Old Ben Kenobi - repainted

This is Sideshow's (brilliant!) old Ben'Obi-Wan' Kenobi figure from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. This is one of their better figures that they've released, and even without anything done to it just looks AMAZING when it's on display on our shelf. The detail on the sculpt is unbelievable, as is the likeness. (Well done Trevor!)

You all know me by now though, and I can't leave anything alone for long.... so along with another one that I was doing for a customer, I repainted this head. Here's the results. It really shows off just how great this head sculpt is!

Enjoy!

Darren

(as usual click the images for larger versions)

Luke Skywalker (ESB) repaint...

I finished this for a customer yesterday afternoon. Finally starting to get some things finished alongside the sculpting I'm doing. These aren't the best pics... my camera makes things too dark or too light when I take them at my desk, but these ones are good enough to show it.

Click on the pics for larger version...

Hot Toys 'Future Wars' Kyle Reese - repainted & weathered

I finished this commission recently. It was for a client who was giving it as a gift to a friend who was leaving the country. Apparantly the client (and the recipient) both loved it... which makes me happy. Anyway... on with the photos

How Ripley looked last week...

I've done more work on the face since these pics were taken, so at this stage it was looking a bit rough and innaccurate, but it just lets you see the direction it's going in.

It's almost finished now, I just need to try and make a couple of sample casts, then it will be sent away for molding... but enough talking, here's the pics from last week.

Terminator heads are in!

For those of you who have been waiting for Terminator heads, they finally arrived here today, and they look great! I'll start sending out the unpainted orders within the next day or so, and start painting the rest on Monday alongside my other scheduled work.

Also I can shift more focus back to the full-figure commissions. Can't wait!

Terminator casts on their way...

Good news for those waiting for a Terminator head cast. I just heard from my guy in America, and apparently the casts were sent last week... which basically means I will be getting them any time soon.

I will post out any unpainted orders within a few days, and I'll get the heads which need painting on my desk pretty much straight away, and I'll merge them in with my normal schedule.

Finally!

A very special custom...

A while ago I was approached by someone who'd seen my work online, and I was asked if I could help turn a simple idea into one of the most thoughtful Birthday gifts I've seen in a long time.

He had seen a 12" figure that sideshow did of a soldier from the First World War, in a 1918 infantry uniform. This was the same uniform that his Grandfather wore, and he wanted to have a custom figure created as a Birthday gift to his Dad....of his Dad!

The idea of giving a present to someone saying "Here's a one off figure I have made for you... of your Father from the war" was such an appealing thought to me, so warm and thoughtful, that I jumped at the chance.

I was given the photos below.



From there I went hunting for a head that I could use as a basis for my resculpt. It didn't have to look like him, but simply be something I could work from. I found the following head which seemed to have the eyes, nose and mouth in approximately the right place in proportion to the photographs, so I ordered it.



From then on it was a case of doing what I usually do with my oil painting portraits.... but in 3D. There would be lots (and i mean lots) of studying of the photographs, in order to decide what parts of the head would need carving away and reshaping, and what parts would need adding to and sculpting.

All in all most of the head would be altered in some way, I think possibly only the eyeballs and the back of the neck escaped my sculpting tools. Here you can see the head during the sculpting process. The first photo shows the start of the reshaping process, with the hairline shaved off and the bare plastic of the nose, upper lips, chin and cheeks having had some work done to them. The second photo is several weeks further along the process. The white and green you see are parts I've sculpted and shaped using the 2 part epoxy clay I use.





At the same time as this was going on, I sculpted and painted a wide brimmed dress hat for the figure, as that was seen in the original photos I was shown. Also I had some rank stripes made to go on the sleeves of the figure to match the original photos. (I wanted this to be as close as possible to the man in the photos)

Eventually the head was finished, and it was time to make a silicone mold, cast it in resin and get the thing painted. As this was such a special project, such a personal gift, I wanted this to be a really good paint job... so I took my time, and tried to get everything the best I've ever done.

I'm totally happy with the results, and more importantly so is the customer. This was a pleasure to work on (even though it was difficult at times) and I'm proud and honoured to have been trusted with it.

Too many things at once......

Here's a couple of shots of (some of !) the things I'm working on at the moment. I'm doing a few hours on each so they all progress. A few big ones are virtually finished, which will let me get on with things so much quicker.

