Flumph (2)

 

 

Flumphs! This is my 100th post, which flew buy in the blink of a ....decade (ha!), so I wanted to post something meaningful to commemorate it in a (slightly pathetic) special way. Models that I have sculpted myself, such as these flumphs,  are of personal significance (see the original greens below). 

I had a ton of inspiration sculpting the cute little heroes and it was one of the most relaxed and fun sculpting experiences I can remember. Fitting that the subjects are so benevolent. I feel like taking a model from a ball of putty to a final artwork/game-piece is a complete journey, a realization of my imagination into something tangible - it is a very satisfying process. I don't paint my sculpting as often as I should, probably because I tend to overthink these pieces. The flumphs were not a struggle, though; my concept from start to finish was clear (though it did take many years to even track down a copy of them to paint at all). 

These jellies even have an imaginary personality to go along with their physical embodiment. Despite the grief and/or sensationalism surrounding flumphs because of their perceived ridiculousness, they are really a great classic "monster" I use frequently in games. When playing with my sons, the two flumphs are clerics seeking help and they act as a perfect support NPC. This role is spelled out in 2e as the "monastic flumph." Their exposition and healing battery game-play is engaging for new players and makes them immediately lovable sidekicks. Who wouldn't help them?

These are some of the only photos I have of the original greens, so I apologize for their quality.

Ochre Jelly & split

 

An exclusive post! LOL. Since my blog/gallery has so little traffic they will effectively remain unseen ( ultra-exclusive!). I completed this ochre jelly in 2020, but I was unsatisfied with these pictures so it was never posted. I have come to the realization that it wasn't the pictures I didn't want to post, but rather that the models themselves were pretty uninteresting as simple blobs of orange ooze- ha! In any case, they deserve some sort of love - they are widely used in adventure modules so surely someone will find them interesting/useful. I couldn't find any suitable ochre jelly models on the market that captured the complete progression of the monster with its "split" ability with enough variety, so I sculpted these with polymer clay. I think the sculpts themselves are decent and the mass of the medium (25mm base) and small (20mm base) jellies works well - success! I could've taken the paint to another level, but the simple two tone paint with a wash and gloss-coat definitely does the job. 

After making these I realized that the I need a second ooze for DoIP (and probably more for OoTA), so I will have to replicate this design for at least another pair of each size, but that shouldn't bee too difficult. A variety of other oozes is high on my to-do list due to how easy they are to work on, so expect to see more of the classics and some unusual varieties between humanoids.

Giant Leeches (2) - Greens

 

This is a pair of leeches I sculpted for bones 4. I based the anatomy and appearance on actual leeches I researched, and the mouths represent a combination of features present in actual leeches, exaggerated to be suitably monstrous.  I had some problems with my stock of green stuff, so it isn't my cleanest work, but the variation actually makes them more organic, I think. Despite being a rather mundane monster - not nearly as flashy as the most popular models, I suspect they will be among the most used on the game table. I have long since painted the copies I received with the kickstarter, so Ill post those as well. Sir Forscale is shown...for scale.

Kobold Hero

This is an interesting archived piece to showcase, my first complete humanoid sculpt! This green dates back to 2009 and was painted in 2011 with the rest of my kobold warband. It was sculpted to go along side the Ben Seins kobolds, though slightly larger and more dynamic, befitting a hero. I surprised myself with the result, and thus began my forays in to sculpting.

Lurker Above

My second professional sculpt! the Lurker Above was a real challenge for me from a conceptual standpoint - how do I make a flying wall interesting?
 The basic body shape was easy enough  as it has been describes as being manta ray shaped since its initial appearance and the silhouette of a manta ray is easy to find. This bad boy is pretty big, as went with the dimensions given in the tome of horrors pretty closely and I wanted to make it large enough to envelop a 28mm sized hero with ease (it is mounted on a 50mm base). I knew I needed to make the sculpt dynamic in order to keep it interesting because of its basic physiology, so I settled on an approach similar to my cloaker sculpt. I tried to give it the impression that it was swooping down from above and I included some subtle tricks to increase the sense of motion in addition to a descending angle: upturned wing tips, a slight twist to the body, and a trailing tail. I even used the counter angle of the "stand" itself to help reinforce an illusion of motion (though that idea didn't work as well as I would have liked - it needed to join farther back on the wing).
      With the structure complete the belly texture was the obvious place to start  and I stuck pretty close to the concept art from The Tome:

I modified the scale pattern slightly to better fit the body shape I had  and reduced the size of the scales, but other than that  it is a close approximation. the mouth, similarly, was a simple extension of the concept art.
      The eyes, on the other hand, didn't translate so well. I had tried sculpting them several times but the inward turned cephalic lobe gave it a more peaceful/pouty demeanor and the eyes themselves were not positioned well for a "sit and wait" predator. I decided on a more classic inspiration:

 Bug eyes! I didn't want to abandon adornment on the eyes, though, and I had learned an important lesson  while sculpting the froghemoth: the facial features of a monster convey a sense of emotion and it is important to embrace the opportunity to do so, even if it means sacrificing "realism" or concept. In the case of the froghemoth the curvature of the mouth was a crucial turning point (happy vs grumpy) and here I wanted "sinister." Any kid who has watched cartoons knows that sinister = sharp upward curved eyebrows. after that realization the idea quickly fell in to place; I chose to invert the cephalic lobe to create a structure that was reminiscent of pointy eyebrows! that definitely gave him the evil look he needed.
       The back of the lurker above was troubling because it  has never been portrayed  in art. To solve that problem I tapped my experience as a biologist and asked myself what would be up there. The clear answer was "something to attach to the ceiling with," which gave me two choices, suckers or spines. I had decided against the spines on the leading edge of the wing previously because my mockups indicated a compositional balance issue, so I figured I'd reintroduce them. I positioned 100+  retractable-type spines in key areas along the edge of the wing and along the spinal column and at the periphery of the face, places where I thought support for suspension would be important. The striation pattern was an extension of this idea and became a little more developed as the final details were being added. in the head area they eventually became somewhat geometric in shape, maybe I was watching a bit to much Tron in the wee hours of the morning when I sculpt. I like the overall effect as they give the impression  of some sort of anatomy important to the spines, and more importantly, they will be interesting to paint.


and there you have it, another sculpt of a huge sized monster! next up on the sculpting block is a pair of pterodactyl men for "The Forge of Ice," a small Alaska based miniatures company.

Froghemoth

I may as well lead with my best foot forward! I recently completed this Froghemoth sculpture after several months of tinkering with it, and I couldn't be happier. CSM will be casting it for their Tome of Horrors KS. I could gush about the froghy for hours, but as it is my first blog entry, I'll keep it short and sweet. Enjoy!