Patrick Keith

Holiday Sophie 2011

2011-12-05T08:26:00.001-08:00

I wanted to say the 2011 Holiday Sophie Ornament was a really terrific project to work on and I enjoyed collaborating with Reaper Miniatures to make this holiday collectible very special. I wanted to thank Ron, Ed, Tim and Martin for all great collaboration and the opportunity to bring the image and ornament to the fans.

It was a thrill to be able to paint the cover art for Game Trade Magazine's December issue based on Tim "Talin" Collier's design. I worked from a scan of Tim's pencil art and painted the image digitally in Photoshop. It was pretty cool to get to dust off the ol' Wacom tablet and do a bit of scribbling again. Hopefully it did his pencil work justice.

I also wanted to commend Martin Jones on doing a super bang-up job with painting the final ornament. It is also a thrill to see my sculpt work painted by others and his piece turned out exceptional. See if you can spot all the cool names on the list!

Happy Holidays everyone!
- Patrick (The Sculptdude)

Pathfinder pieces for November

2011-11-19T16:52:00.001-08:00

Impact! - Galak Halfling Chef

2011-11-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

I was approached a few months ago to make a commemorative piece to surprise Tom Anders of Impact! Miniatures. It seems to have worked. Check out all the back-story and details on Ramsay's post here.

Pathfinder - Cleric of Urgathoa

2011-10-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Reaper and Paizo have posted a preview of the Cleric of Urgathoa figure I sculpted for the Pathfinder range.

The pose for this figure made for a very challenging sculpt due to the negative space in the original art. It was also pretty tricky to get the scythe handle to line up properly and still be thick enough to allow for molding and casting.

Here are a couple of other views.

Lamia - Center Stage Miniatures

2011-10-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the new Lamia piece I sculpted for Center Stage Miniatures. The focus was to make it "old school D&D" in flavor. Below is a series of progress shots I photographed during various stages of the sculpting process.

Vicky and I also painted their studio model which is featured in their online store.

Pathfinder's Merisiel, Iconic Elf Rogue

2011-10-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of the release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box I have completed a revised Merisiel sculpt of the Iconic Elf Rogue character. Her pose is reminiscent of the action from the box cover art and is a companion piece to the black dragon that will be coming out later this year.

Both of the pieces were shown during GenCon at the Reaper booth. I have since cut the dragon apart and am in the process of keying the pieces for moldmaking. Reaper will also be releasing a generic resin treasure hoard base that would make a suitable display to recreate a diorama of the fantastic box art by Wayne Reynolds.

New Pieces for IMPACT!

2011-10-01T04:58:00.000-07:00

Someone leaked to the "press" that I sculpted a couple of new pieces for Impact! Miniatures again.

The first up is a Valkyrie-esque figure similar to what you may expect to see in a certain dream sequence of a movie involving a bowling dude.

She has two sets of arms to make the figure a little more cusomizable.

The other piece is a hobgoblin cheerleader set to bolster your greenskin team to victory. Or at least to make a lot of racket as they get their heads ripped off. Either way, they should be available soon from the online store at the link above.

- back to the workbench . . .

Pathfinder - Ameiko Kaijitsu

2011-08-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ameiko Kaijitsu has been posted in the previews section over at the Reaper site and on the Paizo site.

She appears in and on the cover of The Brinewall Legacy, a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by James Jacobs. This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

Although she appears on the cover, the art was flipped during the layout process. The art I received by Wayne Reynolds for the character design was facing the opposite direction. Such is the publishing biz.

Pathfinder - King Castruccio Irovetti

2011-07-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

King Castruccio Irovetti has been posted in the Previews section over on the Reaper site.

"King Irovetti, ruler of Pitax and potential rival to the leaders of the eastern Stolen Lands, opens his gates and hospitality to the lords of that realm. Within his city of shallow indulgences and crude decadence, he hosts a tournament ostensibly meant to foster friendship and peace, but fraught with dangers all its own."
Pathfinder Adventure Path #35: War of the River Kings (Kingmaker 5 of 6)

I recently completed this sculpt along with several other new Pathfinder characters, some of whom will be displayed at GenCon next weekend at the Reaper booth. If you are at the show, drop by and take a look.

A Band of Orcs

2011-07-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

The band is here! Now available individually or as a set from Impact! Miniatures.

The sculpts are based on fantastic designs by Chuck Lukacs for the awesome characters from A Band of Orcs musical group. These pieces were a real treat to work on and very different from some of my other stuff. Great care was taken to capture the art and character in the likenesses and hopefully is a fitting tribute to the band and the artist.

Art Deco Bot

2011-06-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here is my recent little fem-bot for Reaper's Chronoscope line. She is sort of a re-sculpt of another bot I did several years ago that was very thin and quite soft in the details. Taking my inspiration from the art deco designs in the movie Metropolis, I wanted to sort of reinvent her a little sleeker and trim.

The original design required an actress fit inside the costume. Here I was able to for the shape more lean and light. The lines on this figure are also much crisper than the original one I sculpted out of "greenstuff". This one is all ProCreate over a wire armature and she is aproxamately 30mm tall.

Sculpting models like this with ProCreate works better for me because this particular material has less "memory" or elasticity than the green Kneadatite putty used by many of the other figure sculptors. There is still quite a bit of flexibility to the gray stuff once it is cured but the working properties are very similar to the feel of Kneadatite's brown putty. Gray stuff can be drilled, filed, scraped and sanded once it cures but it is not brittle and prone to crumbling or breaking like brown Kneadatite. I find it extremely versatile.

Messalina IV- Empress of Paint

2011-06-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulations are in order to painter Meg Maples! She won the Gold Medal in Reaper's Painter Category for Messalina IV Andromedan Empress. Meg has also gone on to Seattle to be a staff painter at Privateer Press and will be painting all sorts of cool Warjacks and Warbeasts soon.

I commissioned her to paint this piece for me before it was sculpted and I'm very happy with the results. It is now on display in my private collection with my other award-winning sculpts and painted figures.

