Hey all,

My ears were burning, so I thought I'd check in.  

I've been working on a number of old school styled sculpts here and there, between some other projects.  Unfortunately, time is the one resource I've been very short on.  FWIW, the Gelatinous Cube Grodog linked to was actually my first prototype - and I can't help but wince whenever I see it . . .  Fortunately, my work has improved . . .  

The Egg

dbartman wrote:Hello Egg,

I need to get with you sometime on that little dragon project we discussed on Dragonsfoot a while back.  I've got to figure out how to ship it to you at a reasonable cost and have it remain intact going and returning...

That was a repair job, wasn't it?  The postage costs wouldn't be too bad if you weren't in a hurry to get the piece here and back - I'm sure tons of folks here could provide good advice on shipping.  As far as the issue of breakage goes, I could custom pack the fig (with the aid of a styro cutter) in such a way that it shouldn't be a problem.

Drop me a PM if you want to discuss things further, although ou'd be better off contacting me at DF - I don't get here as often.

Best,

The Egg

stumbling tiger wrote:Definitely giants!   They may not be an underrepresented monster, but they're rarely done well.  As different species from homo sapiens, giants should look mythic, or at least fairy-tale.  Most I've seen just look like humans on a bigger scale, and some are just plain terrible.   Tom Meier's 70's work for Ral Partha is IMHO the gold standard:  http://www.sodemons.com/rhrp01gallery/r ... tgiant.jpg
Now that's a frost giant not just some 52mm viking.

The main thing about a giant is...it's giant.  Human-size products will not fit it, so a suitably primitive giant figurine will have shoes, hat, clothing, etc that looks like it was made by a huge, primitive hand.

Second, there should be something on the giant (preferably ten things) to give an idea of scale.  A giant with human-sized weapons in its belt or with a horse strapped to its back or any one of a thousand other props to give the sense of scale.  One good example might be a fur coat which can be seen to have been made from multiple white wolf hides...or something similar...possibly a belt made from inter-twined ship ropes with a human-sized lantern hanging from it...

One other thing about giants is that they should be broad.  A "real" giant would have to be almost as broad as it is tall in order to stand and move without snapping.  A "fantasy" giant need not be a cube with arms, but there should be something about the figure that indicates the massive nature of its bone structure.

I have set of really good ogres by Citadel.  They don't have all of those details, but there is enough about them to indicate their massive size to make them very interesting on the miniature battlefield.  (Also, since they have slotta bases, they do not fall over every time the table is bumped.)

Mark

OK, you've convinced me.  Giants it is.  Watch this space in a month or two.

The Hill Giant figure is part-sculpted, and I hope to have some pics of the finished green in a few days.

Howdy,


Hooo! You just sold the maximum number appearing to me!


Futures bright,

Paul

I can see myself buying both of those  

Not sure I could ever paint them up to a sufficiently good standard though

Got the Idol and it is indeed fantastic - thanks for that.

Oooooooooh --- nice!

Beautiful figures, the anatomical subtleties, grotesqueries and details are all nicely balanced to give a suitably "monstrous but natural" look.  Da Vinci would be proud.  Or at least his caricaturist aspect would.  

To keep your head from being inflated by the near-perfection, I'll point out that the hill giant's right shoulder is too spherical and tends to distract attention from the phenomenal hands and facial features.  

My own recommendation for a line of classic D&D figures, would be to crack open the "blue book" from the earliest basic sets.  Those are the touchstone creatures that everyone knows and loves, that scream Old School.  You could even go back earlier to OD&D and the supplement booklets (if you don't mind getting swarmed with aquatics from Blackmoor), but I honestly believe that the blue book comprises the finest list of true, primal iconics, the ultimate D&D classic baseline if you will.

Here's some monsters that are rarely done justice that I think people would love to see.

•        Bugbear (correctly proportioned)
•        Carrion Crawler
•        Demons (correctly proportioned; Type VI especially, although V probably represents the greatest challenge)
•        Dragon (Monster Manual / Sutherland style)
•        Ghoul (in suitably animated poses, crouching, pouncing, stalking, etc., instead of just a stand-around-zombie thing)
•        Giant Spider
•        Hobgoblins (with the intriguing Japanese armor overtones)
•        Hydra
•        Manticore (some compromise between Sutherland, Trampier from M&T and the S2 orange cover)
•        Ogre
•        Orcs (with swine-like features, but still realistic)
•        Owlbear (I've never been pleased with any; one like the B2 cover, less chubby and more muscular, would be great!)
•        Shadow (something evocative; I like the old Grenadier undead figure that's an animate robe without hands or face, for example)
•        Skeleton (the skulls tend to be exaggerated, the ribcages where all the detail is are rarely done right)
•        Slimes (that look animate and sculpted, as opposed to a cast-off)
•        Troll (Sutherland, again correctly proportioned)
•        Umber Hulk

Just one old gamer's thoughts!