the outsides until I’m happy with the silhouette.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I continue pressing in details until I’m pretty satisfied with my replication of the original sword. The entire process is done by pushing out basic shapes with metal tools and then smoothing with clayshapers.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    When I’m happy with the first side of the swords, I bake it in my halogen oven (250 degrees F for about 6 minutes)<\/em>. Once the first side is baked solid, I use a knife to carefully lift it off the wood block, and then I turn it over. I use blobs of Green Stuff to provide supporting pegs to keep it firmly level while I work on the reverse side.<\/div>\n
    The process for this side is largely the same as the other side– I smear a thin layer of Green Stuff over the silhouette as an adhesive, and then press shreds of clay into it and smooth the shreds together with metal tools.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The entire process is much faster the second time, as I can use the already-established edges of the first side to easily guide the placement of every piece on the flip-side. I do a bunch of cleanup, bake the gun, and clean up the seam between the two sides with a sharp knife.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The generic armature was twisted into shape using needle-nose pliers. My armatures terminate at the tips of the toes, and then I leave a bit of extra slack to let me embed the extra wire in a wine cork, which becomes a handle I can hold onto throughout the sculpting and painting processes.<\/div>\n

    My initial concept for the pose evolved a bit over the sculpting process, but at the outset, my idea was to have him lightly jogging forward while dragging the swords behind him, kicking up sparks as they scrape along the ground.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I sculpt in Fimo, which is a polymer clay available at most craft stores. Fimo doesn’t stick to metal on its own, so you need to apply a layer of Green Stuff putty over the armature as an adhesive layer. The Green Stuff is thinly applied using metal sculpting tools.<\/div>\n
    The first layer of Fimo is immediately applied directly over the still-soft putty. Once again, it’s pressed into place using metal sculpting tools; clean surfaces aren’t terribly important at this point, since many layers will be going on top.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Clay is added to the model in shreds and slabs to arrive at the desired thickness for each part. I keep applying bits and pieces of clay and blending them into each other until the model has the general type of physique I’m after. At this point, I finally do a smoothing pass using silicone clayshapers, which are able to achieve a much smoother finish than metal tools thanks to their pliability.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    So, with the musculature coming together, I try mocking up my desired pose for the first time and immediately realize a problem– it just isn’t going to fit on a base. The model is already pitched very far forward, which will require planting his feet pretty far toward the back of the base to maintain balance. If I then stretch his arms backward AND drag the swords behind him, they’re going to be hanging over an inch off the base. That will make them very prone to catching on things; best case, the paint will chip over time. Worst case, they could end up breaking off. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

    Fortunately, I was vaguely planning around this possibility, and had a backup arrangement to take advantage of the same body pose– instead of dragging the swords, I flip them the other way around and have Massacre cross the swords behind his back.<\/p>\n

    It’s a different vibe than I was hoping for, but I think it’s still an interesting and fairly odd pose, soo… ehh, I can live with it. ^_^<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    For no particular reason, the first detail I add is his mask shape. I apply shreds of clay around the edges of where it will sit, and blend them into the head with metal tools before smoothing with clayshapers.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    This shot doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than to point out his cute butt. <3<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    For a similar lack of reasons, I detail in his torso muscles.<\/p>\n

    This will all be covered up, but… I like sculpting torso muscles. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Alrighty, actual useful details. Massacre has some weird-shaped plates going down his chest; I apply small bits of clay where the concept indicates, then smooth everything together with metal tools.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    More clay is added around the edges of the plates (they’re basically mounted on an apron), and then I smooth everything with clayshapers.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Almost nothing has changed back here, I just really like the rear angle shots of this model. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I don’t remember cutting out a huge number of process steps covering the entire leg-detailing process, but I don’t find it that hard to believe that Nine Days Ago Photo Selection Spud was getting really tired of this and skipped ahead a bit. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

    Here, let’s add some skippable blocks to catch up:<\/p>\n

    Once I’m happy with the basic body masses, I start adding clothes. I typically start at the model’s feet and work my way up. Thick garment breaks are added first, and then I add smaller surface details.<\/div>\n
    Garment edges and fully embossed straps are both done in pretty much the same way– I roll out a very thin clay snake, and apply it either as one long piece or in smaller snippets. The snake is then pressed flat and blended into its surroundings. You can achieve different effects depending on how you blend it; you can leave a stark ledge on both sides to make the new clay appear as an independent band of material, or you can blend one of the edges into the surrounding material to look like a garment is coming to an end– e.g., the bottom of a sleeve or a pant leg.<\/div>\n

