Immortal - planning

It's been a long time since my last blog.

I am in the process of switching jobs right now, and my now ex-employer decided to release me two weeks early (on full pay). So with a new job to look forward to and with christmas around the corner I have the leisure to post something for you guys and ladies.

Y U no make?
Since the basement in the flat I've been living in this past year is even damper than the one before that, and because my father's upcoming über-workshop isn't quite done yet, I mostly didn't build anything and instead mostly played Diablo 3. A further excuse could be my long commuting hours (not anymore!).

Can we has new sculptz?
I decided to finally tackle the voted-for immortal. Because I kind of don't like the initially chosen ice-green soap stone (color-wise), I thought I'd do something for my dear readers' amusement and do it in EFFING MARBLE. Yes, the white, classic sculpting stone of antiquity. This is going to be some fun, since marble is also about an order of magnitude harder than alabaster (not to even speak of soap stone). The upside is that it's absolutely drool-worthy once it's done and polished. The immortally enshrined Immortal!

So.

In the tradition of documenting my steps, I'm sharing the initial planning stage today. I literally just took the screenshots and pics you're about to see.

Let me remind you of the immortal. It's that Protoss siege and anti-siege unit, somewhat expensive. Viewed in the SC2 map editor, its model looks like this (360° shots, scaled roughly to same size):
[image loading]

A little problem with the map editor is that you can't really pause animations (at least I couldn't figure out how), so each of the screenshots was taken on separate animation cycles - hence the small deviations from frame to frame.

My next step is to check out the raw stone. I bought this beauty a couple of years ago when I visited my favorite stone shop. Just out of curiosity I asked for its price (thinking snow white marble would be expensive) and they told me 10€. I bought it without thinking twice about how I was ever going to work on it.

This row of pics shows 360° shots corresponding to the immortal angles. They're sized roughly to the same scale, but it's not quite that easy with perspective and foreshortening. I usually use vertical scale markers on edges in the foreground of the pic (colored lines) and scale those to the same height. Close enough, usually.
[image loading]

Once that's done, I superimpose the model shots over the stone shots and scale the model up so that it will just fit into the stone (with a bit of margin).
[image loading]

This feeds right into blocking out the sculpture. I'm a computer person, so I usually block out on the screen before copying that onto the stone. Blocking out means to roughly sketch what parts of the raw material can be removed without damaging the areas needed for the sculpture.

Regardless of what the screenshots show, I have now decided to have the front right leg of the immortal extended (it's retreating toward the rear left) because that fits into the stone better (longish outcropping). Originally I planned a retreat towards the rear right, but hell. I flipped the shots where I could and ignored the rest. Also, the Immortal will be facing in the direction it's retreating from and aiming up some degrees (red lines; I don't mind they can't shoot air units. Mine can. Or maybe it's facing a Gigantolisk.)

[image loading]

When I'm somewhat satisfied that my virtual blocking out has passed my sanity checks and the pose sufficiently tickles my fancy to spend a few dozen hours on the project, I copy the blocking out onto the stone with a crayon.

Note that this is a bit problematic, since you usually have to remove stuff from all directions: You can't draw all blocks onto the stone and use them as guides, since if you start from the top view, you will have removed the right, left, front and back parts that you drew the other views on. I usually draw them on anyway to help improve my internal 3D model.

In this pic I'm holding up a piece of paper (folded to the correct size) as a gauge. Was actually a bit tricky to take the pic at the same time without jittering too much for the bad lighting conditions ;-)
The areas hatched red will be removed. The horizontal line marks the separating line of upper and lower half of the sculpture.

[image loading]

I decided to start top down, so the sculpture has a solid base to stand on while I clobber away at it. The immortal model looks a bit top-heavy for its legs and the thin "hip" area, so I might have to cheat some with the proportions. Starting with the torso, I can remove most material from the top and first reduce the weight that will have to be supported by the legs later on. Maybe, if the weight turns out to appear too great to risk breaking the legs off, I might install a metal support to rest the weight of the torso on, so the legs won't have to carry much. The same support could be used to hold up the shield that's still intended to be translucent blue alabaster.

I have resolved to use my ten remaining days of pre-christmas vacation at least partially productively and intend to work on the immortal for some hours every other day or so. I'm totally out of training and my arms and shoulders will probably kill me on the off-days ;-)

I'm considering to take a mold of the original and make a small number of numbered and signed casts. Those could go to caster-hosted tournaments with a sign-up fee that would then go to a charity. Maybe, just maybe, I might actually part with the original. Any casters interested?

