Tuesday 29 January 2019

Why watch one, when two will do?


Words and pictures. That’s what I normally put up here. But today it’s slightly different. Today most of the words will be found in the pictures. Because today I’m sharing a poster I created for a prospective movie season a few years back.

I talk a lot about movies on here, not only because am I utterly fascinated by them – some may say obsessed – but also because they can offer substantive inspiration for the many modelling and gaming projects that form some of my other obsessions. For these reasons I usually try to focus on science fiction or fantasy films, but occasionally this may slide sideways into the sometimes equally relevant overlapping zones of the action or horror genres.

However, today, I’m going even further than that, doing something I don't normally do, by blasting the genres wide open and simply looking at pairs of movies, from any walk, that go together beautifully while delving deeply into their chosen subject.

So, with no further fanfare, let’s get on to the pictures. The ones with words in them.



And here are some close-ups (clicking on them should make them expand).



Wednesday 16 January 2019

Here comes the cadavalry

This week it's another quick progress report on my Undead horsemen. I've finished putting together the three final members of my six-strong unit, and have briefly revisited the first batch (from my previous post) to add a few more details – mainly in the form of straps and reins.

Working with the old plastic skeleton bodies (that were originally designed as foot troops) became an interesting challenge to find poses that looked natural on the back of a horse. In the picture below, the two on the outside seemed to lend themselves to dynamic action poses, with one leaning off to the side, ready to strike, and the other having the horse rear up on its back legs. But the third one, in the middle, was a little more complicated. I had to cut the skeleton at the waist, and drill and pin the two resultant halves in order to reposition the body at more of an angle, as if the rider is leaning into the gallop. A small detail, but I think that aiming for a touch of realism in among all the fantastical elements really aids the interpretation of a miniature – giving viewers something familiar to look at as a 'way in'.

So with the completion of these three and the minor tweaks to the earlier ones, I'm pretty happy with the look of the squad and ready to get some paint on them.