Warrior toad [base]

[tigrazor]

An outer rim? A Pacific Rim? Or something completely different?

[dierk]

Just for a change I'm not going to stoop so low and start making rimming jokes Shield looks great! Have you considered removing a triangular wedge from the rim edge to show a hit from an axe?

[adt70hk]

Hats off to you for the work so far - I wouldn't even know where to start!!

Andrew

[armorguy]

Andrew, thank you for the hats off, you're too kind. I didn't know where to start either. Being informed and prepared is half the job. I feel comfortable with Frank 'Katermarram' in the virtual neighbourhood, he knows sculpting and he's a great help. Picking an interesting subject with care is important too, you really have to be motivated to start, break down and start again until things look OK (the shield shown above is shield 1.4 lol).
I then make a map with interesting photos of the subject I want to make, in this case lots of frog/toad pictures, eyes close ups, medieval weapons, clothing, gear, other sculptors' work...and of course checking the internet on howto's, SBS'ses and articles on sculpting. Then I made a wire figure and started with the shoes after making some sculpting tools and studying...medieval boots and shoes !

Lucas...I just knew it...mentioning the word "rim" ends up BAD !
Dierk fella, once the r i m will be done, I will add some battle damage, good tip !

[wbill76]

Headed in the right direction with the shield! I'm sure your repetition is paying off. Starting to picture Toadman himself with maybe one scarred eye and long straggly gray hair to go with the shield.

[kaytermarram]

What I love here is the interesting mix of fiction and reality. You could have done the equipment in pure fantasy, but you did not and that makes the figure so believable. And should I be a bit the devils advocate? You could put whatever head you like on the figure, it would make no difference. Be it a Birdman, a Lizardboy, even a real man would fit. Thats what makes this figure so unique. Do not forget to add the, how is it named in english, swim skin ( you know what I mean) between the fingers. MAYBE check out some pics via google: The deep ones, Insmouth creatures, H.P. Lovecraft. That could give you some new ideas. Or go the true fantasy way!

Frank

[armorguy]

Hi Bill, it won't be a pretty one I guarantee ! Scars do the trick to make a battered creature.

I sculpted the eh...rim around the shield and tomorrow it will be finished with extra details.



Best regards !

[armorguy]

Hi Frank, thanks ! About the swim skin things between the 'fingers', I won't have to sculpt these as the left hand will hold the shield and the right hand will carry a weapon. I will see if I can attach a fighting knife in a scabbard fixed in the shield, near the hand grip, as a hidden, sneaky extra defensive solution. The more gear the more interesting I think.

I will try to sculpt a helmet too, with horse hair (Rohirrim helmet type), it depends on the shape of the head but I will certainly give it a shot as it makes the figure a more impressive look.

Bursting of ideas, best regards fellers, AG.

[deafpanzer]

Wood on the shield looks ferkin' realistic!!!

[kiwibelg]

Guy, constantly in admiration of your range of skills!
I had a question that I forgot to mention earlier on..is there any particular reason why you started sculpting from the feet upwards?
Keep it going mate..almost heading to the finish line!

[wbill76]

Jan 14, 2016 12:25:30 GMT -5 kiwibelg said:

Guy, constantly in admiration of your range of skills!
I had a question that I forgot to mention earlier on..is there any particular reason why you started sculpting from the feet upwards?
Keep it going mate..almost heading to the finish line!

Careful, you're asking him to go out on a limb to answer that question...

[armorguy]

Shay, once the wire figure was done I started with the boots because I think they're not as difficult to sculpt as, for example, a toad's head. My 'strategy' is to localize elbows, knees, shoulders, hips etc. and then fill in the gaps between them with muscles. After the boots were done I placed the knees, followed by the leg muscles. This way I can check proportions which are, of course, most important. Today I did the left hand sculpting first session and tomorrow I'll go for the left arm once the elbow is localized with a chunk of MS.
It's all about keeping faith in myself and experiment with a merciless eye for flaws (and even then there will remain many of them !).



It was easier to shape the hand around the grip (which was already glued onto the shield).

