Adventures with Greenstuff - G_H

Forgot to mention in my PM, I gave the heart another shot and it turned out much better, I think my problem is visualizing to much like you said. Keeping it simple and remembering that once paint is on, the eyes will do the work for you.

When we last left our bull he was still looking a bit naked/ bare so we will make him a cloak.

First off cut off some GS, larger than the bits we have been using before;


Mix it together like before. This time I didn't bother cutting the central section out, with this it just wont matter about lumps!



Now, lets flatten this out. Not too thin, but we want to flatten it into the shape of the cloak we want. Make sure to pinch two corners as they will be the part that goes around the Ogres neck.
We are looking for something like this;


Don't worry about fingerprints, for this job it wont make any difference at this stage.

Right, lets bung it onto the Ogre. Be careful not to squish it on too much, that will happen when we do the fur effect. make sure the neck part is in place though. Just squish it in around his neck...don't worry at this satge about neatness...it really wont matter!






Right, make sure that the edges of the cloak are reasonably well defined (don't squish them into the model too much).

Now the good bit. Take a very sharp knife, my trusty Exacto is just the job for this, and starting at the bottom of the cloak make a small row of slashes in a straight line. As soon as you start doing this the GS will start to move inwards (towards the model) don't panic! Just get a tool or stick and gently bend it back out if it's too bad. The slashes should be small, tightly knit (close together) and keep doing them in rows along the bottom. When you come to the end of the row, move up and start again making sure you are slashing down into the row below a bit. Now when I say slash, I mean making a downwards cutting movement, but do not cut through the GS, the cuts don't need to be that deep. Enough to leave an impression.



the rows I have done here, whilst straight, also move with the contour of the cloak, so they start to undulate a bit and are not just in a dead-straight line.

Well, I'd like to say there is some complicated trick to pulling this off; There isn't!! just keep doing that all the way up to the shoulders.

GS too hard? Give over! It's a doddle, fear is the only barrier. My 11yr old daughter can do this; and so can you!!!

Now once the back of the cloak is done we need to pay attention to the edges and most importantly the neck. Is there a special complicated trick that requires skill and fortitude? Nope! just keep slashing away moving with the contours of the cloak.
Do pay attention to the edges though, try and cut away from the model around the edges of the cloak so the slashes "fray" the edges for a more realistic look.





And that is a fur cloak. That simple!

This technique comes in really handy for covering stuff you want to cover, but more over is great for making a Hunter esq model (~Conogre...  )

This technique will also work on beasts, though the slashes need to be bigger and more random and you must move with the ergonomics of the beast. It also helps on beasts to "pull up" on the knife a bit to give a more defined clump of fur. You can do this with the cloak too, especially if the GS is still very soft.
(it wasn't here because I had to stop every 20 seconds to take umpteen photo's!  )

right, what's next?
G_H

Ok, we will bung in another quick one.

Our bull is a frequenter of dubious bars across the Warhammer world. As such he is not averse to wearing them leather pants with the laces down the side. A la heavy metal (or blue oyster club!  ).

lets make some stitching!

So I must apologize about the terrible pictures, it was really hard to get this tiny stuff in focus. pay attention to the words rather than the pictures.

Right, roll a thin bit of GS (some left-over from the cloak perhaps!). You really don't need much at all.

We are going with stitching on pants, but you can do this anywhere. Be warned though...this is fiddly (just because of the size of the bits of GS we are using).

Stick it to the place you want the stiches, in this case the side of his leg;


I can't apologize enough about the cruddy quality of the photo's. this was about the 15th that just wouldn't focus. Soz.

Now, remember when we did the shoulder? We banged on some GS and rolled it from the middle out to each edge. Well, we are kind of going to do that again. Make a faint indentation or line down the middle of the GS.
Then roll flat each edge of the GS so it is blended into the trouser (or what ever you are putting it on).





Once blended at the edges (water, a hard press down with a finger et al will all help with the belnding; like we did with the shoulder) take a pin/ cocktail stick or tool and poke in some dots on either side of the ridge we have created, as above.

Now, we need to roll some GS out into a thin sausage. Oh no, thinner than that. Thinner. No Thinner! Still thinner....about as thin as a pin/ needle. Yes, that thin!


Here we have a standard cocktail stick and a needle pictured with our GS. This is slightly thicker than we actually need it...that was because I wanted to be able to get photo's of it. It didn't work!

So, thin. Now, cut it into very tiny pieces. now matter how small you cut them, they will be too long! Pah, don't worry about that!



Yep, they are tiny. Now take a sculpting tool (best) or a pin (hmmmm) or a knife (good luck!) and stick it into the end of the tiny teeny bit of GS. Tool is best, one with a pointy end. Then carefully jab it ito the indentation or hole we make on the model.

