You may have noticed I've not been so active online of late. Its mainly down to this guy, who is taking a stupendous amount of time to finish.
It's Korpus Festerheart from Hordes of Chaos (page 41). When he's finished I'll put up the links to other versions of this guy I found on CMON so you can judge how well I've done.
I won't put up pics from other angles just yet, but I'm going to take loads of photos before painting!
Damn Adrian Smith and his spikes!?!
There's going to be something like 120 spikes in the end, almost all of which will be made from wire filed down.
I've done a fair bit of work since that photo. I've made the base and done a lot of work on the axe. I've also replaced the big shoulder blade thing as I made it from plastic and the tip snapped off. Replaced now with steel wire filed down to a blade.
I have tried VERY hard to get all the proportions correct, even when it looks stupid (like the shoulder blade). I'm trying to get on as much detail as I can. The little chaos star emblem thing on the shoulder pad was an absolute nighmare to make!
I had to do it twice as well as I dropped it and lost it... cries
My version will also include the flies. The only version to do so.
This reminds me how much I need to continue sculpting... Well done!
@sojourn
lol.
I plan to do the flies with a leg or wing extended to be touching part of the model or base.
I'll need to see how this works out, but on the artwork they all appear to be very close to him. So I'll have a go and see if it works!
Looking flipping excellent! Those spikes will take a long time, but I appreciate how good it looks and will do when finished and I'm sure you'll be pleased with the final result. I prefer to see flying things without a stand/wire, so I hope you do manage the flies okay. Will they be greenstuffed as well?
Some updated WIP photos for you!
There is still a huge amount of work to do. I won't list all the small things that need doing, but the last 'big' ones are finishing the base, doing the cloak and the fur.
I'll finish it very soon, hopefully by end of tuesday. If I have time I really want to do the flies.
I know what you mean about the arm, I only noticed that when I was looking at the photos. I'll sculpt on the little finger and thumb and see if that helps.
Basically I think I need to bend the elbow closer to the body.
The level of detail is just attempting to copy what's in the picture. If I had made up the model completely myself I'd be exceptionally proud, but trying to copy a picture that was probably drawn 10 times larger than I'm sculpting it was always going to be hard.
The fur and cloak are my biggest issues at the moment. I've made the cloak itself, but normally what I'd do is to sculpt folds only on the outside of it (as opposed to sculpting the corresponding crease on the inside as well), so that is one to think on.
The fur is going to be very hard. Normally fur is relatively easy to sculp, but trying to get to close to a picture is very hard. I'll just have to give it my best shot.
I forgot to say in my last post that was quite pleased with the skeleton(s) on the base. The one behind him looks like it has fallen quite naturally IMO. Hopefully it will look as good once I've finished the base.
Amazing grim, but why the round base? Is it purely for Showcase? A figure this well realised needs a disease ridden horde to command
Yes at the moment. The long wires forming the skeleton for the legs are just bend underneath, its not glued onto the base. So eventually I may move him onto a 25mm base. He would be hard to rank though because of the logs on his back 
Looking good Grim!
IMO, Knight of Awesome, GSF's is far better and more accurate. Grim, words defy me. It's taken me several minutes to be able to comprehend language again to even say that. Well done and thank you for blessing us with the vision...
Best. Model. Ever.
Want to make a second?
Joking
Finally it's complete!
Grim emerges from the sculpting basement, driven mad and drained of energy by father Nurgle.
Here he is in his 'finished' state. I've added a lot of small changes since the last photos. I took away a couple of things that weren't working as well, and added the flies. They seem to work nicely IMO, so I'm glad I forced myself to do them.
I felt the back of the model was suffering from a major lack of detail, hence the chain and wolf tails (a nod to the fluff). Also an angry nurgling
I think I've corrected the arm, I bend it a fair bit and added more greenstuff. I also bulked out the chain nearest the elbow.
