Statuary Gardens (Figurines)

[Glass Mouse]

Mwahaha, don't mess with Kenemi! And she looks SO good!
Thanks for giving her a moment of awesome

That snowman sculpture cracked me up! Poor, poor little boy.

[IncoherentEssay]

Glad that you like it . There's a tradeoff between larger scale for better detail vs. reposability loss due to thickness, so wire-fu level of acrobatics were sadly unfeasible. Probably not her style anyways?


I don't think the bear is that much smaller than in the iconic bear cavalry motivator, a bit lean maybe. Might be the angle. Point made about the head though, i don't have much practice with animals so they easily drift towards looking the same.

So, Challenge update (no theme given):

Spoiler

It started out as an idea to have city guards fighting a giant, buuuut it kind of escalated into a full-scale orc raiding party :





Taking the pictures was a bit of a hassle: imagine setting up rows of dominoes, except the dominoes slowly bend before toppling over on their own .

And a closer look at the combatants:




Also tried out emulating the OotS style. Face most likely needs to be painted to look right.


Edit: and one more

Rank-and-file oppressive law enforcement for the dictatorships of the future .

[Ninjaman]

Awesome, the OotS one is... interesting.

[IncoherentEssay]

'Interesting' is far more positive than i'd rate it myself . Sculpting the facial features clearly doesn't fit the style. I think there were pics of OotS miniatures on the forums once, anyone know of those? Would be useful as reference.

Anyways, onto the Challenge update (no theme, though i seem to default to soldiers and assorted armed personnel when without a theme ):

Spoiler

A group of mercenaries. A proper uniform requires a sufficiently impressive piece of headwear, of course .


A hammer-wielding paladin about to clash with a trollkin.


A jump-infantry trooper, heavy 40k influences (Swooping Hawks/Raptors). Sadly fell apart pretty badly :smallsigh. The left leg is held on with a wire pin and would drop off if it were posed upright. Should still give a clear idea of what it would have looked, so hopefully counts as an entry.


And an abomination of sorts. Briefly considered as antagonists to the paladin, but i didn't have enough ideas for diversity.

And to accompany it, a figurine of Houjuu Nue :

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Imageshack seems to love misplacing my pictures, so the 4th one will be up when it's sorted out . This was quite fiddly to make, since the wings and the trident had to be made separately and attached later. Making sure the core body set in to the proper sitting pose wasn't trivial either as the wireframe slightly complicated things. Still, quite satisfied with how it turned out overall. Has a nice intimidating feel to it.

[Ninjaman]

Awesome. Sad about the jump infantry trooper. Also someof your (not) anime models seem older on the model than the link you link.

[Glass Mouse]

Ooh, an interesting pose. I like! Her upper body is too long, though, especially compared to her arms.
I'm in love with her shoes and those frills, though. You're pretty good with detail stuff.

A tip for making people seem younger: the bigger the head, the more young-looking the person.

Originally Posted by IncoherentEssay

Glad that you like it . There's a tradeoff between larger scale for better detail vs. reposability loss due to thickness, so wire-fu level of acrobatics were sadly unfeasible. Probably not her style anyways?

Oops, late answer... But yeah, the "minimum effort, maximum effect" is very much her style. No reason to jump around when you can just take a small step back

[IncoherentEssay]

Older as in how ? Can you rephrase that a bit, i didn't quite get the question.


Frills are actually surprisingly easy once you know the trick to it, i could make a tutorial of sorts for it.

Now then, Challenge update (no theme):

Spoiler

Negotiations: choose your words carefully .



And the lineups:


Wanted to have the Ogre mage in a 'stroking chin contemplatively' pose, but the arm would've broken off in the reposing . He also faceplanted thrice whilst i was taking pics, no domino-toppling effect luckily.

Tangent: though the material is reusable, the older it gets the less flexible it is. This is good for halberds, insects and any other 'large mass resting on thin supports'-type of things, and bad for reposing and durability (tendency to break rather than bend under stress). Also has cracks more often and they are harder to smooth over.


