Paper Protagonist - Fully posable paper figurines

[tirick]

I'm a bit new here (I didn't see an intro thread so this'll have to do) but it was strongly recommended that I begin to peruse and browse here, which looks to be an excellent collection of designers and builders.

I've been a designer for several years now, mostly with figurines (which you'll see below) but some with vehicles. The most recent design set is shown here and is called 'Paper Protagonist'. They are 1:50 and 1:35 scale figurines that are fully poseable, and with interchangeable components. Two of the three sets are free (both Pilots) and the Man at Arms is available for purchase. I also have several other figurines (and older designs) available on my site, TCF Gaming.







Note the cockpit in the picture below is of a B-Wing I am currently designing:


Enjoy!
Tirick

[onemonkeybeau]

Hey Sean!

Just checked out your site!

Awesome stuff you've got there... SO glad you've checked us out!

Please be sure to post any news you have here so we can follow your stuff!

onemonkeybeau

[WaffleM]

Holy Amazing! I can't believe you can get 3d minis that small!!! Or are you just faking us out with a giant penny...

Fantastic Stuff!!!

[Sirrob01]

Very nice work, about how long does one take to build

[josedominguez]

That's actually pretty scary, like looking at a 3D render that's stepped off the screen.

[tirick]

Thank you all for the comments! Each figure takes about 2 hours (with curing) to cut and build. A little less than the time it takes (me) to paint a plastic, which was my goal. Building several at a time shaves a bit off the total build time.

They are fully posable. I don't have a pile of examples yet made, but here is a shot of the prototypes to describe what I mean:



The 1:50 scale figures come out at about 3.6 cm (1.5") and the 1:35 about 5.4 cm (2 1/8").

Tirick

[jabbro]

Very cool. Though a little bit too much time consuming for my tastes. Do the figures stay poseable after they are together, or are they a one piece model once the glue sets?

[tirick]

They are posable at the point of assembly, but not after the glue dries.




Articulation in paper figurines that small yet eludes me.

[curufea]

At that scale if you attempted articulation you'd be dealing with sawdust.

[jabbro]

Or you pick up a figure to move it and you get instant rag doll physics. Very cool concept. Still a little more work than I want to put into a paper mini.

[tirick]

It's all in what the user wants from a mini. The intent (now and long-term) is to be able to have replicable figurines for a low cost with modular components. This allows players (for rpgs) to customize figurines to suit their character, with little investment in money/painting time. It also allows for a GM to make custom foes. The design allows then the same player to show their character mounted in a vehicle or in different poses.

It was not my initial intent to use these for wargaming, although the figures ( IMHO) are certainly good enough to challenge conventional styrene (and way better than several pre-painted plastics).

[onemonkeybeau]

That last pic of the prototypes is SWEET!!!

And I bet with a few blasts of shellac they would hold up to a fair amount of Cheeto fingers and pizza grease

onemonkeybeau

[afet]

These are fabulous! Do you have plans for more medieval fantasy figures?
Cheers,

[tirick]

In the works!

The Man At Arms is actually quite layered; He comes with a full chain Hauberk, Coif, Helm, Vambrace, Shield (three designs) Quilted Surcoat (three designs) High Boots, and a Sword/Sheath.

My current project list (top three):

1. Stormtrooper ( a redo, I have an earlier design I am very dissatisfied with) - 80% done:

2. Man At Arms Expansion: 3-4 more 'Hauberk' textures, A variety of Weapons and some new helms. - This is is the concept phase, but I hope to get a release ready within a month or so.

3. WWII Era(ish) Pilots.

I'll keep you all posted as I progress!

Thank you,
Tirick

[curufea]

I'm thinking at that scale - possibly gluing in some string as a hinge may be the way to go. It's less likely to turn into mulch when used.

[mruseless]

WOW!
Those are amazing!
Do you have a tutorial?
Look forward to seeing more as you continue...

[tirick]

I'll post progress pics of the next figure. The closest I have right now is the pictures of the female protagonist prototype assembly: onemonk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tirick&action=display&thread=2281

The assembly (aside from the size of the bits) is actually fairly straightforward.

Thanks for the interest!
Tirick

[tirick]

I took a bit of a sabbatical during October and have been clearing up some projects since the start of November. I finally have some progress pics of the next release (still in development), which is a weapon and armour expansion for the Man at Arms set. I've assembled the bits with the second prototype female protagonist (printed a long while back and just waiting for the Mongolian bow and quiver from the set to complete her) mounted on the first Courser prototype. I'll be showing pics of the second prototype Courser with some more sample parts from the new pack soon.

Enjoy!
Tirick

[mruseless]

You are insane.

[Dominic]

I second that .

[eddnic]

My salute to you, Tirick. The details are just incredible!

[labrat]

You take things to the next level, and then a few more after that. I think most modelers would have a hard time putting these together, so I commend you on your patience.

One simple thing that would make them even better is if you did some edging. Since there is so much cutting, the white paper edges stand out. A little marker work could put these over the top.

Keep up the good work.

[tirick]

Thank you all for the comments;

Labrat, these are both prototypes (the female and the horse), so I've not bothered with edging as they only have color placeholder textures, rather than detail texturing.

I totally agree on the final models that edging is critical to maintain the look. I tend to use a fine detail brush and some Citadel paints (that I have ;D for some reason or another) as I can match color better.

The quiver, bow and arrows are essentially 'release' state, although the full set is not designed yet, so I could have edges those, but I'd not bothered as the rest of the model was rough anyway.

Tirick

[nikloveland]

Nov 16, 2010 19:06:09 GMT -9 mruseless said:

You are insane.

My wife thirds that!

[tirick]

I've completed assembling the second rider, this time atop the (slightly) modified courser prototype. I changed the front shoulder and flank components, both of which assembled (and look) better than the original. The Courser is somewhere on the list of things to complete, likely just behind the 17th Cent. cannon in print prototype as I type. I hope to have that built this week.

The rider is a base Man at Arms figurine with a modified hauberk texture (scale mail), the bow/quiver previously demonstrated, a javelin (in the quiver) and a long spear/lance.














Enjoy!
Tirick

[cowboyleland]

My 12yr old son just looked over my shoulder and said "Hey, is that a Schleich?" If you don't know what a Schleich figure is google it and see what a compliment he gave you!

[Parduz]

Nov 21, 2010 15:54:14 GMT -9 cowboyleland said:

My 12yr old son just looked over my shoulder and said "Hey, is that a Schleich?"

Mine (same age) stared for some seconds, and then said "Well, the humans are us, not him", referring (i guess) at how boring he felt helping me cutting some starship gathered from this forum....

[tirick]

Nov 21, 2010 15:54:14 GMT -9 cowboyleland said:

My 12yr old son just looked over my shoulder and said "Hey, is that a Schleich?" If you don't know what a Schleich figure is google it and see what a compliment he gave you!

That is a hell of a compliment, thank him for me! The figure is a little smaller (perhaps by 1/2) than the Schleich figurines, although once released the 1:35 scale is likely closer (and easier to build, 1:50 has a lot of fiddly bits ).

I have to wonder parduz, is that a veiled BSG reference?

Thank you for the comments!
Tirick

[Parduz]

Nov 21, 2010 18:47:38 GMT -9 tirick said:

I have to wonder parduz, is that a veiled BSG reference?

I'm sorry, i dont understand your question.... what is "BSG"

[Sirrob01]

No way I could cut out enough of these to do an army but I am thinking of doing an all paper diorama using your models when they are available

Looking very nice.