Conversion Fun

A quick post today to show off what can be accomplished with simple conversions of existing figures. In this case, I'll use examples of my own sculpts that are available through the SHM line at 15mm.co.uk. Each of these miniatures was sculpted by me, then cast in metal and then subsequently converted and recast, creating new figures, sometimes with very substantial differences.

Vergans

The Vergans are a plant-based species I created as a one-off and then later as a set of conversions representing a space-faring crew of Vergans utilizing acquired, non-native equipment. This helps them blend into existing space gaming settings.

Original Vergan Sculpt

The Vergan Free Traders were some of the more substantial conversions I have done. while the basic figure remained the same, I added gear, packs and even weapons and instruments to the figures. After adding the additional equipment was added, I then added tentacles to handle them. Curiously, the nature of theb ase sculpt allowed me to make slight changes in the orientation in the "poses" without actually having to change the head or body position. The multiple eyes on the head meant that I just needed t chance what direction the equipment pointed and hung change the direction the figure was posed toward.

Vergan Free Traders

Burgansians

The Burgansians were an attempt to incorporate a piece of substantial tech into the sculpt. In the case of these aliens, this took the form a floating chair. This allowed me to work with seated poses and in the initial sculpt, this was a rather relaxed, confident pose. I saw him as a sort of fixer or contact.

Original Sculpt

In the subsequent sculpt (and an upcoming one as well), I modified the pose, altered the face and even added to the hover chair. I also added a secondary character to the sculpt that could be anything from a pet, or perhaps even a juvenile Burgansian. A little added costuming, also changes the nature of this figure and he could easily pass for some sort of noble, ambassador, or maybe just another fixer.

    

Burgansian Conversion

Calamite to Varlish

The third example presented here is a case of a conversion from one species to an entirely new species. the original Calamite was a distinctly aquatic looking species dressed in a simple robe with a few charms and trinkets.

Calamite Preacher

The Varlish was converted directly over the top of the Calamite sculpt. This meant a bit of bulking up but, like a good tattoo cover-up, I used the original lines of the Calamite to guide where I added to the putty and the final shape of the Varlish took form. Much of the change occurred around the face where I retained the conical shape of the Calamite head, but broadened it into a menacing set of eyes and an odd, overbite mouth. The arms were extended a bit to conceal the original alien arms which were changed into sleeves to accommodate new hands. I then added more finery to the chest to show the change in "occupation" from preacher to envoy.

Varlish Envoy

I love doing these sorts of conversions and I used to do them just for personal use, but this way others get to share in my madness.

Take care,

-Eli

More of My Aliens Released by 15mm.co.uk

I while back I previewed some metal masters of figures that I had submitted to 15mm.co.uk's SHM miniatures line. Well it looks like they came out and I somehow missed it. So, here are the painted catalog pics from their site to show off these four new aliens.

Again, these are alien civilians intended to populate you star ports and offer objectives for your scenarios. Most of them are designed to allow you a wide breadth of use, with each figure representing a number of possible characters.

You can find these - HERE

Painted Preview Figs

Every time I sculpt some figs for 15mm.co.uk's SHM minis line, part of the deal is that I get preview sample of the figures I sculpted. This last batch included more poses of the popular toady Prang aliens. These filthy scavengers, pirates and raiders use crude blasters and powerful heavy weapons to rip into the hulls of vessels and to raid colonies and installations, taking what they want and leaving their hapless victims to fend for themselves. 

These figures will be available in the next couple months from 15mm.co.uk in their SHM miniatures range.

Sculpting Addendum

I had snapped this picture showing the new Saurian Bounty Hunter and Prang Raider alongside some minis by other companies but forgot to include it in the last post...

Left to right: Laserburn Mercenary, Khurasan Miniatures Space Demon, Saurian Bount Hunter, Prang Raider, Astro Minis Astro Crew, The Scene Zombie Hunter.

As you can see these two figures are big 15mm figures. By big I don't mean out of scale or scale creeping, but just hefty aliens. The Saurian is tall and broad, very much a gator of an alien while the Prang have been and continue to be roughly the same height as many 15mm humans but of considerable more girth - paunchy frogs that they are.

