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

Wow, that white scarf material was a great find, really looks the part. It's coming along wonderfully!

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow, that white scarf material was a great find, really looks the part. It's coming along wonderfully!

Yes it was and thanks SWS!

Used white elastic to connect the two outer sleeves as sewing would be a nightmare as I learnt from the shoulder frills. Swapped out my custom Saruman's hands to get a right fist with nails, sprayed the HS and hands with grey primer, 1st time I've had a proper look at my HS in a unified visible colour! I'll do some basic tweaks like filling in air bubbles then spray it again. I covered the wrist joints in white Teflon tape as we all know painting them is usually a waste of time. Took pics of him standing up but he's bit wonky and the pics are rushed because he is too tall for the stand. Another layer of clothing to go yet...

Nicely done, the material worked out perfectly. So true about paint on joints rubbing off.

That looks so cool. And the mods you did on the head sculpt turned out great.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nicely done, the material worked out perfectly. So true about paint on joints rubbing off.

Stryker2011 wrote:That looks so cool. And the mods you did on the head sculpt turned out great.

Cheers guys! Still working on the head, narrowed the nose, filled in all the cavities (remember this was a badly cast Red Skull hs, I think the resin was out of date and overheated causing it to fizz and deform), just sanding all that down now. Built his belt rig/harness to match the weird way it's shown on the costume, added details and parts to the scabbards, removed black from the blades and hilts of the weapons readying them for white grips. Made the forearm bracers/cuffs adding more pattern work and even little buttons.

I guess I won't be using a ready made WWK crown then!!

LOL, well... it was a 1:1 crown!

The details on the bracers is a nice touch, and the scabbards and swords turned out great. Yikes on that eBay listing.

GubernatorFan wrote:LOL, well... it was a 1:1 crown!

It's actually 1/4 scale, a 1:1 scale version is only around £200, speaking of which (er.. no pun intended) I found this full size Witch King Of Agmar battle helmet! I am so getting this!! No idea where to put it...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124899150248?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Stryker2011 wrote:The details on the bracers is a nice touch, and the scabbards and swords turned out great. Yikes on that eBay listing.

Thanks Stryker! Should be doing the weathering soon.

Sanded the head down and repainted it grey then white with the hands as well, somehow missed some bubble holes but between the crown and the hair to be added later I doubt it will be noticeable. Made an outer, outer tunic, glued the material in a couple of key places then went to town with the scissors making it all ragged. Started the colouring/weathering (ethereal look) with watered down blue ink and a tiny bit of white paint then vigorously scrubbed with water and a brush to disperse the colour as much as possible, letting it dry now. There's no science behind this and I'm experimenting to be honest, I'll do the same again with watered down grey made from black ink and a little white paint. The robes are still adjustable but spread out now to help with drying as he's a bit wet!

 

Nice job. Seeing him like this, it reminds me of our turkey vultures trying to dry out after a wet night by perching on the streetlights and assuming the heraldic eagle position.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice job. Seeing him like this, it reminds me of our turkey vultures trying to dry out after a wet night by perching on the streetlights and assuming the heraldic eagle position.

With a name like turkey vulture that has got to be one fugly bird!! I thought you were in the UK? I didn't think there were vultures over here. I saw a Peregrine Falcon in my solarium doorway a couple of meters from me a few months ago which was awesome! Anyway.. done the second coat of white on the hs and hands (first coat didn't take too well, got absorbed by the grey) and just finished applying the grey ink wash to all the robes, it's wet now so might dry a bit lighter. Pics with and without flash. Painted the buttons/studs white too. I'll go over that not so invisible PVA glue with a grey marker or paint later.

GubernatorFan lives in California....


And yes, turkey vultures are pretty fugly....  

skywalkersaga wrote:GubernatorFan lives in California....


And yes, turkey vultures are pretty fugly....  

Good to know! And not as horrendous looking as I'd imagined lol!

Started painting the face and hands for a corpse/ghost like look, not done yet obviously.

I was going to say, Sky's turkey vulture was actually relatively cute... for a turkey vulture. I have rarely seen them nearby (same with the falcons). At a former place of residence, there was a nest cam for a family of peregrine falcons in a clock tower, so I guess I have seen those virtually. But anyway...

Nice work. I imagine the purple will appear faintly as an under-layer in the skin.

Nice work. I imagine the purple will appear faintly as an under-layer in the skin. wrote:

Not sure how 'faintly' as the original mask was more colourful than some of the the movie tribute statues and figures like Asmus etc.. unless this is a fan's cosplay outfit?





Bust:





Statue:

The purple looks good to me

skywalkersaga wrote:The purple looks good to me

Thank you SWS so do I! In fact purple is my favourite true colour along with black of course but those of us who went to art school (pre degree year) will remember it's only a shade and not a colour! Did any of you guys ever have to paint from scratch pizza sized colour wheels showing the complete colour range, its convergence (colour into colour) and shading graduation from white to black on every variation? I did and never want to do it again!!
Anyway... I feel like I've been partly around that wheel tonight trying all kinds of combos for the head and hands painted look, getting there, looks a bit like MR Freeze right now but I'll try adding some super faint warmer skin tone here and there with perhaps a grey or black wash? Then details like eyes nails etc.. Probably could do with a gloss coat too...to give him a slimy feel.

