The Conclave

The Ordos Majoris - Hobby, Painting and Modelling => Painting and Modelling => Topic started by: greenstuff_gav on January 15, 2012, 11:11:42 AM

Title: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 15, 2012, 11:11:42 AM
so, with IGT on it's way, i thought i'd best start thinking about which crew to take  ::)

i've ordered more spiders for Emyrd, but incase they do't show, thought i'd prepare with another crew, just in case :)

so, Annika first was conceived from some artwork and developed Here (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=356.0), before having her first outing at the IGT09 (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt09.php), where she was .. less than stellar (having wandered around before being Beaten up (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt09.php?i=DSCI0317.jpg) :P ).

so, i thought i'd develop a newer version of the character and what better excuse for an updated profile than to have a new model :D

so we start with the usual paperclip-cut-to-size :)
i wanted her to be taller than the younger version, yet not as tall as other Inq characters; she's slightly older, but not fully grown yet :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika00.jpg)

i got a bit carried away and missed some images  :-[ but settled on a slouchy semi-aggressive pose like a whingy teenager :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika01.jpg)

the clothes are basically the same as the previous version, although i've lengthened the skirt slightly ;)
she's going to have her hair down, the band from her goggles acting as a hair band allowing it to drape down her back.
I've tried (again) half a dozen attempts at sculpting a face, but i'll probably tear this one off and on the next attempt have her goggles on her eyes to make things easier :P 
still got alot of work to do on the shoes yet as well :(

so, here's a scale shot by the younger version and Adept Liwet (who continues to look after Annika's well being!)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika02.jpg)

more pics as i continue to fail to sculpt heads :P
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Macabre on January 15, 2012, 11:56:21 AM
I loved the original Annika (a simple and endearing character). The new one seems a tadge out of proportion with the torso, it looks too long compared to the legs, and the hips are too low (when sculpting women, the top of the hips should be in line with where the belly button would be), likewise with heads, the trick is to get a solid foundation (I personally use 'shaven' zombie heads) and build up on those.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on January 15, 2012, 05:31:13 PM
She looks good, I like how you kept her in absically the same clothes. She is similar and different, like it should be.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: RobSkib on January 15, 2012, 10:14:49 PM
Seems like you're addressing most of the minor changes I was going to suggest, the shoes and the face - goggles would work I think, takes pressure off your workload and gives her an aura of mystery. I'll echo the comments about the hips as well, her legs should join the body closer together I think.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 15, 2012, 10:30:10 PM
Yeah, to echo the others, the problem is with the legs. They're proportionally too little of the overall height, and at the moment, her legs are a long way apart.

Women do have wider pelvises (like men, there has to be room for the genitals between the legs. Unlike men, there also has to be enough room for a baby's skull to pass through.) but their legs aren't as far apart as this.

Overall though, I like it.
She appears to be growing up fast. It's barely two years since Hanja was busy with child abuse. Is someone feeding her growth hormones?
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 16, 2012, 07:49:55 PM
well, my theory was that she was accelerated to her previous age (7?) over a short space of time, no doubt she irritated Rowne who may have slipped her more accelerant, thinking a teenager would be less issue .. oh how wrong he was!  ;D

(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika03.jpg)

i've managed to shorten the torso (thank the Omnissiah i work in stages! managed to keep the arms intact :D ) and clean off the feet's sketch layer (for lengthening the legs) .. but not sure i can do anything about the hips without a resculpt :(

for the next head attempt(s) i'll be using goggles in place of the eyes, this should help speed things up :)

i've had a dig around and don't have a Servo Skull to match the previous incarnation, only coming up with the Devastator Marine one with the claw :(
i wanted to have the original Servoskull still, it's movement and actions erratic as it's ageing quite a bit :)
i did manage to pop into a Local Music Shop (http://www.theloftradstock.com/) and took away a handful of different strings, all for free :D
this means i'll be able to have the Servo Skull separate and with an appropriately long trailing cable :D
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Kaled on January 16, 2012, 08:00:31 PM
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on January 16, 2012, 07:49:55 PM
but not sure i can do anything about the hips without a resculpt :(
Could you fatten up her thighs to bring the insides of them closer together? It wouldn't be a perfect solution, but it could make them look less far apart, and her legs are pretty skinny at the moment...
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 16, 2012, 11:35:22 PM
This might help.

I've done some sketch overlays. I didn't do transparencies, because it's probably easier to tab between the various pictures.
Bear in mind, I'm using seven-and-a-half head adult proportion, so things will be a little different for a more heroic proportion teenager, but it should serve as a good guideline.

