Sculpted, Painted & Attached Wolf Skull:The Feral Predator From The Movie "PREY" Build WIP

GubernatorFan wrote:I see your dilemma. Interesting idea, even if in the end you might be better off adopting a less interactive and more practical approach of having one open and one closed.

Yeah it's looking like it especially with those engravings making the pieces thicker unless I could paint the super thin feeler gauges with wax then dip them in an acid bath to create the patterns in 2D not 3D. The problem is getting hold of acids in the UK is bloody difficult nowadays thanks to bastards using it to attack people...wankers! My black milliput arrived today.

Yay for milliput.
2D sometimes produces passable results. For shiny pharaonic jewelry, I printed out the image on paper, put transparent tape on it, then scoured the shapes with a sharp small scissors blade.
Not sure it really "shows," but here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4985-custom-tbleague-pharaoh-updated-with-additional-images

GubernatorFan wrote:Yay for milliput.
2D sometimes produces passable results. For shiny pharaonic jewelry, I printed out the image on paper, put transparent tape on it, then scoured the shapes with a sharp small scissors blade.
Not sure it really "shows," but here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4985-custom-tbleague-pharaoh-updated-with-additional-images

Really nice work GTF!! I thought you were going to use various translucent colours for the gemstones but that still works nicely. That tail is driving me nuts only because I'm trying to work out what it symbolises! never seen one before that I can remember, love the Ancient Egyptian stuff by Phycen and would have picked it all up if I'd had the cash! Guess I'll make do with my SG1 stuff!

shovelchop81 wrote:Really nice work GTF!!  I thought you were going to use various translucent colours for the gemstones but that still works nicely. That tail is driving me nuts only because I'm trying to work out what it symbolises!  never seen one before that I can remember, love the Ancient Egyptian stuff by Phycen and would have picked it all up if I'd had the cash! Guess I'll make do with my SG1 stuff!

Thanks. One could customize the occasional gemstone from Phicen/TBLeague's items -- most of them don't work without at least some level of cutstomisation, if one cares for realism. Some of them, at least, are based on some game, and that might be partly inspired by SG1, so there you go. I shall address the tail in the appropriate place... "Dear tail, ... " (sorry, couldn't resist).

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Really nice work GTF!!  I thought you were going to use various translucent colours for the gemstones but that still works nicely. That tail is driving me nuts only because I'm trying to work out what it symbolises!  never seen one before that I can remember, love the Ancient Egyptian stuff by Phycen and would have picked it all up if I'd had the cash! Guess I'll make do with my SG1 stuff!

Thanks. One could customize the occasional gemstone from Phicen/TBLeague's items -- most of them don't work without at least some level of cutstomisation, if one cares for realism. Some of them, at least, are based on some game, and that might be partly inspired by SG1, so there you go. I shall address the tail in the appropriate place... "Dear tail, ... " (sorry, couldn't resist).

Very true, I didn't mean to insinuate they were realistic! LOL.

Okey dokey, so it turns out 'Stan Winston school of character arts' did all the design and build work for this Predator (as well as the original which I'd forgotten) so thanks to their brilliant website get ready for a tonne of reference pics! It means I was right, I will have to sculpt everything so I wasted 3 days going through all my boxes mia culpa.. Even the head as it seems it is actually a lot smaller than the Predators we are used to (the head not the entire creature).





TOP OF THE HEAD











FEET, I THOUGHT HE WAS WEARING BOOTS? MAYBE IT WAS JUST MUD?



















STUFF I REALLY NEEDED BETTER PICS OF













THESE ARE 1 TO 1 AS FAR AS I CAN TELL







NET DEPLOYERS



MINES



YES THEY DID INDEED BUILD A PRACTICAL REAL WORLD SHIELD BUT ADMITTED THEY RELIED OM CGI FOR THE OPENING AND CLOSING ACTIONS















I TRIED TO AVOID ANY SPOILER PICS, HERE'S A PIC BACK IN THE 1980'S ORIGINAL PREDATOR SET



HERE'S THE LINK TO THE ARTICLE ON THEIR WEBSITE
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/prey-behind-the-scenes-creating-predator-practical-effects-amalagamated-dynamics-inc-adi

Beautiful collection of reference pics. The prop and costume makers are the real heroes of those movies.

And nice idea with that folding shield. I think you could uae thin could print the structures on a thin post card and make it moveable.

Wow! Lots of cool stuff. So glad they still do practical special effects on the Predator and not CGI — which rarely looks believable.

Ovy wrote:Beautiful collection of reference pics. The prop and costume makers are the real heroes of those movies.

And nice idea with that folding shield. I think you could uae thin could print the structures on a thin post card and make it moveable.

Very true although he is invisible for half the movie as per most Predator films! LOL.
Why didn't I think of that? I guess I was fixated on metal or plastic yet I normally make my metals out of card! Might still be too thick though mate.

