Elaine, Guild Wars 2
Elaine was the first character I created when I started playing Guild Wars 2 on release 10 years ago, and I’ve been wanting to sculpt her for a long time. After gaining confidence sculpting and working with Chavant on Carl Swangee, I turned my attention to Elaine. Initially the main challenges were the more defined human form (my previous sculptures have had loose clothes - trench coats or dresses), as well as the face and hair which I had found the most difficult back when I sculpted Elizabeth, my first sculpture. This project ended up being one of the most complex I’ve finished, taking nearly 2 years, 30 molds, and over 100 separate pieces; far more than any prop replica I’ve made.
Over the years of playing the game, I’ve gathered quite an arsenal of gear for Elaine, and I was determined to replicate all of it for this project. All the parts are magnetised so I can swap heads, arms, weapons, backpacks. The base is designed to store all the extra pieces when not on display.
The figure is 1:9th scale, sculpted in NSP Chavant, molded, and cast in plastic. After building the armature and setting the pose, I blocked in the rough body shape before refining the details. The weapons and accessories were sculpted, molded and cast separately; in most cases I needed multiple copies.
I spent a lot of time on the face, refining it to try to match the in-game portrait. I first sculpted a bald head, molded it and cast 2 copies in plastic. Then I was able to sculpt hair on one and a hood over the other. The hood proved difficult to mold; I ended up making a 3-part mold to prevent the part from being trapped in the rubber.
The hanging parts of the belts were sculpted separately over armature wire, then attached to the model to align with the sections of the belts that wrap around her body. I used necklace chain to achieve the raised rope pattern. This was then cut with a fine jewellers saw and the belts separated once more for molding. I also separated the arms for molding, taking care to hide the cut lines along the piping of her sleeves.
Coalforge’s Razor and Coalforge’s Short Bow
Elaine’s weapons are rare Ascended gear, attained after many hours of gaming, and as such, deserve to be presented in all their splendour.
The basic shape of the dagger blade was cut from a thin sheet of styrene, while the bow parts and all the intricate iron embellishments were created by bending paper clips to the right shape. These were then sculpted over with air-drying Apoxie Sculpt, which could be sanded and carved once hard (unlike the Chavant used to sculpt the rest of the piece, which retains a wax-like consistency).
The inlays on the dagger blades and bow limbs were sketched on in pencil, then carved with a fine engraving tool.
The bow is made of 16 cast parts, more than many of my full-size prop builds! Both the bow and daggers have topaz crystals, cast in clear resin dyed with yellow dye. The dagger crystal trinkets are attached to lengths of fine jewellery chain.
For the main colour, I stippled coats of ochres and creams to capture the ancient look. The iron was achieved by mixing graphite powder with gloss varnish, then polishing it with a cotton bud as it dried. In-game, the inlay patterns pulse and glow, so I layered up glazes of yellows and whites for the fading glow effect.
Bo and the Endless Quiver
Bo is the Ascended staff earned by completing the Thief’s Daredevil specialization challenges, and the Endless Quiver was one of the early Ascended backpacks added to the game.
The base of the staff was a steel pipe, around which I bent and shaped styrene for the bands. When casting copies of it in plastic, I embedded a length of wire in it to strengthen it and make sure it held its shape.
The black portion of the staff has a subtle wood-grain pattern painted on to look like ebony. In-game, there is a stylised assassin and flames inlaid in gold. As the gold paint has metal flakes in it, it can be difficult to work with and damages brushes, so I painted the design on in brown using a fine brush, before going over my line work with gold. I’m very pleased that I was able to accurately replicate this detail. Finally, the staff has streamers that were sculpted to look like they are waving in the breeze, painted with a diamond pattern.
The quiver has a very fine stitching pattern that was not practical to sculpt, so I instead used a texture that achieves a similar effect once painted.
I wanted to be able to display holstered versions of the weapons when they weren’t in use, so I actually made multiple copies of the quiver, bow and staff. Each quiver has 6 arrows, with a total of 54 individually sculpted feathers.
The most inaccurate part of the whole sculpture is that I moved the quiver from her left shoulder to her right. As a right-handed shooter, she should be drawing arrows over her right shoulder, and its incorrect placement in-game has always bothered me!
The quiver was stippled with different browns, and scratches and wear were painted on to achieve the aged leather look.
Painting and Details
While the sculpt itself has a lot of detail, the paints and painting techniques I used add an extra level of quality. The black is stippled with several greys to give it depth and texture; I searched for a long time to get the perfect gold - I used Green Stuff World’s Pure Metal Pigments Gold with highlights of silver and brown washes in the recesses to add some age and wear.
