Hi, fellow hobbyists!
Today I will show you the latest addition to my pile of shame. I was very excited about this bust because it has a unique look and shape!
Karol Rudyk Art is a company from Poland, founded by Karol Rudyk who himself is a sculptor and award winning painter. Browsing his website, you will currently find dragons and vampires of the highest quality. He has two very large dragon models, both with a rider and a large scenic base. He also has some vampire busts for sale.
And I got my hands on one of them...
Kahl-Agul is a heavily deformed vampire, more bat than man. There is no back story for him so that is totally up to you. He could be transforming into or from his bat form, or he could be a feral vampire, feeding on himself and rodents (bats and rats), mutating him to this state.
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Side view of this resin bust, take note of the hunched over
pose of the vampire. |
This resin bust, sculpted by Luke Starkie, has a really scary feel and looks like it stepped straight out of a horror movie. For a bust, it has a bit of a strange pose, leaning forward and his arms/wings slightly forward and outward. The bottom is also completely flat, so you can't just stick it to a standard bust plinth cut on an angle. This means it needs a slightly more creative solution and this can be hard for some people, and me. 😜
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The flat bottom of this bust makes it hard to for to think of a
suitable plinth. But maybe an oval shape can work! |
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| This bust is about 6,5cm high... |
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| ... but almost 9cm wide! |
This monster has some awesome details. The prominent ones are in the face. The wrinkles and wide open mouth, but there are also the muscles on his back and shoulders, the muscle fibers on the chest and the veins running under his skin!
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| This will keep you up at night! |
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| Very cool facial features! |
The model comes in three pieces, the body and two separate jaws that need to be glued into the mouth. The vents from pouring the resin can be easily removed by cutting them off and using some fine sanding stick to smooth them down. Be careful with the ears, however, they are fragile. Behind the ears, you will most likely find some flash and holes. this is because it's a multi part mold and the back of the head is where the pieces come together. I was a little disappointed at first, but it's not something a little putty and some precision sanding can't fix.
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| The problem behind the ears |
The price of this bust is €59, which, in my opinion, is a bit high. Yes, it is a unique bust and you can see the time and dedication that has gone into designing it but for that price, I would have liked to see the mold problem behind the ears fixed. Luckily, Karol often has discounts on his models or combo deals, where you can buy multiple busts at a discount.
All and all I think that this is a really cool bust with great potential! It just needs to end up in the right hands. Karol himself is starting to paint one of these himself, so keep a close eye out on
his Facebook for pictures.
That's it for this article. If I had to rate the bust I would give it an 8,5/10, with the only downsides the price and the holes behind the ears. Other than that, if you are a fan of vampires or monstrous busts, this is definitely something for you!
If you reached this point, thank you for reading through my ramblings, and I hope to see you next time!
