My birthday treat arrived today- a fantastic 24 peice Dwarf set from mega miniatures. These originally came from Metal Magic, and where sculpted by Bob Olley.
I am a late comer to appreciating Bobs style I must be honest. I violently disliked the look of iron claw minis- and still - even in my mellowing tastes- cannot quite appreciate his flower pot headed goblins and rather squishy looking black orcs. Maybe they too will grow on me eventually. I always liked open smooth surfaces with smooth shading (Fraser Gray was my god) and dynamic poses (Jes Goodwin checked all my boxes). Bobs stuff was... wibbly and covered in wrinkles and details, his poses constrained and lacking that excelsior kapow.
I gather his style polarises people- your either a fan or just dont get it. Me, I am transitioning. I think sculpting The Bederken Dwerg allowed me to understand a bit about the temptation to sculpt detail on everything. Its like stealing the painters choices away though... takes away options to blend and freehand.
I am a late comer to appreciating Bobs style I must be honest. I violently disliked the look of iron claw minis- and still - even in my mellowing tastes- cannot quite appreciate his flower pot headed goblins and rather squishy looking black orcs. Maybe they too will grow on me eventually. I always liked open smooth surfaces with smooth shading (Fraser Gray was my god) and dynamic poses (Jes Goodwin checked all my boxes). Bobs stuff was... wibbly and covered in wrinkles and details, his poses constrained and lacking that excelsior kapow.
I gather his style polarises people- your either a fan or just dont get it. Me, I am transitioning. I think sculpting The Bederken Dwerg allowed me to understand a bit about the temptation to sculpt detail on everything. Its like stealing the painters choices away though... takes away options to blend and freehand.
I adore modern day Bobs work thoroughly. His brass bull for Reaper is breathtaking and whats not to like about his malevolent retro scifi blended mutant scrunts. Plus I now adore Iron Claw scifi pirates, and have gathered quite a posse of them lately.
Bob's inventiveness with dwarfs is a shining example of why the man is a real artist. His gothic dwarf head dresses, iconography, weapons and shields stand apart from everyone who ever put putty to stunty. Check out the scans from the metal magic catalogue below.
Sadly some minis in the pictures are not in the set- sold off to other companies. I may have to find the rest later this year. I hear impact minis has the standard bearer.
Sadly some minis in the pictures are not in the set- sold off to other companies. I may have to find the rest later this year. I hear impact minis has the standard bearer.
I could not resist basing up the lot and will be ramming them up my painting queue so I can play Skulldred with them! Hopefully tomorrow will be dry for a spray session.
The casts are great- really good value minis- Its tempting to get a second set to make a hott army too- those warmachines look great!
The casts are great- really good value minis- Its tempting to get a second set to make a hott army too- those warmachines look great!
Its looking like I may not make it down for Cancon this year. Though if luck is with me I may squeeze in a day- I certainly wont be doing everthing I planned this year. :(
Hopr to see some of you there!
Hopr to see some of you there!
Bob's the man! I dig his Ral Partha Trolls and Ogres and actually have a few on my painting desk as I type. Not being the best painter in the world I like that he takes choice away from me: it's a positive in my case!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Those old Metal Magic Dwarves are wonderful. I have all of these, I think, except the skull standard guy and the handgunner. (And I'd like to track both of them down). Two of the Chaos Dwarf guys on the top line are leaders in 2 of my Dwarf Regiments. They are such nice sculpts that even I can make them look good. I'm excited to see what you'll do with them!
ReplyDeleteA bit late, but both of them are available from Armorcast:
Deletehttp://armorcast.com/store/index.php?cPath=116_98_138
Dave, as you might have noticed you don't have a properly full set. The Olley dwarfs missing are available from AC too, as well as the cannon and mortar guns + crew. Have at it!