So, without much ado, here it is. Some twenty hours work total (prep work, sculpting, polishing).
The man himself:
Family photo with Ultralisk:
Please post comments on my deviantArt, if you have an account.
I've got some stones left over, and I'm not sure what to make next, but first I'll hopefully be entering a new job (probably getting decision today, hoping for your support on the karma front) and moving to a different city. edit: Karma support seems to have helped. Got the job, and we'll probably get the flat we liked best :-) So sorry, stone working is on the back burner until the move is complete.
I'm collecting suggestions now. Please include subject and color.
Some options I'm considering are DT, Roach, Brood Lord, Immortal, Mothership, Cruiser and Banshee. Currently available colors are black, blue, ice green and white. Also, I really want to try out my mold making equipment and pour some casts of Baneling and Ultralisk.
edit: due to popular demand
Poll: Vote for my next project (might take a while though)
Immortal (383)
41%
Dark Templar (195)
21%
Mothership (146)
16%
Roach (69)
7%
Marauder (48)
5%
Banshee (46)
5%
Battle Cruiser (43)
5%
930 total votes
Your vote: Vote for my next project (might take a while though)
(Vote): glossy black (Ultralisk) (Vote): blue (Vote): ice green (Vote): white marble
edit: a little mockup of what I think I'll do next. The immortal seems to have won by a fair margin, green and blue appear to be the most popular colors. I'd like to reserve black for further Zerg figures, I think, to keep a color theme going.
The intention is to make a two-part figure, immortal walking sideways and back, firing in an up direction (in green stone) and having it attacked from behind, triggering its shield, which in a perfect world will come out as a half-translucent part of a sphere with a hex grid on it (blue stone).
Awesome work. I was a big fan of your Ultralisk, and this is another nice piece of work. I like how the bulb of the Baneling looks like a rock (at least in the picture, that could be an effect of lighting?); it gives the sculpture a sort of hybrid artificial/natural feel.
Jesus, how the hell did you do that?? -.- I'm terrible at these kind of artistic creations, so I can never understand how people manage to create these kind of things lol
I like the different texture of green explody bit of the baneling, a lesser man would have polished it all :D I too am a fan of your ultralisk. I hope that you get that job
I think a banshee in a really dark blue would be awesome, because in game when they are cloaked (but revealed), they kinda have a dark blue colour.
On February 29 2012 21:03 zul wrote: how much would that ultralisk cost?
Too much. Plus, it might get me in legal trouble. Selling fanart is a very grey area, basically it's illegal but sometimes tolerated by the copyright holders.
I was considering making a couple of casts and giving them to people like TotalBiscuit or Day[9] to use as prizes in events.
On February 29 2012 21:03 zul wrote: how much would that ultralisk cost?
Too much. Plus, it might get me in legal trouble. Selling fanart is a very grey area, basically it's illegal but sometimes tolerated by the copyright holders.
I was considering making a couple of casts and giving them to people like TotalBiscuit or Day[9] to use as prizes in events.
that would be epic. Which pro wouldn`t love to get such a trophy on top of the cheque. make it happen!
Those look amazing, I hope you do make casts and use them as prizes. I'd love to see such works of art become a part of the scene. Anything else you do I will be impressed by, seriously: any unit, any stone.
Man, I hope your new job either allows you enough free time to keep doing these, are has in some way shape or form to with you making sculptures, cause you should keep doing this!
On March 01 2012 04:27 Condor wrote: Man, I hope your new job either allows you enough free time to keep doing these, are has in some way shape or form to with you making sculptures, cause you should keep doing this!
It's more about software development, I fear.
If I'm lucky (as in, they take me, the flat we already looked at and liked is still available and everything with the move goes okay), I'll have an appropriate basement (workshop area) again in the new city. Working with stones isn't something you can easily do in the living room.
As many others I am curious about the cost of something of this caliber.
I'm not looking to buy as you've explained you're not looking to sell, but could you give an estimated price to something of this detail/workload/materials? (or other variables that might be a factor). I'm really curious.
