I am a big fan of the early eighties Citadel Chaos Beastmen, sculpted by Trish Carden. So I sent her a few questions, got some answers and figured it might be interesting for anyone who likes those minis!
Early days...
"This was the very first range of figures I ever sculpted so they were the beginning of my development and I had personally not thought about these sculpts before I was asked to do them! As far as I remember I was just asked to do a range of Chaos Beastmen with no particular requests about how they were to look. It was a good, varied first range to get my teeth into."
Camel Man catalog drawing,
courtesy of Stuff of Legends
Camelman, 1984. image by Santa Cruz Warhammer
Those disturbing designs...
"Beastmen hadn’t become the mostly goat-like style yet so it was fun to think of as many various beasts as possible. In those early days things really were a lot less structured as far as planning figures was concerned. I just thought of lots of different animals and how they would look as beastmen, as simple as that! I’d seen some beastmen that the Perry’s had made so I tried to make sure they would fit in with them. They were made from Green Stuff…all the my earlier figures were."
Runequest Broo Beastmen by the Perrys, 1982
image courtesy of Lost Minis Wiki
C38 range, preslotta, 1984.
Image courtesy of Stuff of Legends
Pig Man, 1985. Image Santa Cruz Warhammer
A different time...
"The workflow was pretty simple…decide on an animal, sometimes do a sketch first and sometimes go straight into putty work. I was pretty much given free range with them. When they were done, management looked them over and then they were moulded. I don’t have any notes for these, not that I’ve found anyway, also I didn’t draw the catalogue images, that was one of the artists. I don't remember how the sculpts got their names, probably the writers but we would all throw names around for stuff in those days.
Slothman, 1984, image Santa Cruz Warhammer
Bird Man, 1984 Image Santa Cruz Warhammer
Looking Back...
"I’m fond of them for what they are, they gave me my start as a sculptor, but obviously there are things I would do a bit differently now. I still like the wackiness and variety of them though and they’re more how I think beastmen would look…..a raggle taggle mixture of beasts!"
C27 range, 1985, slotta.
Image courtesy of Stuff of Legends
About those old moulds...
"I’ve no idea where the moulds are and I don’t have any greens. I would think Games Workshop is more interested in making new figures rather than re-casting up the old ones. There really wouldn’t be a big enough market for them to justify the time taken to do that. The majority of today’s gamers want new figures and that is what GW will concentrate on."
Goatman 1984. Image Santa Cruz Warhammer
They are pretty rare nowadays...
"I always enjoy seeing them painted when they do crop up….I love seeing any of my sculpts painted! It’s a great pleasure for me to see how varied they can be and I’m always happy that they still make people happy!"
Unnamed Chaos Beastman, first mini of the range Trish sculpted
Image Santa Cruz Warhammer
More Abhumans?
"I’ve quite a few things I want to sculpt so who knows what will turn up!"
If you want to keep up with Trish Carden's current projects, visit her on Facebook HERE.
On Instagram, she goes by @monstergirl_trish
SC Mike
Great post thank you. I wasn't a fan of the range back in the day but love them now of course!
ReplyDeleteExcellent - Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnother great post. Thanks
ReplyDelete