A CROWN IS BORN../ The Hobbit Dwarves etc.. WIP's & Finished Builds Part 2

Impressive amount of work on that head. Hard to believe that started out as a recast of Red Skull.

When the head was transparent I had no idea that it wasn't actually representing this character. Then you painted it and gave it a nose, but now it really looks like him.

Stryker2011 wrote:Impressive amount of work on that head. Hard to believe that started out as a recast of Red Skull.

GubernatorFan wrote:When the head was transparent I had no idea that it wasn't actually representing this character. Then you painted it and gave it a nose, but now it really looks like him.

Well it is/was a quite deformed casting, sort of squished and stretched but luckily in a symmetrical way keeping all the features aligned and not something out of the Hellraiser franchise for example!LOL.



A REMINDER OF THE ORIGINAL HS THE CASTING WAS TAKEN FROM



WHY I WANTED A CAST MADE, TO CREATE AN ORIGINAL SITH SPECIES WARRIOR FROM THE OLD REPUBLIC DAYS IN STAR WARS HISTORY, NOT MY BEST WORK BUT DOES THE JOB





I NOTICED SOME SIMILARITES FROM THE SITH TO THE WITCH KING LIKE THE CHEEK BONES, BROW RIDGES ETC..
ANYWAY, WWK NOW RESCULPTED AND PAINTED, NEEDS GLOSS. HAS MORE OF A PUNISHER SKULL SHAPED FACE NOW.

Brain's been thinking way too much today! Actually realised the Wraith from Star Gate Atlantis must have been inspired by this character and his minions, even the name is a bit of a give away and the dates LOTR1 2001 and SGA S1 2004. I kept looking at my sculpt of the WWK after I finished gluing the hair (a mix of white and very light blond) and thinking "that looks a lot like one of my first ever sculpts" which was of the SGA Wraith, " have I not improved in all this time?"; then it hit me, they're supposed to look similar! Pic of my 15 year old (the customs not the characters!) Wraiths below for comparison, both franchises are all about 'magical' rings too! . The hair's not finished completely, it's a bit thick so I'll thin it out a bit, whish I had those special scissors.















I'VE ALSO BEEN LOOKING AT THESE PARTS AND THINKING "HOW ACCURATE DOES THIS BLOODY CROWN HAVE TO BE? AND WHY HAS NO ONE MADE A CHEAP STEEL OR PEWTER RING OF ONE I CAN BUY CHEAP ON EBAY!"

The pre-history of the cast and early customs are both interesting and impressive. Thanks for providing them. Depending on what the hair is, you might get far with a water treatment, but you probably know best how to proceed. If you were going for the look in the reference images, the darker color is a bit too vivid  -- it can probably benefit from a semi-translucent layer of whitish/grayish beige in general (leaving darker areas around the eyes, insides of the nostrils, along the lips, maybe under the cheekbones), and the color's tone can maybe go a little more in the direction of red (Tyrian purple or sangria or plum) and less blue (violet). But I don't know to what extent you mean to go another way.

GubernatorFan wrote:The pre-history of the cast and early customs are both interesting and impressive. Thanks for providing them. Depending on what the hair is, you might get far with a water treatment, but you probably know best how to proceed. If you were going for the look in the reference images, the darker color is a bit too vivid  -- it can probably benefit from a semi-translucent layer of whitish/grayish beige in general (leaving darker areas around the eyes, insides of the nostrils, along the lips, maybe under the cheekbones), and the color's tone can maybe go a little more in the direction of red (Tyrian purple or sangria or plum) and less blue (violet). But I don't know to what extent you mean to go another way.

You're right, I'll add some light tan 'eggshell' like skin skin wash to the face after a nap, can't see the wood for the trees mate!

It’s getting there. I agree with Ian, a bit of white wash overlay on the face will help give him more of that ghostly look. Have you thought of using some type of “hair wax” to flatten the hair more (the goopy kind, like face cream — but thicker)?

Stryker2011 wrote:It’s getting there. I agree with Ian, a bit of white wash overlay on the face will help give him more of that ghostly look. Have you thought of using some type of “hair wax” to flatten the hair more (the goopy kind, like face cream — but thicker)?

