daboarder
05-10-2014, 05:16 PM
Yes you read that correctly, Face Trophies!
There are a number of factions in 40k where the idea of skinning a foe's head and staking their eyeless flesh on your armour is a rather everyday occurrence.
So if you're a follower of the pleasure prince, a sadistic boogey man or just want something funky then this thread is hopefully helpful to you.
1) Start with a small ball of greenstuff, the size is of course dependent upon how large you want your face to be, but for most "humanoid" faces I find that a ball approximately 5 mm in diameter is sufficient.
9274
2) Flatten the ball gently, ensuring that the center mass is not spread out too far.
9275
3) Using a wet finger, push the edges of the greenstuff out from the center. The apex of each point will be the anchoring points of the final trophy. The number of anchors is up to you.
9276
4) Tidy up the edges of the greenstuff, pushing the points between the apexes back towards the center to create a stretched effect and help give the illusion of tension to the trophy.
9277
5) Taking the point of your sculpting tool, gently work small indents into the apexes of the greenstuff. The size should be sufficient that you are able to place your "anchoring" points into the hole at a later date. In this instance they are approximately 1 mm in diameter.
9278
6) Next take the edge of your tool and very gently make 2-3 small tension marks from the peg holes along the edges of the trophy. Dont overdo these stretch marks as most of the effect will come from painting, these should be merely the major stretch marks.
9279
7) Again gently press the point of your sculpting tool into the greenstuff to create the face. the details and dimensions do not have to be terribly exact, I am sure having your face flayed and displayed probably leads to all sorts of odd shapes and expressions.
NB: When doing parts uch as the mouth I find it easier to repeatedly poke into the greenstuf and forming a dotted line before connecting the dots, than to drag the tool trough the greenstuff.
9280
8) Finally add the desired "anchors" for your trophy. I have shown 3 different methods here.
Firstly you can use a small piece of plastic-card rod, cut and fitted into the hole.
Secondly a small ball of greenstuff can be rolled, placed in the peg hole, and then the top gently flattened with your tool
Thirdly, using the end of a tooth pick it is possible to make spiked abchoring points buy merely gluing the point in place.
9281
9) By varying the size, number of anchor points, expression and shape of the trophy it is possible to create a number of different effects, try multiple sets of eyes, different nose shapes....even a lack of a mouth can be a powerful image. Here are some actual trophies from some of my miniatures.
9282
9283
There are a number of factions in 40k where the idea of skinning a foe's head and staking their eyeless flesh on your armour is a rather everyday occurrence.
So if you're a follower of the pleasure prince, a sadistic boogey man or just want something funky then this thread is hopefully helpful to you.
1) Start with a small ball of greenstuff, the size is of course dependent upon how large you want your face to be, but for most "humanoid" faces I find that a ball approximately 5 mm in diameter is sufficient.
9274
2) Flatten the ball gently, ensuring that the center mass is not spread out too far.
9275
3) Using a wet finger, push the edges of the greenstuff out from the center. The apex of each point will be the anchoring points of the final trophy. The number of anchors is up to you.
9276
4) Tidy up the edges of the greenstuff, pushing the points between the apexes back towards the center to create a stretched effect and help give the illusion of tension to the trophy.
9277
5) Taking the point of your sculpting tool, gently work small indents into the apexes of the greenstuff. The size should be sufficient that you are able to place your "anchoring" points into the hole at a later date. In this instance they are approximately 1 mm in diameter.
9278
6) Next take the edge of your tool and very gently make 2-3 small tension marks from the peg holes along the edges of the trophy. Dont overdo these stretch marks as most of the effect will come from painting, these should be merely the major stretch marks.
9279
7) Again gently press the point of your sculpting tool into the greenstuff to create the face. the details and dimensions do not have to be terribly exact, I am sure having your face flayed and displayed probably leads to all sorts of odd shapes and expressions.
NB: When doing parts uch as the mouth I find it easier to repeatedly poke into the greenstuf and forming a dotted line before connecting the dots, than to drag the tool trough the greenstuff.
9280
8) Finally add the desired "anchors" for your trophy. I have shown 3 different methods here.
Firstly you can use a small piece of plastic-card rod, cut and fitted into the hole.
Secondly a small ball of greenstuff can be rolled, placed in the peg hole, and then the top gently flattened with your tool
Thirdly, using the end of a tooth pick it is possible to make spiked abchoring points buy merely gluing the point in place.
9281
9) By varying the size, number of anchor points, expression and shape of the trophy it is possible to create a number of different effects, try multiple sets of eyes, different nose shapes....even a lack of a mouth can be a powerful image. Here are some actual trophies from some of my miniatures.
9282
9283