-Eli

Sculpting Update 3/15/2013

Hey all,

So, sculpting may have slowed down on my end, but it has not stopped. A bit ago I posted about a little side project called "Freestyle Sculpting" in which I started a trio of sculpts and, with no pre-planning sculpted them into three versions of the same finished science fiction alien sculpt. Along with an update on that project, I thought I'd also show a couple of finished sculpts that are going to head their way toward 15mm.co.uk's SHM miniatures line as well as some WIP on another SHM project that I have returned to - Prang!

FREESTYLE SCULPTING

First up, I'd like to show the state of the Freestyle sculpting project. If you recall, the initial shapes where very much simply little blobby forms on the ends of wires. From here I could have gone many ways but i decided to take them in the direction of a truly alien for that was completely devoid of humanoid characteristics - something that I know a lot of folks have been looking for. I'm not sure if I'll hit that nail on the head, but I thought it was worth having a go.

As you can see the alien is taking on a sort of gas floater, levitating, jelly fish sort of form. 

I had started by expanding the basic teardrop shape laterally and added a couple of rounded, slightly sagging forms that hint at some sort of bladder or internal organ structure. To this, I added a sort of back carapace and some corrugated shapes on the back, hinting at either an natural shell and musculature or something constructed by the alien. The will be developed throughout the sculpt as I expand on the shapes and forms established here.

You will also notice (sorry for the fuzzy pic) that a series of sensory apparatus have been added to the front of the alien. These are just blocked out shapes at this point and will be refined, but they allude to the presence of some sort of central larger body part, surrounded by five smaller ones. These may end up as eyes, antennae or even orifices.

The latest elements added, were the dangling tentacles. These have been arranged in a way so as to provide a sort of flight stand for the floating alien and are swept back to hint at them trailing behind the creature a bit as it moves through the air. Other sculpts might have them done at a sharper angle, to convey faster movement and could even be sculpted in varying degrees of animation to add character to a creature with no humanoid anatomy for the viewer to connect with. These tentacles may also serves as the creatures manipulating limbs and be positioned facing forward to hold equipment or weapons.

It'll be fun to see where this goes and if these end up being worthy of production...

SHM SCULPTS

Even with my own miniatures production line in the works, I still believe in and support 15mm.co.uk's SHM miniatures line. I think it's a great way for sculptors to have some fun and let somebody else worry about the nuts and bolts of it while improving their craft. Sometimes you come up with things that just aren't practical to put into production on their own and SHM allows you to pool production resources with other hobby sculptors out there.

What's I've got in the works for SHM? Well Take a look!

The first couple of figures are new characters. The first is a sort of saurian bounty hunter very much in the Star Wars style. He's got an arm-mounted blasters, a suit of heavy armor, headset targeting system, decorative cape and some scalps showing his prowess.

This next alien is a conversion off of the Fragalian already available through 15mm.co.uk in their SHM range and one of my very first sculpts. This new alien uses the existing robed alien body but expands on with a larger head, hands, and a tail. He also sports a staff. 

        

The last bit is a sort of update on the Prang I've been at for a while. If you recall, the Prang appeared as a one-off in the first run of my SHM figures. they are a sort of froggish alien species of rotund, unsavory, some might say degenerate scavengers, mercenaries and pirates. To this end, I sculpted them in a non-uniformed, mishmash of armor and weapons befitting such a force.

The above figure is nearly finished. I really just need to give him a once-over for last minute details and cleanup. He's an older sculpt contemporary to the first Prang sculpt.

These three are also nearly finished with just a few minor gubbins to check before entering the cosmos. Depicted are two trooper variants, carrying the sort of ramshackle weapons common to the Prang. The dude one the far right is a heavy gunner and is packing some big sort of weapon that Prang raiders like to use to penetrate the hulls and airlocks of the ships they raid.

This trio of not-so-fine fellows are still very much WIP. The paunchy guy in the middile shows how inflated a Prang's head can get when they are utilizing their throat sacks. Look out for their gooey spit. The guy on the right is a newer officer sculpt and is a pretty fit and ready fellow for a Prang.