    There we go, all good. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    OMG, nine models in, and we’re still jumping straight to finished holstered guns.<\/p>\n

    Okay, FINE, I’m going to go look. I have to know. DID I ACTUALLY NOT TAKE PROCESS PICTURES OF THESE HOLSTERED PISTOLS OR DID I JUST CUT THEM EVERY SINGLE TIME?<\/p>\n

    *goes and opens junk folder of pictures not selected for the article*<\/em><\/p>\n

    …<\/p>\n

    Upon review of the evidence, I present to you the following informative chart:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Sneaky Zero<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Shushing Zero<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ORC<\/strong><\/td>\nNo hip pistol<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Avicenna<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Kaplan<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Wild Bill<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Hannibal<\/strong><\/td>\nNo hip pistol<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Laxmee<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Massacre<\/strong><\/td>\nTook no photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    …<\/p>\n

    …seriously?!<\/em><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I can’t even.<\/p>\n

    I guess I’m laying out back detail here? Those shoulder pads look new, maybe that’s new in this picture.<\/p>\n

    It seems new.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Oh, hey, check it out, it’s like two hours of work adding detail to his back with zero progress shots in between.<\/p>\n

    “I stared disappointedly at the model until the clay gave in and stood where I wanted it.”<\/p>\n

    SURE, WHY NOT.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Oooookay, let’s try to rescue this mess of a writeup.<\/p>\n

    Massacre’s backpack is held on by a slightly complicated strap that also connects to his shoulder pads. I lay down the base of the straps with long clay snakes and flatten them, then add additional small chunks of clay to provide mass for the buckles and pockets. I press those into shape with my sculpty pokers.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The backpack is this weird pentagonal shape.<\/p>\n

    Clay, squish with metal tools, smooth with silicone tools.<\/p>\n

    *shrug*<\/em><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I use a flat-tipped metal tool to press in this small window, then add details with a metal pick. I smooth it all up with an angle chisel clayshaper.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Moving up to the head, I add some extra mass to the back of the mask.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Squish, straighten, smooth.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Sculpting the cracks is pretty fun. \ud83d\ude42 I use a pick to trace out the crack patterns according to the concept art, then smooth the edges with a clayshaper. I then continue with the clayshaper to expand the crack slightly in some areas, as a uniformly-wide crack doesn’t look as realistic as one that implies chunks of the mask have broken away over time.<\/p>\n

    Because we are, of course, all about the realism here.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Finishing up the back of the mask.<\/p>\n

    ALMOST DONE THIS MODEL.<\/p>\n

    GO SPUD GO.<\/p>\n

    CAPTION LIKE THE WIIIIIIIIIND!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I added a crack on the left side that isn’t on the concept, because I AM AN ARTIST GODDAMMIT AND I AM ALLOWED TO TAKE BOLD LIBERTIES. >:(<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    SLIGHT HELMET DETAILING<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Oh man, the swords are glued on! I have pastable text for this next part!<\/p>\n

    To build the hands, a bit of clay is applied to form the entire block of fingers. Hands are one of the many elements that are easier to sculpt on a chibi model than on a normal-scale model. You can often get away with a more simplified grooved “mitten”, which then allows each finger to support its neighbours.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The grooves are pressed in about halfway down the mitten, and then things are smoothed out a bit. Once that’s all formed, I use a knife to separate some of the finger tips and slightly pull them away from the rest of the hand. More work would be needed to add individual finger segments on a normal model, but on chibis, a rounded finger looks just fine.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    AND HE’S DONE!<\/p>\n

    Look, guys, I’m not sorry. I’m doing ten of these f***ing writeups, I had to phone one<\/em> of them in, if only for my own sanity. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    BAM. So awesome. <3<\/p>\n

    Okay, so, before we go to the next page, I want to warn you: I very intentionally saved the best one for last. The next page contains frankly irresponsible<\/em> levels of quality work, and I don’t want you to just rush in there and take the whole thing to the face all at once.<\/p>\n

    Crack the door a bit, let the quality waft in slowly, acclimatize yourself a bit before stepping in.<\/p>\n