I haven't even started working on the hair yet and have been using 'product' of all kinds over the years to style 'real hair' from hair and moustache waxes to sprays, glue, wire etc.. I'm more concerned with thinning the hair first and might have to make or order a special tool to do that as it would be easy to accidently get uneven clumps on this scale as the hair of course is not exactly 1/6 scale but 1/1 scale something people often overlook. As for the skin, been painting since 5am using more skin toned colours to mimic the masks above and not have the head and hands completely blend in with the clothing, still got to try a more plumb purple on the sockets, lips, cavities etc..
Sorry if I sound grumpy, I am. Stupid neighbour (the retired builder not the drug dealer) started hammering on my wall at 8:30am followed by the stupid church bells that go on for half an hour every Sunday, they'll do it again in in an hour...joy...













A BIT MORE ACCURATE DEPICTION OF THE ACTUAL COLOUR ALTHOUGH IT IS SLIGHTLY WARMER IN HAND

That's looking pretty cool. (Don't worry about being grumpy -- I'm pretty much that way all the time; insomnia is a b!%#h!)

Stryker2011 wrote:That's looking pretty cool. (Don't worry about being grumpy -- I'm pretty much that way all the time; insomnia is a b!%#h!)

Insomnia, that super sucks!! I'm amazed you manage to moderate the boards without losing your temper all the time, hat's off to you! I'm almost the opposite with depression and meds knocking me for six on a regular basis, some days I'm just a walking zombie who thinks he's a hibernating bear, meds, food, bed and repeat for a couple of days..
Anyway decided to finish this guy with this look, not one I'd ever expected to use for him but works as he's a decrepit human after all still alive in Mordor's realm which is where he stabs Frodo who opens the realm by wearing the one ring. Still needs gloss and tidying up the paint on the nails, I'll get to the hair and crown eventually..Maybe I'll sponge on a lighter tone with some grey, not sure, getting kind of fed up as there are so many variances in his skin colour in all the reference pics!

 

Yeah, most people who know me in “real life” think I’m a bit of an a-hole because I have a short fuse, but then when I tell them I haven’t had a good night sleep in close to 40 years, they’re usually like “Oh, yeah… that explains it.”

I think he looks good, Alex. Once you get around to doing the crown I think you’ll see it better.

I think he looks phenomenal. Your most recent repainting achieved a very nice balance between the ghostly and bluish-purplish of the flesh. Whether you thin the hair or flatten it with product (or even the crown might help hold it down), I'm sure it will be a success. Multiple and slightly varying points of reference can be disconcerting to anyone working on this. Hang in there. And while I'm sure it can get old, I'd take church bells over my neighbors' gardeners' leaf-blowers any day. As for your neighbor hammering, at least he waited until 8:30 am, which I suppose is actually considerate. Hopefully he doesn't make noise every day.

Stryker2011 wrote:Yeah, most people who know me in “real life” think I’m a bit of an a-hole because I have a short fuse, but then when I tell them I haven’t had a good night sleep in close to 40 years, they’re usually like “Oh, yeah… that explains it.”

I think he looks good, Alex. Once you get around to doing the crown I think you’ll see it better.

Thanks! I hope so too! Don't worry about the A-hole thing, I'm a self-centred git with an artistic temperament lol! But at least I'm a hermit so no one really has to put up with it (except you guys and FB) and I stopped drinking over 10 years ago (not on the wagon, just found it was bad for my depression and overall outlook on life) which although a bit boring at times (much better than depressed!), improved my mood a lot.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think he looks phenomenal. Your most recent repainting achieved a very nice balance between the ghostly and bluish-purplish of the flesh. Whether you thin the hair or flatten it with product (or even the crown might help hold it down), I'm sure it will be a success. Multiple and slightly varying points of reference can be disconcerting to anyone working on this. Hang in there. And while I'm sure it can get old, I'd take church bells over my neighbors' gardeners' leaf-blowers any day. As for your neighbor hammering, at least he waited until 8:30 am, which I suppose is actually considerate. Hopefully he doesn't make noise every day.

Really? Thanks! Thought you were going to say he doesn't look ghostly at all! Which he doesn't, I guess he's more a representation of how he looked when he became a wraith? To actually make him a wraith as per the movie, I would literally need to make him out of smoke, mirrors, lasers/LEDs and Perspex!



Maybe I'll do a full on glow in the dark 1/6 King of the Dead someday?

Just ordered this set for 97p! Probably garbage for a human sized head but should be work fine on 1/6 hairdos, needed a new pair of regular sharp scissors for fabric and a comb for my beard anyway! (Skint, been buying too many airsoft and air rifle sniper rifle replicas recently, got a new black full steel Barrett 50cal monster and a real wood full metal Lee Enfield SMLE that's been a bit of a holy grail of mine as the shooting replicas are rare as rocking horse poop,,,, the real ones are super easy to find ironically but you need a fire arms certificate and somewhere to shoot live 303 ammunition, neither of which is possible for me).