Also float-squids, the next step from facehuggers .


And a ruins of a fortress. Would have made them in a larger scale but the negotiation scene hogged ~75% of the materials.

Also long overdue:

Spoiler

The energy source of the Future, Today.

Edit: Appending the next Challenge update here as well as spoilering Yukkokuu.
Challenge go:

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Incompetent Ouroboros or the closest thing to a snake-facepalm ? You decide.
Only one even remotely related to the theme given (Monty Python).



Daemon types: a warrior, a leaper and an abomination.



A cyclopean brute, something from watching Dead Space LP's and a beholderkin.


"I'm afraid your regular dentist... didn't make it. Don't worry, i'm perfectly qualified."

[Glass Mouse]

Originally Posted by IncoherentEssay

Older as in how ? Can you rephrase that a bit, i didn't quite get the question.

I'm not entirely sure who you're asking, but I'll give it a shot. The characters you link all look very young and cutesy (animesque), while your figurines have a tendency to look older.
I think bigger heads and shorter torsos would be a good starting point. Try to really mimic the proportions.

[spoiler]
Also long overdue:

Spoiler

The energy source of the Future, Today.

I... have no words. What did I miss?

Edit: Appending the next Challenge update here as well as spoilering Yukkokuu.
Challenge go:

Spoiler

Incompetent Ouroboros or the closest thing to a snake-facepalm ? You decide.
Only one even remotely related to the theme given (Monty Python).

Okay, "facepalming snake" is my favourite thing of this week! Yes, I know it's Wednesday - I don't think anything's gonna top that

[Ninjaman]

Hey that is my dentist.

[IncoherentEssay]

Originally Posted by IncoherentEssay

Older as in how ? Can you rephrase that a bit, i didn't quite get the question.

was in response to:

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

... Also someof your (not) anime models seem older on the model than the link you link.

Probably should have used at least a '@Ninjaman:' for clarity.
Though for youthfulness, doesn't it also include having (slightly) shorter limbs in relation to torso?

Now, YukkuOkuu (short for Utsuho Reuiji Yukkuri* is a visual pun derived from a combination of selective hearing and glorious engrish, specifically from ~1:07 of this animation's lyrics, where 'Nuclear Fusion'
is pronounced pretty badly garbled.
The 'long overdue' comes from this:

Originally Posted by IncoherentEssay

...Edit: random Yukkuri-related anecdote: i always hear "Yukkuri-Fusion" in the place of "Nuclear Fusion" in the Hisoutensoku-Mecha animation. Someone seriously needs to do a visual pun based on that.

So yeah. Want something done, gotta do it myself. Apparently no-one else has an equally terrible sense of humor .

*Edit: forum swear-filter and "Take it easy" in japanese don't wan't to be friends¨, so no link . Googling 'yukkuri meme' should provide the gist of it. Word of warning though, the Touhou fandom took that meme and ran with it to the point where it crosses the line twice in some cases.

And onto the Challenge update (theme was summer, but i already hit the quota before i remembered it, so didn't use it):

Spoiler

A warrior-mage accompanied by his pulseless retainers.


The good ol' "Pose heroically whilst gazing into the horizon".



A mecha-knight of sorts, end results of 'What would a not-mythologically-associated Chariot persona/stand look like?'



A scarecrow, similarly intended as a persona/stand, though i haven't figured out the proper arcana for it yet .
Related, the earlier entry i omitted the wall-o'-text for is another idea in the same vein, of the Emperor arcana.

I'll be beyond the reach of civilization (and therefore the internets) for most of next week, so i'll try to get the Challenge update for next week at least partially done for this Sunday.

Edit: and here we go, pre-emptive update going up:

Spoiler

An orcish raider.



A few more...



...pseudonaturalish...


...creatures.



A gunslinger and a jaguar-knight.


I heard rumors you could imprison Ancient Evils with one, but i have my doubts.

[Ninjaman]

Freaky! I love it!

