Making a Venator Head for an Asslessman

[Asslessman]

Yep the second photo is that of a wood elf archer.
I didn't make any progress last niht but I'll see what I can do tonight since I have no plans to make this night different from any other...
I also got some new parts for the bodies so I'll work on them too. I won't glue the arms into place since I don't have the heads yet but blue-tacking some poses will be fun.

 

[Asslessman]

Since I'm spending new year's eve at home with my pregnant wife, I think not partying gives me the right to do some hobby so here are some bodies I blue-tacked to get the feeling of what I want for the venators :

Obvisously the heads are not the real ones and poses may vary but some models are already appealing to me, the guy on the left shouldn't change much since I already like him this way, second guys should change a bit to give him a sort of condotiere look, middle guy is obviously be the leader from John Blanche's drawing, miss dark elf will have a venitian mask and a chainsword with added details and the last one should chnage much either.

First two guys are meant to be Helmawr gangers or aristocrats or anyone from the upper hive. I really like them a lot and the seocnd one is the starting point to get close to another JB drawing, he will have high heels, a big hairdo and some crazy stuff , the guy on the left being his body guard. I will add a second bodyguard but I have yet to find proper legs...
3 guys on the right can either be arictocratic gangers or venators with a few changes (addition of boots, weapons swaps, right heads of course) I think I want them to be the henchmen of the veterans above or something of the sort...

I think this heading the right way as it is.

Happy new year to you all !

 

[cheetor]

The quilted jacket look nails it as far as I am concerned. Nice kitbashing.

Happy New Year.

 

[theottovonbismark]

Cool, they are coming together nicely now. I like the component mix and poses especially the 3rd on the top picture and the 2nd on the bottom picture - they are superbly poised.

 

[Asslessman]

Cool, they are coming together nicely now. I like the component mix and poses especially the 3rd on the top picture and the 2nd on the bottom picture - they are superbly poised.

I see you're a man of taste. These are the 2 directly nspired by the John Blanche Drawings, there sahll be some heavy changes for them though but these blue-tack builds were here to see what parts to use and what poses could be achieved.
Thanks.

 

[Asslessman]

I see some beheading ahead (or some moulding and casting if I can get this thing to work)...

Some more redemptionists are making their way to me. I juts realise with their masks, hoods, ropes and witch-hunter activities they are the true heirs to venators. The main difference being that during Rogue trader days, they were high-class, well-equiped bounty hunters, professionnals if you will. In the grim d4rkness etc... they became a bunch of zealots just like ..space marines, rogue traders who were replaced by inquisitors, arbites...

 

[theottovonbismark]

I see some beheading ahead (or some moulding and casting if I can get this thing to work)...

Some more redemptionists are making their way to me. I juts realise with their masks, hoods, ropes and witch-hunter activities they are the true heirs to venators. The main difference being that during Rogue trader days, they were high-class, well-equiped bounty hunters, professionnals if you will. In the grim d4rkness etc... they became a bunch of zealots just like ..space marines, rogue traders who were replaced by inquisitors, arbites...

Yeah they did kind of become generic guys in hoods didn't they. The Cawdor gangers are probably more like the Venators in some ways, but hoods rather than masks. I will get back on stuff for this project pretty soon when I finish sculpting the Knavecon livestock models.

 

[Asslessman]

Well reading at the cawdor background, they're really close to the redemptionists so both are just a bunch of hooded fanatics, the only difference is the models look closer to the marauder venators, anyway, our ventors are going to take a different route.

The livestock is splendid by the way, really nice addition to an halfling contingent . I guess both half-men and bog-dwellers will have to eat !

 

[Asslessman]

Guess who's having his head cut (or copied, Mutantdale made me have remorse about cutting their heads...) ?

 

[cheetor]

Guess who's having his head cut (or copied, Mutantdale made me have remorse about cutting their heads...)

I applaud Mutantdales attitude, its a shame to cut up OOP figures.

I see some beheading ahead (or some moulding and casting if I can get this thing to work)...

There isnt any need to mutilate that figure to make a copy of the head. I did something similar with a hooded head for a Mechanicus conversion a couple of years ago using Oyumaru/Instant Mold. I recorded how I did it if you want to see, its an easy (and quite enjoyable) process.

Ignore the flashing on the side of the head: it was thin and very easily removed. You could easily do the same with either of the Redemptionists shown above to generate a couple of Venator heads.

 

[Asslessman]

Cheetor, you know what? You convinced me. I have to say I was still under the impression that pressmoulding was not going to be my answer but I bet I could give this a go, I have a lot of potential donors and taking prints to cast in resin has proven to be a failure (mostly due to my resin being old though).
I'll consider the price involved but I think it's a path to explore.

MD made me consider the price necromunda models reach these days (not that this should ever prevent me form converting) but since I really only want the heads that would be a pity to damage good models.

 

[cheetor]

MD made me consider the price necromunda models reach these days (not that this should ever prevent me form converting) but since I really only want the heads that would be a pity to damage good models.

eBay item number:370900598541: €6 including shipping.

