Gauging Interest (unpainted head sculpts) HITMAN (2007)

As the title says: I'm having two head sculpts commissioned (costs have gone up exponentially, unfortunately), but I usually end up with at least 10 each of any sculpt I have done. Due to supply chain shortages world wide, costs have doubled for me (and the sculptor); I'll be offering them for $100+shipping & PP fees if anyone is interested. First up will be Olga Kurylenko, followed by Timothy Olyphant (these projects tend to take a bit of time to put together). (There is an MT Toys Agent 47 up for PO currently (can still be found at Giantoy) that can be used for the entire body, etc. for Tim, and I'm currently shopping around (and have put out request for the silky red dress in the photo above for Olga (on a TBL Pale S18A body). I can certainly see if her dress can be made for more than just me if, again, anyone else is interested. Feel free to PM (or leave a comment).

Very cool project. I have one or more of the commercially available Hitman headsculpts, although I can't say it is the most convincing likeness for Tim Olyphant -- is that why you are commissioning your own? An Olga would be great to have. But sight unseen and the cost per head is a bit too much for me to commit to at present. Perhaps you have already looked into this and dismissed it for good reasons, but is this something that Kit could arrange for in the expectation of wider distribution and therefore lower costs?

I never cared for the available head sculpts for the exact reason you mentioned. I’ve seen a fairly recent Mandalorian Cobb Vanth (Tim O) head sculpt that looked pretty good, but almost no one has been able to capture his likeness well. Olga is a work in progress at the moment (I haven’t seen any updates myself), but it’s slow going. I usually get an initial “foundation” render, then we start hammering out the details of the likeness together until we’re both satisfied with the end result. I’ve never approached Kit for something like this, as he has his own projects that he works on with craftsman of his own. If no one’s interested, it’s no big deal; just though I’d ask.

Right. I hope it works, and I may be interested in the future when the products are available, just can't make any promises on this one for the present.

Maybe it'll help if you show which look you're going for. Which reference pics did you send?

She is gorgeous! I shouldn't have looked her up. Now I'm seeing potential for her as one of my characters, replacing the YM Ming head I had already settled on. But that's a lot of money so my interest will depend on finances closer to the time. She'd have to be bald, cause she needs different (long straight) hair.

The S18A is one of the bodies I don't like at all, but I can see it working for this character. Interesting.

The sculptor and I settled on a more serious expression with this hairstyle:






The style, though short, is rather complicated, and I have zero ability to replicate it with "real" hair, so doubt he'd be willing to make two versions (bald and sculpted hair) without tacking on additional costs to me.

Stryker2011 wrote:The sculptor and I settled on a more serious expression with this hairstyle:

(images)

The style, though short, is rather complicated, and I have zero ability to replicate it with "real" hair, so doubt he'd be willing to make two versions (bald and sculpted hair) without tacking on additional costs to me.

Ooh, that's nice.

I was hoping that maybe the sculptor would start with a bald head anyway, molding the hair piece on a separate layer or something, But I can also imagine saving oneself the trouble of getting that bean to look perfect. Unless he is starting from a neutral bald template or something. That would be neat.

I wouldn't want to pay even more for a bald version.

Interesting. I look forward to seeing the results.

Diana wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:The sculptor and I settled on a more serious expression with this hairstyle:

(images)

The style, though short, is rather complicated, and I have zero ability to replicate it with "real" hair, so doubt he'd be willing to make two versions (bald and sculpted hair) without tacking on additional costs to me.

Ooh, that's nice.

I was hoping that maybe the sculptor would start with a bald head anyway, molding the hair piece on a separate layer or something, But I can also imagine saving oneself the trouble of getting that bean to look perfect. Unless he is starting from a neutral bald template or something. That would be neat.

I wouldn't want to pay even more for a bald version.

Usually he does start with a bald render and work in the hair as he goes along (fleshing out details); the more fine details in the hair are usually last on the list, but having it there in rough form usually helps him to see the facial details, so they generally go hand in hand. I can ask if it’s possible to do a bald version, but I can’t promise anything.

Stryker2011 wrote:

Diana wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:The sculptor and I settled on a more serious expression with this hairstyle:

(images)

The style, though short, is rather complicated, and I have zero ability to replicate it with "real" hair, so doubt he'd be willing to make two versions (bald and sculpted hair) without tacking on additional costs to me.

Ooh, that's nice.

I was hoping that maybe the sculptor would start with a bald head anyway, molding the hair piece on a separate layer or something, But I can also imagine saving oneself the trouble of getting that bean to look perfect. Unless he is starting from a neutral bald template or something. That would be neat.

I wouldn't want to pay even more for a bald version.