The black steel of the breastplate is gloss black with a dusting of Alclad airbrush chrome to give specular highlights along the edges. The gold top of the breastplate has an airbrushed bronze to gold gradient, with washes of browns and chestnut ink. The collar has a pattern painted with a blue-grey and finished with gloss varnish so that it catches the light differently.
For the mesh that sits over the exposed skin, I used masking tape to pattern the shapes, then cut a very fine tulle fabric and carefully glued in place, using a needle to apply the glue. All of these mesh parts are surrounded with gold piping, so I was able to undercut this to create a channel into which I could glue the edges of the fabric. I was very pleased that this worked out, and was even able to get it to work with the hooded version of her head, where there was very little room to manoeuvre the fabric into place.
The Base
For the base, I wanted something that would raise her up off the ground, and also wanted it to serve the practical purpose of holding all the extra parts. I designed the stack of trays first, then built the exterior around them.
The base was constructed from MDF, styrene, popsicle sticks and pebbles. I built the main wall section by cutting rectangles of styrene sheet, which I cut and chipped away at to give uneven edges. For the rubble, I built up mounds of Apoxie Sculpt and pressed pebbles into it. The scaffolding is wood rod and popsicle sticks, with tiny plastic discs added to look like nails holding the pieces together. I used different texture paints to add detail to the surfaces. It was drybrushed and stippled with a variety of greys and browns and creams to differentiate the wood and block and rubble building materials. Clumps of static grass and flowers were glued in to finish the base.
Painting Reference
Skin:
Airbrushed
- MA Cam. Pale Brown + MA Tan Earth
- MA Sand + MC Brown Rose
- + MC Light Flesh + MC Salmon Rose
- + MA Aged White
- (Her eyeshadow was airbrushed with blue ink)
Lips:
- GW Bugman’s Glow
- + White
Hair:
- MA Dark Earth
- GW Tallarn Sand
- + GW Screaming Skull
Black Armour:
Airbrushed
- Alclad Gloss Black
- Alclad Chrome for Plastic
Black Material:
- MC Black + MC Black Grey
- [Stipple] MC Black Grey
- [Stipple] GW Mechanicus Standard Grey
- [Stipple] GW Dawnstone
Gold:
- MA Dark Earth/GW Steel Legion Drab as a base
- Vallejo Metal Color Gold + GSW Pure Metal Pigments Gold
- [Shade] GW Agrax Earthshade
- Vallejo Metal Color Gold + GSW Pure Metal Pigments Gold + GSW Mystic White
- GSW Mystic White
Metal Belt/Weapon Embellishments:
- GSW Black Steel pigment + gloss varnish (as it dries, polish with a cotton bud)
Daggers/Bow:
- MC German C. Black Brown
- MA Middlestone
- [Stipple] MA Middlestone+ GW Screaming Skull
- [Stipple] GW Screaming Skull
Dagger/Bow Grip:
- GW Dryad Bark
- + GW Rakarth Flesh
- GW Rakarth Flesh
- + GW Screaming Skull
Weapon Glow:
- MC Ivory
- MC White
Quiver Inlay:
- GW Word Bearers Red + MC German C. Black Brown
- [Drybrush] GW Mournfang Brown + MA Golden Brown
- [Drybrush] MA Golden Brown + MC Ochre Brown
- + Cadian Fleshtone
Quiver Leather:
- MC German C. Black Brown
- [Stipple] GW Dryad Bark + GW Gorthor Brown
- + GW Mournfang Brown (in patches to add some variation)
- GW Gorthor Brown
- GW Rakarth Flesh for fine weathering
Staff Wood:
- Black
- MC German C. Black Brown
- + GW Steel Legion Drab
- GW Steel Legion Drab
Staff Flag Diamond pattern:
- MC German C. Black Brown
- + GW Word Bearers Red
- GW Word Bearers Red + GW Squig Orange
Arrow Feathers:
- MC German C. Black Brown
- GW Rakarth Flesh
- GW Screaming Skull
Rubble:
Drybrush
- MC German C. Black Brown
- + MC Flat Earth
- MC Beige WWII
- GW Rakarth Flesh
Wood:
Drybrush
- MC German C. Black Brown
- + GW Steel Legion Drab
- GW Tallarn Sand (in patches)
- GW Steel Legion Drab
- GW Rakarth Flesh
Paving:
Stipple
- GW Dryad Bark
- GW Steel Legion Drab
- GW Tallarn Sand
- GW Karak Stone
Walls:
Stipple
- MC German C. Black Brown
- GW Stormvermin Fur
- GW Baneblade Brown
- GW Rakarth Flesh
Paint Brands:
- GW – Games Workshop
- GSW - Green Stuff World
- MA – Vallejo Model Air
- MC - Vallejo Model Color
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