Monday, May 31, 2010

Warning! This post is rated PG-13...

First thing first - Happy Memorial Day! Take a moment out of your day today to give thanks to all those that have died to give us our freedom - and a special thank you to our armed forces.

Alright - this post is rated PG-13 because it shows Deliah Blue...well....sporting a thong - that's right - I sculpted my first 3.75" scale thong LOL!

Why? - It's Deliah Blue...and she's a Zeltron...you don't think she wouldn't be wearing one? Check your headgear man!...LOL! Seriously, this sculpt is meant to appear sexy...and that requires a bit more attention to certain "aspects".

First being the hair - Deliah has a full head of hair - not flat or straight...I had complaints about giving my custom Mara Jade (seen below) big hair but where they had a resonable argument with Mara, Deliah is a different story...though I still like Mara's hairdo.



Next would be breasts - many sculptors/artists seem to go a bit crazy with size or proportion - sometimes making them too large and overwhelming to the rest of the sculpt. I had that problem (among others) with my first female custom, Kahleen Hentz from Star Wars Republic (seen below). Rule of thumb - when working in this scale, be conservative at first and add when needed - they don't need to look like someone strapped the Goodyear blimp to her cheast LOL! By the way - Kahleen is one of those being redone...



Finally - the overall form (curvature), making the sculpt as feminine as possible while retaining articulation...which in my opinion is the most difficult to accomplish working in this scale. I think the problem is found most where the legs meet the hips and buttock. Depending on the amount of articulation you wish to retain in the sculpt effects your accuracy to the form - for example...Marvel Legends females - Horrific sculpts but ultra articulated. The opposite for Mcfarlane females - Beautiful, but non-articulated chunks of plastic labeled "action figures".

Wasn't meaning to give a lesson on female sculpting - I'm still learning with each new project I take on....but let's get back to Deliah's work in progress....



Sorry - Had some fun with the purple lipstick brush :)

Concentrating on the upper and lower torso right now - I am sculpting over a GIJoe movie Baroness skeleton. The back isn't complete which is why it hasn't been photographed. I plan on a couple additional head sculpts - one with her hair pinned back and one wearing a bandanna. I am also planning (already in the works) on creating two additional body sculpts of Blue...haven't decided which outfits she will be sporting but that can come later. This sculpt will be sporting her more traditional attire as seen in the first fews issues of Legacy.

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Next we got another rockin' Legacy gal - Morrigan Corde...Imperial agent and mother to Cade Skywalker.

Again, I am sculpting over a dremeled down skeleton of the movie Baroness - and the sculpt is almost complete :) Morrigan is sculpted as she is featured in the early issues of Legacy (issues 9 and 10).

I decided to do some paint applications to completed head sculpts that were sitting around waiting for bodies (sounds creepy) - sometimes I will paint a finished head sculpt first before completing the body - for some reason this helps me with the accuracy of the remaining sculpt.


Morrigan will have an array of weapons to choose from- I also plan on creating her other persona, Nyna Calixte.

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So I said I was painting some completed head sculpts...below are a few more completed over the past week.

Embo is coming around - working on the upper body right now - the upper armor will be segmented (hopefully) to allow the figure to move arms higher than shoulder level. The eyes were a challenge but thanks to a very small haired brush and a magnifier, I was able to make a color sequence of red, orange, yellow and white to give the eyes a glowing look.



The republic shock troopers are still being sculpted but the head sculpts are being painted - the first completed one shown below. The visor comes from the Kubrick Metal Gear Raiden figure - cut down, reshaped and back painted with clear orange in several layers. It is removable which was the best alternative to gluing the visor and risk having it break off later down the road. Each face paint will be different - even though they share the same facial sculpt.



Mika is on the road to completion as well - with her body about 60% finished and her head sculpt painted and good to go! The trick was to break free from the traditional female color schemes and do something completely alien - I think she came out pretty good :) I hope the rest of her follows in turn - this piece canbe one of my more interesting figures when completed!



Finally Jedi Master K'Kruhk is nearing completion! About 10% of the body sculpt is all that remains before I begin painting this massive figure - the headsculpt is finished....look closely and you may see my reflection in his eyes...thanks to a couple layers of clear gloss. The figure stands at a wopping 5.5" head to foot.



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I have a completed sculpt to report!

My first in a series of Yuuzhan Vong warriors is finished!! The figure stands at
4.75" tall, similar to the size of the Hasbro Vong from the comic pack. Its style is derieved from the artwork of Colin Wilson. I hope to begin painting the figure very soon - he will include the amphistaff.





Not far behind from being completed is my second Vong in the series....Commander Tsalok. Again from the Star Wars comic series Invasion and again inspired by the artwork of Colin Wilson. Working on the massive legs right now - his size is about 5.5". He will have a second head sculpt still in the works...





Expect a small flurry of finished pieces this summer - first beginning in June with Dass Jennir and H2 from Dark Times....



I appreciate all the comments and suggestions you may have - please, as always, e-mail me or post a comment.

For more photos of these pieces, check out my photostream on FLICKR at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sith_fire30/

Thanks to all those that have become a fan of my Facebook page! Please click on the banner to the right if you'd like to join in!

Thanks again for your interest guys! - Short work week!!! Talk to ya soon!

sith_fire30

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Sith_fire 30 Creations on Facebook....

Hey guys!

