Space Hero

[Spacejacker]

Hi everyone,

I am a long lapsed wargamer that used to spend huge amounts of time and money enjoying the hobby, especially painting. These days I don't enough space for all the junk you need for miniatures and all my gamer geek friends are in another country. So I was looking at getting a handful of 15mm sci fi figures and building some little guncrawl style modular boards that would be easily stored.
One thing led to another and I ended up here, realizing that the ultimate low cost, small footprint, gaming was in fact papercraft.
One Guncrawl download and Litko bases order later I've begun making my first figure. I'm planning on doing my own squads of heroes and adversaries for guncrawl solo games. This guy is a freebooting captain for a Firefly-like team.
The "emulating minis" style is difficult, and I've tried to adopt elements of Jim's advice in these forums, Darkmook's feet and simpler lines than the average 30mm figure as I'm going to be building in 15mm. Looking at the post now I'll probably have to make the black outlines thicker.
(I'm using the excellent free program inkscape to make vector art over the top of hand sketches. I only DL'd it today so can heartily recommend it for ease of use!)

Colouring and photos once my bases arrive...

Sketch:

By albinobikers at 2009-07-27

Model (colours are not done yet):

By albinobikers at 2009-07-27

[squirmydad]

Very cool!

I like the side view designs. I have thought several times to do them this way, but they would clash with what I have done already, maybe historical stuff.

Anyway, I can definitely tell you have Skillz. If you think you are going to create on a regular basis, at least three projects, then I'll create your own board!

Nice to see even more cool designers!
JIM

[jabbro]

Very nice style, indeed. I like him. Too bad you are making the lot for 15mm, but since they are vectorized, it shouldn't be too hard to scale up for those of us with poor eyesight.

He reminds me of the way they have redesigned comic heroes for simplicity in animation. Very cool.

[kane]

Agreed! Excellent character design.

[Scruff]

Great design. Looking forward to the rest of the crew. and I agree with Jim you definitely have skillz. Are they going to be Spacecowboys ala Firefly?

scruff

[onemonkeybeau]

Welcome!

Cool stuff here!

I too like the side view... a nice change and something different, but not too different to be like "what the heck!?!"

Looking forward to a full set!

onemonkeybeau

[darkmook]

Very, VERY nice!
(Glad you like the feet!)

[WaffleM]

Great looking character! I really like the look of PO'ed determination on his face. It's as if he's thinking, "I have to save the princess AGAIN!" ;D

[hackbarth]

Welcome!

It seems you where lurking in this forum for a bit, your figure shows some of the best characteristics of the "one monk school of miniature-fu":
Traditional miniature proportions, front and back views, simple but distinctive silhouette to facilitate cutting and to improve recognition on the table, thicker black outline in the back view to facilitate alignment and edging...

Good design, I too use Inkscape, but my skill isn't so good as what you just demonstrated. And the theme is one of my favorites! I'll resize and print these for sure. You sure started with a bang!

[Dagger]

Love your style... nice clean simple lines. I actually prefer simplicity over detail since the detail is lost at "gaming distance" and simplicity lends itself to easier recolors and customization...

I especially like the side view too... For a while now I've been wanting a side-view set of Fairy Meat figures with 2.5d wings but haven't been able to talk anyone into doing it (I'm artistically challenged myself).

Anyway, welcome to the forums... excellent work...

[Spacejacker]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, very encouraging!


It's funny so many people have commented on the profile pose.. I didn't really think much about it. I wanted a recognizable silhouette for the leader and just started drawing.
I'm working on another one tonight that's a front-on pose, then colour them both. I'm going to start quite basic and see how they look printed before I figure out exactly how much texture detail to use.

-When I said Firefly, I meant more the scruffy crew idea than the space cowboy idea. The outlaw crew in Alien Resurrection are another good example. I want them to look a tad more science-fictiony than the Serenity setting.

As for 15mm, I'll see how they look and maybe change my plan completely to a bigger scale. I'll make the PDFs at 30mm and let people shrink them or not as they like.

Inkscape is great.. I wanted to use a vector program so I could easily resize, and also make plenty of modular parts (like guns, hands etc) that I could re-use easily. Photoshop's vector tools don't cut it, and I don't get along with illustrator.. Plus the price is right

Thanks again, you're a very welcoming bunch!

[kane]

OK, fine, I'm convinced. I'll get Inkscape and try again. I'd been using nothing but PhotoShop before and that may just be what put me off making minis.

[docryder]

Great style! Nice figure! ;D