Again, awesome job, it looks incredibly well-made!
It must be really friggin hard to make an immortal though, not to mention a bloody DT with blades and everything. Great job so far, and I wish you the best of luck with your next project. 5/5
On March 01 2012 06:39 sirkyan wrote: As many others I am curious about the cost of something of this caliber.
I'm not looking to buy as you've explained you're not looking to sell, but could you give an estimated price to something of this detail/workload/materials? (or other variables that might be a factor). I'm really curious.
It all comes down to "how much do I want/need to earn per hour (and am I paying my taxes?)". From start to end, I think I spent about 20 hours on the baneling, about 100 or so on the ultralisk. In my professional life, I shoot for 25 euros/hour before taxes (which - when combined with social security payments - are fairly high in germany). Most professional artists get much less (let's not use the word "earn" in this context) but probably at least half of that. At 12.50 an hour, an ultralisk clocks in at 1250,- (about $1700), a baneling might go for $350. Raw materials are negligible in comparison, since stones are mostly dirt cheap. Including tool wear and tear might add a bit to the total cost, but not much.
Not sure about this, but pros might actually take _longer_ than me in terms of hours, because even though they're pros and better and faster at what they do, sculpting stones is physical work. I'm not sure you can do that for eight hours straight and maintain the speed and focus I can when doing two or three hours at a time, with plenty of rest in between.
This boils down to: Stone originals are prohibitively expensive (in my opinion).
One time-honored alternative is to make casts of the original. It's additional effort to create the mold, but you end up with something around 20 copies of your original. There are tons of materials to choose from, I'm going for something close to the original material and bought some (allegedly) high quality gypsum powder. I have read a book detailing the process, and in theory it's pretty straightforward, but I can't tell you how long it takes to create the mold, and how much time a casting takes (including finishing touches etc). If I was doing this professionally, one of my casts would go for (cost of original + cost of creating the mold) divided by (number of successful casts) + (material and time cost per cast).
For the baneling, a mold should be actually quite straightforward, with two parts and not much silicone material required - let's say a couple of hours, and the time effort for doing the casts (mixing material, pouring, removing air bubbles, de-casting, finishing) might come out to one(?) hour per cast, so one (numbered and signed!) cast might go for around $35. If I'm assuming I'm not able to sell the equivalent of 100% of my working time, as most craftsmen rightly assume, I'd mark that up to around $50. For the ultralisk, making the mold would probably be more time-consuming (10 hours?) but less so in relative terms (since it took 100 hours to make it). If I'm not totally off, a final figure for an ultra cast would be around $250.
Pros would further reduce the cost per cast by not making the original from stone, but rather from polymer clay (sculpey) which is way faster to work with, if you know what you're doing.
So there you go. Hand-crafting anything takes time, and if you pay the maker at least somewhat decently, it's accordingly expensive. Which is the reason why we typically played with mass-produced plastic barbie dolls or action figures as children. Or why mostly every big brand name you can think of exploits people in low-wage countries in order to provide us with cheap goods.
On March 01 2012 07:57 Chargelot wrote: Is a 2 euro coin the same size as a 1 euro coin? I'm American, and I only have a 1 euro coin, so I'm asking for scale reference purposes.
Mad skills. Good job. Flows of good karma sent your way, even if you have set yourself up for some good karma, at least by sharing with community, if nothing else.
Is that an ultralisk or an elephant from world of warcraf? Either way it looks pretty dam fine. Suprised imortal is number 1, I wana se a battlecrusior that be so freakin awsome.
Also you made an ultralisk and then made a baneling?
The intention is to make a two-part figure, immortal walking sideways and back, firing in an up direction (in green stone) and having it attacked from behind, triggering its shield, which in a perfect world will come out as a half-translucent part of a sphere with a hex grid on it (blue stone).
On March 01 2012 06:39 sirkyan wrote: As many others I am curious about the cost of something of this caliber.