(crappy photo alert)


Don't worry what it looks like now. gently bend our teeny bit of GS over to the other hole. It's too long!!! 

yeh, I did say that. Keeping it reasonably taught, just jab it in the opposing hole where it meets. Don't worry about the bit now sticking up in the air (the excess) just cut it off gently with a knife (or pull it off).

The next job is to sort out each end. what you may have is a decent bit of stich looking stuff in the middle with a hole punched in the end of it. Well, sorry people but we are actually going to have to gently re-mould the stich end by pushing up on either side of the stich where it has been poked into the whole.

I wish I could explain this better, but TBH I can't. We just need to very gently re-mould each end of the stich to make it look as if it is going in/ coming out of the pants (or what ever).

here is a crappy picture of the finished article;


It isn't as hard as it sounds or looks when you get stuck in, and lets face it; by my reckoning we started having never used GS and to date you have; re-moulded shoulders, made belts and straps, made a fur cloak so I am sure confidence is high enough to do some stiches!

I will do some better pictures when time allows. I may even re-do this stiches guide again.. but it is what it is. Just give it a try!

So, what next for our Bull?
Well, he has a weapon missing...and it's windy out, he could do with a hat.
More next time

G_H

Great tips, mate! I've always struggled with large areas of fur, so I'm definitely going to give these techniques a try!

The stitching and the other models are great as well

Keep on working and posting!

- Loran

Nice, I like the fine fur effect you got just cutting into the cape with a blade.  As opposed to coarser fur which is what you normally see.

Maaaaaaan, your fur came out ten times better than mine. I think my problem is that i don't have any tools. Im using toothpicks atm I don't think its cutting it

I found a lil cheat for furs, though it's far from perfect. Made by a company called Micro Art Studio http://www.microartstudio.com (not affiliated with them or any other model company in any way i am aware of), they are 2 rubber molds with a useable surface of about 2 x 2 inch. of course all shortcuts / cheats come at a cost, in this case almost 19€ per mold.

This said, i have started experimenting with knife and sculpting tools again after seeing this.

I've also heard about that mould by Microart Studio. It looks really good in person (or should that be fur? ). A friend of mine got one of the moulds, and it works really well! Those things are at the top of my tools list that I still need to get

However, the only problem is that those work well on large areas, but smaller areas still need to be sculpted by hand

- Loran

Nice finefur -effect. I'm one of those people that has only made the rougher fur with sewing needle, which I do like, but I need to give this finer one a try.

I have done the thick fur effect in the past, in the future I was going to do it as another part of the GS experience, but as most people seem to have already had a go there seems to be no need.

the reason I went with this one is quite simple; it is quite simple. A 4 year old with a twitch laying on a vibrating bed in the middle of an earthquake on a turbulent plane losing altitude over an erupting volcano could do this. That's the point with these guides/ how I do it things....I am only going with the uber easy stuff.

If any of these things require more than a seconds thought, then they wont be "in" until much later on. What I wanted to convey was the ease at which people can "get into" GSing. The whole point of the of this was to get people to "have a go".

I think the thick fur is much harder than the fine one....but the result is not dissimilar, in the respect that they both look like fur. The one I described is easier to make and end up with something that looks good. To make thick fur takes (IMO) more time and effort. Lots of people go thick fur (attacking a bit of Gs with a pin/ tool/ Knife and if  not enough attention is paid to the lay of the fur, the ergonomics and contours of the body etc then, quite frankly it looks shit.

Guide here is purely to get people "off to a good start" with using GS. The hope was we will get to weapons, faces, whole bodies, moulding and moulds, fine detailing, Xeroxing (copying or replicating by hand) etc etc at a later date. the whole thing is not really designed to get the more experienced "into" GS...I am assuming they already are into it.

I have been fascinated by people's use of GS for years...so chances are the guide's that people post up with a tag like "have you seen how this person does it..." will almost certainly be met with the answer yes, but I am always interested to see any GS tutorials that maybe I have missed because every little helps and everybody seem's to do things very differently.

G_H

Talk about talent.  Nice work mate!

This tutorial is really good, G_H, no denying that I also agree with the idea of trying to learn every little scrap of knowledge related to sculpting, as everyone can always get that little bit better

I can't wait to get some new models and test out some of the things you showed, especially that belt thing around the torso

What's up next?