Usually he does start with a bald render and work in the hair as he goes along (fleshing out details); the more fine details in the hair are usually last on the list, but having it there in rough form usually helps him to see the facial details, so they generally go hand in hand. I can ask if it’s possible to do a bald version, but I can’t promise anything.

Can't hurt to ask. I can imagine that I'm not the only one who'd be more inclined to spend that kind of money on a more creatively flexible bald version.

Here's the latest WIP renders (he agreed to make bald versions for those interested -- let me know, so I can tell him how many to make). The hair needs more work (volume, etc), and it will be neckless.

It's looking excellent, and even without color I can definitely see the likeness.

She looks great! I'm having a hard time committing to a head for around 120 bucks at this point though...

My work space won't be ready until most likely May, but once I've actually tried painting a head sculpt myself and consider it a success I'd reconsider.

Do you have a deadline?

He’s pretty close to finished, so I’d say maybe a week. Whatever I tell him for a count (I usually only end up with 10 sculpts total), he’ll make either bald or sculpted. He’s definitely doing at least two sculpted for me, and the rest can be bald if that works for others that may be interested (I’m also interested in a bald version, as I can more easily add a different hair style that isn’t quite as complex as her shorter style.) There’s no rush once the sculpt are made (other than the slight possibility that they sell out — I don’t have the option of casting more unless demand is high enough to justify another ten being made).

OK, thank you. That is good to know. I hope you'll still have one bald head left if and when I decide to commit to it after all. Seeing them in hand will certainly increase the motivation.

Out of curiosity: Would the price go down if you ordered a second batch of ten? Or a higher number from the start?
Is it ten per batch because that's what the 3D printer can print in one run?

Cool to finally see a head sculpt of this actress. But like with the other ones, it's not a price I want to pay for an unpainted head sculpt, sorry. But looking forward to seeing it painted and turned into a character.

Diana wrote:Out of curiosity: Would the price go down if you ordered a second batch of ten? Or a higher number from the start?
Is it ten per batch because that's what the 3D printer can print in one run?

No. Sorry. My cost will only get nearly doubled again. He prints one (in this case if doing sculpted AND bald, Two) then makes a mold to cast in resin. With the cost of materials going up due to shortages and supply chain issues worldwide, this has only increased the cost to me for 10 sculpts to actually double what it used to be -- as I recently discovered that for some of our past projects (like Michael York & Jenny Agutter) he was actually eating half the cost himself since they were projects he was interested in, as well. If he has to make more, and he's able to still use the 3D printed versions, the cost wouldn't be as high as this first run, but it would still be significant to cover the cost of time & materials to make new molds and resin (the resin generally requires clean up after it's removed from the molds as well).

Stryker2011 wrote:

Diana wrote:Out of curiosity: Would the price go down if you ordered a second batch of ten? Or a higher number from the start?
Is it ten per batch because that's what the 3D printer can print in one run?

No. Sorry. My cost will only get nearly doubled again. He prints one (in this case if doing sculpted AND bald, Two) then makes a mold to cast in resin. With the cost of materials going up due to shortages and supply chain issues worldwide, this has only increased the cost to me for 10 sculpts to actually double what it used to be -- as I recently discovered that for some of our past projects (like Michael York & Jenny Agutter) he was actually eating half the cost himself since they were projects he was interested in, as well. If he has to make more, and he's able to still use the 3D printed versions, the cost wouldn't be as high as this first run, but it would still be significant to cover the cost of time & materials to make new molds and resin (the resin generally requires clean up after it's removed from the molds as well).

Ah, understood. Of course the whole casting process would be quite a lot of work. ^ ^
Thank you for the clarification.

@Stryker2011
I like the rendered version of Olga's head with the sculpted hair very much. As I have not looked into custom heads yet, I wonder how much one would roughly pay for a decent paintjob by 357Partment. Their website is confusing, but I saw a price tag of 250$. Is this roughly what you paid for the impressive paint on the Jessica 6-head that you showed some time ago? I would be interested in one of the head sculpts, if the estimated price for the fully painted head would not exceed my red line of 500 bucks.

Yeah, I paid $250 USD + shipping (since I had to mail it to them). I’m thinking of having them do this one, as well, but I’m waiting until I can send them photos of the cast to see if their prices have gone up.

Are you interested in the sculpted hair, or the bald one?

Thanks, Stryker. I would be mostly interested in the version with the sculpted hair.

Here is the mostly finished render for the sculpted hair version; both versions should be ready for printing soon. (I'm only getting 3 sculpted hair versions & 7 bald versions).

Looks beautiful.

Exciting! I'm looking forward to the in hand pictures.  

The new renders look very nice. I'm also excited to see pics of the actual casted sculpt.