[11/7/19] Eurocalypse: Mediterran Mega Update pt. 4 of 4(!)

Well, as my other projects are nearly finished ('finished' custom figures, haha, good joke...!) I have to be prepared for the end. Of our civilization.
I have seen some great apocalypses here, like the Radio Kings, Pin Up patrol, Mad Max customs, and Fallout Dioramas.
Since I have drawn some post apocalyptic characters for #inktober (an art challenge in October where you have to draw one picture for one keyword every day), I wonder how to bring them to life in 6 scale.

I have some more characters in mind or in unfinished sketches, but here are the finished pictures. End product may vary a lot. You can skip all the text, look at the pics and maybe give me tips and opinions on where and how to start best, or take some time and read:

The Post Apocalypse in 'my world' was the result of a worldwide pandemic outbreak, pollution and mutation in animal- and plant life. I focus on Europe and Northern Africa here, I will leave the spiky car chases for Australia, Western US and Mexico. In this world the cars have died out along big cities, planes and smartphones. Several hundred or maybe thousand years after the outbreak, the population numbers are still very low, I am aiming for under two Million in Europe, rest of the world unknown. The survivors are mostly descendants of a few people in lucky circumstances. The dying begins three days after the infection, until then nobody had a clue that it even existed. It's contracted very easily from person to person, wiping out big cities fast. When the gravity of the disease became clear, it was already too late for most of the world.

I created a number of  loosely connected types of cultures, represented by characters. Right now I have four and a half cultures in mind, names are placeholders:
- the 'Cargo People' of the European North Coast
- the reclusive masked forest dwellers of Central European Forests
-the 'Mirror People' of the Alps
- the 'Shell people' of the European Mediterranean Coasts
- the nomads of the North African Coast

This one is one of the 'Cargo People', descendants of Quarantine survivors from the Coasts of Lissabon to St. Petersburg, as well as international Cargoship crews and Navy personell of the NATO and Russia. Their style might be an unholy mix of Carnival, Burlesque, Mobsters, Reeperbahn, Magic Mike and sailors. They love to present their wealth, are trading and sometimes pirating with their Cargo-neighbours and don't know the difference between total Kitsch and a real Diamond. The women are in power in most of the tribes for a reason I will elaborate on another time.
The character is supposed to have a lot of bright and dark red, so I might get me a Painkiller Jane, use her Head and hands and a curvy body, maybe some of those newer seamless ones. The athletic body might be used for one of the shell people. Clothes crafted from leather, and I need to get lots of watches.


This one looks quite generic I think, like some crazy Thor desert raider. He experienced and an electric jolt from an old fence once,  thougt it might be magic and is now collecting 'lightnings'...   I might drop the concept, rather concentrating on a forest man with bark clothes or something.


A factionless, crazy, peace loving avenger. It's quite rushed and based on that black shirted Alice Figure. I might drop this concept, because the guns in this world might have gone extinct too. But I might use the idea with the wings and the happy peace flower skulls.


One of the shell people, descendants of Mediterranians and tourists who survived the outbreak on little boats, along with  African Climate/war Refugees who crossed the sea just in time. They are excellent swimmers, divers and hunters of giant, mutated fish and shellfish.
I probably have to get one of those phicen bodies for her. Clothing will be made of a mix of deco and real shells, leather, strings and nets. A creepy mask and a shell man with a cone shaped shell hat is planned too.


No nomad or forestman as I am not happy with the sketches yet.

These should be interesting. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with once you start on the figures.

I agree, interesting concepts, beautifully drawn.

Oooh, these are going to be fun! And I agree, your artwork is beautiful.

Thanks a lot guys. I just ordered a Painkiller Jane (last one, hah!) from a French shop.
As this will be my first seamless body, does anybody know what colour ('pale' or 'suntan' or something else?) it has? As I mentioned I want to get one of those curvy s28/29 bodies and use the Painkiller Jane headsculpt with it.


