Custom Female Character

I finally had time to snap a few quick pics. Life is being pretty stupid right now, so working on this project will either take a major step back or it will just stay in a holding pattern. Anyway, on to the pics.

*EDIT* Apparently I can't insert images, so we will run with this instead: https://www.flickr.com/gp/188794355@N02/K9w1D0

Two are obviously of the body, the others of a VERY early iteration of the head sculpt for her.

I went and added some handy lines in the one photo for measuring purposes, but I have also taken some detailed measurements already/for my project.

Overall height (for my project): aprox. 284.8mm
Actual height to the top of the neck ball: 270mm
actual bust: 153.4mm
actual waist: 118.2mm
actual hips: 148.3mm

I measured these with string, a handy chart I found online, and my digital caliper, so I am fairly certain I measured the right spots to actually get accurate measurements.

I said in an earlier post that this project will come in just over 1/6th scale. In fact, the scaling works out to be more like 1/5.8125, which is ever so slightly off the 1/6th scale. But, the character I am working on is 158cm tall (which mind you is all of 5'2 1/4"), with a bust of 89cm, waist of 54cm, and hips of 85cm. If my math has been right, and from everything I have done so far with the help of Photoshop's ruler tool and photos, I am confident in this being about as close to a pre-made body as I can get.

The head sculpt is super, super early as I am learning proportions, studying the reference photos, trying new things and so on. I like the idea of using glass beads for eyes. Tons of colors, easy to use, and if you mess up or lose one, you probably have about 100 more, so who cares! I still need to work on the eyes, lips and nose as I am not happy with them, but if you were to see the earlier attempts, well, this is a huge improvement. The scaling of the head is also looking like it is going to be just about perfect.

None of the photos are showing, and your Flickr account is private...

*sigh* Sunday was not my day. I will try to fix this tomorrow...Sorry for the technical difficulties folks.

OK, so I think the link works now and it is no longer private. I think I just simply clicked the wrong thing uploading them to Flickr. I can view them without being logged in now, so yay. I said to heck with the inserted photos.

I can see them now. Interesting technique with the eyes. Looks like a good start.

Looking forward to see what happens with this custom. Everything starting with post 14 of the original thread is technically a different topic, so I'm splitting it off into its own thread (here).

GubernatorFan wrote:Looking forward to see what happens with this custom. Everything starting with post 14 of the original thread is technically a different topic, so I'm splitting it off into its own thread (here).

Makes sense. My noob self appreciates the help!

I can tell you guys that she is meant to be a character from a video game series I like, but I intend to leave that in mystery until I have more work done on the head sculpt.

As for the eyes on the head sculpt, I am personally leaning much more towards the auburn eye. It is still a bit too dark for the character, BUT, the copper is too bright. And small. I think that all things considered the auburn eye just fits much better with the overall look I'm going for. They are just glass beads. I have an idea for the hair too, but that is in too early a stage to talk about.

I do hope that the dimensions I provided are helpful to someone looking for a bit more info.

Work has been, well, horrible lately so I haven't had time to even browse. That being said, what time I have had I have thrown into the head sculpt for this figure. The eyes are pretty close to where they need to be, the nose needs some tuning still, the lips are (at least I think) a bit too wide overall, and the ears, well, I thought eyes were difficult to sculpt at this size. That being said, thanks to this being revision who the heck knows, I have other failed head sculpts just sitting there. The height on the S09C, as well as width and general shape look to be scaled quite nicely. Once I have everything more where I want it I will use a miniature's paint brush and soften the edges and hard to smooth places with some alcohol. If I am satisfied with it, then off to the oven! Then paint. Then the part that will take me literal days to do: hair.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/188794355@N02/50025091377/in/dateposted/

Looks interesting. I don’t play video games, so I’m at a loss as to who this could be. But, I’m still interested to see the final outcome.

MOAR UPDATES!