    And whatever you do, never<\/em> look the quality straight in the eye.<\/p>\n

    That’s how we lost Tom, poor bastard. ;_;<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The Muscle<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    At the start of Part I, I told you a bit of a fiction about how this army came to be. I mean, yes, in the broad strokes it was true– I decided to make a chibi army, I drifted indecisively between factions, and eventually I drew some concepts and decided that Foreign Company was an army I would enjoy making.<\/p>\n

    But, the truth is, the ending was even simpler than that.<\/p>\n

    I actually drew just ONE CONCEPT for ONE MODEL, and it was so astoundingly good that I immediately just had to sort of make<\/em> myself like the army that can play that model. I managed to make the necessary mental justifications to get there, though.<\/p>\n

    And it was worth it, because that concept had<\/em> to be sculpted.<\/p>\n

    Sometimes I don’t have a choice in these things.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I… don’t even know what to say.<\/p>\n

    We’re just going to have to, like… all accept<\/em> that Valkyrie + Hipster Ariel<\/a> was apparently an elemental formula of mathematical perfection inherent to the fabric of the universe, or something. Someone was going to trip across it at some point. The will of the idea to be brought forth was too strong for any other outcome.<\/p>\n

    Alright.<\/p>\n

    Glad we’re on the same page.<\/p>\n

    Let us walk now, as brothers and sisters, through 100 very nice photographs.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Valkyrie’s Infinity and Aristeia designs are pretty different, and the concept willed that I combine elements of both– the costume elements of the Infinity Space Cop, and the gigantic battleaxe of the Aristeia Berserker. Aristeia concept dossiers don’t typically come with weapon illustrations, so I had to locate a photo of the model holding her axe from exactly the right angle<\/a>, and then traced over it in Photoshop.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I printed it out at different sizes to see which one worked. This one seemed right; it’s about 120% of the model’s total height.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I stick the paper template down to a block of wood with push pins, and then scratch the contour around it with a pencil to delineate the space my axe needs to stay within.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I get out some thin 22GA brass wire and twist it into the vague shape of the contour, leaving space on all sides to bury it in clay.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Just as with the models themselves, the clay on the weapons needs a putty foundation to stick to the metal. I wrap a bit of putty around the wire, and then lay shreds of clay over top of the still-soft putty and flatten it all together. Throughout the process, I’ll be continually watching the pencil contours to ensure that I don’t stray outside the weapon’s contours.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I continue adding small bits of clay and blending them to the outsides until I’m happy with the silhouette.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I add additional clay to the butt and the axe head until I can manipulate them into the smooth, solid shapes I’m after.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    There are quite a few metal bits running down the haft from the axe head; for each of them, I apply a piece of clay and blend it into the haft, trying to keep it as round as possible, using clayshapers.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I create the sunken area in the axe head by pressing in with the side of a flat-headed sculpting tool.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I continue pressing in details until I’m pretty satisfied with my replication of the original axe. The entire process is done by pushing out basic shapes with metal tools and then smoothing with clayshapers.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    When I’m happy with the first side of the axe, I bake it in my halogen oven (250 degrees F for about 8 minutes)<\/em>. Once the first side is baked solid, I use a knife to carefully lift it off the wood block, and then I turn it over.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \n

    I use blobs of Green Stuff to provide supporting pegs to keep it firmly level while I work on the reverse side.<\/p>\n

    The process for this side is largely the same as the other side– I smear a thin layer of Green Stuff over the silhouette as an adhesive, and then press shreds of clay into it and smooth the shreds together with metal tools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The entire process is much faster the second time, as I can use the already-established edges of the first side to easily guide the placement of every piece on the flip-side.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I do a bunch of cleanup, bake the axe, clean up the seam between the two sides with a sharp knife, and then see how it looks on the model.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Badass. <3<\/p>\n

    The generic armature was twisted into shape using needle-nose pliers. My armatures terminate at the tips of the toes, and then I leave a bit of extra slack to let me embed the extra wire in a wine cork, which becomes a handle I can hold onto throughout the sculpting and painting processes.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \n

    I sculpt in Fimo, which is a polymer clay available at most craft stores. Fimo doesn’t stick to metal on its own, so you need to apply a layer of Green Stuff putty over the armature as an adhesive layer. The Green Stuff is thinly applied using metal sculpting tools.<\/p>\n

