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/

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

sith_fire30

3 comments:

Road Warrior said...

Again.........Dayton YOU are the man! Awesome work as usual bro.

Alex Johnson said...

Incredible! You make some of the most detailed figures I've ever seen! I love your stuff so much I put a link on my blog! LOL

Oh and BTW, the K'Kruhk figure looks awesome! Though I have to ask, will you be adding his straw hat to the sculpt? ;)

StarWarsGeek said...

Wow, I'm not sure which of these is my favorite piece from this post, because they are all amazing. The Blue looks good, Corde looks great... Embo's eyes are simply outstanding. Mika, K'kruhk, even the generic looking Republic Trooper is outstanding...