Sorry for the double post, but i thought it would be the best way to show the updates i've made. As this is my project log, I don't think it's a big deal to double post anyways. I didn't get around to snapping some shots of the warriors in their current stages, but I have something that explains the development on the pieces I'm working on, which I thought you all may enjoy reading. Shots of the army in progress will come soon- I promise.
The prologue of an army: Visual development of Asirion’s Troops, or, how did them ther’ things get so weird lookin’?Alright… so, where to start with something of this scale? The following project, currently going under the project name “A Stirring in the West”, is my attempt to bring years of sculpting and painting together to form something truly unique, and, quite possibly, never done- the majority of this army, if not all of it, will be
sculpted by me. Not built, not converted, but sculpted. For a project of this scale, I am of the belief that is important not only to look at where the project is going, but where the ideas have come from, in order to convey meaning to my fellow painters and sculptors who will be reading my project log.
And what a project it will be! As I have said, this is something that has been YEARS in the making. The idea first came to me as I sat sculpting my own model for the first time (Also see: Dragon). As I saw the form of the beast begin to take shape, I delighted in the realization that sculpting was something well within my grasp, only augmented by the training I had received for my drawing skills. Thus, I started to consider the idea of a heavily converted army.
The idea mainly revolved around the Dark Elf Warrior, and I could not help but wonder if it would be possible to take a model which, while isn’t bad, isn’t wonderful either, and add something to it to give it a feel of a bit more nobility and cruelty. My first concepts for the conversions, one for the
Warrior with a spear and another for the
Repeater crossbow Elf , made slight alterations to the form of each warrior to add the said aspects to them- mainly through plumes coming off the backs of their helmets. Reminded of the appearance of the Greeks and Romans marching into battle, it gave me the classical feeling I wanted in the army. I would contend this is the first element that has seeped its way into all my future designs for conversions- the plume has been present in almost all my incarnations of Druchii since then. Another element which at the time seemed to add some elegance was the tall, Dark Eldar-esque helm. While not a terrible idea, I have since then scraped it as it just didn’t fit what I was going for.
For about a year, I turned away from warhammer, but eventually the whispers of my own army entered my mind again, and I could not stay away for too long. By this time, a rather new brand of miniatures,
Gamezone miniatures, had come out onto the market. When I first saw these models, I was floored by the beauty and design element behind them, looking at the dark elves in a way I simply had not considered. With that, the entire range began to shape my view of how the dark elves should look- less emotional (as opposed to the warrior sprue, with its grimacing and screaming dark elf heads), a bit more elegant, and yet, still pure evil. With that, I hit the drawing boards again, coming up with these two ideas (
warrior 1 and
warrior 2) of what a warrior elf should look like. Slowly the Druchii armour began to morph into something that was a bit less like the GW version, the pauldrons especially, and I think this is the stage where the druchii concept really became mine. I also came up with a fusion between the wood elf and dark elf plastics to make a
repeater crossbow warrior. It was a way to compliment the other two elves, but really got me thinking on the concept of creating a less armoured design to distinguish the repeater wielding warriors from the spear wielding ones. During this period, there was also another version of the
spear wielding elf which I came up. While not very signifigant in the mainstream development of my new designs, I felt he warranted some mention, as it was again a deviation from the typical GW model.
Again, there was a short leave from warhammer, though not as pronounced as before. During this time, I kept a close eye on Druchii.net and watched some of the conversions develop, continuing to backstock them into my mind, and I built on my ideas, figuring out new things I could do with my own models to make them better. Finally, I began considering my own army again… and thus the past returned to the present, and all of my past works slowly began to merge together into one new form. The need for grace however, was secondary to the need for something evil looking, as I found a new model for inspiration. The Games-workshop Castellans of Dol Guldur, after I saw them for the first time, were exactly what I thought he druchii should look like… armour-wise at least. Thus, I took their armour design, incorporated my own design aspects with that, and gave them the appropriate amount of Druchii armour for each armour type. And here is where I ended up.
With these two concepts in mind, I have two model designs plotted out-
the Dark Elf Warrior and
the Dark Elf Executioner. I’ve also begun some concept designs on the weapons, such as the
repeater crossbow. Deciding it would be best to go ahead and set the design in stone and speed things up, I have begun on the Warriors- I plan on starting this project with the core troops, and building up to the heroes and rare items, much as one would do with painting- my skills will only improve, and it would be nice to have a quite good looking general. That being said, however, I’m going to put plenty of time into these warriors to make them look good. I have made their
wireframes, and began to cover them, and so far I’m pleased with just the initial steps- something that usually doesn’t happen... I’m excited to see where things go.
Next time, pictures of the warriors developing, and a short bit on the thematic inspirations of the army. May also have to make an article on making good wireframes for models… how knows?