Thanks Meg!

Wyrd Resin Bases - Morgue Set

2011-05-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

Wyrd Miniatures will be releasing the set of Morgue Bases I sculpted for them in June. According to their description:

This set of releases also marks a bit of a change for us for these particular basing inserts as we've moved these bases over to resin, the full base and insert together so its ready right out of the package without glue and having to purchase additional round black bases. Let us know what you think!

The new bases will be available in their online store starting next month.

Reaper Con - May 19-22, 2011

2011-05-01T06:20:00.001-07:00

Reaper Con is only a couple of weeks away. My sculpting class will be "Armatures and Anatomy" covering how to get started making a figure from scratch. Two sessions are offered with one on Friday, May 20th from 9am-11am and the other Saturday, May 21 from 9am-11am. Both classes have sold out in the on-line reservation system but there are still a couple of spots available for attendees at the door.

If you are planning to attend one of those two days and would like a guided tour of how to get started making your own sculpts from a length of wire and a lump of putty, come by and sign up!

Sister Maria

2011-04-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a fantastic shot of a piece I sculpted for Reaper's Chronoscope line - Sister Maria. Since this is still Lent for some of you and Easter is a few of weeks away, I wanted to spotlight the fantastic job Angela Imrie did painting this figure.

Angela asked me during last Reaper Artist Con if I would sculpt a little pair of Wayfarer sunglasses in order to make a nod to the Blues Brothers. How could I refuse?

So, if you're feeling in the Easter spirit and you have fond memories of getting smacked by rulers as a child (like I do) grab a copy of Sister Maria and paint her up for the holiday!

A Band of Orcs

2011-04-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

Throughout April and May I will be sculpting replicas of the members of A Band of Orcs.

According to SMN News "World of Warcraft addicts A BAND OF ORCS play pummeling death metal. And yes, they are dressed as Orcs, most definitely influenced by Fantasy role-playing games.

Music-wise, A BAND OF ORCS is somewhere in between MORBID ANGEL and SLAYER, with some Tuetonic thrash thrown in for good measure. Some might think the concept is a little nerdy, but one thing’s for certain, they are not just a GWAR knockoff. Their gimmick and costumes might overshadow their talent at first, but deep down, A BAND OF ORCS play brutal, chugging death metal with technical chops. On their 7-track debut EP, WarChiefs of the Apocalypse, these Orcs from Santa Cruz can play."

The band commissioned renowned fantasy artist Chuck Lukacs who has provided work for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing and the fantastic art book Fantasy Genesis, to design the characters of themselves as the Orcs. Chuck's work is superb and I am both thrilled and privileged to be invited to contribute to this exceptional project. The figures should be available through Impact! Miniatures when completed. I'll keep you posted here with more on the project as soon as I am able.

Messalina IV - Andromedan Empress

2011-03-29T04:48:00.001-07:00

Many of you may know about my project in long development which is a Sci-Fi setting for gaming. It has been conceptualized as a tabletop skirmish game, a campaign setting for RPGs, a comicbook/movie/tv series, etc. It is also the setting of my 2005 short film escape that features Skip Westmoreland, in one of his many iterations, as an agent of the Galactic Recovery Agency.

When I brought the concepts to Reaper prior to their Chronoscope line I had a range of aliens as yet unnamed. Once I returned to sculpting in 2009 I approached Ron with the possibility of producing a few of my alien characters for their new line. He was amiable to the idea and provided the moniker of Andromidans to my alien species.

So at ReaperCon 2010 I asked Tim "Talin" Collier if he would be kind enough to design the Andromedan Empress for me. This design was later translated into the sculpt for the 2010 GenCon Painting Competition - Sculpted Greens category in which it won the fourth place ribbon.

Now it is available exclusively through Reaper Miniatures and offered in their online store and other fine retail establishments. I will try to add photos of her once she's painted. Currently Meg Maples is working on the studio model.

Death Star Battle Event Blog

2011-02-23T11:28:00.001-08:00

I am currently working with a couple of my gaming buddies to put an event together for GenCon this year. Darren West is designing the rules based on Star Wars Saga Edition RPG Starship combat rules.
Brett Amundson is helping with rules, playtesting, table layout and model fabrication & painting. I am working on creating & painting models as well as setting up the Death star surface for the gaming table.

The initial goal of running the Death Star Run scenario is to faithfully recreate the Battle of Yavin at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope but also allow the players versatile control over their forces to achieve a victory with either side. Check out all our progress at the event blog.

Greebo - Silvania Elf Team

2011-02-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

Greebo Miniatures (formerly associated with Roll Jordan) has announced the release of the Silvania Elf Team for Bloodbowl and Elfball games that I sculpted for them in November. Impact! Miniatures will be carrying the line as the US distributor and they should be available from their online store within a week or so.

Rhinah of the Wild, Female Shaman

2011-01-14T05:06:00.000-08:00

I sculpted Rhinah for this month's new release for Rusted Heroes. She is a great support character for the "Norse Invaders" RHM3006 Rhinah of the Wild, Female Shaman w/ Totem of the Dead.

The pack includes Rhinah and her spell effect of the "Totem of the Dead" a Mystical Essence Spell effect. She summons a Totem of the Dead which causes black billowing smoke to spring forth from the ground and within the smoke it siphons a swirling horror of skulls that shoot out to attack the living enemies of Rhinah.

You can get one now at Fantization Miniatures!

The Nature Warden

2010-12-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

The Nature Warden is now available for pre-order on the Paizo web site. She represents a prestige class for Pathfinder detailed in their new book the Advanced Player's Guide.

I originally saw the art when the book was initially released at GenCon. Upon returing from the show I set about to make a spec piece to see if I could catpure the essence of the character. After a discussion with the art director over a couple of details, he submitted the piece to Paizo. They seemed very enthusiastic over it. Hopefully I'll be able to do more Pathfinder pieces soon.

