CXI. Forest King

I present the conclusion of the WIP from my last post. The Forest King:

 

 

The Forest King is a spirit that dwells in Waywode Hunting Grounds. He was tamed long ago, along with the Wodewoses, by a Waywode ancestor. The King is bound to protect the Chapel and the woods. His death would have terrible consequences on the forest.

From the notebook.

INSPIRATION and REFERENCE

The idea for this character stems from Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. I watched it for the first time when I was a kid, and it left a deep impression on me.  In the film there is a creature called the Forest Spirit.

I wasn't going to recreate him in miniature, but to provide my own interpretation.

 Deer body, human-like face, grows plants where it steps.

For the head I wanted something like this; elflike, with sharp facial features and an outlandish skin colour. I don't know who the artist is, but I suspect it's by the late Wayne England. If anyone knows for sure please enlighten me so I can credit the image appropriately. 
*EDIT: yes, the elf head is Wayne England's work.

CX. November

As of a few days ago this blog entered its fifth year of existance. I'll just give a few words of reflection on the past year.

While 2015 saw me making cemetery-themed scenery, this year was all about forests and fields. I've produced enough to equip a table, but there are many more ideas I have yet to bring into reality. I learned a lot in the process (and I hope it was useful to you, too, as observers of my endeavours). What I'm especially happy to have made this year were The Automaton and The Door to the Paths of the Dead vignettes from April and May. They were a shy foray into building and painting works that are meant purely for display, and I enjoyed it very much. I expect I'll make more such pieces, even larger and more elaborate ones, when inspiration strikes and time permits. Finally, thank you all for reading and commenting. 

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I got a number of requests for a group shot of my scenery. Took a while, but yesterday at long last I managed to get it done. The board dimensions are 100x100cm Enjoy.

Great news is that the textured and flocked board I commissioned some time ago is finally ready. This means that soon enough I will no longer have to use the dull grey blanket you can see in the above photos.

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I'll finish with a few WIP shots of the newest miniature project on my desk. The progress is painfully slow since I now have very little time to dedicate to Gardens. I actually started converting just after I had finished the Chapel.

A deer mount from Citadel Wild Riders set was the starting mini. Chopped off its head and replaced it with a Stormcast Liberator's. I also shaved off the saddle using my dremel.

The head got its ears, eyeballs and main piece of armature for the antlers. The fuzzy neck was achieved with flock.

After that I glued wire armature for the prongs.

The antlers were built up with several successive layers of green stuff.

Still looking messy here.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures after this point (or I somehow misplaced them; either way, they aren't there). But it got further refined with more green stuff.

And here we have a WIP of the paintjob. This is how it stands now.