From left to right in the first pic:

Hudson (Aliens) resculpt, private commission sculpt (2 heads, sculpt and cast), Ripley (Aliens) resculpt, Arnie (Terminator) resculpt, one of the many Anakin repaints, one of the many Legolas heads, and another private commission at the end (turning a Stargate figure into an 80's MacGyver figure)



Here's a quick close up of the (still being worked on!!) Hudson



Of course these pics don't include the repaints and full figure commissions (Aragorn costume weathering etc), and other ongoing commissions like Wolverine repaint, Will Turner sculpt etc

I thought I owed you all an update though.... it's been a while since I showed anything new, but I've learnt a lesson from all this. Only show new sculpts/repaints... when you're able to cope with the sudden influx of work!! Anyway.... it's all plodding along nicely, and once the couple of big pieces have been sent off I'll be able to kick up a gear and get a move on!

Darren

Three more completed Anakins - with in progress pics...

These are the latest batch of 1/6 scale Anakin casts, made from my re-sculpt of the Sideshow collectibles piece. They have been getting painted over the last week or two and I took a few photos along the way to give an idea of the process. (there are only 6 pictures.... but at least a dozen layers for the skin colour alone, then the hair... and lips, eyes... etc. But it gives an idea of how it progresses when I paint heads)

Ghost Anakin using my Sideshow resculpt

over on the Sideshow Collectors forum, pixletwin used one of my Anakin heads to make this fabulous one-off 1/6 custom of Anakin Skywalker as he appears at the end of Return of the Jedi. This was a great idea for a custom, and I just love how this looks, it worked out much cooler than I imagined it could, and I think he should be very pleased with the cooler than cool item he now has in his collection.

Almost finished....

My latest two Obi-Wan paint ups of my resculpt are virtually finished now. (They'll be done tomorrow... then some varnish and dullcote and they'll be ready to go to their new homes)

This was how you last saw them.....



And this is how they are today (ignore the nasty flash pics, makes everything all bleached out, but lets you see the detail quite well)

update for 27th April 2007

There's not that much actually to show today. I'm painting a couple of Obi-Wans (shown below) that are about a third of the way through. Also I'm hoping to get Legolas finished (or closer to being, at least) and I'm painting a couple of small Star Trek customs.

A close up on my painted eyes

I'm finally happy with the level of competence on my eyes now. Previously I was always uncertain how they would turn out, and they would look fine from a distance sat up on a shelf, but if you looked at them. And I mean really looked at them up close, you could tell they were hand painted.

These latest eyes on one of my Anakin Skywalker heads though, I'm totally happy with!

An image to show the scale and small size of the heads and how they usually look



And up close :)

Anakins finished (pretty much)

Just some more pics of the now (virtually) finished latest 2 Anakin commissions. Just need to seal and protect them, gloss the eyes and they'll be done :)







And every once in a while I like to remind myself how this Anakin figure came from the factory.

"I'm not the Jedi I should be... I want more"

well, if Anakin wanted more of himself.... looks like he's getting it. These are just a couple of paint ups I'm doing for some people.

Star Trek 7" T'Pol into B'Elanna Torres resculpt

A while ago I was asked to resculpt an Art Asylum T'Pol action figure into a B'Elanna Torres figure. Turning it from one character into a completely different one. As far as I know (I may be wrong) there has only ever been one version of this character made, and to be polite.... it was your usual 'doesnt look anything like her' toy. Here's a pic of the previous version.... and the actress it's supposed to be



As you can see... it looks nothing like her.

It was quite a challenge resculpting the whole face and head to turn it into a different person, but considering the small size of the figure, I'm quite happy with it, and more importantly... so is the client.

It started out as this figure......



...and then went through the various stages of having things cut off... reshaped... resculpted.. added on....













once the sculpt was done and I was happy with it, I made a silicone mold and made 3 casts of the head (as requested by my client)





After that, it was time to clean up the cast (fill in any pinholes left by air bubbles etc), spray it with white primer, and paint it..... the fun part. I've placed another copy of the figure that was used as the base on the left in the first photos, for comparison.

commission sculpt I'm working on at the moment

I've been commissioned to resculpt a 7" action figure, turning it from one character/actress, into a completely different one. The actress it used to be is........



and the actress/character it's going to be is.........



As you can see, she's totally different. Chin, lips, upper lip, nose, forehead and hair will all have to be rescultped.

and here's the before shot of the action figure, and where I'm up to so far (will be finished in a few days, then molded cast and painted... which is the part I'm looking forward to, bring the sculpt to life!)

BEFORE





As of the end of today this is where I'm at.....

A few of my oil paintings...

Here are some of the portrait commissions I've done on canvas (each roughly between 24" - 36" wide)

7" Star Trek Captain Picard resculpt/repaint

This is the 7" Captain Picard figure from Art Asylum a few years back. The figure as it was released had a terrible paint job, and an ugly neck, which was both too long, and also very bulbous at the base. The end result, is that the figure looked ridiculous!

I resculpted the neck to be shorted, and thinner at the base, and gave the head a full repaint, and blasted the plastic body with dullcote to make it look less like shiny plastic.

BEFORE





DURING







AFTER