Comments or questions so far?

Take a survey about my shared artists' and craftspersons' workshop concept (15-20 min): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/38ZHMMX

iPAndi Costa Rica. December 13 2012 00:55. Posts 2205

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Wow man. I love how you approach onto building this. The Inmortal is badass as hell, and I'm sure it'll translate into an awesome sculpture. Hope you get to enjoy these 2 free weeks!! :D

Nightmare1795 wrote: I played a guy in bronze who said he was Japanese. That was the only game I ever dropped a nuke, which was purely coincidental.

Tobberoth Sweden. December 13 2012 01:37. Posts 4549

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Can't wait to see the next one, must be really cool to sculpt something like this!

shiroiusagi Xel'naga tower. December 13 2012 01:40. Posts 1197

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This is pretty sweet.

I can't wait to be on your journey process! I admire you chisel out sculptures.

Waddle waddle, rollin rollin rollin baneling~ <3 | @shiroiusagi_

FuDDx

United States. December 13 2012 01:41. Posts 3961

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Ill trade a balloon immortal for a cast !!

I am excited to see your work!! Thank you so much for sharing with us!!

Got Balloons??? www.fudd.balloonhq.com www.balloonsbyfudd.weebly.com

USvBleakill Germany. December 13 2012 02:03. Posts 296

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looks amazing! Good luck!

Last edit: 2012-12-13 02:04:34

Zrana United Kingdom. December 13 2012 02:37. Posts 675

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Marble? Good luck chipping through all that hardened shield!

oh i'm hilarious.

SolarSuplex Norway. December 13 2012 04:36. Posts 42

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On December 13 2012 02:37 Zrana wrote:
Marble? Good luck chipping through all that hardened shield!

oh i'm hilarious.

Made me chuckle.

I can't wait to see this finished, or more of the process. Kinda amazing that people just do this for fun, I'd never be able to tackle such a job.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

snively United States. December 13 2012 05:25. Posts 1083

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On December 13 2012 02:37 Zrana wrote:
Marble? Good luck chipping through all that hardened shield!

oh i'm hilarious.

yes. yes you are.

cant wait to see the finished sculpture?

My religion is Starcraft

Poo Canada. December 13 2012 07:03. Posts 401

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wow i cant wait to see the final product. The way you're planning this out in such detail and blogging on it is awesome too! 5/5

compLexity Academy Protoss. @604Poo from Vancouver, Canada

Warpath Canada. December 13 2012 07:54. Posts 1211

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I thought this was going to be like 3d modeling, then i saw the rocks.

Cant wait to see it dude!

more koreans is a good thing! || Yᵒᵘ Oᶰˡʸ Lᶤᵛᵉ Oᶰᶜᵉ

BlueEagle United Kingdom. December 13 2012 09:11. Posts 74

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This looks super cool :D

Hope it goes well!

GTPGlitch December 13 2012 09:20. Posts 2123

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glhf, can't wait to see finished product!~

Jo Byung Se #1 fan

FeltFace Australia. December 13 2012 11:48. Posts 319

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Eager to see the all the steps as well as the finished sculpt! Awesome

csikos27 United States. December 13 2012 14:17. Posts 90

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waiting to see how this turns out ^^

PH United States. December 13 2012 14:41. Posts 6082

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So stoked. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Hello

DanielHetberg December 13 2012 16:36. Posts 105

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On December 13 2012 07:03 Stealthypoo wrote:
wow i cant wait to see the final product. The way you're planning this out in such detail and blogging on it is awesome too! 5/5

To be honest, when you only have one chance to do it right, you better plan it out in quite some detail ;-)

Once you chip something off, it's gone.

Take a survey about my shared artists' and craftspersons' workshop concept (15-20 min): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/38ZHMMX

NeWeNiyaLord Norway. December 13 2012 18:59. Posts 2464

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Can't wait to see the results! Looks really cool!

This is where we begin. Show your true self, Battosai.

archonOOid December 13 2012 19:05. Posts 1873

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It's great to see traditional workmanship forging an alliance with digital creations.

I'm Quotable (IQ)

Deleuze United Kingdom. December 13 2012 21:18. Posts 1245

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