Vastarian: Blanchian skull tree

On Vastarian, fanaticism has seemingly seeped into the ground, shaping trees into perverse amalgamations of metal, bone, and wood.

In June we announced the winners of our Vastarian Open Invitational Contest. We are now in the process of converting a model for the first place winner’s (Jean-François [trexcowboy_]) cult, the Aeris Sanctus. While we are still working on the conversion, we are excited to share the first component of the model, a grotesque looking tree that was heavily inspired by the artwork and vision of John Blanche.

I created an armature for the tree using 0.8mm gardeners wire. This made sculpting the tree much easier and added strength to the model.

A misshapen tree that has come to life from a piece of artwork by John Blache, which he described as something “between Turner and Ridley Scott.”

The majority of the tree was sculpted using Tamiya Quick type putty. Once hardened, I used an X-acto blade to reshape areas of the tree.

I created a smaller skull tree growing beside the main tree, using a human size skull.

To impart a Blanchian and Giger vibe to the tree, I added a series of cabling along the trunk of the tree.

Using foil from the top of a wine bottle I created small parchments to nail to different parts of the tree.

For the base I wanted to make it look like the tree was growing in a cathedral, so I sculpted broken flagstones around the tree’s roots.

The skull tree next to the piece of artwork that inspired it: Pilgrym - The Broken Road.

- Adam Wier