Entering a fantasy world...

Well, Christmas and New Year (as well as a 'significant number' birthday) have been and gone and while it wasn't the most productive of festive periods, I do feel refreshed and have been really enjoying sculpting lately. I'm quite excited about some figures that are a bit different from the current Statuesque Miniatures line up.

For a while, I've had the urge to sculpt some fantasy figures but until now I hadn't been able to pin down quite what angle I was going to take. The sci-fi figures I do are fairly generic, though hopefully with a little twist or a nice pose to keep things interesting, and I find it easy to come up with ideas for that kind of figure. I guess I could do a similar thing for fantasy, making generic figures (most probably female and sexy...) in various styles of fantasy outfit, but to be honest I'm not really sufficiently interested in or knowledgeable of fantasy/historical armour and clothing to pull that off. Tre Manor of Red Box Games is for me the master of this type of figure and has created a brilliant range of figures. He's clearly know his stuff when it comes to the fantasy genre and I know I don't have the knowledge to do something similar. Plus, why would I try to compete when he's created such a comprehensive range?

No, I need to find my own way in the fantasy world. Part of my ugre to create some fantasy characters is a desire to sculpt some weirder and more unusual figures; scary monsters and gribbly creatures that are a world away from my sci-fi girls. Jody Siegel's amazing Imbrian Arts goblins and Dave King's rather joyful Bederken figures have captured my attention, as well as various  'old school' Citadel Miniatures blogs that showcase the charms of the often eccentric but always characterful nature of many older figures. I've also been pouring over artwork from the likes of John Bauer and Brian Froud, surely sources inspiration for many of the figures I've been admiring.

One thing that has been impressed on me is the story telling aspect of much of what I've mentioned above. While I do indeed have an elaborate, overarching story behind my sci-fi range (though it's all a bit shoehorned in...) it's not really necessary for me to convey that. Sexy girls with guns will be popular regardless of what history I have invented for them!

For my fantasy range, I really want a story to hang everything on from the beginning and I've had fun trying to create what is essentially a fairytale told through miniatures and various vague and cryptic passages of text. Through this, I hope the rather disparate range of figures I have planned will work together as a whole and allow the customer to invest some imagination in them beyond what the figure immediately portrays. The theme I have chosen to work around is the classic 'girl lost in a fantasy land' à la Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth and much more. So, sure it's not original but there nothing wrong with an archetype!

Apologies for the lack of pretty picture but hopefully I'll have something to share soon. In the meantime, here's the first piece of the story puzzle:


Malinquent /mə'lɪŋkwənt/ (n.)
1. A malingering delinquent.
2. (The) Malinquents: A band of rogues formerly led by Malink the Ostrich Knight.

A Big List of Everything

So I decided I wanted to try and list everything I'd sculpted, or rather every completed figure I've done. There have been some that got started and never finished but not that many really. I got a bit carried away linking to pictures of each figure and then to where they're available as appropriate. Some have been blanked out as they haven't seen the light of day yet.

1.Pixie with a Pistol
2.Selkie
3.Halfling Wench
4.Halfling Pirate
5.Halfling Thief
6.Halfling Cook
7.Halfling Swashbuckler

8.Space Adventuress (Heresy Miniatures)

