Wardancers Finished: Stag

Next up I had t do the dancer on the "pogo-stick". I made him wear a deer mask. This I choose to make the headgear more subtle as the main area of interest would be the stick and the pose. Now was also the time I wanted to use ankle blades for my dancer.

He'd be dancing without using his legs, that's the general idea at least. This would help to illustrate the discipline, time and effort it takes to become a member of the troup. Help to enhance the uniqueness of the "appointment" to ceremonial dancer/warrior.

photos by: Fruzsi Gaal

I'm very happy with the finished piece. It gives you a sense of speed and purpose: To kill and maim with style.

Wardancers Finished: Hawk

I thought a hawk dancer would be a logical inclusion to the troup so I made one. He was originaly supposed to carry the flail I made for the "dog", but after a while I thought a spear would better suit him. It supported the pose I'd choosen for him much better.

Photos by: Fruzsi Gaal

I didn't like the pose for a long time, but once the spear was in place I never ceased to love it.

Wardancers Finished: Hunting Dog

The rest of the dancers would be dressed as creatures of the forrest. One of them had to be a dog I thought. Orion hunts with his dogs so naturally one had to be a dog, end of story.

I'd originally intended the dancer to be stabbing a person with some ankle blades, but as I came further into the process I liked the idea less and less. I had anothe dancer who had to flail a chain and hook around, but that didn't work either.

At last I came up with the idea of giving "the dog" the flailing chain, make her stand up instead of kicking horisontally into the air, and also gave her a sword to wield. I like it much better now.

Photos by: Fruzsi Gaal

There is something quite menacing about the piece, just as if staring at a whirlwind of death heading your way.

Wardancers Finished: Beastman

I wanted the dancer who played the beastman to look more feral than the rest. I took my inspiration from indian ceremonial dancers, who dress up as bisons. The whole theme is basically modelled on the little of what I know of indian rituals.

I decided the beastman would carry a drum: This would signal him banging the "War drum" e.g. he brings strife to the forest. At the same time the other dancers, even Orion, would be dancing to his beat symbolizing that they would not be there if he wasn't. He's the enemy, but he's still in command of everyone.

To make the beastman dancer more gruesome from the rest, I made his mask be the skull af an actual slain beastman. Also he has a beastman mane, heavily inspired from the bison headgear of indian rituals. First I thought of adding a few feathers to the headgear, but decided against it in the end as I thought it unnecessay

Photos by Fruzsi Gaal

Wardancers Finished: Orion

The chief deity in the wood elf religion, Orion, awakens every spring like the forest he protects. When he does so he blows his hunting horn which signals the beginning of "The Great Hunt". He hunts the natural enemy of the wood elves, the so called "beastmen": Men mutated by by the warping effect of chaos. Orion uses dogs to chase down the beastmen.

I decided my wood elf dancers would reenact this hunt, so I made an "Orion" dancer to lead this ceremonial "hunt". Others would would then play the roles of beastman and various different creatures of the forest.

As the god Orion is male, I thought it would be cool to make the dancing Orion female. e.g. it has to be a female to avoid offending/challenging the real Orion.

My main idea for the troup of dancers was that I wanted each to be easily recognizable from one another at a distance. I did this by emphasizing on their headgear and weapons. Make these bigger  and more prominent compared to their clothes. Then the clothes could be quite uniform to mark them all as being part of a group.

Photos by: Fruzsi Gaal

I sculpted the body first, then the head. Weapon and horn were sculpted seperately and then attached with glue.

The skeleton was simply two pieces of 1,1 mm wire twisted a few times around each other. Nice and simple

Wardancers Pre production: Poses and weapons

Now that I had the heads sorted out it was time to get to the most interesting part of pre production: Poses.

I wanted them to be very aggressive in their appearance and posture as well as elegant and graceful in their stances. Many of the poses here were used although I did make some changes to individual equipment etc,  later in the process. I also wanted them to fight in very different manners f.ex. one would have blades tied to his ankles so he couldn't use his legs, but had to rely on a pogo-like stick to keep him mobile. Others would be wielding spears, swords etc.

Here you see some of the weapon designs I played around with. I became very fond of the idea of blades shaped like the leaves on trees or bushes. I think it went well with the whole "forest" theme.

Wardancers Pre production: Heads

Now that I'm confident in both green stuff and sculpy, have made big showpieces as well as a lot of individual sculptures, I'd like to take it to the next level and do minature work. I planned to make 5 cm tall minatures solely in green stuff.

This time I would make my own interpretation of elven wardancers from the Warhammer universe. They are essentially elves who fight and dance. Used for religious seremonies and general mirth.

 

First off I wanted them to have differently shaped heads from that of humans. I wanted them to look alien, but somehow still attractive. I made some sketches and then proceeded to make two test heads using sculpy. Here I'd also establish the difference in cranial shape from man to woman. The female would have a smooth forehead while the male would have a pronounced jaw and brow.

Photos by: Fruzsi Gaal

I concluded the headshapes to be a good mixture between pleasing and disturbed, although I found the back of the skull too big and alien-like on the male.