First, the head sculpt.
https://flic.kr/p/2jfE6nG
I switched over to beige super sculpy as I was having trouble with visualizing everything with the grey, super firm sculpy I was using and you guys have seen before. I also changed up the eyes. They are smaller, and frankly a good bit more natural, but still a really cool copper color, while not perfectly accurate to the character (yes, I haven't said who yet as I want to reveal that once I am ready to bake the head sculpt), but it is in the same family and I have yet to find a color that is closer. I am aware that the eyes in the photo are a little wonky, and the jaw line looks more linebacker than female anything. That jawline can't be fixed until I figure out a mounting solution to the body (which I hope is resolved with some head connectors I bought online and should be here this weekend). Aside from that, the lips need some tweaking still as well, but aren't horrible overall (and a far cry from earlier attempts).

That being said, I would like some opinions, or outright recommendations if anyone has them and is willing to share. For the sake of skin tone, what would you guys do?

I took 4 separate photos, each under different lighting conditions, with a test head made of the beige super sculpy sitting on the stomach of the S09C.

https://flic.kr/p/2jfE6cG
https://flic.kr/p/2jfFpC3
https://flic.kr/p/2jfE6vC
https://flic.kr/p/2jfFpJk

The head has been baked already so I could see what happened to it. Depending on the lighting, it's actually surprisingly close to the body. Part of me wants to paint the head sculpt as close as possible to the skin tone of the body. Another part says "eh, frankly, close enough." The figure will likely bounce between something more revealing and something with more coverage when I get to the clothing part of this.

The hair for the figure is arriving next week sometime, and it is a ginger/auburn mix, so that will change lighting as well as how the skin tone is perceived. I will be doing more test heads with the hair so I don't mess up the important sculpt, and will post photos accordingly.

My question to you guys then is should I paint the head sculpt? If so, I will likely invest in an airbrush, but what paint would be a good match to the S09C's suntan?

I think the sculpt color already looks good enough at this point. You say it’s baked already, and it matches that closely...? Unless the hair manages to make the tone look different, I wouldn’t mess with it anymore. As far as paint, I’m no expert when it comes to airbrushes, so I can’t help you there.

I, too, can't advise on airbrush. The skin match between the test head and the body appears perfect to me, so I would probably avoid painting the head as a whole (apart, of course, for details like eyebrows and lips, etc).

That’s why I asked, I sat there and stared at my Mac’s screen for a good bit thinking “wow, am I seeing this right?” It’s nice to know I’m not just seeing things. Tracking says the neck connectors will be here today, so I may have some interesting photos tonight or tomorrow. *crosses fingers that this goes smoothly*

Since painting seems to be a minimal issue, at least at this point, then the hair will be the next problem. I have my eyes on a matt clear coat for sculpy, so that’ll seal it up, but I have no clue how I’m going to attach the hair after. Likely glue, but laying it right and not putting too much of anything will be fun.

It’s been a fun project! I will probably buy a head sculpt that is close as well and have it repainted to match the character just to see how I’ve done in person. I’m a perfectionist so I’m my own worse enemy, but I’m doing things by hand and not via computer, so she’ll be 1000% one of a kind.

The neck connectors did come today (yesterday as it is 4am now?), and I went for it and made the sculpt ready to bake.

Pros: The figure is the right height, the eyes look really good, and the general shape is not NFL lineman.

Cons: Smol head is smol and just doesn't look right proportionately, skin tone clearly clashes.

I need to adjust positioning as well as take what I have learned and make an ever so slightly larger head this time around. Even with some temp hair the proportions were off. So close!

https://flic.kr/p/2jg3eGJ
https://flic.kr/p/2jg3eNF
https://flic.kr/p/2jg3eKQ

Yeah, the trick is to make the entire head (sans hair), including ears and the entire skull shape (if all of these things are “normal”) — that way, you aren’t just working on the overall shape of the face with just a generic back. It might help with sizing if you go that route. Plus, once you add hair, the head can turn out looking crazy deformed without the basic shape of the whole head. (Take a look at the beginning stages of the many GubernatorFan hairing threads to see how he shaves off the sculpted hair, then adds putty to remake the skull shape.

I haven’t sculpted a head in years, but I remember doing a larger scale bust in a high school art class that required a have multiple references of the same person from all angles, and I had to keep rotating the sculpt as I went along to make sure everything looked the same as my references. I wouldn’t even attempt something this small myself, so I applaud your dedication.

