IGT16 P&M: Inquisitor Vale

[greenstuff_gav]

having not seen what my actual score for P&M this year, thought i'd stick the WIP pictures up!

Inquisitor Vale originally commissioned this sculpt andd thus dictated alot about it, i did however, manage two casts before hte mould gave out, one is my painted peice and the other went into the IGT prize pool!

Originally Inquisitor Vale wanted his namesake to be an elderly inquisitor, one on the precipice where rejuve treatments can only go so far and cited one of John Blanches peices as an insipiration:

I love this peice and the idea of an elderly inquisitor, cloak wrapped around to ward against the cold really struck a chord with me!

out came the sketchbook and i began to expand the character; a few tweaks to emphasise the age of the inquisitor, plus Inquisitor Vale wanted a few specifics; a horde of purity seals, several servo-cherubs and an elaborate walking cane


a few further tweaks were made and i began bulking up an armature; as this is a commissioned peice i hoped to take a cast, but that's a secondary concern

I worked up the bionic arm Vale wanted and tried to show the inquisitor dressing in layers of coats and cloaks, one tucked around.
For any sculpt it's best to start on the inner layers first, getting them right and allowing to dry before working on the next step.

with this inner cloak looking "right" i began to build up the outer cloak.

I knew this needed several layers to give a massive outercloak and the stole would need to be massive!

Inquisitor VAle wanted a mass of purity seals; something i hate in 40k, but who am i to argue

I began by scrounging a load out of my bits box and carefully glued 'em in place

but they looked crap; hanging wrong and looking too stiff, so i had to sculpt 'em all instead

I also began on the cane; a skull onna stick with some careful greenstuffing looked semi-ornate enough to provide a point of interest!

VAle wanted a bigger stole and so i bulked the inquisitors' shoulders up more; this aiding him in looking hunched


Once the cane-hand was sculpted i carefully prised it off; it would ship better in a separate peice and i could look at tidying up more details; adding ][ icons and tidying up the edges of the inner robes

[greenstuff_gav]

Here i took a mould of the Inquisitior; the masses of undercuts in the cloaks folds being terrible on the silicone!
Inquisitor Vale wanted cherubs; i personally don't like 'em but hey, it's not my miniature

i started by cutting back the outer robe and added paperclip armatures; i planned on building the uprights for the cherubs into the cloask' greenstuff, thus aiding them to look like they're floating!

I added one with a speaker-box to his shoulder; i had vague ideas on having three different cherubs (maybe gifts from inquerial establishments for such a long-standing inquisitor) and this one was slightly more inquisitorial; The Voice Of The Emperor

The Cherub was mounted with a long pin; the hole hidden amongst the inquisitors fur stole

the next cherub was a representatio nfo the MEchanicus; more mechanical wings, skull helm and the robes of an Adept of Mars

Where the fold in the cloak hits the base, the armature for the cherub pins through into the base, making him one peice with the cloak

The final cherub was more among the lines of the Eccesiarchy; buff, fit and hooded to best purge the heretic!


he also had more Imperial-Eagle-esk wings and was mounted the same way as the other cherub, pinned to the base


Now Inquisitor Vale hasn't painted him yet, but was very happy with the end result, as was i
i can see several things i'd liked to have done better but this was a nice project to do!

as my resin'd gone all wonky i can see some stupid air bubbles in the cast from this stupid large closeup

also, i copped out and went for a custom bolt pistol to bring the inquisitior back inline with the artwork; had i time i'd have gone for an eagle too!

so, thanks for reading; hopefully Inquisitor Vale paints up the green so we can get a decent look and whoever won the other resin version can fix it and do a better paintjob

[Lord Borak]

Wow, the sculpt is fantastic Gav. The cast I (luckily) got does not do your sculpting justice!

[blacknight]

Love the sculpt, very atmospheric.

Shame the mold died, then again means they are very unique.