2010 TGN Editor’s Choice Awards Nominations

2010-12-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

The nominations are in for the 2010 TGN Editor’s Choice Awards and I made the list there too with several other pieces. There is a really nice mention in the write-up for the category list too, where I am included in great company with sculptors Tre Manor, Seth Nash and Bobby Jackson! The nominations included:

Alternative Adventure nominees

Reaper Miniatures Pactmaster
Reaper Miniatures Vermina Rat Queen
Reaper Miniatures Sister Maria – Nun

Fantasy miniature nominees

Impact! Miniatures Timberline Elf Thrower #2

Rules and Expansions

Reaper Miniatures Warlord: The Savage North

Sci-fi miniature nominees

Grindhouse Games Dog Face Squad

I certainly want to thank all of my clients for providing me the opportunity to provide them and the gaming community with exceptional work that is recognized by our peers.

2010 TGN Reader’s Choice Miniature Nominations!

2010-12-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

The robots I sculpted for the JUNK line from Grindhouse Games has been nominated for the 2010 TGN Reader’s Choice Sci-fi miniature award! Head on over to the nominees page at Tabletop Gaming News and register your vote to make them the winner for 2010!

I was also nominated for the 2010 TGN Reader’s Choice Fantasy miniature award for the Skadi sculpt I did for Reaper Miniatures! You can vote for her in the list here at Tabletop Gaming News!

The Sculpting Process

2010-11-12T14:50:00.001-08:00

A while back I received a brief from Reaper describing a specific tiefling-like character they wanted to produce. I designed some art based on the description of the character I recieved and submitted it for approval.

After a little discussion, the art was approved and I began the sculpting process. As with any project, I print out references I receive from the client or from research I do myself. Sometimes if the size of the sculpt is particularly critical for whatever reason, I will print the art at "actual size" to the sculpt I will be producing to give me a good reference for size and proportion.

__________

The first session of the sculpting process involves attaching the armature to a base of some kind, in this case one of my homemade wooden clamps and posing it appropriately. Once the armature is clamped I will add some putty around the feet to secure it. In this case I did not because I was going to add an integrated base next.

Then I begin blocking in an under layer to add strength and form to the armature. Check out the details here for information on how I like to make my armatures. Here I have used brown Aves Apoxie to give a rough form to the anatomy filling out areas of the pelvis and torso. The Apoxie is quite rigid when it cures and does not deform in the mold-making process. Recently I switched to a neutral gray colored Apoxie that I mixed from white and a small amount of black.

__________

Here I made a base from layered Apoxie I ran through my dedicated pasta machine. After the Apoxie slab cured I ground it into an oval and beveled it using my bench-top disk sander. I finished the surface using various grades of sandpaper to smooth it out. After that I drilled two holes corresponding to the wire from the armature and slipped them back into the clamp. I then secured the feet to the base with a bit of putty and a small lump for the skull then allowed that all to cure.

The next session I sculpted the face and allowed that to cure. Sculpting a face can take twenty minutrs to an hour to "the putty has cured and I can't push on it anymore". Then I began blocking in the shapes for the torso and legs. Once I was happy with this area and the putty had begin to firm a little as it cured I cut the armor ridges and details into the leg shapes. I also added a navel. Sometimes I forget to do that and have to poke it in after the piece has cured.

__________

Here I added her horns. They were sculpted onto small pieces of wire using brown Kneadatite or "brownstuff". After they cured I went on to add the arms next following the same process as I did for the legs. They were then allowed to cure.

Over this I added the breast armor cutting the details into the ample lumps detailed in the character brief. The weapon and shield were crafted separately and then attached into place. Once the weapon was secure after the putty cured I sculpted the hand around the haft of the flail.

__________

Here are some more views of the finished sculpt. As you can see, it takes a lot of stages to make a full figure. One of the keys to a successful sculpt is knowing how to break down the project and knowing what is required for each step. When assessing any new piece I always begin by breaking the project into sections that can be completed within the time allotted, usually before the putty sets up too much to work with.

Reaper sculpts for November

2010-11-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

Reaper Miniatures updated their Greens Gallery with some of my sculpts.

The Dwarven Forge Goddess Skadi made it to GenCon and back. She has been mastered now and is in the process of being painted. The girl with the braid was completed for the winner of Game Trade Magazine's Design Your Own Mini contest. I tried to adapt the character to the brief as much as possible. I designed the concept art based on the winner's description and then sculpted the model based on the art.

Robots on the Rampage!

2010-10-27T15:16:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of months I have been working closely with Jim Bailey of Grindhouse Games on an ultra-cool new project called JUNK. It is a setting of post-apocalyptic robots with a cool retro design.

Jim was pretty specific in the area of the concept he was looking for which made the fabrication process very smooth. Since these were mechanical characters I was really looking forward to trying a whole new working method involving styrene plastic masters. I fabricated all of the parts from plastic card and rod and had low-temp silicon vulcan molds made for the parts. This allowed me to facilitate the robots as looking manufactured and ensured all of the parts were identical. Then I was able to pose and outfit them as individual characters according to Jim's direction.

The whole process was incredibly fun and really took me back to when I was ten and would sit in my room kit-bashing custom spaceship designs. This is probably the next best thing to working in the ILM model shop that I could hope for.

We have a bunch more of the guys planned along with other really cool designs. To get the initial run check out the link to the Junk page.

JUNK SHOP

Discussion at Frothers.

.

Amatzl Captain and Warrior

2010-10-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

Cavalcade Wargames has posted two new figures that I sculpted for Dragonblood's Axibalan Empire. One is the Amatzl Warrior with Polearm and comes with a scenic 30mm base insert. The second is the Amatzl Captain supplied with scenic base insert and two additional weapon options.

The figures are available directly from their website. The warrior with the polearm either individually or in special pack of six figures for making a formidable unit.

Check them out here - Cavalcade Wargames

Russell

2010-09-14T14:55:00.001-07:00

While working on another project involving scout-like minis I decided to sculpt a version of Russell from Pixar's movie UP! He is crafted with ProCreate epoxy over an Apoxie Sculpt and silver-coated copper wire core and is approximately 20mm tall or roughly 3/4" in height.