Working from the pictures, I'm assuming this is approximately the location of the armature (http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/MarcoSkoll/Miscellaneous/annika03overlayarmature.jpg).

Now, she's got her feet apart, so working from that, this is going to be the approximate skeleton (http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/MarcoSkoll/Miscellaneous/annika03overlayskeleton.jpg). (Particularly in women, there's an angle between the upper and lower leg bones - I personally include a slight bend at the knee on my armatures).
Ignore the fact the top corners of the thigh bones are poking out of her legs, I usually end up drawing them too wide when I do skeletons. What you want to refer to is...

... the picture with the muscle (http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/MarcoSkoll/Miscellaneous/annika03overlaymuscle.jpg). If you tab backwards and forwards between this and the clean picture (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika03.jpg), you can see the main areas that need attention. And it's not much.

Add some putty around the top of her current hips - basically so it blends in with the line the shirt is taking (then resculpt the hem of the shirt slightly wider).
And thicken up her right (our left) inside thigh - the other leg is pretty good, though. Perhaps a teeeeeensy bit, but be sparing.

I didn't get around to doing a "fat layer", because it'd really only relate to the breasts here, but they're perhaps a little low. You can see the lower line of the pectoral sketched in on the muscle diagram - normally the nipples sit roughly on this line.
It shouldn't be necessarily to do too much to fix this though, as if you cut away a little from the lower edge of the breasts, it'd move the centre of the breast up - as well as the reduced cup size helping to stress her adolescent age somewhat.

And now, I have mentioned both breasts and lady genitals in this thread. Art. It's highbrow.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 17, 2012, 02:46:26 AM
Quote from: MarcoSkoll on January 16, 2012, 11:35:22 PM
This might help.

sweet baby jeebus onna pogostick! Marco.. i think i love you  :o
thanks, once again or such a well thought out & infinitely helpful post  :D

once i'm awake (it's 02.42 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoglycemia) ..) i'll be finding out the knife and mixing up some greenstuff :D
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 17, 2012, 12:53:45 PM
I have my moments, and a graphics tablet. Don't put infinite trust in the overlays though - like I said, they're rough sketchwork done to a different school of proportion.

Anyway, I've realised I forgot to mention why the armature picture was there - that was so I could work out which bits were impractical to have to try and trim back if it was necessary to have to improvise a slightly different pose around them. As it turned out, not necessary, but sometimes it's important.

Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 17, 2012, 04:36:40 PM
slight update with arms just balancing on :)

(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika04.jpg)

i've propped the head on for scale comparison, i'll be making her a new one :P
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 17, 2012, 05:07:10 PM
A definite improvement, although it's perhaps a gone mite too far the other way for my liking.
My normal reckoning is that the narrowest point of the waist (coinciding to the top of the hips and the small of the back) is about 60% of the way down between the collar and pubic bones - slightly higher than the navel.

Very quickly (http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/MarcoSkoll/Miscellaneous/annika04sketch.jpg), the top and bottom red lines are the rough locations of the collar and pubic bones, the middle red line is halfway (approximately where you've got the waist now), but to my eye, I'd put the waist about on the blue line.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Molotov on January 18, 2012, 09:04:56 AM
Inquisitor, above all, is a game of characters, and it's really interesting to see this character develop and grow (quite literally, in this case.) Very cool!
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Nevermore2010 on January 18, 2012, 10:05:15 AM
I'm getting a strong River Tam vibe from this teenage version lol Very nice to see the development
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Adlan on January 18, 2012, 03:13:12 PM
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on January 15, 2012, 11:11:42 AM

so, Annika first was conceived from some artwork and developed Here (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=356.0), before having her first outing at the IGT09 (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt09.php), where she was .. less than stellar (having wandered around before being Beaten up (http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt09.php?i=DSCI0317.jpg) :P ).

She got in the way of the Emperors Holy Inquisition. If your inquisitor isn't willing to ruthlessly smash down what appears to be a small girl, just to make their escape easier and prevent any chance of them being followed, I've really got to question how Grim your Dark is.