Anyway, no figure here to work yet, so I got all the shells together.

The ones on the red and blue were gifted to me by a friend, she collected them in Italy.

Well, the long one I found in Wales.

The one on the Cardboard I stole from Scotland (left), Denmark (middle), and the right ones are gifts from a mixed collection, some or most of them are from the Philippines.



The cone shaped ones and the three other around them are cheap deco shells.

That's a whole lot of shells, so I suppose it will translate to a whole lot of shell people.

Cool collection of shells.


Now if TBLeague would make mermaid bodies I’d be a happy camper.

Wonderful illustrations. It should be quite a challenger however to translate them in to 1/6th scale figures. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. My own post-apocalyptic range is much less fanciful, but also set in the immediate aftermath, not centuries later.

GubernatorFan wrote:That's a whole lot of shells, so I suppose it will translate to a whole lot of shell people.

Yes, thanks. I think the Shell people have the most potential for fast but creative outfit crafting.

Stryker2011 wrote:Cool collection of shells.


Now if TBLeague would make mermaid bodies I’d be a happy camper.

Hm it can't be that hard to make mermaid tails.  Depends on the level of detail I guess. Maybe some (fake) Fish leather? Or ask Mattel/Barbie Mermaids.
But they don't have mutant Fish-Human Hybrids in this Post apocalypse.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:Wonderful illustrations. It should be quite a challenger however to translate them in to 1/6th scale figures.  I look forward to seeing what you come up with.  My own post-apocalyptic range is much less fanciful, but also set in the immediate aftermath, not centuries later.  

Thanks a lot! And yes, I like all of the Apocalypses here, very distinct and every with their own aesthetics. I am not hundred percent shure yet if the guns have died out in my version, but probably yes.

And no figure here yet, but in preparation I experimented on old Alice. I did not make that much effort to cover the joints or get interesting poses, just messing around.


Just some fabric and shells, gets you a club, a hat, a corset an shoulderpads. No, they won't wear boots.



An no, they shouldn't have glossy lips either. Well, maybe after drinking shark blood or something.



Now with that giant spider conch as an arm blade and a stylish scottish hat.



Maybe they also use those hats to cook soups in them?






Now thats more sinister/creepy, but it needs eyeholes. Or a little slit.



Looks like a medieval beret.





Face masks are cool, most of the time. Maybe they are used as some sort of primitive breathing device? A sea shell Predator would be interesting. An with Predator I mean that 80s Action movie Predator.



You can't see it that good on the photo, but this shell has something resembling a nose and light eyesockets. I don't know yet if I drill the holes or make a copy of this shell, as I don't want to destroy it.

Mila Jovovich would be great in the movie version, for sure.

very interesting looking project for sure, been a fan of fallout since ´98 and been playing the various titles ever since.

strangely enough i only caught fire for mad max with part 2, always saw a lot of wasted potential with the setting, especially after the third movie ended when things got interesting, like exploring destroyed cities instead of endless desert.

always got more of that post-apo-feeling with fist of the north star, where dystopian city ruins and vast desert blended together to make a convincing environment.

your sketches fondly remind me of the early fallout concept art, wish i had your drawing skills, would make many projects a lot easier, especially in the early phases.

this is gonna be an interesting project for sure and a breath of fresh wind for the post apocalyptic theme.

I can definitely see where your heading with this. Nice job.

Such fantastic concepts!
I’ve got heaps of driftwood, seaglass and shells from years of beachcombing along with worn bits of metal and plastic that I’ve been hoarding for customs for years too! XD

GubernatorFan wrote:Mila Jovovich would be great in the movie version, for sure.

Yep, with the risk of everything getting 800% more violent.