Rhinah of the Wild

2010-09-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest piece I completed for the Rusted Heroes line. It is Rhinah of the Wild, Female Shaman for the Norse Invaders. She was sculpted over a silver-plated copper wire armature with a core underpinning of Aves Apoxie Sculpt. She is primarily sculpted from Kneadatite green putty with brown putty accessories.

She should be available soon from Fantization Miniatures.

Sculpting Tools and Putty

2010-08-19T16:41:00.001-07:00

SCULPTING PUTTY

Epoxy putty is a two-part substance that hardens by chemical reaction once the two parts are combined. Commonly, miniature gaming figures are sculpted from a plumbing putty that will withstand the heat and pressure required for the mold making process. This putty comes in a blue part and yellow part that combines to a bright green color. Original sculptures, regardless of the color of the putty used to create them, are still commonly referred to in the industry as "greens".

What kept me from sculpting miniatures for many years was the inability to control the material of the actual "green stuff". I had compared it to sculpting with bubblegum. When I first tried my hand at it in the mid 90s there was no internet resource or community accessible for an isolated noob. After jumping back into the hobby again in late 2005, I discovered there was a wealth of info online and promptly completed my first few sculpts. I still didn't like green stuff very much because it was so different from the plastilene and polymer clays I was already so familiar with.

So, taking lots of tips from pros and others in the hobby I began to experiment with different putty mixing trying to get a better workability to what I was used to. The most frequently asked question I get is about the difference between green stuff and brown stuff. I have summarized it to this:

Green Stuff is a two part epoxy putty that has an elastic property making it suitable for organic sculpting. It stays quite flexible after curing. This also makes carving, drilling, sanding or scraping extremely difficult.

Brown Stuff is an epoxy putty the has a more traditional clay-like feel to it making it suitable for non-organic sculpting, like weapons and armor. This makes it very suitable for carving, drilling, sanding or scraping. This also makes it brittle and very susceptible to breaking.

Initially, I mixed the brown and green putties to get the best properties of both and greatly reduced the frustration of their downsides.

Then, in July '06 ProCreate was marketed and I found a superior all-in-one putty that works for everything. Depending on the mix of white to black the cure and hardness will be affected. I personally prefer mixing it at a 1:1 ratio. It can be carved, drilled, sanded or scraped with good results.

In all respects ProCreate works and behaves pretty much like the green/brown putties. The biggest advantages to me are the lack of "memory" (elasticity which makes fine details extremely difficult to get sharp), low tack (works well with an assortment of tools) and the overall neutral color (no green screaming into my eyes). There are a couple of things to watch for, though. When mixing it, there is a noticeable residue left on your fingers. This will create a "slip" if water is used as a lubricant during mixing. Be sure to wash your hands after your sculpting sessions. I cannot stress how unsanitary it is to lick your sculpting tools, that is defintely NOT recommended when working with this particular putty. Also, it seems to be very gooey when fresh from the package. I store my putty in little plastic jars and dig out a certain amount to work with. If this sits exposed for a couple of days, the hardener will firm up a little and make the putty more workable (unless you like it gooey).

ProCreate and other putty is available through these fine online suppliers:
Kraftmark - manufacturer's site
Heresy Miniatures
Jeff Valent Studios
The War Store

It is also worth mentioning another couple of putties that are extremely useful which are Aves Apoxie sculpt and Magic Sculp. Both of these are formulated differently from the green or brown Kneadatite and even the ProCreate.

According to the Aves web site, Apoxie® Sculpt offers economy as well as performance. This 2-part product has a putty-like, smooth consistency, and is easy to mix & use. It is safe and waterproof with 0% shrinkage/cracking! Working time is 2-3 hrs. Cures hard in 24 hrs., and has a semi-gloss finish. Adheres to plastic, resin kits, wood, metal, ceramic, glass, polymers, foam, fiberglass, & more! Can be seamlessly feathered before set-up, or sanded, tapped, drilled, carved, lathed, or otherwise tooled after set-up, without chipping, cracking or flaking.

Magic Sculp's web site says it is the two-part epoxy putty specifically designed to meet the needs of modelers, crafters and sculptors alike. One of the only epoxies that will smooth out with water. Its grain structure is finer than any other product available and will not shrink or crack even when formed in large structures. It can be shaped by hand or with modeling tools, sanded, carved, painted; you can attack it with a grinding tool and the cured material will not break apart or lose its shape. Magic Sculp will cure at room temperature.

Both of these putties have similar properties to Milliput Superfine White, but are less expensive than importing Milliput from England.

Curing is something the putty does on its own through a chemical reaction. Since the material is not polymer clay (like Sculpey, Fimo or Cernit) it does not need to be baked at higher temperatures for it to harden. You may hear sculptors refer to a "putty oven" and "cooking" their sculpts. This is similar to an Easy Bake Oven for your putty. Higher temperatures cause the putty to cure at a faster rate. Most putties have a working time from 1 to 4 hours and up to 24 hours for a solid cure. Sculpting in stages allows greater control over details and permits working on specific areas of a sculpt at a time. Rather than waiting four hours for a weapon to cure before it can be attached to hand, you can "cook" the putty under a hot lamp and then after it cools for a few minutes, proceed with completing that portion of the sculpt.

My cooker is a custom built job from a one gallon sized paint can, aluminum work light, a 60W bulb and some bit of cork. I trimmed the lamp shade with old scissors and epoxied the light to the top of the can. A similar rig can be made with a large coffee can.

Molds for the sculpts during the vulcanization process can run between 300F and 330F. I have clocked the temp of my putty oven at just over 200F which is plenty enough to make sure it is thoroughly cured before going to mold. I like to leave my sculpts in there from 20 to 45 minutes depending on thickness.

The opposite is also true, the cure time of putty can be slowed by placing it in the freezer. If you have mixed putty you'd like to use at a later time (like after lunch or an episode of TrueBlood) you can place it in the freezer to slow the curing rate. I don't have any data on how long it actually extends the working time but I've left it for a couple of hours and it was still workable. I also store my packages of extra putty in the freezer until I get ready to use it.

