Bas Relief Armor

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Deadite

New member
I\'m out of my friggin\' mind.

I want to add some extra armor to my chaotic vehicles. However, I want to take each piece of the armor and create a Bas Relief sculpture.
Here is an example of a Bas Relief Sculpture
Many more examples can be found on many of the wonderful ancient buildings of ...well any continent really... Egyptians, Romans, Incans, Aborigines...they all had some kind of relief sculpture incorporated in their architecture.

I want each piece of extra amor to look something like that.

Problem is.... I have no idea how to do it! Especially on such a small scale!
Any thoughts?
 
Corvus

Corvus

New member
I think the \"easiest\" (noticed those big fat quotes? :D) way to achieve this is to sculpt the panels in green stuff. You could also try to imitade the bas relief effect by painting it, but this would be even more impossible I guess.
 
K

Klute

New member
I used to mess about with this doing graphics for games.
If you can sculpt then I would recommend that.
As for painting the way I did it in paint programs was to use 3 shades for each colour.If you want the panel grey/steel then paint your pic grey.Now work out where the light would hit and edge the pic white there,opposite is where the shadow would fall,black there.
Ill try to do a pic,back soon.
 
K

Klute

New member
Right here we go,I know its rough but its the way I did bas relief in games.

35428919-b6d6-010400D3-.jpg
 
Corvus

Corvus

New member
I think the technique Klute described here will work for small relief effects, such as scratches and cracks, but for larger, curved surface you\'ll need much smoother transitions from light to dark.
 
E

Evil Dave

New member
you could make a layer of green stuff, press some models you like halfway in, and when it dries press green stuff into the mold you just made.
Make sure you put some oil or some other lubricant between the mold and the greenstuff.
 
A

Astonia

New member
Like Nelson said, though it depends on the size, but lok through your bits n\' pieces box and you mght find some old shield decoration or whatever. Cut it in half, file it down or whatever, and use it as relief. Or Perhaps an old skull, or just whatever you can find :)
 
D

Deadite

New member
Originally posted by Klute
I used to mess about with this doing graphics for games.
If you can sculpt then I would recommend that.
Click to expand...

I didn\'t understand this, Klute. Could you elaborate a little?


EVERYONE WHO RESPONDED - (just so you guys don\'t think I\'m just responding to Klute)
Thanks all for the tips.

I do know how to paint a fake bas relief on a flat surface. but at the end of the day, its still a flat surface...not what I\'m looking for.

Folks also suggested making impressions or shaving minis. While this can work, again not exactly what I\'m looking for. Mini\'s are too big to fit into the small areas of extra armor (think forgeworld reinforced rhino armor...), and most are not flat enough for the effect I want.

Look at the pic I provided again, and you\'ll notice the total depth of the piece is a mere 7inches. Meaning most of the sculpt is fairly flat, but it gives the illusion of a larger 3d piece.
Perhaps you\'ve seen \"Cameo\" necklaces in your grandmothers jewelry collection....such as these .

The lighting effect I can create with paint, not a problem. The relatively flat sculpt is where my problem lies. I don\'t want to settle for some obtrusive GW skull sticking some 6-7mm out of my rhino, when I can have the same effect in less than 2-3mm.

Any suggestions for this kind of \"flat\" sculpting?
 
K

Klute

New member
What I mean is sculpting the area yourself will probably bring the best results cos you know exactly what you want.
The graphics for games were maily like tiles for this.I used a technique which was calles bas relief (which I showed in the crude pic\" which gives a \"3d\" effect on a flat surface.
Have you checked out \"flats\".These are miniature flat sculpts with very little raised area.From what Ive seen they are on small panels too.Ill see if I can get a link.
OK found one.
Flats
 
D

Deadite

New member
Originally posted by Klute
Have you checked out \"flats\".These are miniature flat sculpts with very little raised area.From what Ive seen they are on small panels too.Ill see if I can get a link.
OK found one.
Flats
Click to expand...

A-HA! that\'s it. exactly the style I\'m looking for !
(oh, and I understand now about the stuff I snipped... thanks for elaborating)

Now...if only to get some tips from that book... or maybe see some scanned pages ...or... (hint, hint :duh: ;):D )
 
P

petethemighty

New member
Flat chested....

Hi There,
Here is some relief sculpting I did on a sculpt recently (the only bit of relief work I have online at the moment unfortunately) It is the angel on the guys midriff in case you can\'t guess lol

http://www.greensgallery.sacredblademiniatures.com/greensgallery/new/PaladinSpirit.HTM

For this work I did the best advice is to sculpt the figure like you would draw a figure. Think about the object in a 2D sense rather than 3D. ie: if the face and body are turned away, then just view some reference or a sketch of the figure from that specific angle and try to recreate it. Obviously some bits (like the breasts and face on the angel) are raised, but most is just fairly flat greenstuff sculpted to the right kind of overall shape and then cut into and depressed slightly in areas to give some shape.
Hope that makes some sense and helps in some way.
Good luck :) - Pete
 
D

Deadite

New member
Yes. Excellent. That does help to see it in green like that. thank you.

Now, if only a step by step article were to miraculously appear, I\'d be all set ;)
 
D

Deadite

New member
Originally posted by Klute
Sounds like your after someone to do it for you:D
Click to expand...

Nah. Just show me how. technique and all that. Pete did a pretty good job to start me off.

Though if someone were to volunteer their time and effort, I wouldn\'t be averse to hearing them out ;)
 
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