I'm not looking to buy as you've explained you're not looking to sell, but could you give an estimated price to something of this detail/workload/materials? (or other variables that might be a factor). I'm really curious.
It all comes down to "how much do I want/need to earn per hour (and am I paying my taxes?)". From start to end, I think I spent about 20 hours on the baneling, about 100 or so on the ultralisk. In my professional life, I shoot for 25 euros/hour before taxes (which - when combined with social security payments - are fairly high in germany). Most professional artists get much less (let's not use the word "earn" in this context) but probably at least half of that. At 12.50 an hour, an ultralisk clocks in at 1250,- (about $1700), a baneling might go for $350. Raw materials are negligible in comparison, since stones are mostly dirt cheap. Including tool wear and tear might add a bit to the total cost, but not much.
Not sure about this, but pros might actually take _longer_ than me in terms of hours, because even though they're pros and better and faster at what they do, sculpting stones is physical work. I'm not sure you can do that for eight hours straight and maintain the speed and focus I can when doing two or three hours at a time, with plenty of rest in between.
This boils down to: Stone originals are prohibitively expensive (in my opinion).
One time-honored alternative is to make casts of the original. It's additional effort to create the mold, but you end up with something around 20 copies of your original. There are tons of materials to choose from, I'm going for something close to the original material and bought some (allegedly) high quality gypsum powder. I have read a book detailing the process, and in theory it's pretty straightforward, but I can't tell you how long it takes to create the mold, and how much time a casting takes (including finishing touches etc). If I was doing this professionally, one of my casts would go for (cost of original + cost of creating the mold) divided by (number of successful casts) + (material and time cost per cast).
For the baneling, a mold should be actually quite straightforward, with two parts and not much silicone material required - let's say a couple of hours, and the time effort for doing the casts (mixing material, pouring, removing air bubbles, de-casting, finishing) might come out to one(?) hour per cast, so one (numbered and signed!) cast might go for around $35. If I'm assuming I'm not able to sell the equivalent of 100% of my working time, as most craftsmen rightly assume, I'd mark that up to around $50. For the ultralisk, making the mold would probably be more time-consuming (10 hours?) but less so in relative terms (since it took 100 hours to make it). If I'm not totally off, a final figure for an ultra cast would be around $250.
Pros would further reduce the cost per cast by not making the original from stone, but rather from polymer clay (sculpey) which is way faster to work with, if you know what you're doing.
So there you go. Hand-crafting anything takes time, and if you pay the maker at least somewhat decently, it's accordingly expensive. Which is the reason why we typically played with mass-produced plastic barbie dolls or action figures as children. Or why mostly every big brand name you can think of exploits people in low-wage countries in order to provide us with cheap goods.
Thank you so, so much for answering.
Yes, it is expensive, but looking at the result, if I had the coin to spare and you were looking to sell, it's definitely worth it. It looks amazing!
Wow fantastic work man, if you're thinking of good ways to part with the sculptures you can always do a charity auction, or something of a charitable nature, you'd probably be able to obtain express permission in those circumstances.
Very Very kool. The immortal is going to look ssick. I hope you do a dark templar next in blue/green stone, maybe with a mix of amethyst or something for the blade. A+
On March 01 2012 00:15 Trolle wrote: Next up, destructible rocks?
^Lol
Congrats on the job! And these are really freaking cool. Can't wait to see the next one. If you are able to make some molds, would you consider selling some?
On March 07 2012 04:59 Cowpieguy wrote: Congrats on the job! And these are really freaking cool. Can't wait to see the next one. If you are able to make some molds, would you consider selling some?
That ultralisk is probably the single most awesome thing I have seen come from a rock in...forever... even cooler then diamonds!!
man if you are willing to sell... Im sure you could make a good chunk of money from these, I know I would buy them
edit: Just read that you aren't/can't sell which is a total bummer (it broke my heart). but either way man this is amazing you have some awesome talent and if you ever could make copies of these and could sell them I would definitely be interested. :D keep up the good work!