    The first layer of Fimo is immediately applied directly over the still-soft putty. Once again, it’s pressed into place using metal sculpting tools; clean surfaces aren’t terribly important at this point, since many layers will be going on top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Whenever I’m adding material to the model, I tear lots of chunks of the appropriate size off of my clay wad and pile them on my vinyl placemat for easy access. Here I’m bulking out the HUUUUUUGE head, so I’m pulling the clay off in large, flat, stackable slabs.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Clay is added to the model in shreds and slabs to arrive at the desired thickness for each part. At this stage I’m still working entirely with metal tools, as the ability to quickly jam bits of clay together is far more important at this stage than getting clean surfaces. You don’t need very much clay to bulk out an arm or a leg, but the sheer size of chibi heads mean that they’ll invariably require huge amounts of clay to be stuck on.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I keep applying bits and pieces of clay and blending them into each other until the model has the general type of physique I’m after. At this point, I finally do a smoothing pass using silicone clayshapers, which are able to achieve a much smoother finish than metal tools thanks to their pliability.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Valkyrie’s costume is much more skintight than most of the rest of the army (which… I won’t get into today<\/a> -_- )<\/em>, so I spend some time working in the general placement of her muscle groups, as these will still be partially visible on the final model.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I’m not doing the full head right now, but I’d still like to get the basic shapes down so that I can tell which way her head is pointing while I work on the rest of the body.<\/p>\n

    I start the face by pressing circles for the eyes using a piece of brass tubing.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I then use a metal tool to fine-tune the eye shape with a flatter bottom, and dig a small amount of material out of the edges of the resulting eye shape.<\/div>\n

    The face I drew on the concept has pretty thick cheeks and a high nose, so I bulk and round out the entire area under her eyes with additional clay.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I smush the clay bits together with a flat metal tool, and then smooth everything with clayshapers. I etch in a very basic mouth as a landmark for later.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    My Valkyrie is going to be jacked, so I add some clay to her shoulders and upper arms.<\/p>\n

    This will not be the end of the arm-bulking. This is just an “I cannot even look at you with those noodley embarassments” placeholder.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Once I’m happy with the basic body masses, I start adding clothes. I typically start at the model’s feet and work my way up. Thick garment breaks are added first, and then I add smaller surface details.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Garment edges and fully embossed straps are both done in pretty much the same way– I roll out a very thin clay snake, and apply it either as one long piece or in smaller snippets. The snake is then pressed flat and blended into its surroundings. You can achieve different effects depending on how you blend it; you can leave a stark ledge on both sides to make the new clay appear as an independent band of material, or you can blend one of the edges into the surrounding material to look like a garment is coming to an end– e.g., the bottom of a sleeve or a pant leg.<\/div>\n

    Valkyrie’s outfit is actually pretty simple compared to most of the other members of the army– just boots, pants, and a vest, with very little in the way of “Rob Liefeld strap and pouch clutter<\/a>” littering her extremities.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    For no particular reason, SLIGHTLY MORE FACE CLAY.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Getting closer…<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I add some straps on her right hip where the holstered gun will eventually be. Like the others before it, it will pop into existence at some point, fully formed, leaving no evidence of the method of its creation.<\/p>\n

    Because that is apparently the world we all have to live in now. >:(<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Valkyrie has two criss-crossed belts, one of which holds up her firearm, the other of which holds up absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

    Note that nothing is holding up her pants<\/em>. I assume her thigh muscles handle that job.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Anyway, both belts are applied by laying down a clay snake, and then flattening it against the body. I take care to keep both belts clearly distinct from the body and from each other.<\/p>\n

    Once they’re in place, I use an angle chisel clayshaper to etch in details, such as the buckle and little notches on the holster belt.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Hey, I think we’re maybe actually doing the head now! \ud83d\ude42 To start, I use a round clayshaper to give her some angry eyebrows. While my concept Valkyrie was in a fairly calm and observant posture, my sculpted Valkyrie is about to chop a fool in half, which is an act that requires a bit of emotional violence to power the physical violence.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I use a metal tool to open her mouth a bit, and then add some clay around the top and bottom of her mouth, which gets blended in to become lips. A small amount of clay is added for her teensy nose, which is also blended in pretty heavily.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    At this point I’m starting to see beginnings of the berserker scream that the concept demands, and make alterations to match. Her mouth gets widened enough that sculpting teeth becomes necessary, and I add clay to the bottom corners of her eyes to represent how your face meat scrunches toward the center of your face when you get pissed.<\/p>\n