Assuming that you already own some green stuff or similar (and I have seen that chaos grav-attack, so you do), then thats all it will cost you to try it, other than an hour or two experimenting. Its probably cheaper than that Redemptionist Brethren model.

That quantity is enough to make about thirty head moulds. The mould will endure very many green stuff impressions, but Instant Mould is thermoplastic and can be reused indefinitely anyway.

Good luck if you try it.

I have a lot of potential donors and taking prints to cast in resin has proven to be a failure (mostly due to my resin being old though).

Resin casting is a completely different thing really. It has obvious benefits but it generates a lot of mess and smell and toxins. Its not impossible to do of course, but for uniform head replacements like these, press moulding will work more than adequately.

 

[Asslessman]

I do have a big roll of fresh green stuff. would you recommend a particular ratio of blue/yellow? Blue is stiffer but I guess you wouldn't want to soft a mix to avoid damage when taking the print out?

How do you ensure you don't trap air too, do you just press small droppings to fill details and then press the main part?

 

[cheetor]

I do have a big roll of fresh green stuff. would you recommend a particular ratio of blue/yellow? Blue is stiffer but I guess you wouldn't want to soft a mix to avoid damage when taking the print out?

There probably are ratios that would work better than others, but Im not much of an expert with GS. Im sure someone else reading will be able to help there. I tend to use Procreate anyway on the rare occasions that I attempt sculpting or whatever.

How do you ensure you don't trap air too, do you just press small droppings to fill details and then press the main part?

Depending on the area maybe, but I would always try to get the whole face filled with one piece to avoid any potential seams.

Experiment. You just use some common sense to make sure that the face gets gets the most attention as the rest can be fixed/modified easily if required.

 

[Asslessman]

trial and error it is then, thanks a lot.

Oh and what is the difference (if there's one) between Oyumaru and Instant Mold? If there's none, the geek/kendoka/japan fan/freak in me will want the japanese product for teh same result and price. I know there's some instant mould in my art shop though...

 

[cheetor]

Oh and what is the difference (if there's one) between Oyumaru and Instant Mold

AFAIK Oyumaru is marketed to kids in the East so it is cheap and comes in numerous bright colours. Instant Mold on the other hand is marketed by CMON (IIRC) to gamers so its far more expensive.

I may be wrong, but thats what I remember from researching it a couple of years ago.

Oh yeah, the oyumaru that I bought glows in the dark too. I dunno if Instant Mold does that

 

[Asslessman]

Oh yeah, the oyumaru that I bought glows in the dark too. I dunno if Instant Mold does that

OK, that and the fact you can pronounce it OYUMALUUU !!! are the 2 final nails in the coffin, the face stealing process is about to go for round 2... (rubs hands with a devilish frothing grin)

 

[theottovonbismark]

Bump!

Have to finish off this head for you JB. I was thinking to build on the hood to this piece and generally try to match the artwork and then to post you the green of him?


There are a couple of things I need to fix up on the face first that bug me, like the nostrils for example. But with a bit of remodeling and the addition of a hood I am confident enough that I can turn this:

Into this:

This head was done when I had much less experience with the green stuff and without the nice tools I have now so it feels a lot more crude to me now but I think I can pimp it up. Sharpening of the features and a good quality hood to match the source material will go a long way here.

 

[Asslessman]

Well it looks 100000 tim sbeter than the ones I've sculpted myself. I can't seem to smooth the textures now everything's been sculpted? Your close-ups scare in me in the sense I can see no flaws...

The ones I've sclpted are not bad but I'm afraid teh texture will make the painting look bad. Putting poor heads on the bodies and realising at the apinting stage the result is not what I xpected is something I would want to avoid but if since I want to make a lot of them now maybe I can start with what I have and see later about making some super good ones....

 

[theottovonbismark]

Well it looks 100000 tim sbeter than the ones I've sculpted myself. I can't seem to smooth the textures now everything's been sculpted? Your close-ups scare in me in the sense I can see no flaws...

The ones I've sclpted are not bad but I'm afraid teh texture will make the painting look bad. Putting poor heads on the bodies and realising at the apinting stage the result is not what I xpected is something I would want to avoid but if since I want to make a lot of them now maybe I can start with what I have and see later about making some super good ones....

Indeed. Faces are one of the harder things to get right and no amount of cleaver painting can hide it if the sculpting is not smooth. I can basically sculpt a whole Frogman at this stage, but human faces are still way above my skills yet - I never liked drawing people much anyway, just monsters and armored things. The a final layer of yellow rich green stuff and the clay shapers are your friend for smoothing out the rough stuff.

I will go ahead and work the leaders head into a finished build for now and post it to you soon ( with that Chaos Warrior/Marauder guy I promised you). I can always have a go at a basic venator trooper head after that. If I re-do the leader head in the future we can always do an easy head transplant as it will be a 1 piece head/hood.