So, yes, sculpting continues and should be easier to keep going now that I have my work benches cleared off and my lights arranged. I am hoping to get these Prang done with an off to Scotland for production in the next month or so. The Prang have proven quite popular and so it's likely that more of them will follow after these.

-Eli

Glimpse at Things to Come

The image above is a preview pic sent to me by Gavin at 15.mm.co.uk. They depict casts of four new alien civilians coming out in their SHM range. While the names and codes have yet to be finalized and their relase is still pending, Gavin was nice enough to allow me to show them off here.

You might recognize the guy on the left as he's a conversion of an earlier sculpt. I wanted to show another member of his species and added a second creature to the floating chair that could either be a pet or even a child.

The other three were designed as various interesting characters. From left to right - a noble or perhaps mystic, an orator/preacher and a musician.

I can't wait to see these out. I tried to put a lot of character and personality into these figs. From the purposeful raised fist of the orator to the relaxed, hip posture of the drummer each is one tells a story.

-Eli

New Sculpt Released by 15mm.co.uk

A while back I sculpted this little beasty in an attemt to see if I could sculpt something like the creature from The Thing. The sculpt isn't quite that gruesome, but it does have a certain "yuck appeal" about it. This miniature was just released by 15mm.co.uk under their SHM miniatures line.

Sculpted with 15mm in mind, there is no reason this creature couldn't appear on 28mm tables as well. It doesn't even need to be scifi or horror as this creature is in line with all manner of slimes and other dungeon nasties found in fantasy settings. 

15mm.co.uk Releases Fleet Scale Mecha

Hello everyone,

Today's post is not just an advertisement for a new release but another beaming point of pride for me as a sculptor. 

You may recall a bit ago i set myself to the challenge of sculpting mecha suitable for use in games along side "fleet scale" spaceships. I use the term "fleet scale" as an umbrella for the many different actual scales used for the various spaceship lines out there and up until I sculpted these there really hadn't been many attempts at making old school mecha for these scales. What is an aspiring sculptor to do but to give it a whirl.

15mm.co.uk accepted these sculpts under the auspices of their SHM miniatures line but the minis are so different and so in a category all their own that they have given them their own little home on their site, HERE!

So go check them out or, as they like to say in the anime shows, "Ikimasu!!"

-Eli

Mini Minis Update

Just on the heels of my last post, I received the pics of the metal, inked and snappy from the caster.

Here's a quick post to show them off...

Vergan Free Traders

 Razak 

Fleet Scale Mecha

New Minis On Their Way

Hey SHM fans!

I have received news from Gavin at 15mm.co.uk that the most recent bunch of minis I sent them is hitting production. While I can't yet give you a full list of what is being activated, I can tell you that you won't be disappointed and there there is a little something new this time around.

So, Eli, what all is coming? Well, what I can say is there are some new 15mm aliens including a couple familiar faces. Most of them are armed this time around. Also, my "fleet scale" mecha designed for doing mecha-themed games along side popular space fleet type minis such as those brought to you by GZG, Ravenstar Studios, and other awesome lines of ships that are out there.

Right now, an envelope with previews is speeding toward me from the UK (curse the utter lack of teleporters!) and once I have them in my grubby mits I will post pics and get to work showing off how I envisioned these mecha to be used. To be honest, I am a bit eager to see what comes in the envelop because I cannot recall exactly what I sent!

More info as it is available.

-Eli

15mm Prang Sculpts WIP

Hey folks, 

Just a quick update to show the progress on the Prang sculpts I'm doing for 15mm.co.uk. These froggy aliens are really starting to take shape with their hodge-podge equipment, numerous pouches and sacks and lumbering bodies.

I've started adding weapons to a couple of them, a process that is proving educational and tricky, but seems to be coming along just the same.

Shown below are front and back of a Prang trooper, the beginnings of a plasma cutter-equipped breaching trooper in heavy armor, and a picture of the new leader fig to go with this batch.