Tjolnir wrote:very interesting looking project for sure, been a fan of fallout since ´98 and been playing the various titles ever since.

strangely enough i only caught fire for mad max with part 2, always saw a lot of wasted potential with the setting, especially after the third movie ended when things got interesting, like exploring destroyed cities instead of endless desert.

always got more of that post-apo-feeling with fist of the north star, where dystopian city ruins and vast desert blended together to make a convincing environment.

your sketches fondly remind me of the early fallout concept art, wish i had your drawing skills, would make many projects a lot easier, especially in the early phases.

this is gonna be an interesting project for sure and a breath of fresh wind for the post apocalyptic theme.

Thanks a lot - I guess you can still try to print dummy figures an draw armor onto them in early concept phases, if you don't want to draw whole figures every time.
And yes Mad Max 2 was the one I liked most, until Fury Road, which instantly turned into one of my favourite action movies.

Stryker2011 wrote:I can definitely see where your heading with this. Nice job.

Thanks! A lot to do.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:
Very clever.  Fred Flintstone would approve of your body armor.

To be honest, The Flintstone Universe might also be a post apocalyptic world with genetically engineered dinosaurs coexisting with men after humanity's downfall.

Lynkhart wrote:Such fantastic concepts!
I’ve got heaps of driftwood, seaglass and shells from years of beachcombing along with worn bits of metal and plastic that I’ve been hoarding for customs for years too! XD

Thanks, yes, driftwood will also find it's way into the shell people lives. And probably plastic too, I guess the plastic in the oceans will survive the guns, cars and computers. But I was also thinking about mutated/genetically engineered Sea Creatures created to eat all that (micro)plastic, which went wrong as they startet to eat boats etc.

No figure here yet, but I got 1 kilogram of little sea shell mix for 5 € or something. There are thousands. To get an overview I sorted them!





The round, snail like ones have dusty dark ones ans smooth light ones. The tiny ones are reserved for necklaces etc.


Most of the dark dusty shells are not that interesting, but some have nice patterns, so I seperated them. The light ones are sorted by size.


The rest of it, sorted by a mix of color/shape the tiny tiny ones for necklaces again. There were a few cone shaped ones (lower right)


An some 'snowflakes' that didn't fit any category. I like the greenish star the most. Is is.... the star of the snowflake shells.

Wow. That’s quite the collection.

Indeed, a huge collection. How long did it take you to sort? I hope none of them have that special sea smell...

Really cool. Such a fresh take on the post-apocalyptic concept, and your designs are a lot of fun. Going to enjoy watching these figures come together.

Thanks guys! I sorted the shells on a free day, started around 11, until the evening, with brakes and the TV running, or YouTube.

The Painkiller Jane arrived. But I have not worked with the body yet, used the headsculpt one the Alice body and started to add some clothing, ropes and accessories. Still a lot to do but it's a start, all joints hidden now. The final version won't have red hair, the sculpt will be used for the Cargo people.


A crab 'skull' I brought from Norway... it's my only one and I'm afraid I might break it. Might be used as primitive breathing device for diving.


For the decorative shoulder plates I used flat shells that already have holes in them and put a cord through them.


Edit: Wow, that serv img compression makes the photos look really bad. I guess I won't use the phone for uploading next time. Click on the photos for decent quality.

Looking great so far... !

I agree, nice start.

Looking good. The shells with the holes are really interesting — and how convenient.

Thanks guys! And yes, those shells are very convenient. They are from snails called Haliotis varia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haliotis_varia

I started with a shell man. Both figures swap shells and inspre each other in a way. Synergy and stuff. My male head sculpt is on the way but not there yet, and I don't own a single male head sculpt yet (not counting zombie's!) so I used a sea urchin and a shell as placeholder. I might turn the urchin into a mask. It's a cheaper body and not seamless so I had to get creative.
(And yes another pic directly from the phone..)

Shellman looks quite promising, and no one would have suspected there isn't a face underneath.

This is an interesting technique, I imagine those shells are mostly lightweight so as to not inhibit the balance of the figures much at all. And the last photo of the figure's head kind of reminds me of a mushroom, which makes me start imagining a whole other line of plant/fungi-based designs for the other tribe.