This commission was unusual in that it is one of the few not Games Workshop related that I’ve done. I’m sure most of you will know Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades from Starcraft. Because this project was done on a tight budget I based the figure off an existing Warlord Saga 54mm figure rather than sculpt one from scratch. The Zwëothel, Queen of Darkness model (I bought from Andrea Miniatures) is a beautifully sculpted piece. I stripped back all the details I could and altered the pose of the legs to give me a blank slate to sculpt the details on.
I used photoshop to help created a printed guide in the right size to make sure the pose was accurate.
This pic allowed me to figure out the exact measurements for the wire frame for the wings and gave me a good idea of the finished model might look like.
The surface detail was sculpted in a lot of separate stages. Certainly the hardest part of this whole model was the face. I sculpted over the original face hoping it would be a good guide, but ultimately I had to change certain proportions.
The “wings” were sculpted over stiff wire with stripped down Tyranid claws pinned to the end. The base was made from a mix of cork, slate, and Milliput.