[IncoherentEssay]

And Challenge update going up (theme: RPG characters*):

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'Hellforge' art parody


Undead mook designs.


Relatedly, Far Realm parasites: spicing up mook encounters since time immemorial .


The ruins of a druidic hilltop observatory.


Mk III Argonaut combat armour and Mk VI Polythemus assault power armour.

*I don't have any particularly memorable characters to use for this. Only one that came to mind was a 'mad composer' lich bard (pipe organ ftw) villain i had planned for a game but the party wiped out before the confrontation . Didn't have enough spare materials for both the lich and the instrument.

[Ninjaman]

i like the scify men, try making more of them, maby even a fight scene.

[IncoherentEssay]

Will see about it for next week's Challenge. The reason i make less scifi than fantasy stuff is because making good looking guns is much harder than making good looking melee weapons due to all the fiddly bits, especially on assault rifles. Shotguns are easy enough though.

Challenge update is go:

Spoiler

Something of a mini-theme of weird creatures.


When all you have is a hammer...


...I think he likes swords. Call it a hunch .

[Ninjaman]

Originally Posted by IncoherentEssay

Will see about it for next week's Challenge. The reason i make less scifi than fantasy stuff is because making good looking guns is much harder than making good looking melee weapons due to all the fiddly bits, especially on assault rifles. Shotguns are easy enough though.

I also like your Fantasy stuff, i and understand that it is harder, which is why you need practise. I also like your new stuff.

[IncoherentEssay]

This weeks Challenge going up (theme: art):

Spoiler

"Should've brought more scythe."


Yep, they're screwed.


Firepower: the more, the merrier.


Gnomish headwear has a marked tendency to stand out in a crowd.


And for the theme, art duel to the death .

And for a nice change of pace, Parsee Mizuhashi figurine:

Spoiler

Went reasonably well for how out-of-practice i felt. Something about the face bugs me though. The red strings were a pain to make and the white criss-cross a pain to paint.

[Ninjaman]

Yay! Spacemen. But i think the artists need some paint on their pallettes.

[IncoherentEssay]

Hm, might've been possible with blots to emulate the paint, though that might also look too bulky to pass for paint.

Still, Challenge update (theme: sea):

Spoiler

...which means associated dwellers of the deep.


Wizardry is far more widespread than generally thought. This is not a good thing .




A pair of warriors assailed by 'augmented' berserkers. The masked guy kept toppling over, so the blade is slightly bendier than it should be .

Also Glass Mouse's 24-week Challenge figurine*, see here for the reference used (slightly adapted outfit, but who wears the same thing all the time anyways ?:

Spoiler

*was 'finished-but-waiting-approval' last week, so cannot be counted towards this week's quota.

[Ninjaman]

Lovely. I think the colours on the drow is a little off (but i still think it is really great).

[IncoherentEssay]

Cutting far too close to the deadline for comfort .

Challenge update (theme: infernal) go:

Spoiler

A clash between bands of fiends (in terms of infernal vs abyssal, infernal tends to the humanoid-but-not-quite end, IMO).



And lineups for clarity.


Why yes, it is exactly what it looks like. When it comes to keeping those darn kids off your lawn, there is no point in taking half-measures .


And a chinese vampire to round it out.

And a preview-of-sorts for the figurine i'm currently working on (in addition to a few others, but this is the main focus atm.):

Spoiler

About ~60% done building it, not counting detailwork and polish.

Edit: and appending the Challenge update here (theme: antique, went unused):

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A band of post-apoc scavengers prospectors.


Personal pet theory: Atlas got his task s punishment for ragequitting a game of dice. You just don't pull that stuff on Olympos, man .


Tribal Hobgoblin Ghoul.


"Archery: Completely Missing the Point" edition.

Also, i need some ideas for the colour scheme for this:

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The 'classic' blue is simply too dull and ordinary, so something sillier is in order.

[IncoherentEssay]

1 1/2 full figurines, that'd be a sufficient cause for a bump then?

