Gates Of Hell - Hell Vanguard (WIP)

Hello everyone!

Update January 18th

Posed the model and added details. Also sculpted the first Axe.

Today I will work on the hands and export the files, support, and Test print today.

This will be the last WIP for this post. I will open a new one later with all the weapons sculpted (as soon as I make them available).

Update January 17th

Finished the shoulder(I will model the fel fire after posing), and the Belt armor, and also settled on the head connection point. Instead of working on more pieces to make the soldiers today I will split the development and focus on the leader. The idea is to finish him and test print to see if the connection points are working properly before investing more time and need to redo all the work on all models.

Update January 16th

The gloves took more time than I was expecting but I think that what was done will do the trick. Because of the volume, I could not find a good cutting point to work the ball on the Hand, instead, I decided to give the hand a negative and an additive joint on the arm, it should not the that different.

I will continue today what I was planning yesterday.

Update January 15th

On Friday I worked on the legs and a bit on the belt, the way I built it, I can replace some pieces and remove them in order to get variation among the soldiers.

The Gloves are missing because I removed them to work in another work space. Today I will work on the gloves, belt, and Shoulders.

Update January 13th

Added 2 new images, in the first, are the heads. I have added a different mouth pose and that raised the number of heads to 9. Those heads are already sculpted and will probably be the final (if there is a fitting issue or some sort of problem, I will come back and work on them).

In the second image, there are the Weapons blocked out. The reason for me to post them now is to ask for opinions (there is nothing but the raw shape). On the left, there are the 2 Swords (1 hand and 2 hands) and also the shield in the lower part. In the middle there are 2 polearms, they are almost similar (which do you prefer?). On the Right, there are 2 Axes (one roundish and the other more flat blade, which do you prefer?)

Today I will work on the Armor pieces.

Update January 12th

Corrected yesterday's post date. 

Today I worked on the helmets that will be compatible with the Vanguard models. I have begun with the Leader moving to the soldiers and made the last one with horns. These helmets are a bit thicker on the neck area so that the modular helm can work and also give a bit of movement when connected to the body.

I will now add some poses and sculpt the head. There will be closed and open mouths, to a total of 6 head options.

If you have another helmet suggestion let me know.

Update January 11th

Made a few armor block outs of the 2 main units (The Leader and the Soldiers, the leader is the one with the cape). Right now you can't see too many details because there are none lol and also because every armor is a black-red-ish color (99% black). In short, Foot, Boots, Belt, and gloves are the same. Knee Cap (I'm still thinking). Leg, Skirt, shoulder, and torso belts are different. I also intend to make some variations on the soldiers (no pants and a different torso belt).

I am still thinking about Modular Heads, I want to give more options than the Sword Helmet but, finding a good cut point is hard. I don't want to cut too much down or else the neck direction will affect the head position.

For Hand options I was thinking of Sword (1&2hand), Axe (1&2hand), Halberd (2h), Flail 1H, Heavy Flail 2H also a shield, For Hand Gestures Open and closed. The Leader will be only right-hand modular and as standard, he will be using a Flail and holding a 2H Axe on the Other

--- End of Update ---

After so many tries I finally settled on a possible block out for the base that I will be using for the Hell vanguard and also Vanguard Commander. This one was really hard for me, too many muscles, and that hunchback got in my way. The head was also challenging because many references don't have a full face, therefore using only my imagination did not feel right and I had to redo it many times.

I'm still not 100% sure about the body and proportions yet. I will block some armor pieces and see if it looks right.

As a size reference, I used a warlock pet. As it stands this miniature will have 41mm from the foot to the center of the eye.

The 25mm base seam is a bit too tight for these big guys and a large base 50mm does not feel appropriate for them. I will probably use a 32mm base.

As usual, I will keep this post updated, if you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Best regards,

Ivo