Silt Strider

:silt strider howling:
I fondly remember these huge long-legged fleas and their high-pitched wails providing safe transport around Vvardenfel. I mourned their husks dotting the Ashlands, and wondered how their Dunmer handlers would operate the animals by directly manipulating their nerve tissue. I imagined how caravans of Silt Striders slowly travelled through blight storms on multi-day journeys from Vivec to the blue-lit fungi taverns of Telvanni cities, carrying Flin and skooma and other mysterious goods. Silt Striders are so wondrously strange.

On the model
The Silt Strider is one of the most iconic fantasy creatures of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. It's strange amalgamation of fleas and spiders/crabs is typical for the game's visual design, and perfectly fits among the mushroom trees and ashland deserts. I designed this model for my desk because it takes me back to that bizarre world, for which I feel weirdly homesick. I maximized this Silt Strider for nostalgia induction!

How I made the 3D model
I extracted the 3D model from Skyrim Dragonborn, and customized it to better resemble the original Morrowind design. I also made each leg independently poseable. I then used its textures as displacement maps to impart a physical texture, hence the gratuitously large file sizes. 

How I made the physical model
This model is specifically designed with the detail and precision of SLA in mind. After printing it on my Mars 2 Pro, thoroughly washing and curing it, I glued the legs to the body using superglue. Lastly, I sandblasted and airbrushed it. I really suck at painting, and the game model isn't exactly colorful, so I might redo it sometime…