Modelling Festerheart Part 7( Conclusion)

The finishing touches had to be made to the build and this entry will round off the whole deal. This  shot shows the fly image gone and a skull imbedded in its place along with a mass of pustules. You can see the small screw that holds the cloak and also another skull with chains threaded through its eye sockets, on the left. I had the problem of how to support the cloak and this is my solution. The fringe of stiff hair satisfies the view of hair we see in the painting, even though it is now not part of the cloak.

 

Now you can see the whole support system with the chains from the last skull connecting to bones laced through the cloak lower down. The top screw is still visible but will be covered by more tufts of hair added randomly to barer areas of the back. Those dead heads are still swinging wide and their wire ties will later be changed to thread.

This pic shows a few disgusting aspects of our friend -numerous sites of infection, swellings, tentacular growths and very painful looking piercings. My painting scheme is basically greens and browns with flesh areas as sickly, pale and intestinal as possible. Metal areas are rusted as this is the diseased state of steel.

The new coloured flies are in place and when finally glued, try to give the impression of all, just in the act of taking off. These are the three smaller ones, the larger being placed on the other side for some 'Dipteric ' balance. (Diptera - the group of insects that includes flies taxonomically)

What went on the base was always a problem as I really had no specific idea in mind. I know I wanted to give the impression of ground that had become diseased as the monster passed over it, and so used stuff that you wouldn't expect to see on healthy earth. The round balls in the middle are polystyrene chunks crushed until the pill like structure broke free. These are randomly sized and when glued haphazardly represent unnatural growths of rot and fungi quite well. Numerous broken twigs are bromeliad roots which we have in abundance, but which are strange looking enough to serve in a  multitude of ways. I used a product called Realistic Water, (obviously for modelling water in many forms) to coat things on the whole model to make them look slimy, this included parts of the base as well as Festerheart's skin, especially those diseased swellings.

 

Here's a look at the back of the axe and behind his knee. The axe would never have been cleaned, so as well as rust, battle damage and age, there would have been an awful lot of dried blood and guts visible. I think I can see a bit of old skin stuck there, I wonder whose? The knee area has had the micro ball treatment and is excessively pussy and painful looking, I hope.

Well, that's the build and here it is on the table, in the Open Category of the Golden Daemon, Sydney 2012. The red book in front is a photographic record of the build to prove that it was a scratch build  and that it was mine.

Finished at last!