Tomorrow I'll see if I can improve things.

Best regards ! AG.

[Leon]

Nice work on the hand Guy! That must have taken a bit of patience to shape it around the grip.

[dierk]

Love the idea of adding a dagger! If you haven't decided on the kind of dagger yet, have some inspiration. My personal favourite (besides the dirk, for obvious reasons) is the ballock dagger, because I like it when people blush

[armorguy]

Jan 15, 2016 12:00:33 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nice work on the hand Guy! That must have taken a bit of patience to shape it around the grip.

Leon, I think sometimes (or most of the time) my English sounds weird, never hesitate to correct me if I'm using wrong words or expressions

[armorguy]

Dierk do you mean 'een klotendolk" ? I have one here, it was found on a shelf and given to me. I only know mine is made for stabbing chain mail wearing opponents, it has a a very fine triangular blade.

Here it is :



To give you an idea of its length :



I don't have info on it, maybe you can tell me something ? The tip is still sharp as a razorblade.

[kaytermarram]

This all looks very well but I hear a warning alert in my brain: Take attention that the figure will not be too human! The hand is human, 5 fingers, fingenails, you know what I mean! This could be a part of a "normal" figure kit from Pegaso or Nutsplanet.

Frank

[kiwibelg]

Jan 15, 2016 13:00:07 GMT -5 armorguy said:

Dierk do you mean 'een klotendolk" ? I have one here, it was found on a shelf and given to me. I only know mine is made for stabbing chain mail wearing opponents, it has a a very fine triangular blade.

Here it is :



To give you an idea of its length :



I don't have info on it, maybe you can tell me something ? The tip is still sharp as a razorblade.

Is this your new sculpting blade??hehehe

[armorguy]

Frank, the hand looks 100% human for sure, I went for this one because toads have very odd looking 'hands' with only 4 'fingers'. I think it was also too difficult for me to make a convincing four finger grip. I know I picked the easy way but it was already difficult enough for me to sculpt this one. I won't add finger nails.

Thanks for the compliment...Nuts Planet ? Wow mate !

Tomorrow the rest of the left arm and the right hand will be done too.

Best regards ! AG.

[dierk]

Don't have any specific info on your particular kloten dolk, but yes that was the kind of thing I was thinking about. Did you have a look at the link I posted earlier? If not, here it is again:

Jan 15, 2016 12:23:26 GMT -5 dierk said:

inspiration

These kinds of daggers were generally held in the shield-hand, as a spare in case you lost your main weapon so the fight could be continued without having to take the time to get the dagger out of the scabbard first.

[armorguy]

Dierk, thank you for the interesting link, it will come in handy when I sculpt one like those !

After a good night sleep I was ready to give it another try on sculpting another left hand, this time more toad like than human. It's good to have you guys around because now I prefer the four fingers version. It suits the figure a lot better !



The shield boss was completed with a heavy point in the center as an extra weapon.



I still have to finish the edge on the shield too, that's for later today.

Hope you like the left hand ! AG.

[Leon]

The left hand looks much better and the point on the shield is a great touch!

[dierk]

Looks much better with four fingers! Shield looks good too.

[kaytermarram]

Great improvement! The hand is now far more realistic. In Toad scale that means!

Frank

[wbill76]

Nice work on the four-finger job...you can always say the 5th finger got moved to the shield boss!

[armorguy]

Besides making a leather strap for the axe I started making a halberd for the right hand.

The halberd will be finished with more detail later on. I hope you like it so far.



I also started the left arm, once the MS is hardened I will add muscles.

Best regards ! AG.

[Leon]

I like it Guy! Your doing really great on all the sculpting.

[adt70hk]

I do indeed like it Guy!! Keep up the outstanding work!!

[kiwibelg]

You are breezing through the sculpting process with such ease! I would hold off getting him painted Guy..the way it's shaping up you seriously should consider finding a company who would be willing to cast him!

[wbill76]

Every time I see a medieval pike/halberd, all I can think of is giant lobster-cracking tools...because, after all, that's what they were designed to do! Looks sufficiently medieval/jagged from here Guy.