Made quite a bit of headway with the crown, cutting, folding and gluing fibre card once I'd decided on the shapes I needed (a lot of variations in the replicas and 3D computer models, Asmus even seems to have theirs worn wrong). Followed trimming excess off oversized bits (I just do this stuff by eye, I don't measure anything), super gluing thin metal wire to the four main spikes then filling the gaps with putty, just waiting for that to dry now then sand it and PVA the whole thing before paint etc..

REFERENCE PICS



















BASED MINE ON THIS MOSTLY, DON'T YOU LOVE HOW EVERY SINGLE VERSION OF THE CROWN DEPICTED HERE IS DIFFERENT?! AND YES THEY ARE ALL FOR THE SAME KING





STARTED CUTTING...




1ST TEST





WIRE AND TRIMMING



PUTTY







2ND TEST, STILL WET

I know it's not quite finished, but the likeness is now unmistakable. Regarding your previous comment, I agree, making it exactly as seen on screen would involve something much paler and washed out, but that seems neither very practical, nor very interesting (outside of the movie's plot). Your treatment reveals what can be the real thing behind both the dark robes and the ring's x-ray vision. I prefer the real look you've given him. Speaking of which, will you be painting the crown as in the props or leaving it a light color as in the x-ray vision? And recreating it with all these elements cannot have been easy.

What an ingenious method for the crown. (Now runs to see if I put my crown on incorrectly.)

The skintone is definitely improved and the way you did the crown is just soo creative! What is 'fibre card', btw? And what kind of putty did you put on it for the texture?

Fantastic work, specially matching his robes and crown. I also like your headsculpt far more than the reference pics, on them he looks like he's puckering up for a kiss. Yours looks much better in my opinion.

GubernatorFan wrote:I know it's not quite finished, but the likeness is now unmistakable. Regarding your previous comment, I agree, making it exactly as seen on screen would involve something much paler and washed out, but that seems neither very practical, nor very interesting (outside of the movie's plot). Your treatment reveals what can be the real thing behind both the dark robes and the ring's x-ray vision. I prefer the real look you've given him. Speaking of which, will you be painting the crown as in the props or leaving it a light color as in the x-ray vision? And recreating it with all these elements cannot have been easy.

Ring's X-ray vision, love the term you've come up with! LOL.  I guess he's the King behind the curtain so to speak and uglier than both Wraith forms! As for the colour of the crown, I was going to go with the metallic look of the "prop replica" (I'm using quote marks as all the film footage must be CGI and not actually use any real life props, the so called props must be concepts for Peter Jackson to ponder over or guides for the CGI artists) but now TBB's comment below has got me second guessing myself and thinking the lighter colour is going to have way more shelf presence where I plan to put him than a darker metallic finish. I'll try and find my 'making of the movie' official book later, it's been burried in a box for over 10 years somewhere in my storage room.

Stryker2011 wrote:What an ingenious method for the crown. (Now runs to see if I put my crown on incorrectly.)

Thank you and thank GTF for reminding me how I make armour and the like in 1/6, apparently I'd forgotten!    So you actually own the Asmus WWK then?

skywalkersaga wrote:The skintone is definitely improved and the way you did the crown is just soo creative! What is 'fibre card', btw? And what kind of putty did you put on it for the texture?

Thanks SWS! Fibre card is what I call it, maybe it's felt card? It has the consistency and thickness of 'blotting paper' used for fountain pen mishaps like I had in school. it's about  1mm thick, stiff but very absorbent so soaks up inks, paints and glues well without becoming floppy. The putty is just Vallejo acrylic resin in liquid form, useless for sculpting but good for quick fixes and filling in small holes, just air dries.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Fantastic work, specially matching his robes and crown. I also like your headsculpt far more than the reference pics, on them he looks like he's puckering up for a kiss.  Yours looks much better in my opinion.

LOL, well both of those were completely unintentional! Sort of got stuck in a rut with the face I made and crown parts are coincidentally the same colour as the robes since my fibre card is white and had been over sprayed in the past accidentally with grey primer!  But now you have me torn, do I stick with this idea you have put in my head or continue as planned with the metal crown look? ARGGHH!! Brain's exploding...LOL.

Oh, you're gonna hate me for this suggestion... make two (2) crowns! One dark metallic, one matching the robes/X-ray vision. Then swap every so often. Alternatively, make one crown, but even if relatively dark, make sure it is very shiny, so that if you hit it with light, I will reflect brightly.