TOOLS

Here is how I have now pared down my essential tool collection. The tools I use the most are the absolutely necessary #64NW Double Ended Dental Pick which is similar to the Wax #5 tool. It is my "go-to" tool for about 80% of all my sculpting tasks. I had to grind a sharper edge on it and then keep it smooth with nail polishing pads. My other favorite tools are the Spoon Shaped Putty Knife # 60738 , a flat chisel and round tapered color shaper, a disposable #11 scalpel which has been dulled a bit with sandpaper or a file, and a "pokey" tool which has a couple of different sized needles on each end.

Other useful items are a container for water. I use a spent plastic blister pack with a bit of foam in it to make a sponge. This is handy to keep your tools wet without saturating them. I stick some blobs of putty onto a plastic divider from those Plano plastic case inserts. This makes it easier to cut off bits of putty to mix without having to dig it out of the packages each time. You can also use a plastic swatch cut from a clean milk jug instead of the dividers. I cover this with a bit of plastic wrap when not being used to keep it free of particles. A quick rip peels the plastic right off.

I also have a little spritz bottle of rubbing alcohol handy to keep my tools clean. Uncured putty cleans right up with a bit of rubbing alcohol. Vaseline petroleum jelly is very handy for lubricating tools and various smoothing techniques. If you experience trouble getting fresh putty to stick on areas that are cured after using Vaseline to smooth them, clean the area with a bit of rubbing alcohol first before applying the fresh putty. Alcohol can also clean metal to remove the talc powder that is used in molds and the putty will stick better. Purell handy wipes work wonders at getting your hands and tools clean too.

THE PROCESS

Although in these examples I am using Pro-Create putty, it was a process I developed using regular green and brown stuff. So it is suitable for those putties as well.

Normally I will wet my cutting tool and slice off a chunk of the white part. Then I clean the blade so as not to contaminate the black part, wet the tool again and then cut a chunk of that the same size of the first. Cutting the putty this way allows me to get an exact amount to mix and produces less waste.

I knead the two parts folding them over and over until the color is uniform. I tend to over-mix my putty a bit after the color is smooth. This firms it up a little and assures both parts are blended.

Swatches of plastic are very handy for creating all manner of items. Here I use the divider from a Plano plastic case insert again. I find these little dividers very durable and will not curl up under the heat of a putty oven like milk carton plastic tends to do.

Here I begin by sticking the putty to the plastic card and begin to shape a pile of stones for a figure's base.

Once the putty has cured, I use my cutting tool to carefully pry the part, in this case a pile of stones, off the plastic divider. This technique is very useful for creating swords, shields, guns, bases and other objects. Two-sided items like guns can be made easily by sculpting one side first and then after completing all the details and curing, the item is popped off and the opposite side is detailed.

Plastic wrap is also very useful! It is extremely handy in smoothing large areas, especially with a bit of Vaseline applied. Once the area has cured, the Vaseline can be cleaned off with a little alcohol and fresh putty applied for the next stage. The best trick I learned from a class with Werner was belts and straps. A blob of putty can be stuck to plastic wrap and then cut to shape. By popping the shape off of the plastic wrap with the side of your scalpel, it can be applied to the sculpture and then smoothed into place. The best plastic to use for this technique is heavy freezer storage bags cut into 2" squares.

This rambling collection of tips hopefully has encouraged you to give sculpting a go. It wasn't intended to give any instruction in actual sculpting, that is a whole 'nother topic! But, this should give you a good starting point to using and handling various sculpting materials. If you are already doing figure conversions, you are half way there to making full figures. Give it a shot!

---Patrick

Illustration Gallery - Savage North

2010-08-10T11:34:00.001-07:00

This is a selection of the art I produced for Reaper's game book Warlord: Savage North. In addition to designing the cover logo, I also handled completing the book layouts and rendered penciled art from several other artists including Wayne Reynolds and Tim Collier.

Motto for the Information Generation!

2010-07-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the technological revolution, geek is now hip. More and more adopters of technology are staring to shift from the attitude that geek is, well... geeky. High school athletes and sports fans now dress in costume and paint their faces to attend gladiatorial events much at the fans and attendees at San Diego Comic Con. The cultures are merging and so we need a statement for the information generation that reflects the times.

In ancient Rome the mindset of this culture was:
"Wine, Women and Song"

In the hippie generation this was updated to reflect the times. The motto was immortalized in its own song by Ian Dury in 1977 :
"Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll"

But in the information age this now even seems a bit dated. So I propose an all new motto for the culture of internet, cel phones, streaming media and late night MMORPGers:

"PR0N, DEW and MP3s!"

I need to work up something to put on Zazzle for this . . . .
http://www.zazzle.com/pr0n_dew_mp3s_tshirt-235304726956801720

Sculpts for June

2010-06-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

Here is a new batch of greens Reaper posted for June. Some of these figures I finished before Reaper Con but it's been tough getting back on track after the convention.

The henchman figure seems a lime green color due to the putty mix I used for this particular figure. In a never-ending quest to find the ultimate sculpting material I continue to experiment with material mixes to get a satisfactory result. In the case of the henchman figure I added about 30% Magic Sculp to my greenstuff mix. All I had on hand was white so it really lightened up the color. This really cut the elasticity inherent with greenstuff and allowed me to get really crisp details without making the final piece too brittle.

I am currently doing a test piece in Fimo Classic. So far the results are spectacular. I mixed a bit of black into the classic white to give it a nice cool gray color. My eyesight is very pleased. The Fimo remains a bit spongy and so most of the techniques I utilize for greenstuff remains similar. However, since it is not an epoxy the working time remains indefinite until I choose to bake it. Once the casting tests are done I will try to post results.

