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Babale
2010-01-05, 07:56 PM
With a few months of Ceramics class under my belt, and a largely unused pile of Fimo, plus too little free time to actually PLAY D&D, I have decided to begin making D&D minis. However, I have pretty much no idea where to start. I know I need Fimo, but will any color work when painted over? Also, how do I make the base? And what tools are best? For now, I am reading online articles-any tips for more of those? Any tips that might be more obscure or obvious? Any books specifically on making gaming minis?

And finally, any suggestions of easy monsters to start out with? Preferably, something big and simple, just to get started? I promise to post pics if this actually works!

infinitypanda
2010-01-05, 08:05 PM
Invisible stalker. Failing that, purple worm.

Grumman
2010-01-06, 01:52 AM
I'd suggest looking up information on sculpting your own Warhammer figures. It's been a number of years since I've used it, but I think there was a 1Sculpting Yahoo group with some info.

As far as tools go, wax carving tools are what I've always heard recommended.

Anonymouswizard
2010-01-06, 02:22 AM
Get more time and use games workshop minis.

Dandelions
2010-01-06, 02:56 AM
My group uses lego, but we're a bunch of poor students.

Quincunx
2010-01-06, 05:51 AM
Look up CreganTur on this board. Some months ago, he made early-style OotS minis and recorded the process in detail. The thread was in the Arts and Crafts section but has probably sunk out into "do not resurrect" territory.

Babale
2010-01-07, 08:54 PM
I settled on a Storm Giant, since I wanted to try my hand at chainmail and yet, wanted something big to make detail easy. I'm about 1/8th of the way done: I finished the basic body. Next I need to sculpt muscles, followed by adding clothes, followed by Chainmail. Finally, I'll need to add details like a helmet, gloves, boots, etc.

Lycan 01
2010-01-07, 09:05 PM
My local hobby store sells off-brand metal minis for all sorts of games. You can get anything from an Ork with a stick to a Nazi Zombie with an MG-42. They're only a few bucks, too. So if you want a mini that's too difficult to make, and you don't want to run the gauntlet of buying DnD mini boxes in hopes of that one specific figure, you might be lucky and find one in the cheap figures section.

Personally, me and my group use simple pencil and paper sketches to have a rough idea of what's going on. Most of our gaming is just through imagery and description, and dry-erase boards when needed.


If you have the cash, you could pick up a few Warhammer Fantasy kits. Need Orks? Grab an Ork infantry kit for 20 or so bucks, and you'll get a nice group of about 10 Orks you can assemble and paint however you desire. Need bandits or evil knights? Pick up some Chaos Warriors. Want some guards or human infantry? Pick up some Imperial Troops.

If my players insisted on using minis, I'd probably go that route. :smallwink:

OracleofWuffing
2010-01-07, 11:10 PM
Here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98831&) the CreganTur topic Quincunx mentioned earlier... It appears the images are no longer showing, though.

For what it's worth, I made some molds and casted some of my own figures out of clay here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98007). I took the glazing method around painting them, though. It gets a lot more figures out (and requires a hotter oven :smallwink:), but they won't be as nifty as hand-painted ones are.

Tyndmyr
2010-01-07, 11:15 PM
I've done a fair bit of figure casting, but I haven't tried ceramics, let me know how it works out.

I stick with plastics, resins, and clay for the most part. Granted, I use the clay almost entirely for scenery, but it works out pretty good when Ive got time to burn.

CreganTur
2010-01-21, 02:36 PM
You rang...?:smallbiggrin:

Yeah, my webhost got nerfed and I haven't gotten a new one yet to replace my worklog pictures. Here's one of the finished group:
http://wamp-forum.com/phpBB2/album_pic.php?pic_id=617&user_id=547

For sculpting, you should check out Griffin Guides (http:\\www.griffinguides.com). James is running a sculpt along project that teaches how to make a mini. I'm currently going through it, along with a number of other people.

Make sure you have a solid concept with a good amount of supporting source images- that'll help out tremendously. Having a good armature is an important second step, along with the right tools.