The Making of Jack and creating Characters Even when you aren't creating a themed army, Characters are very important. The Characters are supposed to embody the spirit of the army. They are typically also the first thing someone's eye focuses on when looking at your army, so they'd better stand out. There are quite a few good character models out there, but sometimes you want or need something that's not available. Whether it's changing out a weapon or adjusting a pose or doing major sculpting work, you can make huge changes to a figure, as long as you plan it correctly.

I recently created a model for my girlfriend's daughter, Renee. She likes 40k and is very fond of the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. I wanted to creat Jack Skellington, the main character, first. There are quite a few different toys and things that have come out for the Nightmare movie, but I wanted to use a GW model as the base so that she could actually play it in a tournament if she chose to.

Choosing a Figure GW has a large range of models to choose from. In addition to all the 40k races, there are also fantasy models to choose from as well as some of the specialist games models (Blood Bowl, for example.) Take a good look around and see if there is something close to what you want out there. Since Jack is very tall and thin, I had been thinking about something skeletal. Nightbringer was too big, but I was considering one of the Necron Lords. Unfortunately, they are very barrel-chested, which wasn't what I wanted for Jack. A friend suggested I look at some of the Fantasy Tomb Kings models and specifically suggested the Ushabti (Guards for the Tomb King.) After looking at the models, the Jackal-headed Ushabti seemed to have the best combination of shape and pose and fewer bits to have to cut away.

Choosing a pose The pose of your model can make a dramatic difference to how it looks. A running or leaping pose gives your model the look of charging into combat, while a standing pose gives a sense of resolve and cool-headedness. In the movie, Jack talks and things a lot. While he is quite capable of action, he's not really a fighter. I decided he would be best modeled standing, with his hands open like he is talking to someone. While it's not a traditional 40k pose, it conveys his style better and will help other people to see who he is modeled after.

Adjusting the figure When using a model for a character, you'll often have to change some of the clothing or iconography (the Imperial Eagles or skulls or what-have-you that decorate the model.) For example, if you are using a Chaos Space Marine model in a loyal Space Marine army, you'll probably have to get rid of some of the skulls and maybe add a double-headed eagle or something. In addition, you may want to add or remove a cloak, or otherwise change the look of the clothing. Removal can often be accomplished with a small file or even a modeling knife for the smallest examples. Larger ones may require a jeweler's saw (the tiny blade takes out smaller chunks of model than say, a regular hacksaw.) Dremel tools (and other rotary cutters/grinders) can be very effective as well, you just have to be even more careful that you don't slip, as they will quickly bite off important bits of your model if they don't stay where you put them. For larger work, you may even want to use some form of heavy duty clippers. Since I had extensive adjustments to make to the Ushabti model, I used a combination of Dremel tool and heavy clippers. (Among other things, I had to cut off the head of the model and remove the panel that hanges down in front of the belt.) The best way to do major adjustments is to do them a tiny amount at a time. Not only is this easier, it's also safer, as it gives you less chance of slipping and gouging the model or your hand.

Converting If you want to change something about the model like the pose or the weapon, you'll also need some tools. Mostly you'll be using the same tools listed above. Changing the weapon of the model is usually fairly easy. Cut off the weapon currently on the model, but leave the hand intact, then put another weapon (minus hand) on there and you are done. You can make it more complex, such as using a weapon with a long handle, by cutting the handle of the weapon down and gluing part of it beneath the hand, or by changing the way the weapon is being held. (Out in front, held against the body, two hands, etc.) Changing the pose of the model is a bit more tricky. One of the most common adjustments is to make a running pose from a more static-looking model. If the model is plastic, this can be quite easy. Use a Hairdryer/Blowdryer to slightly soften the plastic of the leg (about 20 seconds on high for a medium thickness leg, more for thicker ones, less for thinner) then bend it to the appropriate position and dunk it in cold water to "set" the new position. Metal models are a bit trickier. Cut a small triangle out of the back of the knee and gently bend it to the new position. If you are straightening the leg (from a kneeling model, for example) reverse the process. Be careful where you cut, however, as the front of the knee is usually more decorative. If you cut out a little above the knee and a little below, you should be able to salvage most of the kneecap and still straighten the leg well. You'll probably still need to do some sculpting around the area to clean it up, however.

Modeling/Sculpting When adding to a model, whether it's tiny detail or bulking up a limb or the body, you need some material to add. There are a variety of materials to use, and each one is handled a little differently.

Probably the most common is some form of putty or clay. In general, these can be best worked with wet tools or hands. The self-hardening ones are more fiddly to work with, but can be added directly to the model, rather than ones that must be hardened by baking them. (I don't know about you, but I'd be rather concerned about putting my carefully crafted, possibly expensive model in the oven for half an hour...) The baked ones typically are created and baked separately and then glued on to the model. There are also liquid resins and epoxies out there. These are great for flowing over a surface and filling in gaps, or creating a surface that can then be textured. On the other hand, it is much harder to use them to create 3-dimensional shapes. These typically are air-dried, but are harder to work with. The slower-curing ones are almost useless as they just ooze everywhere and take some time before they start to set and you can work with them. The faster-curing ones have very little work time between the point where they are too runny to work with and the point where they are too far set to be workable. No one type of material is perfect for everything, but a good overall one is an air-hardening putty or epoxy. Just remember to keep your tools (or hands) wet, as they get very sticky if you don't.

Many GW models have great textures. Rough cloth, wavy hair, the gaps between armor plates, etc. These areas add detail to the model that you don't have to paint on yourself and usually provide an easy way to bring out the details using drybrushing or a wash to highlight or shade them. You can create these on your models using some of the above sculpting materials. For something like rough cloth, you might create a cloak or something out of your putty, then press some cotton or other cloth against it. The individual fibers will press into the putty and create a pattern for you. Voila! Instant cloth look and detail! When creating the Jack model, I had originally intended to use this to create the pinstripes for his suit, so that I could easily use drybrushing and shading to pick them out later, instead of doing it by hand. I planned to use an old toothbrush to create the fine lines for me. Unfortunately, the modeling medium that I used, a liquid epoxy, didn't provide the best surface for this, and, as I was pressed for time, I didn't have time to get a putty to do it.

Wysiwyg and Stuff When you are in this process, it's important to consider some of the equipment your character may be carrying. It's easier to add grenades or auspexes (auspexi?) at this stage than it will be later, typically. If you are creating a character more or less from scratch, remember that the details make the model. We think of a typical Imperial Guard model as a guy holding a rifle, but if you want it to look good, the equipment really "sells" it. That same grunt with a couple of grenades and a canteen looks a lot more like a soldier. Add a backpack and some binoculars and you really give the impression that this guy is in a war zone and is ready for battle.

Paint/Scheme The final step is to consider your painting and overall scheme. Obviously, if you've got a paint scheme for your army already, the character should mostly follow it, but will probably also get some added colors or adjustments to reflect it's Character status. I typically like a fairly shiny look for my models, but the movie Nightmare Before Christmas had flatter colors, so I decided I'd need a matte finish to help the overall effect. In the same vein, the movie featured a lot of black and white and muted colors, so I decided to use blacks and greys and whites, with some muted yellows and oranges as well. For that matter, I noticed that the whites in the movie were also muted, not a bright white, so I chose Bleached Bone as opposed to Skull White, for example.

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