GD Valhallan diorama

[Guilliman]

People following my Truescale log already know I've taken a break from it to work on my Golden Demon entry. Although I've only got three months to finish it I hope this log might help me a bit on the way.

The plan is to have a couple of valhallans warming themselves by a fire in a trench. I've always liked valhallans, but due to the available poses and the hero scale on all of them I've decided to sculpt all the models myself. After collecting several references from both models and real life photos I started sculpting one of the models last night. My sculpting is a bit rusty so I might redo some details later in the process but I'm pretty happy with the result so far. Only the boots and the right side of the greatcoat is finished. I'll cut away most of the right side and finish it next time. Don't be fooled by the tiny torso, he's not going to look like a high elf when finished.







I also finished the oil drum they'll have their fire in. After several hours of trying to bend plastic card by several means and then giving it a try to sculpt details on I had a revelation and sacrificed my almost empty tube of mustard.

[Jo-Jo]

Looks good so far. Will they be happy and singing making the most of the short lifespan of a guardsman, or sad and sober?

[Guilliman]

I'd say sad and sober. Want to create a rather miserable scene; cold and dark, only enlightened by the small fire keeping them (not very) warm. This will be my first proper OSL paintjob so I've got one hell of a challenge in front of me.

I'd like to show you more soon but I'm going away to a music festival for a week. But when I'm back I'll get to work as soon as I can. My guess is I have to have the sculpting finished by the end of July to have any chance of finishing in time.

[synapse]

yeah, sad, sober and wet... sounds right to me

interesting to see theyre going to be scratchbuilt - faces and all?

[Guilliman]

yeah, sad, sober and wet... sounds right to me

interesting to see theyre going to be scratchbuilt - faces and all?

No I've actually ordered the heads and weapons. I'd be happy to suceed in sculpting a good face, but to get the right expression on the face as well would be to hard. I only do the sculpting in the lack of models so I'll use as many fitting available parts as possible.

[icecream boy]

How did you do the oil drum so accurately?

[Guilliman]

I'm back with a small update. Did the rest of the lower coat today. There's some things I'll tidy up tomorrow on both the new and old part. But after I've done the torso.

How did you do the oil drum so accurately?

As I said, get some metal from a tin tube. Make sure it's flat. I used my rolling pin. Cut out (with scissors) a strip at the desired height. I then marked where I wanted the rings with two lines and bent the foil in a 90 degrees angle. To hold it firm I pressed mine between two metal rulers and carefully bent it with my fingers. Then carefully flatten the fold against a table with your finger (fold pointing upwards), the fold will then look like the ones on my oil drum. Then simply roll the strip around a pen. If it reaches around more than one lap, just cut it where necessary.

Before the rolling I also made a tiny fold at the bottom towards the inside. It's to give my plastic card bottom something to rest on and to give the drum a nice rounded corner.

[zis]

Great as always.
And don´t forget to come the 23/7 12:00 and paint whit us.
I posted the date in nos forum but if you missed it.

[icecream boy]

Not a bad idea, I must give it a go some time =)

[The Laughing God]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Keep up the good work.

[Guilliman]

Quick update. I tried to do the torso, but like when I did the lower coat I only managed to finish half of it on the first try. I'll have to do the chest tomorrow.



I also remade the forehead on the head (cadian commander). This bit is insanely small! It must have been skulpted in a computer or with a bigger original. I had to take pictures with my camera and zoom in to see where I could improve.



The pic is in B&W to better show how the GS fits with the rest of the face. He is supposed to be talking to the man next to him. I was first thinking about doing something about the mouth as well but I think this will work. I'm afraid to mess it up. I hope the paintjob will probably improve this a bit instead.

[Jo-Jo]

This bit is insanely small! It must have been skulpted in a computer or with a bigger original.

GW has used computer models for alot more plastic minitures recently. Plus they do use three-up when skulpting which is basically three times the size of what you get. Don't mean to patronise you if you know this already.

Look forward to seeing this at GD.

[Guilliman]

I did know that Jo-Jo, but no offence taken.

Got a little update for you before I spend the weekend with my girlfriend. Next time will be really exciting as I'll get to work more on the details and the poses of the arms. It's also something I'm more confident in; I'm used to skulpt new details on existing models and now it feels like I've got one to work from. It's really been a challenge this far. I've probably got ten models by me all the time to as references to get all the proportions right. Together with tons of photos of russians and me posing in the largest coat I could find at my parents' place.

Anyway, on to the pics:

[imm0rtal reaper]

Wow, great work so far. Really looking forward to more!

[Kyrios]

I had to double-check the GW homepage. They really do have huge collars! Looks really nice, as expected

[Guilliman]

Thanks guys!

Got an update for you. I wasn't sure how to d it first, but I think I finally managed to get it in the right place. I know I haven't given his pose away yet, but I think I'll do his left arm when the GS has cured in a couple of hours.

[imm0rtal reaper]

Wow that lasgun looks massive on him!

[Guilliman]

Wow that lasgun looks massive on him!

That's partly because of the closeup but mainly because of the hero scale weapons made by GW. You should see a cadian lasgun next to him!

[castellanash]

Guilliman I once again have that bit of hate for you and your amazing talents :P I love it! Looks like you should be going for a new job

[Guilliman]

We always talk about "killing your darlings" in my illustration education. I always knew I shouldn't have spent so much time sculpting the torso, Kyrios even told me so last week. But I guess it was good practice. As you can see the I've only got the fold of the sleeve end to sculpt left. I think I'll retouch the creases then as well.

As always, thanks for the flattering comments.