- Loran

This has served as an inspiration to me mate, I wanted a tribe that lived in the mountains near kislev but couldn't for the life of me sculpt fur...and now I can! Cheers buddy appreciate the help

This has served as an inspiration to me mate, I wanted a tribe that lived in the mountains near kislev but couldn't for the life of me sculpt fur...and now I can! Cheers buddy appreciate the help

Then my work here is done. For me; if one person goes away from this and makes something out of GS then that's the job done. All I want is for people who think they can't use GS to have a go. My hope is that once you take the first step then after that the sky is the limit.

G_H

Honestly mate, it's served me amazingly...ok I scrapped the first try as it just didn't sit right...but I'm gonna redo one in a bit and see how this turns out haha. Thanks again man, I owe you one B-) any chance you're near Suffolk UK? Owe you a pint lol

Then I am glad to be of service. Start with small steps and maybe one day you too could be making stuff like this;
(the kind of stuff I can only dream of! Maybe one day....)

http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=106903&start=0

Tupavko is my Greenstuff Guru. One day, just one day I want to be able to make ogre mini's like that! Mind you, Dedled is not that far behind him. Awesome modellers both.

G_H

Tupavko definitely is a talented sculptor I followed his progress for awhile I'm jealous of his skills for sure lol stay with it GH you'll get there

Tupavko definitely is a talented sculptor I followed his progress for awhile I'm jealous of his skills for sure lol stay with it GH you'll get there

Only if god decides to remove one of my two left hands and decides to bestow some actual talent upon me....... 

G_H

Now, make a Hunter! and win some awesome prizes! G_H

Tupavko is a phenomenal sculptor! I have been toying with commissioning him to make a few models for me, for about 3 months now

JJ

^ Oh, agreed. For me the guy is a legend. I have never considered asking him to sculpt a commission though, I perhaps should as I admire his work greatly. The sheer detail and miniscule size of some of the bits of GS he uses amazes me.
I have never understood why FW haven't tracked him down and employed him yet, they really should.

G_H

It's funny you should say that, it is something that has been discussed with him several times, but he just isn't interested. From a financial perspective, they just couldn't make it feasible for him in terms of a realistic salary. Also, he wants to keep his personal and professional lives separate. It's a shame!

JJ

Ok, so request for Beards...lets go!

Lots of different types of beards, I have been doing Chaos Dwarf beards but we will take a quick look at Dwarf style beards and dreadlocks too.

First up, basic Chaos Dwarf beard. Cut off some GS...this time we need slightly more blue than yellow, because we want it to harden pretty quickly (again I need to apologize for the appalling pictures);



As always this will end up being 2x as much as we actually need!



grab the stunty you are "bearding up". Squish the GS into a little fat square and whack it onto his face;
(really sorry about this picture, but you get the idea)



As you can (almost) see we are using a blob of GS rather than doing individual strands. The blob is easier on tiny things like stunties.

Next we need to gently press lines into the GS to create a bottom to top row of fat-ass beard strands;



Now we have the lines in we need to detail that beard. This is where we need to be careful with what we are doing. From bottom to top gently press lines - all the way up the beard strand slap bang in the middle of each beard strand.


Once the - lines have been placed up and down the centre of the beard, now do the same on each side pressing gently into the centre of the beard strand. This should help to keep the strands separate and give the beard more definition, as pictured above.

the beauty of this is remembering that the real magic happens when we paint and wash the beard. It may look a bit of a scraggy mess now...but with paint and wash (esp wash soaking into all those nooks and crannies) it will give your stunty a beard that Hashut would be proud of!

Now, I did mention Dwarf beards (ie not chaos dwarf beards). The stages are the same...exactly the same except instead of making cuts thus; -    we want to start at either side of each strand (as in not in the middle) and press inwards from each side at an angle //// then \\\\ giving a platted effect.

I have tried to demonstrate this on our old friend the GS ogre;

Now, to be honest this isn't my best work...but you get the idea.
When doing a standard Dwarf beard the stands need to be thicker and the cuts /// and \\\ need to match up (a bit) they also need to be wider apart than when doing a CD beard.

The last thing we can look at (briefly) is Dreadlocks. I'm not going to run through a whole tutorial on them, lets just say this;
For dreadlocks we want to do individual strands, the blob & press method doesn't work as well. So take the GS roll it into a long thin (try very thin depending on how thick you want them dreads) sausage and then stick them on individually. Do one at a time, it's just easier to detail them that way.
Periodically down the dread don't make the - cuts, leave a bit of a gap. this is so we can add hair decoration, a bit like this;



Voila! That's beards and dreads.

G_H

Thanks for the tutorial mate! Like I said, seeing how other people go about their sculpting helps me learn new tricks to improve my own sculpting Unfortunately I'll have to wait for a couple of days to test this out, as I've got an exam on Tuesday that I do need to study for quite a bit

Again, thanks!

- Loran