Wow! Lots of cool stuff. So glad they still do practical special effects on the Predator and not CGI — which rarely looks believable. wrote:

Yeah, hard to get good reference pics from CGI too!

Right new approach now I have a better understanding of the actual proportions of the Predator. Got the clay out to sculpt the head and shield then use those to make moulds and cast them out of EasyFlo60. I'll use Milliput to enlarge his traps and neck muscles and to sculpt his gauntlets directly onto his forearms as I see no point in making them removable or casting them; just a lot more work for nothing. The generic head will stay there to represent the character actor's head which I'll need to build around.











ALREADY STARTED EXPERIMENTING WITH THE SHOULDERS DELTOIDS YESTERDAY

Moving forward at last! Changed the 'stand-in' hs for a smaller one and hopefully better articulation, it'll be all scuffed up to allow clay or milliput to adhere soon enough so what it looks like doesn't matter I'm just using it to get the correct scale of the costume. I ground down the front of the neck joint to get it to angle forwards as the actor is hunched while portraying the character. I built up his shoulders and back muscles as shown in the reference pics using milliput and will start on the head next. I'm in two minds about how to proceed as the resin is more expensive than I thought and barely enough to cast 3 Predator heads so maybe it would be prudent to just use the resin to make copies of the traditional Pred head for future builds and complete this sculpt out of milliput rather than clay (milliput is a lot tougher than clay but not nearly as tough as EasyFlo 60).













ADDED ARTICULATION



SCULPTED SHOULDER AND NECK MUSCLES











I USED SILICONE OIL ON THE NECK TO STOP THE MILLIPUT ADHERING TO IT.

The added shoulders and back look good.

Great reference images. This should help (if complicate) your work. Will you be sculpting the actor's head too? Remember the face mask. Kidding, of course. Your sculpt certainly evokes the design.

Stryker2011 wrote:The added shoulders and back look good.

Thanks Stryker!

GubernatorFan wrote:Great reference images. This should help (if complicate) your work. Will you be sculpting the actor's head too? Remember the face mask. Kidding, of course. Your sculpt certainly evokes the design.

Well at least I know what I'm doing now! Cheers!

Change of head again, firstly because it was too thin and squishy so whatever medium I used wouldn't adhere to it properly and if I decided to cast it the Vynamould would just melt it! So Dr. Who and Spawn figures to the rescue again! Figured I can make more robust parts out of these and save on some sculpting too! I'll be adding and modding teeth, there's now built in articulation for the jaws which I think is a 1st for a predator figure! LOL.





















NOT PINNED YET













PINNED NOW













NOW THE SCULPTING BEGINS...

Gotta say, I love the film so I cannot wait to see this one progress, and with your skill set, this, it's gonna be awesome!

BAMComix wrote:Gotta say, I love the film so I cannot wait to see this one progress, and with your skill set, this, it's gonna be awesome!

Thank you!! Yes it is a good film.

Did quite a bit of work here even if it's not that noticeable. New teeth for  mandibles, lower and upper jaws made with modded teeth, sculpted the interior of the mouth with milliput also the mandible skin flaps and 'snout'. Once cured the milliput had to be very carefully sawed and cut back in areas to allow the mandibles to articulate again since they cured frozen in the open position, an unavoidable risk that had to be taken. All good now and free again to articulate. Needed to use a screw to secure the bottom neck to the upper neck, both still articulate.

ALL NEW TEETH.











NECK CONNECTION





WET MILLIPUT







CURED MILLIPUT



MODIFIED DRY MILLIPUT OPEN POSITION











CLOSED POSITION













HOPEFULLY GETTING THERE!







MY MANDIBLE FANGS DON'T ROTATE OUT LIKE THIS BUT IT'S DOABLE..

As you say, a lot of work that won't be immediately noticeable, but in the final showing it will certainly add to the overall look!

BAMComix wrote:As you say, a lot of work that won't be immediately noticeable, but in the final showing it will certainly add to the overall look!

Cheers BAMC! I hope so!

Finished my first version of the sculpt, I can see stuff wrong with it already but I'll tackle it again with a fresh set of eyes after a night's sleep. I used foam to fill the bulk of the head as not to waste milliput.





FOR EYES























BACK OF THE HEAD NEEDS TO BE HIGHER, MIGHT BE ABLE TO SAVE THE SCULPT BY CUTTING AND STRETCHING THE PLASTIC NECK AT THE BACK.

Holy $#@t! Moving mandibles! That’s awesome. Looks like a ton of work paid off.

Stryker2011 wrote:Holy $#@t! Moving mandibles! That’s awesome. Looks like a ton of work paid off.

Thanks Stryker! We posted at the same time so I think you missed the sculpt pics... looks like a bloody T-Rex but I'll fix it!

Looks like a good start on the head with the eyes and ridges. I can see what you mean about adding to the back of the head and neck.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looks like a good start on the head with the eyes and ridges. I can see what you mean about adding to the back of the head and neck.

