The moste Excellent artiste, Goyah of Catalucia.

The Moste Excellent Artiste, Frantastico Goyah of Catalucia.

This is the new VLE code from Alternative Armies. Limited to 250 casts, the set comes with Goyah, his easel, a canvas and a Todoroni subject. I loved all the miniatures in the set, but felt I could rework the subject into a rather more fitting model as you will see below.

I begin most of my sculpts with a quick sketch, as you can see, the initial idea is not too different from the original model. Though the original is nice, I wanted to push him as a pomp of a character, an overweight snob of the highest notability.

Below the model is shown with the head and arm removed, as well as the scarf which laid down on his chest. The idea behind cutting all of this away is to allow space for me to work. Sometimes I even sand it down flat to give a smooth surface.

Measuring the arms, the originals were a little disproportionate the the body of the model and in each other. I looked at myself in the mirror, hands at my sides. My hands fall just below my groin, as represented in the photograph on the miniature below.

After attaching the arms, I chose to consider how the arms would be placed. I then took his left arm (our right) off to allow ease of handling whilst sculpting (I hate finger prints!).

After removing the left arm, I gave him a large, bulbous head (blob of greenstuff). I have flattened it out at the back onto his back to make it look attached rather that just floating. All of my toads are a little hunched, so I wanted this guy to fit as well. I think this is more to do with physique rather than his character.

Using a sculpting (dental) tool, I made 2 little dents in his face. As usual, I smoothed it out with a clay shaper, removing any hard lines.

I then gave him 2 little nostrils. For this, I looked at the Bella Lugosi miniatures from AA and considered how they were originally done and how this model would fit in. Originally, the model had tiny nostrils which were barely noticable. Now they are a bit more prominent, but not over the top.

I then worked on the mouth. Using the sculpting tool, I pushed down to create the mouth. You could easily do this by building up, but it is a technique I have used on all my toads so chose to continue. I also used a Taper pointed clay shaper to draw lines from the toads nostrils to his mouth, and under his lip. I also lightly pressed between each nostril on the top of his head to create a little more detail. When sculpting, I try to keep in mind not only the basic style of painting (block colour), but also those who like to use ink and drybrush techniques, but also pure highlighters or layer painters (Kevin Dallimore/Steve Dean style).

This closeup of the face shows the detail put into the miniature's face so far. I also rolled up 2 balls and stuck them to his head. I then smoothed them out at the back to join to his head. This mades doing the eyelids later a much easier task.

I then dotted each eyeball with a taper point clay shaper.

As I mentioned before, I wanted this model to represent a fat, prudent toad. To show this in miniature form, I sculpted a large belly and 'man'boobs (or 'moobs') onto him. The reason I did it this way and not in the uniform stage was so that I can just 'dress' him when it comes to that. I find worrying about shape AND form AND detail all at the same time can confuse a miniature and the sculpt will just look messy in the end. This way makes a) tidying up and b) correcting the miniature, much easier.

A side view of the 'moobs' and belly. I may add more to the bottom of his belly.

One thing I noticed was that his shoes are WAY smaller than any other todoroni miniature out there. He needs to keep his webbed feet somewhere (even if he doesn't use them!). So I enlarged them with a block of greenstuff, shaped with a sculpting tool and then smoothed out and joined to the metal shoe with a taper point clay shaper.

Tomorrow you will see more progress on the model.

I suggest giving 4 hour intervals before returning to a sculpt, sometimes 3 if you are pushed for time or have a comission, but handle the model VERY lightly.

I don't attach mine to cork, simply as I have never had to. Though in the future I think it is something I should consider as you are much less likely to touch the actual model.

Cheers guys,

Rambling over.

Rob