Mr Freeze? Funny, I just reviewed SooSoo Toys' Frozen Man (i.e., Iceman), although I do realize these are completely different characters in different universes. Either way, I guess winter is coming!

He is definitely coming along. I like what you've done with the colors. One thing I noticed and I hope will be helpful rather than hateful is the chin. Looking at the last couple of reference photos, it looks like it should jut a little more forward than it currently does (otherwise the pointy shape is appropriate). Perhaps better to notice that now than at the end?

That art school experience sounds absolutely painful.

Excellent work on all the weathering, and the repaint on the head and hands — spooky. That underlying purple is very effective.

GubernatorFan wrote:Mr Freeze? Funny, I just reviewed SooSoo Toys' Frozen Man (i.e., Iceman), although I do realize these are completely different characters in different universes. Either way, I guess winter is coming!

He is definitely coming along. I like what you've done with the colors. One thing I noticed and I hope will be helpful rather than hateful is the chin. Looking at the last couple of reference photos, it looks like it should jut a little more forward than it currently does (otherwise the pointy shape is appropriate). Perhaps better to notice that now than at the end?

That art school experience sounds absolutely painful.

Good catch on the chin! I'd just been going with what the reject mould gave me aside from some obvious mods, I'll see if I can carve it in rather than sculpt as that would be easier at the moment as I'd just declared the head done ( ) after repainting it all day! LOL. I actually want to do a bit more work on the mouth's paint and maybe sponge a little bit of white here and there.
I'll check out your review too!

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent work on all the weathering, and the repaint on the head and hands — spooky. That underlying purple is very effective.

Cheers! Done a lot more paint since then and introduced a more complete but subtler purple presence in the overall paint job. Decided to give him the tiny gold pupils as they will make the figure 'pop' on the shelf and not just blend in with the other wraiths from LOTR (not The Hobbit ones). Decided also to keep the finger nails a bone like colour. I still need to do some 'blending' with the colours, the dark purple is contrasting too much right next to the lighter skin tones.

He is really coming together now. The detail is excellent. But you're right, the purple color has become too vibrant, it needs to be dulled a little, maybe closer to what you had in the previous stage.

Would some kind of light brown wash help take the edge off the purple?

(And purple is my fave colour, too.... :'D )

GubernatorFan wrote:He is really coming together now. The detail is excellent. But you're right, the purple color has become too vibrant, it needs to be dulled a little, maybe closer to what you had in the previous stage.

skywalkersaga wrote:Would some kind of light brown wash help take the edge off the purple?

(And purple is my fave colour, too.... :'D )

Yeah, I have some muddier purples that are actually part of a large skin tone range I bought yonks ago, I used one of them in those earlier paint pics of the hs and plan to do the same again to soften the pure violet ink.

Okay, sword hilts now white but the big change was resculpting the lower half of the hs and giving it a full repaint too. I'll make you suffer through the process as I did lol!







STARTED WITH A DREMMEL AND FILES ETC.. THEN BUILT UP A NEW MOUTH LOWER DOWN AND THE NARROWER CLEFT CHIN WITH A MIX OF MILLIPUT AND WHITE FILLER PASTE, THEN SANDING FILING ETC.. AND LOTS OF DIFFERENT PAINT TECHNIQUES.



































JUST NEEDS SOME GLOSS CLEAR NOW THEN HAIR AND THE DREADED CROWN.

I think the trouble was worth it. It is a more accurate and very expressive sculpt.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think the trouble was worth it. It is a more accurate and very expressive sculpt.

Cheers GTF! I'm still tempted to widen his cheek bones a bit and recess the sides of his jaw line a bit more... it's a bugger trying to work on transparent resin as you can't really see what you're doing or the result of any mods until you add paint...aargh! And it's a complicated paint job so not exactly easy to 'touch up' just a single modded area...

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers GTF! I'm still tempted to widen his cheek bones a bit and recess the sides of his jaw line a bit more... it's a bugger trying to work on transparent resin as you can't really see what you're doing or the result of any mods until you add paint...aargh! And it's a complicated paint job so not exactly easy to 'touch up' just a single modded area...

I feel your pain. When you mix colors, unless you paint it all at once, you are likely to have a very hard time matching. But in this instance, the more layers you end up having the more realistic?

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers GTF! I'm still tempted to widen his cheek bones a bit and recess the sides of his jaw line a bit more... it's a bugger trying to work on transparent resin as you can't really see what you're doing or the result of any mods until you add paint...aargh! And it's a complicated paint job so not exactly easy to 'touch up' just a single modded area...

I feel your pain. When you mix colors, unless you paint it all at once, you are likely to have a very hard time matching. But in this instance, the more layers you end up having the more realistic?

I've got it down to a formula now: Grey spray primer, white spray gloss, dirty violet ink wash, sky blue dry sponge work, matte white dry sponge work, dirty violet ink wash again, brown purple for shadows, violet ink for cervices, matte black for details, clear gloss over everything. It just gets a bit repetitive and long winded when you've already done it a few times!

I bet it does. But we are perfectionists, aren't we?