Moving Forward

2010-06-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have always considered myself to be a better sculptor than a 2d artist and the stint of work that we just completed on the Savage North reaffirmed that impression. Not that the material is unprofessional, it is comparable to what is currently being published in the tabletop battle game industry. But when reflecting on your own material, you become your own worst critic. Either that or other people are too polite to put you in your place.

With that said, I certainly feel the creative team on Savage North put the best possible work they could into it with the time, materials and resources at hand. I would certainly like to thank Gus, Ron, Ed and the whole Reaper team for trusting us to deliver a top tier product that will move the Warlord brand forward and expand its possibilities. Now that it is at the printer and a proof copy is mere days away, I am looking forward to the work we've done in its intangible form (pixels) becoming a printed reality.

Vicky and I are even now honing our design skills even further to take on additional upcoming projects for Reaper. We are taking a marked effort to renew and practice our fundamental drawing skills that all of our art relies on so heavily. In the upcoming weeks following GenCon we will be working on a long time project called Cobalt69. During the week at ReaperCon I passed around a small 8 page sample of the concept for the proposed game setting and it was met with favorable response. It is currently scheduled for an August 2011 release along with a few other titles going to press prior to then. This is particularly exciting time to pool the creative resources and build a game that will be a direct product of all out creative input and decisive design intent.

Assignment: Mandy Morbid

2010-05-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

I have recently accepted a sculpting commission to create the official miniature for Mandy Morbid's D&D character featured in the web series I Hit it With My Axe. The character is described as a tiefling in plate armor.

I will be documenting the entire process of the design from initial concept art through the final sculpting and casting of the figure. So, once the project is complete and approved I can share the process that I used to create her iconic custom miniature gaming figure. Check back here for the complete tutorial. In the meantime check out the episodes over at The Escapist.

Con Recovery

2010-05-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

I have survived yet another ReaperCon!

The week long ordeal couldn't have come at a more inopportune time with us being only a couple of weeks away from going to press on Warlord: Savage North and my pending sculpting deadlines.

But the entire experience was utterly incredible. Once again Vicky and I were welcomed as one of the Reaper Miniatures' extended family and given rock star treatment. The hotel they put us up in was fantastic even though they kept turning off the AC so our room was scorching hot when we returned in the evenings.

Vicky made a massive amount of awesome cake for the attendees which was gone by the second day of the show.

Ron printed sample copies of the book for attendees to preview throughout the course of the show. All of the feedback was extremely positive and everyone was excited about the new work. I took several new sculpts in various stages of completion and got lots of great compliments from everyone, particularly the other notable guest sculptors. The play-testers and designers even invited me to participate in a session of Crisis Point, Reaper's new super hero battle game that I have sculpted several pieces for. We both had a fantastic time the whole week.

One of the most exciting parts of the entire event for me was getting the opportunity to preview a small sample of my ultra cool and top secret project for the Reaper game line. It is a sci-fi battle game based on some of the alien characters I sculpted for their Chronoscope figure line last year. After passing around my little printed mock-up of the setting, I got a great amount of enthusiasm and excitement about the material from the Warlord development group as well as the owners and potential members of the design team. We will be putting the project on the schedule for publication and I'll be posting more about its development soon.

Utterly exhausted, I am now back at the studio to finish up the current batch of new sculpts and will be completing the rest of the work for the book. I'll be posting again soon with some new pictures of the figures and samples of what we're working on as soon as I'm able.

Latest Work

2010-04-02T14:59:00.001-07:00

Here is a bunch of new things I recently turned in to Reaper.

To check out more head on over to the Reaper Miniatures Previews page.

February and March were massively busy for us with commission sculpting and working on the new Savage North book for the Warlord game. The design team over at Reaper were taken with the work Vicky and I were doing on the book elements, so they have turned over the layout project to us to handle for the book design. We hope to have a preview copy available by ReaperCon. More on that as it gets further along.

During that time I also completed a fantasy football team of zombies and undead for Roll Jordan Miniatures. The first part of the team consists of 8 different figures, some with additional arms and heads for variety. Here are some shots they posted over at Talk Fantasy Football. I'll be doing some additional pieces for this team as well as some female elves over the next few months.

Impact! Minitures have also posted the first two figures for their Timberline Elf Team. The finished team will feature twelve models in all including some lovely, leafy dryads. Here are the first two that are available now in their online shop.

Currently on the bench are pieces for Dragonblood Miniatures and Secret Skeleton but I'll post those once they get the stamp of approval. The Dragonblood line was recently acquired by Cavalcade Wargames and will continue to release pieces.

I will also be teaching three sculpting classes at ReaperCon in May.
SC10-01: Mastering materials
SC10-06: Basing and Terrain
SC10-08: Anatomy and Armatures
Head on over to the page and sign up. Hope to see you there!

Armatures

2010-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

An armature is the skeleton that all sculptures are built on and provides a foundation for the pose to act as a guide for proportions.

I've seen quite a few elaborate armature constructs and sculpting rigs that took more time and effort away from the actual sculpting than what I wanted to spend. There are even a few expensive setups you can purchase ready-made but are more pricey than I what wanted to spend. What it has really come down to is the fastest, cheapest, easiest and most accurate way to make an armature and get to the sculpting part as soon as possible.

Small Scale Armatures

I initially started off using the Reaper Advanced Level Sculpting Armatures - #75002 which was a great time saver and gave a good approximation of the size most figures are being sculpted around. These are great time-savers and are particularly useful for male figures or heavily armored characters.

When I need something more slender, I will go with a wire armature. I use a silver-plated copper beading wire in two sizes. The most commonly used is 22 gauge and is flexable enough to pose easily, yet strong. The 20 gauge is used for bulkier figures or for larger scales like 54mm. Also, this particular wire is easy to cut through. If I need to take an arm off for modification or for molding, it is easy to cut through the putty and break the wire free without causing unnecessary damage to the sculpture.

For normal 28mm human-sized figures, I generally cut two 3" lengths of wire and twist them together. Start about 1/3rd of the way in and twist until you have about a quarter of an inch to the twist. This will give you a general torso length to the armature. You will have one pair of wires that are longer than the other. The longer ones will be the legs.