Well you are certainly more brave than I, to sculpt a head from scratch like that. :') 

Since I don't know what character you are making, it's hard to say how it captures what you are going for. My main suggestion would be to perhaps make a round ball type shape as the base for the skull and then work around that by adding to it/reshaping, as this may help with getting the size right initially. Perhaps you already did that.. if so, ignore me! :3 

Also, it could help to use an existing 1/6 head that fits on a tbleague body as reference also to get the right size. But again, maybe you already considered that. : )

Hmmm, I don't seem to notice a problem with the skintone, even now. As for the small head, well, that is because you seem to have only really made the face. Do you have to start from scratch, or can you build/add more to the top, back, and sides? I was also going to say that you don't necessarily need neck connectors -- just a large enough opening for them, in which you could stuff some flexible material like foamies, which would provide a reasonably strong grip, yet allow for easy repositioning.

My "hairing" threads that Stryker is talking about are several, but here is one that addresses the cranium build-up issue clearly enough:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2335-converting-sebastian-stan-ht-bucky-barnes-head

For the neck connection attachment, although it is approaching it from a different angle, this might be useful:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t310-head-conversion-tutorial-updated-with-part-iii-june-2019

Yes, I was hesitant to offer suggestions at all about the head mainly cause I'm not sure what it is based on. Not to put pressure or anything, but it would help to know. : )

Stryker2011 wrote:Yeah, the trick is to make the entire head (sans hair), including ears and the entire skull shape (if all of these things are “normal”) — that way, you aren’t just working on the overall shape of the face with just a generic back. It might help with sizing if you go that route. Plus, once you add hair, the head can turn out looking crazy deformed without the basic shape of the whole head. (Take a look at the beginning stages of the many GubernatorFan hairing threads to see how he shaves off the sculpted hair, then adds putty to remake the skull shape.

I haven’t sculpted a head in years, but I remember doing a larger scale bust in a high school art class that required a have multiple references of the same person from all angles, and I had to keep rotating the sculpt as I went along to make sure everything looked the same as my references. I wouldn’t even attempt something this small myself, so I applaud your dedication.

To be fair though, I only took pics from the front, but trust me, there is a whole head there going straight back. I did not put ears on for the simple face that I have hands that, while dexterous, also like smooshing tiny things like ears. Didn't want to ruin any fine details I did just carrying the dang thing to the oven. I fully planned on putting them on after the fact because why not. I did find one thing that caused the size issue, which is simply that the shoulders are, at least according to photoshop, a touch too broad (10mm to be exact). So a bit of optics coming into play there as well. I am working on another sculpt right now, which is going to be a bit wider and fuller. If anything, that head was a great example of good ideas executed less than ideally. This is, frankly, relaxing to me, which I will take without question.

GubernatorFan: I will look at those for sure! All info to this end will definitely be useful. Hilariously enough, I actually went through the neck connector thread before bed last night.

Skywalkersaga (love the name BTW), I tend to keep my projects close to the vest, hence why I haven't shared who I am working on. Heck, my own friends know I am working on a head sculpt, but aside from that they have no clue. I will likely share it this week, I just want to get the sculpt closer to what I think will be good and then I can do comparison pics with the actual character. Photoshop is my friend, so I will be using that to that end.

No worries about keeping things close, I tend to do the same! I’ll be patient.

Welp, I broke down and ordered a head sculpt that could be the temp fix. I ordered the Super Duck SDH015B which should be arriving tomorrow (yay!). My reasoning is that the way the hair is rooted is very similar to the hair style this figure will have, so it'll make a good learning opportunity for me I think. Hair color is super wrong for this character (though I may be able to reuse this head with a future project that actually requires pink hair) as are the eyes, but hey why not learn from it (as was suggested!).

The new head sculpt I am making is coming along decently well, but I think I will be starting from scratch again soon as the perfectionism kicks in. I find myself constantly reminding myself that a hand sculpted head will not be equivalent to a computer generated version. Granted, my desktop is beyond capable of handling any 3D render project I would throw at it, I just don't have a clue how to design something in Blender, or the time to learn it (a buddy of mine could 3D print it if I gave him the file though, so that is something to keep in mind I suppose). Clay is just so much simpler I think.

