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

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.

So after a quick primer spray (masking the face) I started inserting the dreads of 3 different sizes, ran out part way through so had to sand and wash with acetone free nail remover to get the white markings off the paired wires so I could use them as well. Finished inserting them all with super glue but don't like the look of the thicker ones which are inaccurate and hard to pose too but I'd run out of wire again so had to sacrifice the 5th charger for the build to get some more (they're just old ones from old phones etc.. that will never be used and I probably have duplicates anyway, also kept the chargers and connectors just incase I have to rewire them for some obscure reason). So onto making more dreads after I've managed to pry out the thick ones hopefully!













RAN OUT OF SMALLER ONES HERE SO HAD TO MAKE MORE







AND CLEANING LONG BITS OF CABLE ENSURES YOU GET ATTACKED ON ALL SIDES BY CATS!







SANDED CABLES, SILICONE OIL WILL DARKEN THEM AGAIN LATER







YEAH NOT LIKING THOSE THICK DREADS AT ALL







I HAVEN'T ADDRESSED THE TIPS AT ALL YET







THERE'S HOPE OF TAMING THE THINNER ONES!



MORE WIRE....

Looks like quite the struggle. I wonder if you couldn’t find a spool of thin chord (like you might find for sewing leather), or the kind that jewelry craft folks use, that would eliminate that bulky look and you may even be able to add considerably more with smaller holes in between the larger ones…?

Stryker2011 wrote:Looks like quite the struggle. I wonder if you couldn’t find a spool of thin chord (like you might find for sewing leather), or the kind that jewelry craft folks use, that would eliminate that bulky look and you may even be able to add considerably more with smaller holes in between the larger ones…?

Bugger! Wish I'd thought of that before I got tunnel vision with the wire/cable idea. Oh well I think every choice of medium would have its flaws here and there...
This hasn't turned out too bad as it is, I need to marker the copper tips black then add silicone oil which will make them much darker and shiny like the movie; I'll also take off the head then I can have more control over reposing the wires. We'll see how it goes, if I have to change them for something more 'fluid' like tassels then I will.

Doesn’t look too bad (and sorry if I threw a monkey wrench into your thoughts).

Stryker2011 wrote:Doesn’t look too bad (and sorry if I threw a monkey wrench into your thoughts).

LOL! Don't apologise it's a really good idea that led me to thinking of the material they make those soft thin twisted/braided tassels out of. Now if only I knew what that material was called aside from polyester or silk!

I'm loving the dreads. Of course, you can always add more, and finer ones too.

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm loving the dreads. Of course, you can always add more, and finer ones too.

Cheers Ian! We have to remember no matter how mixed up the lore might be, the 'dreads' are basically thin lekku costume and movie wise.

Amazing detailed work, love the locks!

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm loving the dreads. Of course, you can always add more, and finer ones too.

Your wish is my command....

BAMComix wrote:Amazing detailed work, love the locks!

Cheers BAMC! I've added more thinner ones now too.

As you can see with the head removed I'm able to have more control over the wires/dreads. I've redone they eyes, touched up the snout and jaw hinge areas. I forgot to do the magnet insertion but I want these eyes to cure asap as just breathing on the damn things changes their expression!!

























JUST FOUND ANOTHER LENGTH OF THIN BLACK WIRE I DROPPED SO I CAN FILL IN THAT SMALL 'BALD SPOT' I NOTICED IN THE PICS.

Looking good. Noticed that bald spot, but I didn’t want to say anything.

I was saying it already looked very good, but, yes, the extra and different wires bring more variety and more life into it. So it looks even better now, which is only to be expected.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good. Noticed that bald spot, but I didn’t want to say anything.

Feel free to point stuff like that out as I might well have missed it myself, as it is I'm not even sure if we're talking about the same 'bald spot' lol!

GubernatorFan wrote:I was saying it already looked very good, but, yes, the extra and different wires bring more variety and more life into it. So it looks even better now, which is only to be expected.

I can't help noticing you avoided mentioning the eyes, not a fan? Paint should change your mind but we know how much I "love" painting eyes !!

THIS IS THE SPOT I NOTICED.



ADDE 3 NEW BITS OF THIN WIRE (ALL I HAVE LEFT BUT COULD DIG OUT SOME OLD EARPHONE WIRES IF NEEDED). THE CAMERA AND FLASH ARE REALLY HARSH AND SHOW MORE THAN THE EYE CAN SEE BUT AT THE SAME TIME 'WHITEOUT' DETAILS ON THE FACE SO TURNED THE FLASH (TORCH) OFF A FEW PICS IN.









JAWS OPEN AND CLOSED ETC..

OK...I'm officially sick to death of sculpting this guy's head as you probably are of seeing it! So last changes made: installed magnets in the head then sculpted over them, eyebrows redone to be more aggressive, chin redone to be more prominent. Tested a theory about using computer ribbon cable for dreads, would it have been better? Not sure and finding it in black here in the UK is next to impossible (Canada has a lot for some reason but shipping is £30 and takes a month at least) I found one place over here but don't know if they have enough and I'm skint anyway.













RESCULPTED CROWN OF HEAD.



RESCULPTED EYEBROW RIDGES AND BOTTOM JAW.









SORT OF MODDED IT ALL SLIGHTLY AS I TOOK PICS.

















