I know, it’s been over a month since I posted something, but things are just going very slow with every model taking a lot of time with sculpting and whatnot. Finished up my three proxies for Malifaux Neverborn Alps today though!
In Malifaux, Alps are nightmarish creatures that makes people drowsy and eventually suffocates them, just by being around. Some kind of energy vampire, basically. Alps are based on the creature from German folklore with the same name. In keeping with the Super Mario/Nintendo theme of my Dreamer crew, the role of Alps are played by “Shy Guys”. Shy Guys, much like Goombas, pretty much just wander around harmlessly, so it felt like they fit the bill pretty well. Also, the fact that noone knows what’s behind their masks felt like it could turn into something unsettling and scary-like. As scary as tiny plastic toy soldiers go.
German folklore Alp vs Shy Guy. Almost the same!
So I fired up the Google-mobile and did some research for “scary Shy Guys”, and it turned out to be quite some of them floating around, albeint not exactly what I was planning for. The two below are the ones that felt most fitting though, which helped out a bit when I was going to design the mask and clothing.
Back when I began planning to build them, I didn’t really imagine myself ever hiring them, but instead summoning in the mid-game. To visualize the summoning aspect, I made three pipes that they would crawl out of “from nowehere” to try and grab anyone coming too close. The pipes were made from two sets of plastic tubes, nothing fancy. The pipes were also a way to try and tie in with Lord Chompy Bits.
Three pipes, and the sandpaper which defined them (?)
Above is the collected random bits of what would become the Shy Guys. At this point I had a few general ideas of what to make, but most was up in the air. I had decided to use Warhammer Ghoul bodies as the base, since they were just hunched-and-creepy enough to not require too much altering, pose-wise, and the rest would most likely be sculpted.
I filed away most of the “accessories” of the Ghouls, like random bones and pointy things that didn’t really belong on a Shy Guy. And their faces.
I sculpted a mask on a pin for convenience sake, since I knew that all the masks would look the same, and I was going to make a mold out of Insta-mold with it. This was actually done back when I made the base for Lord Chompy Bits, but back then the concept of creeping, lurking Shy Guys was already settled upon. There might also be some sacrificial blood on the original mask to please the dark gods. Or because I’m a careless dumb-nut.
Early WIP of a Shy Guy pushing itself out of a pipe. At this point it was pretty much just a ghoul with a mask, but I did some repositioning to try and give it that “Just about to come up” kind of pose.
I knew I wanted some icky goo to make the pipes less inviting, so experimented a bit with transparent gel and green acrylic paint, and I think it ended up snotty-looking enough. Above is a test before dullcoat, the final product is dulled down to make it blend in a bit more.
The combination was Vallejo Heavy Transparent Gel and Tamiya Clear Green whipped together with a wooden stick.
And above’s what it looks like when applied. Not very sexy, but after a few days the white disappears and it becomes transparent and nice.
Aaaand the final product:
Mr Grabby
Mr. Gooonna Gitcha! (Hard to tell, but that’s one of those white vegetables from Super Mario 2 he’s holding in his hand, by the way. Not sure what kind of veggie though…)
Mr. Out-of-good-names
x^suggestion 