9.Agatha Fox (Reaper Miniatures)
10.Lila
11.Astrid Berger (Reaper Miniatures)
12.Reporter (Frothers Sculpting Competition)
13.Camera Man (Frothers Sculpting Competition)
14.Charity
15.Dryad (Otherworld Miniatures)
16.Nymph (Otherworld Miniatures)
17.Sylph (Otherworld Miniatures)
18.Harem Girl 1 (Harwoods Hobbies)
19.Harem Girl 2 (Harwoods Hobbies)
20.B*******n 1
21.B*******n 2
22.B*******n 3
23.Technician Female (Antenociti's Workshop)
24.Technician Male (Antenociti's Workshop)
25.Leprechaun (Otherworld Miniatures)
26.Brownie (Otherworld Miniatures)
27.Sprite (Otherworld Miniatures)
28.Pixie (Otherworld Miniatures)
29.Havana Gray (Statuesque Miniatures)
30.Mei-Lin Mayfair (Statuesque Miniatures)
31.Kitzie Rama (Statuesque Miniatures)
32.Biker Girl 1 (Antenociti's Workshop)
33.Biker Girl 2 (Antenociti's Workshop)
34.Daisy Tailor (Crooked Dice)
35.Bella the Partisan (Statuesque Miniatures)
36.Gunfighter Witch (Lead Adventure Miniatures)
37.Cook Witch (Lead Adventure Miniatures)
38.Baba Yaga (Lead Adventure Miniatures)
39.Militant Witch (Lead Adventure Miniatures)
40.Sniper Witch (Lead Adventure Miniatures)
41.May Killan (Crooked Dice)
42.Charlie's Angel
43.Six (Private)
44.Timothy Whopping (Frothers Sculpting Competition)
45.Inigo Wilde (Statuesque Miniatures)
46.Pandora King (Crooked Dice)
47.N**** A****
48.H***** A****
49.M** I* B****
50.Jim Barrowight (Crooked Dice)
51.Fembot 1 (Crooked Dice)
52.Fembot 2 (Crooked Dice)
53.R****
54.D**** G***
55.Eight (Private)
56.Emilia 'Foxy' Foxwell (Statuesque Miniatures)
57.Grumpy Old Man (Private)
58.Travers (Crooked Dice)
59.Lady Wintermore (Crooked Dice)
60.Poppy Come-Lately (Statuesque Miniatures)
61.Tilly Tumbleworth (Statuesque Miniatures)
62.T*****

I think that's it- everything I've done since I first started sculpting in May 2007. 16 males and 46 females.

Tilly Tumbleworth

Yeah, I think we'd had a couple when we came up with that name...

Anyway, this is the original sculpture of Tilly Tumbleworth, Kill-Team member and next release from Statuesque Miniatures.

The final product will have small detail changes, namely a strap of pouches around her left arm and a peg on her foot instead of a base tab. She measures 30mm tall and would be 32mm tall unposed.

A very limited number of resin casts of Tilly and (finally) Poppy will go on sale on Monday, with the full metal release to follow. Both are with the mould maker and caster and are also being painted.

Poppy Come-Lately

Hi,

Here's another girl for Foxy's band of dangerous upper-class killers!

Poppy Come-Lately, S.O.E. Kill-Team Sniper

She's sculpted, as usual, from Fimo and Milliput. Unposed she'd stand 33mm tall. I designed her to be cast in 2 parts but I'm pleased that I managed to keep the figure quite '3D'; lots of diverging line to add interest.

Hope you like her. She'll be available from Statuesque Miniatures soon!

Andrew Rae

Emilia 'Foxy' Foxwell Available NOW!

Hi,

Emilia Foxwell, S.O.E. Kill-Team Leader and all round foxy lady is available now from the Statuesque Miniatures Store, priced at £5.50.

Below are photos of the studio paint job by Angel Giraldez.

Thanks,

Andrew Rae
www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk

Emilia 'Foxy' Foxwell

Hi,

I've finally got this figure finished after she's been sitting on my shelf for months.

Emilia 'Foxy' Foxwell, S.O.E. Kill-Team Leader

She's sculpted from Fimo and Milliput and unposed would measure about 33mm tall.  It took a while, due to that nature of the pose and simply being able to reach certain parts but I'm really happy with how she turned out. I really tried to push myself with this one and create something dynamic and interesting, whilst still being relatively simple for the customer to assemble. It will hopefully be a 3 part figure (body, left arm, base piece) so there won't be any pinning of spindly arms required!

She'll be available from Statuesque Miniatures soon!

"I like keeping my hand in. It's been quiet lately. You can get rusty."

Inigo Wilde, SIS scalphunter and all-round double hard bastard, is available now from Statuesque Miniatures.