I like, looks really good, coming along nicely.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 18, 2012, 06:55:42 PM
Quote from: Adlan on January 18, 2012, 03:13:12 PM
just to make their escape easier and prevent any chance of them being followed,
as i recall The Judge shot him inna back ;)

it's always nice to have a chance of redeveloping & improving the profile of a character; i suppose i'm quite lucky at such a radical character redesign :D

i hope these proportions look alot better as i'm at the "it's close enough" stage  :-[ curse my lack of attention span! :)
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika05.jpg)

also, yay Servo skull!
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika06.jpg)
unless i can find another of the original resin skull, this'll do.. want it to be bumbling about as it's rather old, but she's kept it around :)
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 18, 2012, 10:38:41 PM
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on January 18, 2012, 06:55:42 PMi hope these proportions look alot better as i'm at the "it's close enough" stage
The outside left thigh is a bit chunky, but it's tolerable. But yes, definitely better.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Kaled on January 18, 2012, 10:50:17 PM
Quote from: greenstuff_gav on January 18, 2012, 06:55:42 PM
unless i can find another of the original resin skull, this'll do..
Whe was the original skull from?
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on January 19, 2012, 07:13:18 AM
The skull looks the part, perhaps, when it is time to paint it, you could add on a few small cracks?
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 22, 2012, 01:09:34 PM
the original is from the Forgeworld Titan Tech priest (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Images/Product/DefaultFW/xlarge/techpreist.jpg) so i doubt i'll find one :P

wee update with latest head attempt (missing ponytail :P )
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika07.jpg)
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on January 22, 2012, 01:24:15 PM
It might just be me but the face seems a bit odd. Perhaps the lips are a bit too prominent.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: RobSkib on January 22, 2012, 02:51:47 PM
I agree. I'm sure Marco can explain better, but I think the lips are a bit on the botoxed side. I'm not entirely sold on the breasts either, I think it might just be the new camera angle, but they're much too shelf-like, they need to slope more smoothly underneath back onto the stomach.

I can't help but feel like I'm railing on this model too much, I think I just want you to do her the justice the concept richly deserves :P

(Oh and also, when it comes to goggles go big or go home (http://rlv.zcache.com/little_sci_fi_girl_mousepad-p144642548515409385z8xsj_400.jpg) :) )
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: MarcoSkoll on January 23, 2012, 01:25:54 AM
I essentially agree with all of Rob's points.

The lips are too prominent and don't really blend into the face (mostly around the bottom corners). And while the breast size reduction has helped, the shirt is far too formfitting and needs to have a more smooth transition.

Her goggles... well, at present, it looks like the eyes are more than halfway up the skull. Bigger goggles, centred slightly further down, would be a relatively easy fix.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on January 30, 2012, 08:06:54 PM
so, slightly larger head and some basic work to the shoes (i wanted to make pretty pretty shoes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Y1q9RqBfc#t=1m0s) but failed :P )
(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika08.jpg)
i managed to prise the skull off've his old cable and he's propped onto the guitar wire :)
i've gone fora lop-sided look to it to help hammer home its age :)

started to run out of steam (what a surprise; Gav and his sort attention span  ::) ) so tempted to throw some paint on her soon...
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on January 30, 2012, 08:18:51 PM
She looks better now, a bit like she's sulking, which fits with a teenager.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: greenstuff_gav on February 05, 2012, 02:48:24 PM
am at the folks house house-sitting so haven't got all my gear with me, but started painting :)

(http://buildyourimagination.co.uk/minis/conclavegt12/annika09.jpg)
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on February 05, 2012, 03:39:45 PM
She looks very good. Her lips look a bit like she just started experimenting with lipstick and hasn't quite got the hangof it yet. A very nice model and I think that she will look great when she is fully painted.
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Flinty on February 06, 2012, 01:45:19 PM
I really like it - especially the idea of carrying through Character progression with another mini. I also think the little Ad-Mech touches to her shoes and the design on her skirt hem are inspired - not over the top, but gives a very clear visual.

My two year old pouts like that, and some how I can imagine she'll still be doing it for the next 16 years. Perhaps she's upset with the spray tan lines on her legs ;)
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Necris on February 07, 2012, 10:39:07 AM
But what's she got in the bag?

ohhh the suspense
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Mordenkenain on February 07, 2012, 11:01:42 PM
A derringer... or a custom Melta Pistol (She is AdMech after all)
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Draco Ferox on February 08, 2012, 01:35:22 PM
The bag contains a large amount of spare lipstick, as well as a 3/8ths wrench and an array of Allen keys.

Gives me a good idea regarding a female noble who has digi-weapons concealed as makeup items....
Title: Re: Annika - IGT12
Post by: Dolnikan on February 08, 2012, 02:05:45 PM
Some sort of bomb I guess, and a comb.