The Second Royal Guard

Let me preface this one by saying I'm by no means an expert and the images below should clarify that. Before this week I haven't even worked with Green Stuff for around 6-7 years and I was no master sculptor back then either! This all takes a lot of time, patience and a steady hand. Good tools and a good work area help, but practice makes perfect and there are plenty of tutorials online!

I was happy enough with the first Royal Guard that I figured I go a little bit more in-depth with the second here, as my method differs from the inspiration as mentioned in the previous blog. As I'm looking for variety in my Royal Guard, I went with this Rider next:

A lot less preparation work went into this one. The previous rider saw me remove the upper arms entirely, as well as the shield boss, and bow and quiver from the riders back. This time I kept the rider's arms, and merely shaved down the shoulders a little.

Step one was simple, as the rider's helmet lacked a crest, I added one with green stuff. The main difficulty here was shaping it and keeping it flush with the centreline of the helmet. An alternative method would be to simply precut a piece and glue it once hardened.

Then I added the collar. A simple semi-circle from shoulder-to-shoulder, which I then pressed a couple of lines into for the detail.

Pauldrons were next. For these I took a wedge-shape of greenstuff, thinner at the bottom, and applied it to the rider's shoulder. Then I pressed into it to create the separation of the plates, and pressed in the edges. The previous model I did each plate individually, but this was much quicker and less fiddly.

Once the pauldrons were done, I added a small circle of greenstuff to each end of the collar, overlapping slightly with the top plate, to represent the cloak clasps. 

Onto the back next. Step one was simply repairing the damage to the back where the bow and quiver used to be. I didn't go too crazy with the folds, just ensuring that they followed the sweep of the existing cloak. Then, I took a triangle of greenstuff to create the hood, pushing the ends over the shoulders to meet the clasps. A line was also scored in to show the trim.

A smaller square was added next, pushed up to the rim of the helmet, then dotted to give the appearance of chainmail.

Finally, the horsehair plume was added over all of this. A simple teardrop shape of greenstuff that I drew lines into slowly to give the appearance of flowing strands. This can be awkward to do and I'm not happy with this one as it's easily the worst plume I've done on the models so far, so it may get redone.

And that's it!

After this it's a simple matter of attaching the spear arm and a press-molded shield. I've done very simple and amateurish green-stuff molding here, so I'd recommend checking Youtube for proper tutorials from actual experts if you want to do the same.