Mike's blog

[Carcharoth]

I've decided I'm going to be good and try to do a thread saying what I'm up to... don't expect anything too exciting, but this can be a way to find out what I'm currently working, and games I've been playing etc. Feel free to randomly chip in and ask questions about stuff you think I might have forgotten...

22 June 2010
After a few good games over the weekend I've once again got lots of things I want to do. I'm still slowly working on the Fubarnii heavy cavalry character and the two shield/pick delgon troopers - they are all getting there but they are at the slow stage of sculpting...
Other than that I've got a couple of Dhogu on the go to try and figure out exactly how they look, so that I can finish off the Yirnak cavalry. Languishing on the sidelines is the armature new Devanu Jenta, but I'll focus on him at some point later...

[Carcharoth]

24 June 2010
Hmm... the last couple of days haven't been very productive! Jules and I haven't been feeling terribly well (just a bit of a cold) and I also received a copy of Corel Painter that I now want to play with. Might be vaguely useful for doing some artwork if I ever get the hang of it, but not so good for the 3D sculpting...
I have got next week off work though and I'm heading off on a holiday. I'll be taking some sculpting stuff, but no idea if I'll manage to do anything with it!

[Klute]

Painter is great, Im assuming you have a decent tablet ? For quick dirty sketches though I prefer Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. It feels more like "grabbing a pencil and piece of paper and getting stuck in". Painter has more to it obviously and is excellent in its own right.
I messed about quite a bit with 3D sculpting. If you have the cash then ZBrush is the dogs danglies. How they keep the program running smooth with all that data flying about is beyond me. Ive only tried the trial which only has the basic zsphere sculpting which is good but the full version has an amazing way of sculpting initial armatures.
This is a vid of the new zsphere sculpting. This is before its turned into a true mesh and any detail sculpting is done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uul-y1QqgGo&feature=related

[Carcharoth]

Having fun playing with painter, but struggling with some very basic stuff (should have bought an idiot's guide of some variety...). Do you know how to set the white sections of a scanned image to be transparent (so I can set that as a front layer and paint behind it), or does painter just not work that way?
As for zbush? Looks fun, but I'm going to struggle to find time to play with just the 2 dimensions!

[Klute]

Sorry Mike not too clued up on that. I presume you could magic wand the pic you want then invert selection. Scanned stuff will be tough though with the colour variations.

What you describe is something Ive found problematic creating transparencies on the background layer ie the first canvas layer you open. A way around this is to open a blank canvas first then add the scanned Image as a second layer. What you delete on the second layer will be transparent. I think manipulating the second layer is easier than the canvas.

Zbrush is fun to mess about with and quite addictive tbh. Best leave it be lol.

[Carcharoth]

26 June 2010
We're heading off on our holiday today! Sunny Wales here I come. I've got my sculpting stuff packed, just in case I find some free time...

I'll be keeping an eye on the forum though and I hope to see plenty more creature entries over the next week

[darth tater]

Wales?

You off to Brandlin's?   

[Brandlin]

nope t'other end....

psst I'm only 5 miles over the border... i can practically see check point taffy.
I'm actually an English sleeper agent, laundering leeks across the border

[Carcharoth]

30 June 2010
I'm quite approving of this holiday lark
No time to sculpt yet, but I doodled some 'birds' today (same body pattern as the kosok), and I'm getting slightly less useless at Painter.
Right then, better get back to eating icecream before it melts in the sun!

[Bethar]

Jammy person.  I hope we at least get to see some cute baby-on-the-beach pictures.

[Brandlin]

Jammy person.  I hope we at least get to see some cute baby-on-the-beach pictures.

personally I'd never call mike "baby" and have no desire to see him in speedos. Each to their own though

[Carcharoth]

03 July 2010
Home again now, and it is hot here!
Managed a wee bit of sculpting yesterday (trouser laces, lance bindings and a Devanu foot) and hopeful to get back into the routine now I'm home! But first I'm going to start sorting through some creature contest entries...
Might find some beach photos later, but worry not, they won't involve speedos.

[Carcharoth]

13 July 2010
I've clearly failed on the beach photos so far...
I do appear to have got distracted with a new sculpt rather than doing the sensible thing of finishing off all my current projects so I can send off stuff to get cast. Don't worry, I'll get there soon - I've got a bunch of pieces close to completion that will more than fill a mould. The new sculpt has been a fun side-project while the weather was a bit too hot to be working on fine detail (the putty goes all funny when it gets too hot). With all the creature contest stuff going on I started doodling some more creatures of my own, including a large(ish) bipedal creature that I then felt compulsed to sculpt. The sculpt is coming along reasonably well and I'll see if I can share some pics over the next few days.

[Bethar]

13 July 2010
I've clearly failed on the beach photos so far...

That's okay,  I saw them on Facebook so I'm happy!  Lexie with sandy toes! 

With all the creature contest stuff going on I started doodling some more creatures of my own, including a large(ish) bipedal creature that I then felt compulsed to sculpt.

[pedant alert] Compelled.

[Carcharoth]

26 July 2010
Time seems to be flying past at the moment! Lexie is 7 months old today, which is kinda amazing. Soon she's going to be crawling, at which point I'm going to have to be much more careful where I leave my sculpting stuff... We've just moved bath/bed time earlier, which will free up my old evening sculpting slot  Recently I've been snatching short patches of sculpting quite late in the evening, so I've been nervous working on any neat detailing and seem to have started a bunch of new projects rather than finishing anything off...
Current projects on the go: Empire Heavy Cavalry character, two dhogu on foot, one mounted dhogu, running beast, two delgon pick/shield troopers, weapons, baruk conversion pack (alternate head and tail), devanu jenta and a new enarii (but he is very very early in the process). I really need to bite the bullet and get a couple of those finished and off to the casters! Mark has a few other pieces nearing completion so we should have enough for a mould soon.
I've also started looking for another sculptor to help me out with the range, so now it is a case of finding somebody whose sculpting style fits the range nicely. Let me know if you have any suggestions!