Cottonless smoke???

[Deadite]

Hopefully I can get a response from some really experienced folks.

I have this image in my head and I\'m trying to translate it to mini.

I\'m working on a Slaaneshi Lord that will be standing tall on a snow-covered rock ledge. He leads an army that is trudging through the tundra towards victory (i.e. snowy bases).

But, to give him a psuedo Deamonic Aura or Essence I would like some \"worshippers\" at his feet, using some spare daemonettes on foot.

Here\'s the catch, I want them to look like images in a mist, fog or even some sort of chaotic smoke, AND offset the tundra-like bases.
And that\'s were I get stumped.
How do you make fog/smoke without using cotton? Any good examples out there?
And how do I go about adding these daemonettes to the fog and not look gawdy or detract from the snowy base?

Maybe I should scrap the daemonettes idea and just try to sculpt smaller figures? (not that I\'m any good at that).

Maybe one of you sculpters can do a better job and would be interested in some small commission work or provide a personalized tutorial?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Wow. A seriously hard question. Personally I think that the only way to show smoke other than cotton wool/cladding is Wire wool. But even that looks out of place sometime.
To be honest I think that the best effect would be sculpted in green stuff but that would still be solid.
Hope that you have luck in finding someone who can do it for you.

 

[Garshnak]

If you cross out the possible, only the impossible will be left

You could make real smoke if you have no other option...find a visible gas that is heavier than air and non-tixoc, easy huh?:flip:

 

[Deadite]

Garshnak - uh... thanks? ???

Dragonsreach - yeah, I guess I should have been more clear.

I am looking for a technique that I could use to incorporate basically nude deamonic figures in a \"smoke\" like atmosphere to billow and caress the model.

Cotton wouldn\'t work as it would not flow well into a solid figure.
So, I guess I\'m only left with sculpting options like greenstuff or milliput and I\'ll have to paint it to look like smoke.

I\'m looking for tips to sculpt \"smoke\" and painting smoke.

And I\'m looking for any advice on how I can make the \"smoke\" look like smoke and not detract from the snow covered base (use a slightly different color?).

 

[Mungo Zen]

Just an idea here but it amy work. Something I have done in kitchens before is \"dropped\" items into water. For example, whipped raw eggs slowly poured in a thin stream will make thin wispy egg strands. Likewise boiled sugar poured into cold or ice water will create some interesting thin spidery sugar crystal things (hard to describe).

You could try something like that with sugar, or for a less tasty treat, plastics. It would be harder to accomplish, and would need to be painted potentially but you could melt plastic (I am sure there is some at a hobby store for this) and then have ice water sitting in a deep pot, maybe get it spinning, and then drizzle ever so thin streams of it in.

It could work, but may not be thin enough for your needs. I am unsure of the cooling properties of plastics so this would definately be trial and error.

 

[Deadite]

Mungo Zen - hmmm... that is one idea. Thanks. I\'ll have to see if that would be possible with the base and conversion I have in mind. Thanks again.

 

[Temperance]

Well, you could try sculpting some sort of smoke-like object and cast it in clear resin, and have the figure is inside the smoke. Here\'s an example of clear resin air/smoke:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=39441

I leave the actual implementation as an exercise for the interested reader. (in other words, I have no idea how it would be done!)

 

[Deadite]

That\'s another thought. And that\'s very cool. But...
Seems more work than I\'m willing (or able at this point) to do.

I\'m looking for a \"smoke\" affect similar to this http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=46494 and have the smoke kinda \"merge\" or turn into nude daemon figures that would wrap around my mini.

Course, this one; http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=50510
presents some promising ideas..... hmm....

 

[Dedwrekka]

you could try for an idea that i\'ve recently been useing for tau stealthsuits. Try painting what\'s behind it on the front and what\'s in front of it on the back.

