Monster hunter - Barioth

Kommissar

Okay, i'm firing up a build thread/journal on some armor i've began working upon.

for those unfamiliar, the source material is from a series of mostly portable games which play like your typical mmorpg, crafting, gathering, farming monsters for pieces to do additional crafting, and fighting huge monsters usually on your own, or with a group of upto three other players.

but the game has a very strong level of action, and difficulty.
fighting the big monsters isn't easy, but really satisfying beating them, and i've always enjoyed how varied all the different suits of armor and weapons there are in the games, i'm fairly sure the number of different weapons and armor are numbering the thousands now.
there is no lock on feature, and all the different weapon types have very different play styles, some letting you dodge around, others letting you block some incoming blows with well timed button presses, and others which focus on damage to the max, and trying to crush the monster you are hunting before he crushes you.

i own a few of the artbooks (there is a US release by UDON of one of them which is significantly cheaper than the japanese hardback versions, and if you find the art style interesting, you wont be disappointed) and i've played my fair share of the US released games, and now i am set on trying to make some high detail armor from the game.




this is new ground for me, i've never tried organic armor, or anything like bone, but i'm feeling pretty confidant and i'm off to a good start.

i had a look at the female version of the same armor, in a japanese statue that i already owned (yeah, told you, i'm a fan, i have quite a few monster hunter knick-nacks) and really liked the texture of the bone plates, so i'm using that as the basis of my design.

first up is some bracers,
Sintra, three different pieces, each slightly differently sized.

Heat gun, and then sharp bends

more sharp bends

add some organic curves

cut some slits into the surface to give a slightly more craggy, textured look

then come the horns, green floral foam, i learned this trick from one of Volpin's more recent builds, keeps the weight down, and is cheaper on what i'm going to cover the foam with.

shave it down.

then build it up with apoxie sculpt.

then carve in some horn like texture (you can, and i have done this while the putty was still soft, but i had a few set on me in the nice california heat, as i was working with the others, and that is when i decided to take a few shots for this log)




next up will be the shoulders!

Protocol

That is AWESOME! Monster Hunter is one of my favorite gameseries! Been thinking of doing a Rathalos myself, but never got around to it. Monster Hunter gets way to little love :P

Fnaset

Real nice!

*Staying tuned for more updates*

Darius Alucard

Never heard of the game series, but I'm DIGGIN those designs!

great work so far and I can't wait to see it finished!

Utherpend

Always been a fan of organic looking armor and weapons if done well and I can say that yours are excellent.

What are you using for the building materials?

Kommissar

using sintra right now, will shift to leather for a few pieces later.

the pauldron is turning out well, 2/3rds done thus far, just need to add a vertical plate to the area that will be closer to my neck for each one, and sculpt the horns on.



added some articulation on the two plates so they are connected



and heres a quick shot of them with a bracer for scale

Woolfy

wowo. so cool!

Icetigris

Those look awesome! What are you using for the articulation joints and what are you painting it with?

Kommissar

i'm using nylon strips for the joints.
and i haven't started painting yet, but ill be using an airbrush when i do

Judge Spartan

Kommissar, your work is awesome, can't wait to see more. I've thought about using apoxie sculpt and I think you just sold me on it.

Kommissar

Haven't shown anything recently, been working on other things, but i finished some work on the shoulders earlier, and they turned out really well i think.
Three pieces per shoulder, connected by a strap under the armor.




got a brief vid on the articulation and range of movement
Shoulder armor articulation - YouTube

i took the detail further than the shots i've included, i carved some grooves into the piece, as well as built up a few areas with apoxie

littleemochibi

Komissar I had an idea that might make it easier for the "claw/horn" pieces that you used the foam and apoxie sculpt for the texture of it. try a wire brush, ones with flexible bristles

Kommissar

yeah, typical clay sculpting tool, i haven't found one i like yet, but it's a solid idea, thanks

littleemochibi

your welcome. the idea came to me on the drive to class, though i have no knowledge of clay sculpting.

Kommissar

bicep armor








all assembled.. needs some paint however

this is kind of how i work.. dunno if it makes sense, but a card plan gets cut out of plastic..

and becomes..

add a few more plates and it turns into leg armor

close up of the bone nubs

articulated

getting the plate just below the main pad to be at a sort of 'spike' angle was tricky, and to make sure it settles with strapped to the leg

pandamajik

Is apoxie sculpt strong enough by itself once painted or do you have to coat it with something before painting? I've seen a lot of people use it but haven't actually had a chance to work with it personally.

Kommissar

ever used green stuff, muli-put (military putty) or sculpy? once apoxie sculpt is set and hard, it's just as paint-able as any of the above.
it's harder than anything i've used in terms of two part putties. it gets pretty much rock solid, and is fully paint-able ect

pandamajik

Haven't used any of those although I know OF them. Is Apoxie Sculpt your go to 2 part putty? I know one of the nice things about it is that you can smooth it with water before it cures. Also seems like Apoxie Sculpt is cheaper? Thanks in advance for all the info.

BGL

Good job on that looking good ! keep it up

Jawafive

Never played the game, but I love what you're doing with the armor so far. Beautiful work.

FAYK

Wow this is looking really good. can't wait to see how this turns out.

Hourai

Registered just because I'm such a huge fan of the MH games, and I can't wait to see how this build will go. I'm still very new to propmaking, but hopefully, I'd like to work on my skills to try my hand at some of the armors at some point.


From what I gather, the black and white material are both sintra, and the grey material lining the ridges on the pauldron are epoxy as well?

Kommissar

grey and green, yeah, right now its all Sintra and Apoxie, the reason for the differing colors is because i had some left overs of the 'natural' color before i started using the white color putty

Alric Blighter

I'm so excited to see how this turns out. Fantastic game, and looking great so far.

Error

wow i am really anticipating this! great craftsman ship so far carving out all the minor details on the bones and horns it looks amazing , can only imagine what it will look like finished , keep up the fantastic work ... NYA :3