There are still two things that need to be added; firstly the small chaos star emblem thing on the shoulder pad, second a shield on his back. Both will be painted seperately first. I plan to add a beastman shield with a metal rim sculpted on. The back of the model lacks an obvious focal point, and should be improved by this.
Once he's painted i'll blue tack it on and see what you all think with and without.
I may need to do some tiny GS work during painting as I spot the small mistakes, hopefully not much. The base will need some more work, as there are a couple of spots it doesn't look right.
This has certainly been the greatest sculpting challenge I've given myself so far. I'm very happy with the way its come out.
Here are all the other versions of this art I could find. Mine is the best!
http://www.rolljordan.com/public/images/...mg_226.jpg
http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics11...d3a9b0.jpg
http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics7/...3d1f7d.jpg
Good Lord that's awesome. I think I just had a minigasm! I agree with the addition of the nurgling and the pelts. Very nice job. It's brilliant that ya did add the flies in the end! Just make sure not to get paint on their wings
I can;t wait to see it painted. If this had been cast, I know I'd have bought him...
Wings have been undercoated, the bright wings will add some much needed contrast.
Work is going very will so far. I've painted about 70% of the model. I must have painted more in the last week than I have in the last two months!
The base came out well, only the skeleton and nurgling to paint now.
The axe blade is proving very tricky. I've repainted it several times trying to get it right.
I think I will add a shield on the back, mainly because it will add some much needed detail, and help to bring green onto the back (its mainly browns and greys at the moment). Also because the chain I sculpted isn't perfect. I will convert a beastmen one, 7 spikes around the edge and something suitable as a symbol.
Tonally the model is very good at the moment, similar over the whole model. Its not really diseased looking yet, and I still have no idea what colour to paint the flies??
After a frantic painting marathon yesterday, I finally finished model (well, finished enough I couldn't be bothered to paint any more) at 3:00 this morning. Overall that means I spent roughly 50 hours painting in the last 8 days!
Roughly 4 hours of blissful sleep later I made my way to Games Day and entered him in Golden Daemon...
It ended up as a finalist, so my first entry into Golden Daemon wasn't a statue
. Still, I did quite well considering a few factors. I'll put up the lessons I learnt in another thread.
Once I get time I'll take some photos of him painted. I will wait to see the photos of the minis that won in the single mini, as IMHO my entry was better than at least one of them. But seing as I'm heavily biased I'll let you all be the judge.
Compared to many warhammer single mini Golden Daemon winners of the past, he does have too much detail. But IMO that would not have been a problem.
The main problem areas with mine are the base and the flies. There are a few other areas on the model that would probably look like poor painting if you didn't happen to have the artwork to compare it. The axe blade for example.
The wolf tails on the back weren't great, and in hindsight I would have left off the flies.
Overall though it was a good effort, and if I left myself enough time next year to correct any mistakes, I will hopefully do better.
Start a little earlier next time and you'll be fine, oh, and enter a Chaos Dwarf.
Your model is stunning, and like you said, has really pushed your abilities. That's something in and of itself. Well done, and a commendable effort!
Chaos Dwarfs are an interesting one for Golden Daemon actually. It's not very often you see even Dwarfs winning in the single mini, they're quite rare actually. Georc's CD Sorcerer was unusual really.
The main problem being that there's a lot less space to show off painting skills (compared to a lord on steed for instance), so you have to be extra good to make up for it.
The other problem is that unless the judges like your own interpretation of them if its a conversion or sculpt), they will discard or disqualify it automatically. They wrote something a while ago like; 'you don't know what a Cathayan looks like until we tell you', and that was their way of telling you not to inpret too far.
Its really stupid, but it means I'd need to think a great deal on what to do. Unfortunately my priority is to win something, and it would have to be an amazing CD that could allow me to do that.
I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a full time sculpter, whether for GW or not. Overall I think it would be fun but not very rewarding, and not a very secure job either.
Yeah I noticed that. Funny coincidence with this thread and all. If i'd seen that 2 years ago I probably would have been tempted, but not now.
