Hey everybody,

A great day for figure modeling: I just got my VBench courtesy of the moderators!

Anyway, let me start with a figure I just started. Hopefully this second attempt at sculpting will be the first sculpt that I will actually finish. The figure is of a character from the last Star Wars chapter, Episode III Revenge of The Sith. His name is Tion Medon and he is a 2.10m alien port master, a decendent of one the most influencial families of his home planet.

Now I tried to get the pose right, paying attention to the balance and posture of the figure. For this figure I'm going for a pose with a certain degree of elegance, authority and perhaps a little arrogance (conforming to the character's heritage). The figure has his weight on the hind leg at which side he will also hold a walking cane. Don't mind the size of the head, it is just a spare to give an indication of the whole figure. It's a sci-fi subject so it's a man in a suit with prostetics on his face so I'll be filling out the head to get it 'into scale'.

As always, after posting these pictures, the 'Planet' helped out with my pose. Maurizio and Quang both posted some graphs. Here's the picture that Maurizio did as a suggestion for a slight repositioning of the figure:

This is what I did with Maurizio's picture. This was the basic pose I had intended at the start of the project, but somewhere between the armature and fleshing it out the pose got a bit lost. I repositioned the figure, but not as much as Maurizio's suggestion. I chose not to do so fully, because the character is kind of 'stiff'. Here's what I have so far:




Thanks to everybody who has helped out so far!

Hi Marvin
Thefigure coming on great. It's nice to see a Star Wars fan making his own figures and not paying a fortune for the vintage stuff.
Pete

Marvin, A well proportioned armature is important when sculpting a figure. It's the foundation on which the rest of the figure is constructed. If your foundation is not done properly the best best sculpting in the world cannot save your figure.~Gary

Interesting character from the movies, really look forward to seeing you progress with this one being a Star Wars fan myself. Please show your progression with it!
Scott

Gary,

You're right, that's why I'm really taking my time with this first stage. It's kind of difficult though because it is a rather strangely proportioned character. I tried to make him a bit elongated compared to the ideal.

- Marvin -

Marvin, great start. Please keep us posted with this one

nice

Hi Marvin...a very unusual subject for sure.
I agree he certainly seems stiff in the original picture of the character...but I think the figure will get a great deal of implied movement from the expressive (and very large) hands...and that great (but really weird) face.

Looking forward to seeing your next steps. Keep it coming.

All the best...Roy.

Hey,

Here's a (very) small update. I finished up the armature of the arms. I made them detachable with a peg and hole, for ease of sculpting and casting.

I had some trouble with them because I kept ending up with very squarish shoulders. I fnally got the 'squarness' of the shoulders down to what I thought was an acceptable level. I also thought that the shoulders would be more pronounced on a very slim figure do to the lack of big muscle mass. Don't know if that actually makes sense, but hey.... :lol:

I also repositioned the feet slightly to conform to the soles I added. Next is making a peg and hole for the neck-head attachment and sculpting the boots using FIMO to give me more time to work it.

But I'd like to get your opinions on the shoulders before I go on. So tell me, are they too broad for the slim features I'm trying to give the figure?

Marvin, You could probably narrow the shoulders a bit more. However, The claok/mantle the character is wearing will end up giving it somewhat of a broad shouldered lookanyway.~Gary

I agree with Gary and really I think I would slim down the entire trunk and hips. When you sculpt the putty coat on to the armature, I think you'll be surprised how quickly it 'bulks up'. I have trouble with that all the time and am gradually learning that an armature should probably never be anatomically correct. It should all be proportional but you aren't sculpting a body per se. It really makes a difference, and I think will be especially noticeable on your character figure because you want to ultimately make him look so dramatically thin.

All the best,
Dan

Thanks guys!

But do you suggest I take something of of the torso or of the arms/shoulders. Or doesn't it matter at all?

- Marvin -

Marvin - Yes, I would remove some putty from the torso and hips. The shoulders and arms look OK to me. However, this is your figure, not mine - if you disagree, not a problem for me. This is a collegiate forum. I ask for advice all the time, but don't always follow it!

All the best,
Dan

I would think a little taken off of the upper arms/shoulders and upper torso.~Gary

Here's a small update. I've taken some more material off the figure's hips, shoulders and arms. I've actually gotten a bit further and will post pictures later this week.

These pictures show a roughed in robe with a rather flat front. I say rough because I'm finding it very hard to control the application of the putty. The sculpting is ok, but I end up sanding 'seam' lines between applications to get them smooth...

Marvin, Very very nice. I think the drapery effects are spot on. I'm looking forward to seeing future progress.~Gary

Marvin,
I think the flow of the cloak looks great so far in the rear. Keep it up!

Jay H.
OKC