    Go ahead and try it in a mirror– when you get really super angry, everything on your face converges and bunches toward the bridge of your nose. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    MORE CHEEK MEAT<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    We aren’t there yet, but I can kind of see “there” from here, still far off near the horizon…<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Hair chunks! Valkyrie’s ultimate hairdo will require a ton of structural work and additional clay, but having a hairline defined on the model helps me lay out the face. I smooth the chunks into the top of her head, but leave a ridge showing on the front.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    So, okay. I guess I should talk about the glasses.<\/p>\n

    It was not my intention to put Valkyrie in hipster glasses<\/em>. Just as I’d done for Hannibal before, I drew her head, and then I drew her eyes, and then I drew the frames of the glasses over her eyes… and then I couldn’t bear to shade them in<\/em>. Her face just looked too correct<\/em> with normal see-through glasses, so I just kind… left them.<\/p>\n

    However, that did kind of leave me in a bit of a pickle on the construction front, because you kind of, uh, can’t sculpt clear lenses out of opaque clay.<\/p>\n

    Yeeeeeaaaahh.<\/p>\n

    I will stress that I did not have a clear idea of how this rather large problem was going to be solved. However, the concept willed me forward, and I knew that however I sorted the lenses out, they were always going to require wire frames. And that part, at least, I could build now.<\/p>\n

    So, yeah. This picture above is me using calipers to transfer the model’s eye width and spacing to a sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I used those landmarks to draw a rough approximation of the model’s eye and head shape, and then twisted a set of lenses that fit those measurements out of thin copper wire.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Again, we aren’t there<\/em> yet, but I feel like we’re on the right road.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I do some more cleanup on the face, moving her nose up higher, bulking out both lips, and adding some more roundness to the cheeks.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The foundation of the model’s hair is applied with long, parallel strips that follow the direction of the hairstyle. I join the clay strips partially together with a metal tool, but I don’t blend them flat– instead, I form them into a hills-and-valleys texture to show the direction of the hair.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Collar bit!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    MORE ARMBEEF<\/p>\n

    NO, MORE THAN THAT<\/p>\n

    KEEP GOING<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Alrighty, let’s add a shoulder pad. I add clay bits and squish them together. I use a metal tool to pull the sides up and square them off against the top ledge.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I press in the stripey pattern with clayshapers, then start adding mass to form the puppy head.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Then, I sculpt the rest of the puppy head<\/a>. The studio concept has a very angry puppy on her shoulder, but I like puppies and think they should all be happy.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Alrighty, let’s build a crown for our terrifying slaughterprincess.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I don’t think it’s come up yet in any of these photos, but I always work with printed reference. I just find it easier than trying to keep concept drawings up on my computer screen and having to constantly jiggle my mouse to keep the screen saver at bay.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I don’t know why her crown looks like that, but that’s how Spain drew it, so I sculpt it. This is just clay shreds squared off with a clayshaper.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Little known fact: Valkyrie’s ears can fly.<\/p>\n

    Looking closely at the concept art, it looks like the ear wings rise just higher than the top of Valkyrie’s head. I use calipers to grab that height and transfer it to a sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I grab a similar landmark for the horizontal and mark that down as well, and I now have the bounding box that her wings need to fit into.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I draw the wings in the box and cut them out to see how they look. Pretty good!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Satisfied with the wing scale, I trace two copies on a wood block.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    This is just the weapon process again. Twist a wire, apply Green Stuff, cover with clay.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Add the things.<\/p>\n

    Let Green Stuff dry, bake.<\/p>\n

    Flip over, add clay, bake again.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Put on head.<\/p>\n

    Get lunch.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Alrighty, next we’ll–<\/p>\n

