“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one
according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future,
for which I have really worked, is mine.”
-Nickola Tesla
Jibba Jabber
Hello all! I hope that everyone is having a great summer,
and keeping as cool as can be expected. You, bloggites from Greenland - stop smirking at us!
As you can see from the photos, I have made a run of
"artist proofs" of both the Emperor, his horse, and Empress V. What
are artist proofs you ask? An artist proof is a test run of a piece of mostly
reproducible art like an etching or a silk screen. The proofs are when the artist checks and
fixes or removes lines, changes amount of ink, paint or even color, tuning and
tweaking until they are happy with it.
It's kind of like the art version of tossing a piece of
spaghetti onto the wall, but in this case you are tossing the "idea"
of art, and the wall is the art piece in question. When it sticks, it's done.
I'm pretty happy with
these royals and the horse, and now have to set tabs on them so they stay in
the sprues.
 |
| The title of the cigar box says it all! |
Empress V
Behold her most Her
Imperial Majesty Empress V, Sovereign Ruler of Venus !
When Her Majesty's troops started colonizing Venus, she
ordered her Royal Automatonic
Society (R.A.S) to create a robotic figurehead version of herself, through
which she could hold court, pronounce
declarations and speak to Her most loyal subjects on distant planets. The R.A.S.
did not disappoint and created a wonderful likeness of her majesty in a mechanized
form. The even tossed in a few Robo-
corgis!
 |
| Full details on both sides, and an extra extended right arm option. |
 |
| Build out with Robo Corgi |
Dubbed "Empress
V", she is a figurehead through which the real Victoria keeps tabs on all
her most loyal subjugated...erm, subjects!
Originating from sketches
I did when first conceptualizing Queen Victoria's Robot Wars, The Empress is
based upon a few photographs of Her Majesty the Queen, with a little bit of
Rosy from The Jetsons. Unlike all my
other wooden wars figures, The Empress
is a true flat from the side. I decided to do this because most all photos of
the Queen are taken in profile and I really loved the shapes of her
dresses. It also makes her a much harder
target to strike from head on- not that ANYONE would dare fire at the Empress!
  |
| Extra Robo Corgis sold separately |
Oh, and before you ask, "yes", I do have Prince
Albert in a can- but you will have to wait a bit!
The Emperor...
Here we have a few shots of the new "Emperor" model, based of course on the one true (non-Chinese or Roman...) Emperor. This was a real sweat-inducer because who in the world does not know the likeness of Napoleon Bonaparte? This is the last of my Kickstarter backer reward models, and I am very happy to be finally sending it out to my very patient and cool Kickstarter family.
Again, lots of research on this, looking over all the paintings I could find, scrutinizing the Perry version of himself, and lots of trial and error. Second only to the face was the most famous hat, of which my research and the Internetz (which can always be trusted) leads me to believe there were several. I went for a classic look, and created both front and back so the whole 3D paralax would happen when glued onto the head, or on the saluting hand.
Like most Wooden Wars models, the Emperor's sprue has different arms so you can do multiple poses and variations, depending on what you want. I went for classic poses of "on campaign" with his spyglass and hat on, or saluting and doffing his hat to his victorious troops.
I did try doing the whole hand in the vest thing, but it
just didn't read well.
 |
| New standing horse |
Now we can't have The Emperor on campaign without his famous
white horse. I always thought the name of the horse was "Marango" or
"Coco" as the Imperial guard like to call him, but apparently there
are dissertations on the true names of Napoleon's horses. The things you learn...
Either way, this gave me a great opportunity to do another
horse and I chose a standing idle
variation as it suited the Emperor's poses and compliments my first horse. The saddle is also based upon Napoleon's, with
the rounded corner and lots and lots of gold trim!
I'm going to pull or round out the haunches just under the
tail a bit before these go into production but other than that, he's good to
go!
 |
| ADC's showing off different horses. |
Say... when and where can I get some Wooden Wars models?
Many of you have been very kind as to ask where and when you
too can have your very own Wooden Wars Armies?
Well - the answer is "soon on my web store"! Thanks to my pal
Simon Lucas (of Pinnacle fame) it's just about ready, and I'm doing all the
last minute images for the catalogue and getting PayPal and all that hooked
up. The goal is to have it ready by the
First of August, so stay tuned!
Glad you used my idea to include a dog on one of the sprues. Why does the queen have 3 arms though?
ReplyDeleteB.C. There are two right arms: one extended, one contracted.
ReplyDeleteWas it your idea for the Robo Corgi? You are brilliant, in that Greg Broadmore kind of way then! I can't wait to see your paper presented at the next Royal Automotonical Society meeting. :)
Cheers
Ths