Cheers Stryker! I did the mod to the neck already and it seems to do the trick, this guy has a major amount of dreads to cover up any seams; in fact I was gathering more different gauges of black wire from old chargers I no longer use to use for the dreads earlier today. If the sculpt isn't spot on it's not the end of the world as I always planned to display him with his cool skull mask on anyway.

I CUT THE BACK OF THE NECK OPEN AND PRIED IT APART TO INSERT A WEDGE SHAPED SECTION OF NECK FROM ANOTHER ALREADY CUT UP VERSION OF THE SAME HEAD SCULPT AND GLUED IT IN PLACE LIFTING THE BACK OF THE HEAD.















YES THE ARTICULATED MANDIBLES STILL WORK  





HAS THAT HUNCHED LOOK I WANTED FROM THE MOVIE



SERENDIPITY! HIS NECK PATTERN MATCHES HIS BACK PATTERN  

















I STILL WANT TO NARROW HIS SNOUT A BIT AND BUILD UP HIS ORBITAL SOCKETS AND 'CHEEK BONES' BRINGING THEM OUT AND BACK FURTHER ALONG HIS HEAD.

At first I thought "that poor head," even if I knew it was getting sacrificed for the greater good. Then, although I should know better by now, I was just too impressed by the sculpting and movable jaws. Wow!

GubernatorFan wrote:At first I thought "that poor head," even if I knew it was getting sacrificed for the greater good. Then, although I should know better by now, I was just too impressed by the sculpting and movable jaws. Wow!

Cheers GTF! Don't feel bad for the head, I've got loads of those as I bought used ones and new ones dirt cheap on eBay for the bodies and hands (they work well for generic SW aliens etc..).

I removed stuff I didn't like from the sculpt and reshaped parts such as building a new longer inner jaw that covers the teeth properly, new cheekbones and repositioned the eyes to be more human and less dinosaur. I then drilled and used my soldering iron to make loads of holes (yet to be cleaned up) for all his dreads to come. I'll use the cables of various thicknesses shown in the last picture, I have an idea how to taper the ends but haven't tried it yet.











NEW SCULPTING AND DREAD HOLES





























I'M SURE THIS IS CONCEPT ART BUT HELPS ANYWAY.

Looking good. Are you going to add more width to the check bones?

You had me at "more human and less dinosaur." Nice work! I miss the earlier eyes, but I'm sure these will end up looking just as good, once you're done with the work around them.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good. Are you going to add more width to the check bones?

Cheers! I thought about it but realised the cheekbones are actually a visual illusion or out of context without the mandibles attached to put them into better perspective. My mandibles also don't close all the way so the cheekbones look narrower than they are, the pic below is probably the best analogue to the 'expression' on my sculpt. He will be wearing the helmet too.

Took forever to create these stupid mods of the original pic! Which is why I love working with my hands and my brain, not a damn computer's!

GubernatorFan wrote:You had me at "more human and less dinosaur." Nice work! I miss the earlier eyes, but I'm sure these will end up looking just as good, once you're done with the work around them.

Cheers! Yeah the eyes definitely need more work but it's really hard to see what I'm doing in that shadowed area that's all black anyway when wet.

Cleaned up the holes in and out on the head for the dreads, the tricks I've tried for tapering the ends failed miserably (melting, sharpening etc..) and casting them out of latex is an option (either using the outside of souvlaki sticks to paint it on or use them to create multiple moulds like boxes of ammunition) but would take forever and the failure rate would be terrible due to air pockets, blockages, latex not curing etc.. So I'm just taking the easy route of cutting the cables to length 12cm and simply snipping the ends at angles to then be touched up with a black Sharpie pen.

ONE THIN ONE DONE, A 1,000 (NO IDEA OF THE REAL NUMBER PROBABLY 100?) MORE TO GO IN DIFFERENT SIZES!

















THE PROBLEM WITH THE THICKER CABLES IS THEY ARE DUAL WIRED SO HAVE INTERNAL INSULATION OF DIFFERENT COLOURS



TWO OUT OF FOUR SIDES LOOK FINE LOL





OH WELL, HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE!



OOPS! NEED TO PAINT THE BACK BLACK FIRST!!

Yep, you better paint this up first. Then apply the thousand braids. Looks like you have made plenty of good design choices. I'm not sure if I was reading it right, but I hope the helmet will be removable.

GubernatorFan wrote:Yep, you better paint this up first. Then apply the thousand braids. Looks like you have made plenty of good design choices. I'm not sure if I was reading it right, but I hope the helmet will be removable.

I still need to resculpt the eyes and I need to install a magnet into his forehead which will require a bit of Dremeling and resculpting; this will be for the helmet that will also contain a magnet so yes it will be removable . I'm just bored of sculpting right now, been doing it for a week I think and I want to see how the braids look before I do the eyes so it's just black primer for now on the back of his head.