WELL IF THIS DOESN'T DO THE JOB SO BE IT..AS EVERY TIME I NEED TO MOD ONE SIDE THEN I HAVE TO MOD THE OTHER WHICH TURNS INTO A CONTINUOUS SPIRAL OF 'CATCH 22'S'

I like the sculpt. And the dreds. Since you mention the eyes (I wasn't sure you were done with them), I had to go back and look at your reference materials again. It looks to me like your earlier eyes were spot on, with less prominent eyelids and more prominent eyeball. The heavy eyelids you seem to have added makes it look more human, and the eyeball less prominent. It still works, but I think it is a more distant resemblance.

GubernatorFan wrote:I like the sculpt. And the dreds. Since you mention the eyes (I wasn't sure you were done with them), I had to go back and look at your reference materials again. It looks to me like your earlier eyes were spot on, with less prominent eyelids and more prominent eyeball. The heavy eyelids you seem to have added makes it look more human, and the eyeball less prominent. It still works, but I think it is a more distant resemblance.

You're right, I've been thinking of sanding them back down, he needs a fair bit of sanding overall to be honest, get rid of the rough edges. Tougher sculpt to do than I had thought, in some pics it looks tall and thin but in others it looks flat and wide! It's just a trick of the camera angles but hard to translate into 3D! A nice 3D design graphic I could rotate in all directions for reference would really help!

Looks like there's new fan art coming out every day now and products too, some brilliant some not so much but I guess it means I'll be getting the hacksaw and wedges out again...



















THIS IS A BRILLIANT 3D RESIN PRINTED AND PAINTED STATUE! HOW THE PRINTING FILES GOT TO BE SO ACCURATE I'M NOT SURE, I'M GUESSING A VERY TALENTED FAN OR SOMETHING MORE NEFARIOUS WHICH WOULD JUST MAKE ME FEEL BETTER AS OTHERWISE SOMEONE ELSE BEAT ME TO THE PUNCH! LOL. I HAD TO TAKE PIC OF MY MONITOR AGAIN TO GET THE PICS UPLOADED TO IMGUR, THERE MUST BE SOME PROPERTY LAW SCREENING GOING ON WITH THIS FILM!



























THE BUSINESS CARD BELONGS TO THE PAINTER AND UPLOADER, THE STATUE I THINK IS ACTUALLY AN OFFICIALLY LICENCED RESIN STATUE KIT.

Here we go again! Mods inspired by the new better reference pics above and that it never looked quite right so out came the hacksaw and the milliput... it's curing by the radiator now.









CLEANED THE EYES BACK TO DO THEM AGAIN











MORE DREADS NEEDED SO BYE-BYE OLD HEADPHONES ETC...

















I THINK THE LAST PIC SELLS THE MODS QUITE WELL.

Nice modifications, I think you achieved a great likeness. And of course, now it is functional with the helmet, too. By the way, I just realized what bothered me with the more human (or sleepy) eyelids the last time -- remember the old movie Time Machine (1960)? Well, it featured this:

I guess you're all yawning at this point, sick of seeing this sculpt repeatedly (as happens in a lot of my WIP's so you should be used to it by now lol) but this will be it's final configuration I just need to add the rest of the dreads which requires further drilling as the remaining wires are a bit bigger; then I paint it with black primer (not the dreads) and we'll see what I've finally come up with better. Oh, I popped the eyes out and dremelled new sockets higher up and glued new ones in them.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice modifications, I think you achieved a great likeness. And of course, now it is functional with the helmet, too. By the way, I just realized what bothered me with the more human (or sleepy) eyelids the last time -- remember the old movie Time Machine (1960)? Well, it featured this:

Cool! Was that a god of the Morlocks or something? Nice 1920's style design.

Head's turned out a bit bigger than planned lol! I could shrink it down by cutting off the section above the jaws then cutting that into quarters removing a couple of mm thickness from the internal cut areas, basically removing a 3D cross shaped section, then sticking it all back together but not sure if I can be arsed tbh.

















HAVING SAID THAT, THE REFERENCE STATUES HAVE HUGE NOGGINS TOO! SO IT MUST BE ACCURATE!

That is a cool head nonetheless. Can't wait to see it painted

Valiarde wrote:That is a cool head nonetheless. Can't wait to see it painted

Cheers Valiarde! It was this comparison and portrayal of the head that really messed things up, I realised it was concept art but had no idea just how totally different it is/was in size and shape!!



VERSUS THIS LATER DISCOVERY

Well, Predators always had big noggins. I'd say gear and footwear can compensate for the effect, but this guy is relatively exposed. Still, if the body is a lighter color in the end, it would help. I posted without seeing the latest post -- wow that is quite a difference between predators; however, as you point out, your version is very faithful to the statue version, and that is arguably more artistic and striking.

Interesting how different this latest Predator looks compared to previous. Why the different head shape?

GubernatorFan wrote:Well, Predators always had big noggins. I'd say gear and footwear can compensate for the effect, but this guy is relatively exposed. Still, if the body is a lighter color in the end, it would help. I posted without seeing the latest post -- wow that is quite a difference between predators; however, as you point out, your version is very faithful to the statue version, and that is arguably more artistic and striking.

Cheers GTF! Right now it is what it is LOL.

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting how different this latest Predator looks compared to previous. Why the different head shape?

As far as I know so far, the lore is that he's from a different part of their planet, so a different race like we have on Earth which affects bone structure in the face a lot and also in the skeleton just like here.