I then bend the wire at the shoulders and hips. You can use one of the Reaper armatures as guide for size. Generally a 1/8" bend will give a good width for the shoulders and hips. I cover this with a bit of brownstuff putty or Aves Apoxie sculpt to secure the pelvis area and the ribcage so I can pose it easier. You can either use green or gray putty to tack your armatures together as well.

At this point I also like to add a little neck wire. I fold over one end of the wire with pliers and add a small blob of putty. This is then attached to one side of the ribcage and then smoothed into the rest of the putty. This all goes under the 60W lamp for 30 minutes or more to make sure the putty has fully cured.

The armature can now be attached to a cork or gripped in a clamp and posed appropriately. Here I have printed out several poses of a model to check the size and proportions of the armature. The neck wire is left longer than the top of the head. This extra length is trimmed and then folded down to attach the head at the appropriate height. You can sculpt the head directly on the armature at this point. I sculpt the heads separately whenever possible and then attach them to the neck. This allows the greatest flexibility to adjust the pose and position of the head.

At one point I created a fancy wire bending jig based on the layout from the larger scale armatures shown below. I basically traced off the shape onto some really thick plastic card stock. Then it was a matter of drilling 3/64" holes at all of the joint bends from the diagram. I then inserted the same sized brass rod and secured it with a dab of CA glue. I found it was still just faster to twist the wire with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, though.

I leave a bit of extra wire at the feet and bend it to where the wire forms a foot. This allows the figure to be mounted at the toe, which is very important for a lot of action poses. The wire is trimmed with a pair of wire cutters at a steep angle making a sharp point on the end. This allows the wire to be inserted into a cork base much easier. Watch your delicate fingers, though! Most of the time I just lock the armature in one of my custom-made wooden clamps and then secure it a bit at the feet with more putty.

I try to make up lots of armatures and then keep them on hand ready to sculpt. If all of my clamps are being used I stick them to regular ole' cork stoppers for posing and sculpting. The most common sizes are the ones with 1", 1 1/2" and 2" bases (or tops), the largest part. This gives a good foot spread for common slotted base sizes.

Some of the corks I mounted on 2" sections of plastic PVC plumber's pipe. This gives a more comfortable grip especially for smaller figures or for sculpting faces. I basically jammed the small end of the cork into one end of the tubing section and then hot-glued it into place. Of course, your best bet is just to use what's comfortable.

Large Scale Armatures

Printable Armature Diagram - PDF 568k

I can't take any credit for this approach or design, that goes to Chuck Needham, a fantastic historical and garage kit figure sculptor you can visit over at 2Bit Studio.

What makes this design so cool is its' modular layout. The diagram is one I downloaded from Chuck's site and adapted to different scales. The proportions are all correct regardless of what size you scale the diagram since they are all based on an average human skeleton. Creatures can even be based on this with a few modifications to the lengths of the limbs.

Once the correct size is selected, I bend two lengths of the wire in the shape following the limbs with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, one for the left limbs and one for the right. Another length is cut and curled around the skull diagram to provide a solid base for the armature's head. Chuck made a fancy bending jig to wrap his wire around but I work in so many different sizes I normally just trace the shapes with the wire directly from the print-out.

For larger scale figures I use a basic aluminum wire. The parts of the armature are wrapped with a thinner "floral" wire and then secured with either a blob of Aves Apoxie (shown here) or sometimes with JB Kwik epoxy.

The extra length of wire coming from the head section strengthens the "spine" and is bent at the hips to create a mounting point for the stand. Alternately, you can leave additional lengths on the bottom of each foot to attach to a base for sculpting.

Sometimes a brace of some sort is in order to support the sculpture as you work on it. The rig shown here is made from inexpensive parts found at the local hardware or DIY. The threaded rod is 1/4" coarse and fitted with corresponding wingnuts and lock-washers to make repositioning a snap. The small L-shaped shelf brackets are used to hold the support rod to the base rod.

It's very important to note that to get this to work correctly the bracket must be bent off center a bit to allow the second rod to pass through at the side. This is shown more clearly in the closer photo.

All of this is mounted to a simple wooden stand.

The whole setup cost about $20USD and supplied enough materials for four sculpting stands. That comes in really handy if you work on several figures at a time.

I tend to make up a few armatures of different sizes and keep them on hand. That makes it especially useful when mixing up a batch of epoxy putty that none of it goes to waste. There's always an armature handy to stick it onto.

New Sculpts Available

2010-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

I just finished painting some castings of sculpts I recently did for Reaper Miniatures. The deadline for this year's Spectrum submissions is this coming Friday so I wanted to have some photos of the new pieces to send in.

The first piece is Shaerileth the Spider Demon. I decided to go with a straight "dark elf" color scheme on this one and went with blacks and violets. There are striped markings on the legs and abdomen in a lighter violet to tie in the skin tone.

My second entry is Takhi the Lupine Arctic Shaman for the Koborlas faction of Reaper's tabletop battle game Warlord. Since he is in a snow covered setting I decided to go with warm browns and grays to make him stand out against the cool colors of the frost covered base. The base is a resin casting which will soon be available from Resinwerks.

Currently I'm working on some new sculpts for Reaper's Chronoscope line and painting up some new figures that will be available soon in addition to starting my new line line of resin cast game accessories and bases. Design work continues to move forward on Reaper's new Warlord book Savage North and I have completed faction symbols and insignias for some of the new armies that will be included in the book. In addition to that I am also working on new designs for a Sci-fi tabletop battle game of my own.

Holiday work

2009-12-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

Currently being between sculpting assignments, I was asked by Reaper Miniatures to help with the production on the pewter figure of the Highland Stalker mount for Everquest!

It has entailed a LOT of polishing, some spray sealing and packaging but is still cool to be part of the process. Click on the links to see how you can get your very own.

Matt Dixon's Babes in metal

2009-12-16T22:33:00.001-08:00

Impact! Miniatures announced Tuesday the release of two licensed minis based on Matt Dixon's art, that will be available starting in February.