    …<\/p>\n

    …NO.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    WAIT<\/p>\n

    WAIT NO<\/p>\n

    I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    OH MY GOD<\/p>\n

    GUYS<\/p>\n

    OH MY GOD GUYS<\/p>\n

    IT HAPPENED<\/p>\n

    WE GOT ONE<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Ahem.<\/p>\n

    Alrighty! Hair!<\/p>\n

    Valkyrie’s hair is, let’s not mince words here, infuckingsane. She has huge swoopy bangs, and then this weird rising beehive bit, and then some metal ornaments, and then TWO long braids. She’s going to have more clay in her hair than in her entire body from the neck down, and that’s going to require some pretty extensive wire support.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I twist some thin copper wire into the shape of her bangs, turn the anchor ends into L-shaped hooks, and then bury those hooks inside her hair clay.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    To figure out how much wire I need for the gigantic mess at the back of her head, I figure out how far that part of her hairstyle moves back, then up, then back again, then down, then doooooooooown a bunch more until it terminates roughly where it does on her original concept, just above the knees. I use calipers to get each reference measurement from the model, and stack them together to make the full wire measurement.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I cut a wire over twice the distance I measured, bend it in half, and twist the two halves together to make them stronger. I then bend the ends of the coils into L-shaped hooks and embed those in the back of her head.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I do a few hours of cleanup over the entire model, and then she’s ready for her first bake!<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    After baking her, my first priority is to make sure I can get the glasses on. I drill a pair of holes in the sides of her head and push the eyewear in. Success-ish! Still not sure how I’m going to magic the stupid lenses into existence, but that is squarely a problem for FUTURE SPUD! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Alrighty, time to add some truly ridiculous hair onto this model.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The back wires are twisted into shape with pliers. I want them to swinging around a bit to convey the forward diving motion of her pose.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I drape a thin layer of Green Stuff around the wires to give me more of a surface to work against. I let this completely set before proceeding.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    To save myself some headaches, I Green Stuff the two braids together at the end. I’ll try to sculpt them to be only barely touching in the end, but the sculpting process will be much easier if each one has the other to brace itself against.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    As with everywhere else, I lay on a thin layer of adhesive putty, and then drop slabs of clay on top.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I squish the clay into the putty, and then merge the scraps together and sculpt them into rows with a metal tool.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Using a clayshaper, I gradually blend the large rows into each other so that none of them goes continuously from back to front.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I apply clay to the braids. They’re pretty thick.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I sculpt the weird rising beehive bit.<\/p>\n

    Honestly, this whole hairdo is deeply puzzling.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I fatten up the tops of the braids, and then start pressing in the braid pattern. The basic method is that you make a diagonal mark coming in from one side, terminating about 2\/3 of the way toward the opposite side. You then flip the knife the other way, and make a diagonal line that bumps up against where the previous one stopped, again stopping 2\/3 of the way across. Repeat back and forth down the braid.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I use clayshapers to round off the braid chunks.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    I’ll come back and detail these more in a bit to add hair strands to the brain chunks, though apparently I didn’t get process pictures of that. Ah well, you can see on the final model. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The top of her head is currently looking a bit too uniform, so I start adding stray hairs that don’t follow the general flow of the bangs. I made similar additions on the top of the head as well, though again, apparently I was too excited to get pictures.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    With the hair just about finished, I finally glue the axe into place, then add an adhesive layer of Green Stuff to get ready to make the hands.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    To build the hands, a bit of clay is applied to form the entire block of fingers. Hands are one of the many elements that are easier to sculpt on a chibi model than on a normal-scale model. You can often get away with a more simplified grooved “mitten”, which then allows each finger to support its neighbours.<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The grooves are pressed in about halfway down the mitten, and then things are smoothed out a bit. Once that’s all formed, I use a knife to separate some of the finger tips and slightly pull them away from the rest of the hand. More work would be needed to add individual finger segments on a normal model, but on chibis, a rounded finger looks just fine.<\/div>\n

    Alright, this is it, everyone. This is the good part.<\/p>\n

    I am so incredibly pleased.<\/p>\n

    We’re there, guys.<\/p>\n

    For your safety and the safety of your keyboard, please swallow any water you may be in the process of drinking, sit down with your arms in a resting position, and then proceed to scroll down.<\/p>\n

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    <\/p>\n

    Now, those of you who were paying attention may be wondering to yourselves, “Hey, so, what about the glasses? You made a big deal about how you were going to do those.”<\/p>\n

    And, like… yeah, I’ll get there. But not in this article, because it’s kind of awkward to figure out where to put that.<\/p>\n

    BUT.<\/p>\n

    But.<\/p>\n

    There’s one more article in this series<\/a>, where I’ll go over a bunch of random bits and pieces that I couldn’t fit in the model writeups, and at that point you can see the methodical experimentation and incredibly anticlimactic end solution that I used to make the lenses of her glasses.<\/p>\n

    For now, let’s just jump to the last page and look at pretty pictures, which include her finished glasses. And then if you care about how they got made, check out Part 4<\/a> of the series.<\/p>\n

    Fair deal?<\/p>\n

    Fair deal.<\/p>\n

    K, go look at pretty stuff.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n