For instance, say you where putting them in front of the rock w/ the lord on top of it. Then you would paint the rock, and possibly part of the lord, on the front of the deamonette, but painting the feet to match the ground, and parts of the head to match a sky. Then on the back of the deamonette you would paint the tundra/what ever is in front of it (enemy army, whatever). It\'s my subtle variation on SENMM (only I hope you don\'t make the landscape look too flat). When done right it looks pretty good.

I\'ll post some examples of what I\'m talking about when I can get a decent camera.

 

[Nailpainter2003]

Anything is possible w/imagination alone...

Deadite: I am working on a similar problem, as I would like to create a mist coming off the water; but on another WIP (my CMON entry)...don\'t tell anyone my secrets

Anyway, on this sculpt, I wanted a hand coming out from a flame to snatch up the bad ol\' deamon, so I resorted to sculpting my own. Take a look at my progress, as it may inspire some new ideas for you as well, and I am more than willing to help you with ideas. By the way, I used three different modeling compounds: Sculpey(Base); Super Sculpey(Hand); Green Stuff(Flames). The hand itself measures approximately 3/4\" X 1\".

PHOTO#1.)Base to mount my work, sculpted from \'Sculpey\' The wire is a coming from between the trees will support the \'Hand/Flame\'
PHOTO#2.) Armature&Hand sculpted from\'Super Sculpey\'
PHOTO#3.) Close-up of sculpted hand
PHOTO#4.) Hand incorporated Into Flame

Click on the pics to enlarge and let me know if I can help you with anything!

Faye
P.S. I think I\'m going to try working with clear resin to create the mist I need...just haven\'t figured out all the particulars yet?!???

 

[UncleHex]

Dental floss/tape

Wash lengths of the floss/tape with hot soapy water to get the wax and dental products out then dry it with a hair-dryer to get it really dry.
Rub the dry, clean floss between your finger and thumb and it will turn into many, many fine strands (much finer than cotton) and \'hey-presto!\' you have a very fine stream of mist.
You can also dye the floss after washing it to have coloured mist.
Works for me- hope it\'s what you\'re after!

 

[bushido]

Well, I have no idea about the smoke thing, but if you find the Daemonette models themselves troublesome, I have a couple of suggestions:

The \"dancing girls\" from the Reaper- Dark Haven line. The one in the bikini can be easily made nude...trust me...I\'ve done it...

There\'s the ubiquitous slave girls from that Vect guy (40k dark eldar special character), though they\'re not dancing.

If 25/28mm models are too large or distracting, you might consider the Epic scale daemonettes, though I\'m not sure if they\'re still in production.

 

[Dedwrekka]

If 25/28mm models are too large or distracting, you might consider the Epic scale daemonettes, though I\'m not sure if they\'re still in production

Nowadays warmaster would be easier to get, as epic is getting a slight revamp to apeal to new players, and to hook more people into 40k. I doubt they\'ve been updated though, so they\'re probably the old, bald, craby, vampirish ones.

 

[Deadite]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times Thank you for the replies and inspiration.

After reviewing ideas posted here and looking over a few minis (thanks Temperance in particular for the Air elemental), I\'ve decided on a slight yet more dramatic change to my original idea.

instead of a \"mist\" just kinda eminating from the ground, I think I\'ll go for a billowing smoke that is blown around him and the daemonettes come charging in as if created out of the immaterium. \"Solid\" smoke, yet should provide a really good effect when painted.

Responses individually;
Dedwrekka, thanks for the ideas. I\'ll probably be using at least some of your method (I\'ll be using a slightly thicker \"smoke\', but should see some details behind)

Bushido, thanks for the tips. If the daemonettes prove a pain, I\'ll take you up on your advice. Thanks again.

UncleHex - please share pics! Even if it turns out to not be the effect I\'m looking for, I\'d still like to see how it\'s done!

NailPainter2003 - Thanks for the pics! Very cool. How do you avoid getting fingerprints on the sculpey? I can never seem to avoid that without a bunch of sanding that i don\'t really want to do.

Thanks again all.

If any more technique ideas spring to mind, please share!!!!