It’ll be interesting to see what you come up with with the new sculpt, and the possible SD head.

Stryker2011 wrote:It’ll be interesting to see what you come up with with the new sculpt, and the possible SD head.

Well I hope for pics this weekend, but I am waiting on some new tools to come in the mail (a bunch of new ball styluses) so it may be Monday before I have anything on the new sculpt (I have found an awesome ear and mouth tutorial on youtube, so that will hopefully shore up those weak areas). I have compared it to the SD head and I am happy to say that my general proportions on it are fairly similar, so hooray for my math being right! I just gotta fix those lips and ears...man they look weird right now. I am going to get an air brush so I can paint these if need be. That being said, I am leaning towards the SD head for this character because, hilariously (and to my own frustration because time and effort, but hey, new skills and its been fun), I am convinced that they made that head from this character. The measurements just match too closely, and the truth is I don't have the skills to match a computer generated and painted head sculpt, simple as that. Sure gonna try though!

The SD head is quite nice frankly, and aside from the hair being utterly horrible, it scales pretty well perfectly with my character. The only things that need changing are the eye color (the muted grey/brown isn't even close), a weird sorta lip at the hair line that should be easy to deal with thanks to my heat gun (it is like it is curving up and away from the forehead, probably for the hair piece, but man it looks bad when bald), and that hair piece. I have never, in all my research, seen such sparse hair. Or felt such bad hair. I have a $2 thing of hair from a craft store that is softer. Just, just wow is all I have to that end. So I am researching the rerooting topic, as well as using sculpy for a hair pad (which I believe some links to that end have been shared, so thank you guys for that!). I did test a bit last night with sculpy and just making her bald and I have to say not bad looking. Bald isn't a look for this character in any media, but she could pull it off, frankly. Hopefully by the time my ordered hair comes in I will know what direction I am going with it and can proceed.

I just want to say thank you all, by the way, for the suggestions, information, and encouragement with this. It's an ambitious project and I am very much enjoying myself with it. I am looking forward to completing it and being able to display it both at home and on here!

Well, this has been an interesting week for this project.

Basically I found the outfit I want for the character (https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/98515) but will be waiting for it to get parted out. I also have the "obligatory" bikini coming (SMcG if anyone is wondering), if for no other reason than she won't be naked on the shelf while I wait for the main outfit to be released (and I don't have to edit in censor boxes anymore, despite them being easy).

I also humbly admit defeat at the hands of this head sculpt, at least for now. It came out better, but not where I wanted it for this character. Much to learn, I still have. As a result, I have decided to just use the SD head I bought, which hilariously enough is, from what I can see, based off the character I am going for (photoshop and blender are great tools btw), so win?

I also bought a s07c, that works better IMO for the character in skin tone, which means I have another body to play with in a different project.

Which means I might as well say who I am working on (this one is for you skywalkersaga lol).

The s07c will become Kasumi from Dead or Alive, which is a fighting game I have been playing since the days of the SEGA Dreamcast and original xbox. She's always been a favorite of mine and I decided that I wanted to do this project with her as the focus. I have had issues with the head sculpts available, but after having the SD sculpt I bought in hand (yes I know that it is what was used, but with a different eye color, for the one Kasumi based outfit set from awhile back, and no, I am not shelling out that money just for eye color, just no, I can figure that out later), I realized that my main issue was with the hair in both style and in color, which will be resolved soon enough. It always looked cheap and "oh hey, here is orange hair, this is that character, right? Right?" which bugged me to no end.

The s09c will become Byleth (female, duh) from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I will pickup my head sculpting adventure here, which may just be easier. Being a game series known for its stylized look, the faces of most characters, especially in Three Houses, are very anime-esq. Since that means face proportions in a normal, human sense are thrown out the window, she should be easier to sculpt. Plus I won't feel as much pressure for it to be as close as possible.

I will link photos tomorrow, I am falling asleep writing this, plus I want to grab some photos with the current stage of progress, as well as the hair I am going to use.

Pics as promised.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/188794355@N02/BL9rt2