GubernatorFan wrote:Oh, you're gonna hate me for this suggestion... make two (2) crowns! One dark metallic, one matching the robes/X-ray vision. Then swap every so often. Alternatively, make one crown, but even if relatively dark, make sure it is very shiny, so that if you hit it with light, I will reflect brightly.

Yeah right, like I'm going to make two of these damn things! LMFAO! I'm surprised you didn't suggest painting one viewable side metal and leave the other side white/grey so it can be rotated! That would actually work! LOL
Well done all the sanding and further trimming to narrow the headband area, super glued a few bits and lashed on the PVA glue to reinforce it all, drying now..I'll have a go at doing the little wire spikes that look like evil christmas tree fronds after it has cured since it involves drilling lots of tiny holes.

LONGER SPIKE IS TO BE AT THE FRONT

Looking good. And to answer your question: Yes, I do have the Asmus WWK. He’s pretty neat, especially with his ring grabbing hand (not trying to give you more work to do).

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good. And to answer your question: Yes, I do have the Asmus WWK. He’s pretty neat, especially with his ring grabbing hand (not trying to give you more work to do).

Ring grabbing hand? I'll have to google that, I have a reaching hand which works for me but thank you for reminding me, I need to give him his own ring, completely forgot! Cheers Stryker!

Edit: Okay so you actually meant his gripping hand that has his ring on it! I thought you meant there was a special hand grabbing The One Ring from Frodo.

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good. And to answer your question: Yes, I do have the Asmus WWK. He’s pretty neat, especially with his ring grabbing hand (not trying to give you more work to do).

Ring grabbing hand? I'll have to google that, I have a reaching hand which works for me but thank you for reminding me, I need to give him his own ring, completely forgot! Cheers Stryker!

Edit: Okay so you actually meant his gripping hand that has his ring on it! I thought you meant there was a special hand grabbing The One Ring from Frodo.

Yes. The one where he’s reaching for the One Ring. Asmus included that specific hand gesture. I actually have mine poses with him reaching for the ring (though I don’t have Frodo there), while raising his Morgul Blade to strike.

Stryker2011 wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good. And to answer your question: Yes, I do have the Asmus WWK. He’s pretty neat, especially with his ring grabbing hand (not trying to give you more work to do).

Ring grabbing hand? I'll have to google that, I have a reaching hand which works for me but thank you for reminding me, I need to give him his own ring, completely forgot! Cheers Stryker!

Edit: Okay so you actually meant his gripping hand that has his ring on it! I thought you meant there was a special hand grabbing The One Ring from Frodo.

Yes. The one where he’s reaching for the One Ring. Asmus included that specific hand gesture. I actually have mine poses with him reaching for the ring (though I don’t have Frodo there), while raising his Morgul Blade to strike.

Okay that had me running in circles!LOL. Finally found and official pic of the hand you are talking about, it has a very subtle difference from the stretched out reaching hand, just the index finger bent slightly; something I could easily do but can't be arsed! But I will make a ring for his right hand with Sauron's eye on it like yours has.
I found my book on the making of the first film but as full of glorious pics as it is, not a single one of the WWK typically.
I've inserted all the tiny wires through the crown's post spikes after using an old ear piercing trick to get a needle through the tough glue encrusted fibre card. Waiting for the super glue to dry then I'll straighten/angle them and cut them to their correct lengths.

Hmmm, yes, a two-sided crown would have been another way to go. But where were these spikes in the reference images? I'm sure you know best. I think he now receives both HBO and Showtime.

GubernatorFan wrote:Hmmm, yes, a two-sided crown would have been another way to go. But where were these spikes in the reference images? I'm sure you know best. I think he now receives both HBO and Showtime.  

LOL.. those spikes are definitely there! Trimmed and angled them, sprayed black matte primer then silver sponge and dry-brushing. Thinned his hair using the new scissors that just arrived and put moustache wax in it to control and shape/twirl the hair giving him greasy locks. Still need to do his Sauron's Eye ring and add some detail to the crown with a fine tipped black marker otherwise pretty much done I think.



YOU CAN SEE THE SPIKES ON THE HORNS IN THE PICS BELOW





































WHEN I'M 100% HAPPY WITH THE CROWN I'LL GLUE IT IN PLACE SITTING A LITTLE FURTHER DOWN, IT'S SPRINGING UP A BIT HIGHER THAN I WANT IT AT THE MOMENT.

The paintjob on the crown looks great! It seems to have really hit the right balance between the white look and the darker iron look. Excellent work!