And here it is. 24 square feet of blasted-out, evil-corrupted, scorched and ash-covered wasteland.

[Read more...]

Here we are at last!

In our last chapter, we finished detailing and applying texture to all but two boards, which we’ll now be finishing up.  Of the two remaining pieces, one is a “mountain” style piece with no ramp access, and one is a simple flat board, with more of those block-like shapes stuck in the ground.

Our client discussed the possibility of adding a large Khorne icon to one board, and even mentioned the possibility of seeing it glow. Sounded like a good idea to me! I’ve done a handful of pieces with lights already, and it didn’t seem like a major problem, however there were some unique challenges to overcome. First of all, I chose to make the rune on the slope of the mountain board, that way it would have room for lights, texture and of course a power supply underneath.

I looked up a few different versions of the Khorne icon then chose the one that could best be translated into glowing fissures. Then chose a spot that overlapped the cliff edge, in a way that would appear as if the rune dropped out from underneath the crust, with no regard for what the surface of the planet looked like. I drew the outline with chalk, making sure to keep the form just a little natural, with cracks spreading from the points.

Just to really make sure I was ready, I re-watched The Gate.

[Read more...]

Well, it’s been a while hasn’t it? It’s been an amazing month behind our closed doors, and we can finally start telling the stories.

In part 5 we had nearly completed the one of the sections of these battle boards, at least up to priming/undercoat. But we still had 5 more to go!

The good news is I had a pretty solid plan, and we weren’t building any more bridges or other really complicated concepts. Well, one more but we’ll get to that later.

I grabbed the next board and got to work.

[Read more...]

In our last installment we had just glued down every loose item for this first, and biggest, most modified battleboard of the set.

This time, we’ll be finalizing the structure and details of this board, and beginning the next piece of the set.

I use a 30 minute, 2-part epoxy glue as the base for my texturing process. Nothing else would really have the hold between the plastic and the sand that I’ll be using. I cover the board in small areas at a time so that I can work the epoxy into all of the board’s pre-cast textures and other gaps.
[Read more...]

On our last installment, we were shaping the “shoreline” for the pool of liquid that will be a prominent feature on this piece of the battleboards. I thought this would be a good time to talk about one of the issues that crop up around here over and over, which is material compatibility.

I’ve been involved in some heated debates around here when I notice one of the other artists trying to use materials that don’t bond or react badly together, such as PVA glue and plasticard, or spray paint on styrofoam, or nylon with just about anything else. I speak from a lot of experience and melted heaps of plastic on this matter.

So that being said, the plaster I slathered onto these boards will not stick to the styrene.  Plaster also has great compression strength but zero flexibility, and as a result, when the board is picked up and bent even slightly, all the dry plaster pieces release from the slick plastic like an egg off a Teflon skillet.

See? comes right off. [Read more...]

Here we continue the adventure of turning six shiny, grey battleboards into a grim chaos ravaged landscape of awesomeness.

When we last left off, technically in part 1, we were sculpting accessories and details for casting resin bits to be used all over the boards. I wanted to be sure that anything we attach to the boards will be strong enough to withstand years of play and shuffling around in their case.

Scultping in progress.

Much of the stone pieces I sculpted in Super Sculpy and textured realistically with natural stones and pebbles from out in the desert. Higher detail pieces like skulls and bones were done in Green Stuff. Everything gets glued down before casting begins.

Many days later…

What is this? [Read more...]

In part 1, we began our project to convert a set of Battleboards.

Today as I returned from my daily rounds, I found a surprise waiting on the doorstep!

Odd, I wasn’t expecting any deliveries today. What could it be? [Read more...]