Nakai the Wanderer [WIP]

[Pezz]

I've been working on my entry for the Chicago Golden Demon 2008, it's a bust of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles Lizardmen character Nakai the Wanderer. He's a kroxigor which is, essentially, one of the larger more hulking warriors with lots of fun spikes.

Either way, I do apologize for the lack of early wip pictures but at the time I was out a camera.

He's a nice chunk of super sculpey with very little aluminum filler, I baked him over the course of many hours and let him have a very long cooldown time in the oven overnight. The scales are two part epoxy putty (green stuff) which I do in clusters to avoid marring the already sculpted scales. As you can imagine, this is tedious and causes me to drink to excess.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/IMG_0142.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/IMG_0158.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/IMG_0144.jpg

As you can see as well, I fail at baking sculpey teeth as they were too brittle and ended up shattering. Now, the brittle teeth have been broken out and I've drilled the holes out with a pin vice. I then used armature wire to create a base for the teeth.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/IMG_0154.jpg

In the future, apoxie clay will be used to sculpt his teeth and thusly a second layer for his gums. After all that I have to make armor plates with inscriptions and all that fun stuff. Then the real fun starts with the paint job ;)

I'll keep updating it every day I work on it.

- Pezz

[Aseyngel]

Nice concept - looking forward to the finished piece. Now thats an idea for good looking scales (and I get the warning - that must be tedious).

[Pezz]

Nice concept - looking forward to the finished piece. Now thats an idea for good looking scales (and I get the warning - that must be tedious).

Indeed it is. They will only be on his back though, in that way. Kroxigors scales are very hard and only present on their backs. They serve as chitinous armor plates that grow naturally. He'll also have gold plates hammered into his body. Terribly sorry I didn't get to work on it today, cleaned my room a bit and I've fallen into a strange sleep schedule because of a gap in my medication, hence why I fell asleep when I wanted to work on it around 12 and I'm awake now :P

By the way there is surprisingly little in Kroxigor reference pictures, especially to Nakai -- they never actually made a miniature of him.

http://uk.games-workshop.com/lizardmen/miniature-gallery/images/kroxigors.gif <-- This stock picture from the army book is all I'm going off of. And those miniatures look goofy.

[stoph]

would it be too much to go to a GW store and get an actual Kroxigor model? this would help you a lot, im sure

[Pezz]

would it be too much to go to a GW store and get an actual Kroxigor model? this would help you a lot, im sure

Nah I have one laying around here, too. It's the BF's.

[Vermis]

Good effort, overall. I certainly don't envy you doing those scales. But I dunno if I should say much, because it probably won't be productive - I'd suggest carving off and redoing a lot of detail! The snout seems a little short and tapered (although that might be the viewpoint of the top photo. I can't make as much from the others); basic shapes a little soft and rounded; and I'm not sure about the longer spikes and the lips, particularly the lower one.

If you want any suggestions for further references, take a bit of artistic license with a tyrannosaur-type head, which the old krox heads (http://uk.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.uk?do=Individual&code=COMP0208006&orignav=301116) were almost certainly based on.

[Pezz]

Oh wow! The old Kroxigors are actually cooler looking than the new ones? I guess I'm taking a bit of creative/artistic license here combining the newer minis and some of the (very little) concept art present where they look more like everquest's Iksar than tyarnnosaurus rex... and I guess a little bit of inspiration came from my little baby boy here (http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/Ifrit1.jpg). :D

I'd like to do a Saurus sculpt in the future and I think I'll take your advice on the dinosaur reference. The long spikes I plan on sculpting flaps of skin in between them but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet. I tried before it was baked but failed miserably, if you have any ideas please let me know. You can see from the newer minis that they have this sort of dragon-like growth on the sides of their heads.

Not so sure about scraping them off and adding more deail though, since a lot of them will be covered by gold plates and such.
I'm gonna go sculpt him now that I'm awake heh

[Vermis]

Oh wow! The old Kroxigors are actually cooler looking than the new ones?

I like some details of the new ones, but yeah!

I guess I'm taking a bit of creative/artistic license here... and I guess a little bit of inspiration came from my little baby boy here (http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/berserkerp/Ifrit1.jpg). :D

Ah. :) I always wanted a bearded dragon, meself. Someday...
Anyway. I see what you were after.

I'd like to do a Saurus sculpt in the future and I think I'll take your advice on the dinosaur reference.

In that case I'd point you towards the Lizardmen art (http://uk.games-workshop.com/lizardmen/artwork/1/) first, which is a hell of a lot better than the final miniatures GW produced. The shape of the mouth and jaw, in particular.
Or is that the art you mentioned?
And I can't resist saying 'look at me!' (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1594647&postcount=31) here...

The long spikes I plan on sculpting flaps of skin in between them but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet...

Ah, I see. Off the top of my head I'd suggest fixing some kind of mesh between the spikes, to spread thin coverings of putty/clay over. Going further I'd suggest building it up to represent a short skull crest that the spikes protrude from. But that's my own preference. ;)

Not so sure about scraping them off and adding more deail though, since a lot of them will be covered by gold plates and such.
I'm gonna go sculpt him now that I'm awake heh

No probs. :) Looking forward to progress.

[Pezz]

So I was prepared to give up on this guy but I don't think I will! I was going to destroy him I got so frustrated, didn't work on him obviously for years... but I decided to salvage him and perform some minor dino dentistry + experiment with sculpting more rigid/angular forms with Sculpey Firm.

So here's the "final" version that i'm presenting for an art school portfolio, but not the "final" games day version.