For 1/2, the tachikoma is all done except for the paintjob:

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Engraving the plate-lines gave less than satisfactory results, so they were omitted. Slightly adapted in overall design but still quite recognisable, no?

And Rumia (moar Touhou ):

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Originally planned something different but made it a bit too big so had to change plans. Fairly satisfied with it, though the expressions still end up feeling somehow 'derped', need to work on those.

[Fri]

Yeah, those are pretty cool. I like your rumia. Might or might not have anything to do with the fact that she's my second favourite touhou. Looking at the face and hair and the rumples, I can see how you've progressed since your first touhou.

I can't wait for the finished tachikoma.

Hey, and now I wonder. You must've built at least a dozen of figures now. What do you do with them (since, unlike digital artists, you can just store your works in a hardisk :p). I bet having them all pictured in one frame would be really awesome.

[IncoherentEssay]

26 so far, not counting yukkuri/busts/hakutaku. Quite crowded indeed:


A bit blurry since i don't have a permanent display space and had to make a temporary one for it, and the lack of bases led to a lot of toppling over. So it's the best picture of the bunch.
Also omits the early work, since it was taken for a finnish Touhou forum i started posting my stuff on from Shikieiki onwards (a contributing factor to the continued focus on Touhou so far).
But yeah, would be nice to have a bag of holding soon , storage space will be even more of an issue once mech-Okuu is complete.

[Fri]

W... woah. That looks really awesome. But one thing I noticed now, is that how they all have similar expression

Maybe next time you should try to do different expression.

[IncoherentEssay]

Yeah, i've been a bit disinclined to experiment with expressions. Mostly since if it goes horribly, horribly wrong i've ruined the figurine at the last possible step. Makes for quite the deterrent.

Some variety for practice is a solid point though, so:

Spoiler

Also Challenge update (theme: in space):

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The Final Frontier: In SPACE! (read in SCIENCE!-voice)


There's only two ninja, so they might have a chance .



A pair of witch hunters fight off a pack of ghouls.
Stand-offs like this are becoming a habit of sorts. Longer action sequences would be nice but the weather is too warm: the material becomes too soft for complex/precarious poses like high kicks.

[Domochevsky]

Well, there are already some good expressions in that batch of faces, but you really need to front-light those, so one can actually make out any details. (The material is all kinds of dark.)

[Ninjaman]

Cool stuff this week.
As for the faces try making the eyes round instead of flat.

[IncoherentEssay]

Will keep in mind for next batch, but it will have to wait a bit, at least until i finish the figurines i currently have under construction.

Anyways, Challenge update (theme: luck):

Spoiler

No idea what they are betting on here, but a friendly game this is not.
(Would have preferred to decipt mahjong but the tiles would be impossible to make at this scale)
Lineup in (so many tries... always something toppling over mere moments before taking the pic ):



And some power armor designs, light/medium/heavy.


"Right behind you..." Rule #1: watch your back .

Also:

Spoiler

"...and the Enclave will be it's salvation." About time they upgraded from the Eyebots, no ?

Edit(V): They are similar since they are from the same 'line' of power armor ( [brandname] T-Lgt Mk 2, [brandname] T-Med Mk 1b, [brandname] T-Hvy Mk 5, etc.) The medium being a bit taller than the heavy at the shoulder does blur the line between the two a bit, if they were of the same height the heavy would stand out true to it's designation.

[Ninjaman]

Lovely. But i don´t think the armor are deffirent enough. I think medium and heavy should be heavier. I think what you did around the heavy´s legs is good. also i wouldn´t mind the light being slightly lighter.

[IncoherentEssay]

Challenge update(theme:fanart) go:

Spoiler

Am i doin it rite, guys? (also Friendly Fire Fanatics Magicka)


Because i like the theme. A hybrid of the classic and the mini-series outifts.


"Guess those suits don't stop bites corrosive toxins." (F:NV - Dead Money. Also, i miss the Deathclaw Gauntlet . Yao Guai Gauntlet is nice but can't really replace it.


Contracts: it's all in what wasn't said. (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)


And some golem designs to round it out.