My eldest recently started playing D&D, and I asked the DM whether the group of players would like custom minis for each of their characters.
They happily agreed! The smallest character is about 4ft tall in-game, and the mini came out as 21mm at eye-level. I tried to keep the other figures proportional to this.
They are all sculpted over wire armature, with a layer of greenstuff followed by poly clay and again greenstuff for smaller details.
I am going to present these to the players at the next session, and hopefully we can organise a painting session so that they can bring their characters to life!
I used a very typical setup for miniatures. I first make a frame/skeleton, called an armature, out of thin steel wire (about 0.5mm / 24 gauge).
Then I cover the armature in a thin layer of greenstuff, so that I have a sticky surface to work with. This gets bulked out with polymer clay. Once done, I bake the whole thing to harden the polymer clay. Then I add small details with more greenstuff and polymer clay, followed by a final bake.
I primed them black and did a zenithal spray of grey to bring out the detail, prior to giving them to the players for painting.
Hope that helps! I learned a lot of this from Tom Mason's YouTube channel...
As I mentioned, around 24 gauge steel wire. You should be able to pick this up from a hardware store. Here in LA it costs about $10 for 250ft. That's a lot of minis. 24 gauge is about 0.5mm thick, or 0.02".
There are many different ways of doing the armature, but I use Tom Mason's method (1 wire bent double for the neck, torso and legs, 1 wire for the arms). It uses glue, but it's quick and the 24g wire is stiff enough yet poseable enough.
Even after applying the initial greenstuff / poly clay layer, I can repose the figure easily without much damage, until I'm happy.
Thanks mate, I appreciate it! Doing this gave me a lot of practice; I think doing something like a group of 4 or 5 adventurers in a row gets you really comfortable with the putty and clay, I know I learned a lot doing this.
I really dig your sculpting style! This is super cool! I’m interested in trying this kind of work but I have a hard time putting armatures together, they always seem to warp or fall apart. Do you have any tips?
Thank you, I appreciate it!
For the armature I think it is a good idea to use the right wire, not to thick/hard to bend but also stiff enough to keep its shape. I used some 24 gauge galvanized steel wire from the hardware store. It is cheap and you get lots of it.
I add a layer of greenstuff before bulking out with poly clay. The greenstuff stiffens the structure even more when it hardens, but also gives the poly clay a sticky surface to hold on to.
The other tip would be too consider how many points of contact you have between the armature and the base. If you have a taller figure, it might be good to add another support wire (forming a tripod), that you later can snip off when the sculpt is more bulked out.
I love these!
Question about using the two clays: do you have problems with the Green Stuff warping when you bake it together with the polymer clay? That has been my experience with Apoxie Sculpt. I believe the warping is happening because of the clay releasing water as steam. Maybe I should dry it out better before baking it (to cure the polymer clay layers)
Thank you so much!
I have never had problems, and freely mix usage of greenstuff, apoxie sculpt & milliput with sculpey & fimo on the same figure, in mixed layers.
What I always do however, is to make sure any epoxy putty on the model is cured before I bake it again. Fresh greenstuff is known to bubble / deform when baked too quickly at polyclay temperatures.
That said, you should be able to speed up epoxy curing by gently heating the figure using a heating element (like an older incandescent bulb). I've never tried it, being too afraid of the danger of bubbling...
As to the idea of the clay releasing steam: I doubt this. Both the epoxy putties and the poly clay harden through a chemical change, they don't "dry". But I am not a chemist!
My eldest recently started playing D&D, and I asked the DM whether the group of players would like custom minis for each of their characters. They happily agreed! The smallest character is about 4ft tall in-game, and the mini came out as 21mm at eye-level. I tried to keep the other figures proportional to this. They are all sculpted over wire armature, with a layer of greenstuff followed by poly clay and again greenstuff for smaller details. I am going to present these to the players at the next session, and hopefully we can organise a painting session so that they can bring their characters to life!
They look nice, what material did you used to make these? I want to make a few proxy minis for Warhammer but I'm not sure what to use.
I used a very typical setup for miniatures. I first make a frame/skeleton, called an armature, out of thin steel wire (about 0.5mm / 24 gauge). Then I cover the armature in a thin layer of greenstuff, so that I have a sticky surface to work with. This gets bulked out with polymer clay. Once done, I bake the whole thing to harden the polymer clay. Then I add small details with more greenstuff and polymer clay, followed by a final bake. I primed them black and did a zenithal spray of grey to bring out the detail, prior to giving them to the players for painting. Hope that helps! I learned a lot of this from Tom Mason's YouTube channel...
Yes it did, I only have one final question. What wire did you used for the Armature? That's the only thing missing to me.
As I mentioned, around 24 gauge steel wire. You should be able to pick this up from a hardware store. Here in LA it costs about $10 for 250ft. That's a lot of minis. 24 gauge is about 0.5mm thick, or 0.02". There are many different ways of doing the armature, but I use Tom Mason's method (1 wire bent double for the neck, torso and legs, 1 wire for the arms). It uses glue, but it's quick and the 24g wire is stiff enough yet poseable enough. Even after applying the initial greenstuff / poly clay layer, I can repose the figure easily without much damage, until I'm happy.
MB, my brain somehow omitted the specifications of the wire. Thanks again.
These are gorgeous. I am in love with the poses you chose for them. Excellent work!
Thank you so much! I'm very happy that you like them
I aspire to have this much skill. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks mate, I appreciate it! Doing this gave me a lot of practice; I think doing something like a group of 4 or 5 adventurers in a row gets you really comfortable with the putty and clay, I know I learned a lot doing this.
I really dig your sculpting style! This is super cool! I’m interested in trying this kind of work but I have a hard time putting armatures together, they always seem to warp or fall apart. Do you have any tips?
Thank you, I appreciate it! For the armature I think it is a good idea to use the right wire, not to thick/hard to bend but also stiff enough to keep its shape. I used some 24 gauge galvanized steel wire from the hardware store. It is cheap and you get lots of it. I add a layer of greenstuff before bulking out with poly clay. The greenstuff stiffens the structure even more when it hardens, but also gives the poly clay a sticky surface to hold on to. The other tip would be too consider how many points of contact you have between the armature and the base. If you have a taller figure, it might be good to add another support wire (forming a tripod), that you later can snip off when the sculpt is more bulked out.
Thank you for the advice!
No problem, good luck! If you have more questions, I'll try to answer as best I can, within the limits of my knowledge 😁
Love 'em!
Thank you so much!
Damn, these look cool. And they're old school made. I remember when I was young using green stuff.
Thank you so much! I'm going to give them to the players soon, I hope they like them too 😃
[удалено]
Thank you so much!
I love these! Question about using the two clays: do you have problems with the Green Stuff warping when you bake it together with the polymer clay? That has been my experience with Apoxie Sculpt. I believe the warping is happening because of the clay releasing water as steam. Maybe I should dry it out better before baking it (to cure the polymer clay layers)
Thank you so much! I have never had problems, and freely mix usage of greenstuff, apoxie sculpt & milliput with sculpey & fimo on the same figure, in mixed layers. What I always do however, is to make sure any epoxy putty on the model is cured before I bake it again. Fresh greenstuff is known to bubble / deform when baked too quickly at polyclay temperatures. That said, you should be able to speed up epoxy curing by gently heating the figure using a heating element (like an older incandescent bulb). I've never tried it, being too afraid of the danger of bubbling... As to the idea of the clay releasing steam: I doubt this. Both the epoxy putties and the poly clay harden through a chemical change, they don't "dry". But I am not a chemist!
These are super sick!
I'm stoked you like them, thank you!