Look to the right of the page and you will see (or supposed to see) a Facebook link to my new page that will feature a bit more of the day to day when working in the custom hobby - just now posted some paint progression shots that you may find interesting :)

If you have a facebook account, please visit and become a fan!...and suggest to your friends....and so one and so on LOL!

Just trying to get network up and working - anyone have any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks again guys - More updates this week!

Have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Empire Strikes Back!

Just a quick post to give my birthday wishes to a film that inspired me at such a young age to make a career in the arts! Happy Birthday Empire Strikes back!

By the way - this guy that made the fan trailer did a great job in my opinion :)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Finally a completed piece! Darth Maleval

Just a quick post to introduce my latest finished piece - Darth Maleval from the Dark Horse comic series Star Wars Legacy.






















Maleval was actually completed over a month or two ago but I began a series of new projects and never got around to shooting the completed piece till last week. Sorry for the wait and I appreciate all the comments and suggestions you may have - please, as always, e-mail me or post a comment.

For more photos of the Darth Maleval, check out my photostream on FLICKR at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sith_fire30/

Later this month I plan on introducing you to some new projects from the original trilogy, as well as perhaps some new "non-star wars" updates.....Metal Gear anyone?


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

EMBO and his hat.....

This guy rocks....period.

EMBO - Bounty Hunter

If you don't know who I'm talking about and you claim to be a Star Wars fan?... shame - get yourself to youtube or wookipedia and look up EMBO - the coolest bounty hunter since Boba Fett in my humble opinion.

Naturally I had to do a sculpt LOL! I'm not sure if Hasbro will produce a figure but no matter - My sculpt will feature a "live" interpretation of Embo...breaking away from the stylized, animated look of The Clone Wars and giving him a more life-like appearance.

Embo's hat...I have this clear plastic cap I held onto from what I believe was a yogurt container...thinking it may come in handy one day. It's a perfect size and a great surface to sculpt on - The helmet you see in the images isn't complete, I still need to add a little more "weight" and a bit more detail - but thank goodness I held onto that plastic cap! Made my work so much easier!





The hat contains a tab which will fit down onto the head - allowing it to remain in place.

The head is a complete sculpt - I will make about three seperate versions, each with different expressions...mainly in the eyes.





With the eyes, I took the tip of a graphics pencil and waitied for the FIXIT to begin hardening before I made the impressions. Much of the detail added to my work is applied in the third hour of curing - when the FIXIT is still impressionable, but not soft enough to loose form.





Had to split the upper torso in order to widen the shoulders. I wish I took pictures...because not only did I widen the shoulders, I turned them in a bit. This helps with ability to overlap the arms - like when holding a rifle - the arms no longer fight with the girth of the chest. Again , I wish I took pictures - mental note for next time.



MANDALORAIN TWI'LEK

I'm nearing completion of my Twi'lek Mandalorian - FINALLY - But after rethinking the figure, I decided to resculpt the entire torso, neck, upper shoulders and helmet...while adding an updated ammo belt and shoulder armor.

How old is this piece...going on 2 years? Will I ever get it done? LOL!

Actually yes - very soon.

Below are a couple UPDATED shots of the Twi'lek Mandalorian from the Farpoint chapter of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. If you need a refresher of how he looked before, check out my previous blog entries or my Flickr photostream.

I will be adding additionl ammo packs, as well as a bladed weapon and holster.

He will have several pairs of lekku that can connect to the helmet and be interchangeable.

I will also sculpt his head without the helmet...though I am still trying to build a concept on what he may look like.




Mon Calamari Bounty Hunter

I'm really diggin' this guy - This Mon Calamari sculpt originated from a concept sketch from the source book to Star Wars Galaxies - originally considered a "Tech Specialist", this Mon Cal has found his way into the shadows of scum and villainy to become an unamed bounty hunter.

One problem I have with Mon Cal concepts is the appearance of human feet and hands...sorry, Mon Calamari don't have such things. So I've taken a bit of creative license and decided to resculpt the boots and upper legs to fit the Mon Cal's fins...they are a bit wider and longer but not clown feet - got to be carefull with that.

The lower leg armor is a bit wider and will have ammo pouches attached. The boots aren't complete - still have a bit of segmentation to go but I'm happy how they've turned out so far.

The head sculpt is complete and casted - the original has been safetly put away. I plan on creating a few Mon Cal warriors from the Dark Horse comic series Star Wars Legacy using a similar head sculpt without the helmet.




Legacy Jedi

A couple more characters are approaching completion soon - Jedi Wolf Sazen and Jedi Shado Vao from the Dark Horse comic series Star Wars : Legacy.

***On a side note*** - When I say completion, I mean that the sculpting phase is completed - I still have to paint the darn things LOL!

Back to Wolf and Shado...

Wolf will have an alternate head sculpt with his hair pinned back.

Shado will have three different head sculpts - one with lekku behind back (pictured), one with the lekku draped over the shoulders and one with the lekku flowing free as in an action pose.

I plan on doing a second sculpt of Wolf as seen in later issues sporting a flight suit and an artificial arm...


Alright - now I'm embarrassed...I promised you a finished figure - I know, I know - No worries...he's coming in the next day or so!

Finally Darth Maleval will rise!!!

I look forward to your questions and comments!! I will post any answers here or
via e-mail.

For more photos of the above creations (many more), check out my photostream on FLICKR at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sith_fire30/

Till later!

sith_fire30