This is significant because - well . . . I sculpted them!

They have posted a little preview thread all about it over at their forms. Feel free to hop on over there and check out the discussion through the courtesy of THIS LINK!

December News!

2009-12-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

Reaper released the Illyrian Scout mini today!

He is available in the Reaper Asylum online store for a mere $3.99! Waste no time and order hundreds! - - - - > Click Here

This character may seem familiar since he is the same type of alien as Smap. Smap was a character I created 25 years ago for a sci fi short film idea. He has since appeared in an unpublished comic and two animated shorts (which are misplaced that I'm still looking for). A couple of years back I sculpted him as a limited edition figure for my own line of boutique miniatures. More recently his species has been the subject for development of a sci fi tabletop battle game. I have written quite a bit about the little critters so be expecting to see more of them.

Fembot scrap

2009-11-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

This lovely device was just a bit on the thin side to mold and cast properly so it will be scrapped in favor of a slightly thicker figure. So - I thought I'd post it here for you to see what I've been up to.

Because of the way the figures are molded for metal casting the final piece would result in a figure that either wouldn't fill the mold cavity properly or would be too delicate for packaging. I will be redesigning another one at some point that will be reproducible.

Spider Demon

2009-11-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Reaper has posted some shots of a hastily assembled version of the Spider Queen model I sculpted for them. She will be available in January as 03465: Shaerileth, Spider Demon.

I am currently assembling and painting one of the master castings and will post photos of that along with a quick assembly guide soon.

Events for October

2009-10-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

Even though I am sculpting my fingers off there are a couple of notable things going on that I will be participating in this month. As the Fates would have it - they are both occurring the same day.

First up is the monthly meeting for A Bunch of Short Guys on Saturday Oct. 24th from 10am to noon. ABOSG is a Dallas-based non-profit animation guild established to foster a community of world-class artists and storytellers. The group provides an educational resource for the local community of entertainment professionals, educators and students, helping visual creators pursue career development.

This month they are having a panel on sculpting and have invited me to participate with other local sculptors to talk about our working methods, materials and the industries we work in. I am very excited about this opportunity.

Second is Reaper Artist Con going on all day Saturday Oct. 24th. This is generally a closed event that is a week-long workshop from Wenesday to Wednesday where the sculptors and painters meet to share techniques and tips and generally level-up. The Saturday in between is an open house where folks can come out and meet the pros, talk shop and other shenanigans.

So - I'll be splitting my time with the two events. If you are in the Dallas/Plano/Denton area pop by and check out one or both of these events.

Sculpting for September

2009-09-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

This full-time sculpting gig is great! I've really been able to get to work on some projects that have been brewing in the back of my mind while going through the whole film project process. Now that all of that is finished I can finally get back to my first original passion of sculpting.

I just finished two sculpts for IMPACT! Miniatures based on a couple of pieces of art they licensed from Matt Dixon. Those are off and away in the post - hopefully they will arrive safe 'n' sound.

In addition to that, I turned in an all new torso for the Spider Queen sculpt to Reaper Miniatures along with four other figures for their new Chronoscope line which they have posted on their site.

I'm currently working on six other pieces with the infernal "green stuff' and will post those as soon as I can. Also, I will be moving the content from the old MorganKeith Studios website to here since I will be continuing painting and sculpting in miniature. Vicky has now branched out into cake design and she will have her own web space with all of that stuff as soon as I can get the code finished.

More soon.

P -

Illustration

2009-09-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Visit my CGSociety portfolio too.

Contact me at work@patrickkeith.com

Visit my CGSociety portfolio too.

Monsters Anonymous

2009-09-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

It took all of two weeks for us to complete the work on Monsters Anonymous, but it is finally done!

Check out the entry we did for the Fox Animated Series contest! Vote for our entry and help us win a TV development deal with Fox Networks!

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom

Sculpts

2009-05-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a selection of my previous sculpting work.

Contact me at work@patrickkeith.com

The Bug

2009-04-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. I'm thinking about sculpting something again.

But just for myself this time.

The last six months have been terribly disorienting with the uncertainty of employment, income and having to start all over in a career I have no real interest in pursing. That aside, the culmination of my creative endeavors over the last decade have all ended up at the same place. So, I have been fighting back a real nagging sensation of apathy.

Then I sat back and assessed the direction I'd like to guide my next creative aspirations. I took a little time off from projects and focused primarily on leisure pursuits until something began to itch in my brain. It's still there. I won't have a lot of time to work on it with my day-job schedule now. I certainly will no longer be able to accept any freelance commissions while currently employed where I am. That is not to say that I would turn down any legitimate, full-time, employment in a creative capacity, that is always my preferred alternative.

In the meantime, I will post what odds and ends I cobble together as I make them. Any other news about my previous projects Bloodwine and Ernor will always be updated on their respective sites once there is something new to report.

See you soon. You've been warned.

New Demo Reel!

2009-01-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I have just completed a sampling of some of the visual effects work I did on Bloodwine and added them to a few clips of some of my animation work. Check it out!

Contact me at work@patrickkeith.com

Visual Effects & Animation

The music is a track called "Two Senioritas" which I composed for a scene in the Bloodwine movie.

Ernor - Episode 1

2008-12-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

Well - it's obvious I didn't finish the 11 Second challenge last month because I was doing actual animation for the Ernor series. Which, by the way, is now online today and can be seen in the viewer here.

Click To Play

Ernor Teaser and Web Launch!

2008-11-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

After working all weekend to finish the animation on the Ernor opening title sequence, it is now online and the new web site is LIVE!

This is the first teaser version. There will be a few more tweaks to it before it goes on the beginning of the new webisodes which launch in December.

Also, be sure to visit our all new web site at ernor.com!

Demo Reels

2008-11-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some samples of my work.

Contact me at work@patrickkeith.com

Visit Doom Bunny Films to learn more about my feature film Bloodwine.

Visual Effects & Animation

Editing

Directing