Sculpting fur was my first real nose-dive into the wide world of working with Green Stuff. I wanted to match the fur on the Chaos Warrior cloaks, covering the shoulder pads on my old Black Templar army. I was nervous that I'd get it wrong, but I knew the look I wanted for this army, and this was a requirement for that look. So never having worked with green stuff before this venture, I dove into the deep end without any floaties on.
Turns out, I didn't need floaties, and neither do you. Let's get started.
There are many types of fur you could sculpt, but this time we're going to deal with the easiest of the lot, in my opinion, and that's the barbaric, wild fur. Very similar to the techniques behind sculpting chain mail, this is one, simple motion repeated over and over again.
You'll hear me go over the tools needed for this in the video below, but I'll list them as well:
Green stuff
Scalpel-style sculpting tool
Needle tool
Water for lubrication
That's it! Notice I didn't include any sort of glue in the list above? You don't need it at this point, and you won't until the green stuff cures.
Dive into the deep end with me and watch the video below.
Fairly simple, eh? Like I said, its just one simple motion, repeated over and over in a fairly random pattern until you're finished. Let the green stuff cure overnight, and you can pop it off the model for proper gluing before priming and painting. As will all modeling techniques, practice makes perfect, so don't be discouraged if you mangle your green stuff early on, you'll fall into a rhythm quick enough.
Here's a few painted examples of this style of fur. One is a filler I did for the Black Templar Death Wing Belial, and the other is the Inquisitor I took to Golden Demon this past July. The texture lends itself well to painting in techniques, including washes, that help bring out the depth and texture you sculpted.
Sculpting isn't scary, you don't need floaties, and you can work with it so long as you just remember one simple tenet...
All you're doing is just Pushing Around Green Stuff.
- Tim
Very nice article, and the video is very cool. Fur and gap filling is about all I'm comfortable using GS for these days, but I'd really like to get better at it. I really like how the cloak turned out on your inquisitor as well - I'd love to see a tutorial about how you go about making your cloaks/capes. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it! I've got a few more videos planned, and the cloak/cape is one I was thinking about doing. Ask and ye shall receive! I'd like to nail down one more new technique for cloaks though, so it may be a little bit before it's posted, but I'll slot it in the works :)
ReplyDeleteIf you're in the vicinity, or just are crazy enough to travel a long ways, Joe Orteza puts on an excellent Green Stuff class at Adepticon in Chicago. If you're going or thinking about going, I can't endorse that class enough. Not sure if there are any spots left open for them, but still.
Wow, that was an awesome article! Always wondered how to get this type of texture. I can't believe its so easy.
ReplyDeletecool article and video, it's funny hearing people talk because I read all the blogs to myself in my head with my own Australian accent hahaha! Just in time too as I am about to convert a huge bunch of chaos hounds into fenrisian wolves :D
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