WIP Chaos Vindicator Conversion - Sculpting Finished

by Novus

Well, now that the BAO is behind me I was finally able to catch up on some of the stuff I put aside in preparing for it.  Specifically for this post, finishing the modifications to my Possessed Vindicator.  The time off helped.  Seeing all those amazing models at the event got me thinking, which generated some interesting ideas and realizations.

I wanted to post some more WIP photos as the greenstuffing was effectively complete and I am about to prime it.

The time off also reinforced the idea that taking your time, sculpting many small areas, and allowing the green stuff to cure between sculpts is a critical lesson to learn.  If I had to count, there are something like 27 discrete sculpts on this model.  Meaning 27+ small areas and/or layers that were each laid down individually and allowed to harden before the next section was added.

The mouth in the right door counts for probably a dozen of them.  There are three rows of grinding teeth-like structures in there (some are now covered), gums for the long projecting teeth and the central grinding teeth, some chaotic musculature, saliva, tentacles, and that odd bit of runny coral that looks like it's dripping out the left side of the door as if gravity were different there.

Addendum Begins

If you look at the photo above, you can see where I left off before I had to go full steam at my BAO projects.  You can see the grinding teeth, the gums in their early stages, and some of the simple musculature.

Addendum Ends

Not one of these sculpts took more than about 30 minutes, but the overall assembly and conversion has taken about 20 days, not including the time off for the BAO.

Another thing that some of the models at the BAO reinforced for me is that in conversion, you should do your utmost to make what you convert look natural.  Now it doesn't have to look real (after all, it's a game set in far future with psykers and aliens and such), but it has to look natural.  Things like how a tabard falls, or a hose curls, or the way realistic motion can be conveyed in the stance of a monstrous creature, make all the difference.  To me, that what all the greatest conversions I've seen have in common: they convey physics visually.  And after seeing all the excellent work at the BAO, I now have a better idea of what I'm shooting for in a conversion.