01 Oct 2013
Following on from my latest modelling experiments I thought I'd post a small tutorial for those Tyrants who might be interested in playing with Fire 
Steps One and Two: Greenstuff Sausage
Step One: Roll a small ball of green-stuff into a stubby sausage. You won't need a lot, but bear in mind you should start with a ball of greenstuff slightly bigger and thicker than the area you want to cover with flame- in this case, an Ogre's fist.
Step Two: Cut the small sausage of greenstuff into an inverted 'Y' shape. The length of the cut should be around the same height as the hand, or other area which you would like to cover.
Whilst you can make the cut a couple of millimetres shorter, but don't make it too much longer or it will overhang the area in question and look goofy- Fire goes upwards, so you don't want it clumped up at the bottom of the area, after all.
Step Three: Attach the flame
Step Three: Place the split ends of the greenstuff around your object. Connect a very thin layer of greenstuff at the bottom edge- joining the split ends of the 'Y' shape together.
If your flame is too tall, simply fold the tip back on itself, you can see the creases in my picture, as I had to do the same thing myself. You don't want the tip to be too tall as you have to tease it upwards in a moment to make it look more like fire.
Steps Four and Five: Shape it and Re-define the features
The plan is to make the top of the flame look slightly more like the top of an ice-cream cone; this is the sort of shape you're after, but don't worry if it looks very rough:
http://www.texaschicken.com.sg/menu/desserts-icecream-cone.png
This is how mine came out:
Step Four and Five:
At this point, trying to redefine some of the features you have covered up.
In this case I dug out each of the Ogre's fingers so that I could choose to paint them skin-coloured and also make it look more like he was holding the fire, rather than it just engulfing him.
Step Six: Sculpt the detail
Using a sculpting tool and a pair of tweezers you can add the details and sculpt the flame itself.
Start with the tweezers; use them in quick pinching motions to create the spirals; you can twist them as you pull the create the spiralled pattern in the flames; this step is to add height and stop the flames looking stodgy and thick- use them to breathe life into the fire and make it dance!
Then move onto the sculpting tools to add the smaller channels inbetween the details - in this case in the palm of the hand and between the fingers. The aim is to dig a few shallow wavy lines across the surface for extra detail. Try not to cover up features (like those Ogre fingers) and go back to dig them out again if you need to. You can redo the flames many times if you don't like the way it looks after the first time, so don't worry too much!
TOP TIP The single most useful thing I found is: Always start at the bottom and work your way towards the top of the flame. Try to dig upwards at first, from the base of the flame, then at the end of the movement, flick it outwards a little bit, to create flame-tips.
Step Seven: Profit!
Get ready to weep tears of rage and frustration as you find a decent way to paint the bloody things!
For some inspiration, check out my Gnoblog (*Cough*http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=27502.msg361151#new*Cough) and/ or the pictures below, for two methods I used.
For a first tutorial this wasn't too painful!
Hopefully it'll help someone to boot.
Comments and criticism welcome (so long as it's constructive!
)
----------------------
Here's a few that I made earlier, for a unit of Undead Ogre Maneaters:
Group-shot:
All six of my painted Maneaters + Fire effects.
Individual Close-up of the Marbling Effect:
EDIT: Changed the name of the thread from 'Great (and small) balls of fire, due to the, rather unflattering way that the name was shortened on the main forum sidebar
Steps One and Two: Greenstuff Sausage
Step One: Roll a small ball of green-stuff into a stubby sausage. You won't need a lot, but bear in mind you should start with a ball of greenstuff slightly bigger and thicker than the area you want to cover with flame- in this case, an Ogre's fist.
Step Two: Cut the small sausage of greenstuff into an inverted 'Y' shape. The length of the cut should be around the same height as the hand, or other area which you would like to cover.
Whilst you can make the cut a couple of millimetres shorter, but don't make it too much longer or it will overhang the area in question and look goofy- Fire goes upwards, so you don't want it clumped up at the bottom of the area, after all.
Step Three: Attach the flame
Step Three: Place the split ends of the greenstuff around your object. Connect a very thin layer of greenstuff at the bottom edge- joining the split ends of the 'Y' shape together.
If your flame is too tall, simply fold the tip back on itself, you can see the creases in my picture, as I had to do the same thing myself. You don't want the tip to be too tall as you have to tease it upwards in a moment to make it look more like fire.
Steps Four and Five: Shape it and Re-define the features
The plan is to make the top of the flame look slightly more like the top of an ice-cream cone; this is the sort of shape you're after, but don't worry if it looks very rough:
http://www.texaschicken.com.sg/menu/desserts-icecream-cone.png
This is how mine came out:
Step Four and Five:
At this point, trying to redefine some of the features you have covered up.
In this case I dug out each of the Ogre's fingers so that I could choose to paint them skin-coloured and also make it look more like he was holding the fire, rather than it just engulfing him.
Step Six: Sculpt the detail
Using a sculpting tool and a pair of tweezers you can add the details and sculpt the flame itself.
Start with the tweezers; use them in quick pinching motions to create the spirals; you can twist them as you pull the create the spiralled pattern in the flames; this step is to add height and stop the flames looking stodgy and thick- use them to breathe life into the fire and make it dance!
Then move onto the sculpting tools to add the smaller channels inbetween the details - in this case in the palm of the hand and between the fingers. The aim is to dig a few shallow wavy lines across the surface for extra detail. Try not to cover up features (like those Ogre fingers) and go back to dig them out again if you need to. You can redo the flames many times if you don't like the way it looks after the first time, so don't worry too much!
TOP TIP The single most useful thing I found is: Always start at the bottom and work your way towards the top of the flame. Try to dig upwards at first, from the base of the flame, then at the end of the movement, flick it outwards a little bit, to create flame-tips.
Step Seven: Profit!
Get ready to weep tears of rage and frustration as you find a decent way to paint the bloody things!
For some inspiration, check out my Gnoblog (*Cough*http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=27502.msg361151#new*Cough) and/ or the pictures below, for two methods I used.
For a first tutorial this wasn't too painful!
Hopefully it'll help someone to boot.Comments and criticism welcome (so long as it's constructive!
)----------------------
Here's a few that I made earlier, for a unit of Undead Ogre Maneaters:
Group-shot:
All six of my painted Maneaters + Fire effects.
Individual Close-up of the Marbling Effect:
EDIT: Changed the name of the thread from 'Great (and small) balls of fire, due to the, rather unflattering way that the name was shortened on the main forum sidebar
Quote from: IMTHINKING on Sep 21, 2011, 02:33:46 PM
Their tears will be a perfect addition to the Butcher's cauldron.
Did you come up with these yourself, or did you follow someone else's tutorial? 