OTP Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Awesome Mako, best thing on the thread (and that's saying something). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crohn Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 wow, I have no words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Wow. That's absolutely stunning. Possibly my favourite work of yours to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osoi Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Jaakuna looks great so far Mako Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Thanks all! I appear to have broken my thanks button again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 For a laugh, I thought I'd post up photos of my new photo setup designed to be usable when the daylight is gone (which can be days before you get good light back again here!). It's a folding set, since space is a premium. Unfolded it has a white back and silver sides, with a stiff bottom panel for holding the model and a curved white backing. What it actually is, is two chips ahoy boxes cut open and taped together, lined inside with kitchen foil and white paper.A base of some more card and some thick corrugated card holds it all in shape around the model and has two notches to keep the curved paper in place. The lamp is a two strip broad spectrum daylight bulb wrapped with two layers of paper to cut off the glare a touch. The second shot of the lamp in place is without the camera flash so you can see the glow around the box and model. I still need to test it and work out camera and lamp distances to avoid too much light, and I don't think i'll be leaving it running for long periods in case the light heats the paper too much, but it might mean I can actually take accurate photographs outside of daylight hours. Total cost> zero. Made entirely from rubbish I had lying about - tin foil, cardboard, cookie boxes, paper and sellotape. Seems to work nicely though so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omenbringer Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Nice set up on the light box. I like the use of the tin foil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Monkey Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Those robes are impressive..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbleachman Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Ok, I finished Jaakuna's robes last night, there's 25 cranes on them all told... There'll probably be a new update this weekend too, but I couldn't wait to post this one up! You're now officially too talented. How did you do those? O_O Also, I am sure not only I, but many others would rain down heavens of love if you made a short tutorial on how to build that lighting box of yours. xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Wow, most impressive on the robes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 The cranes are pretty simple as a process really. I painted the shade colour in as a block outline for all of them first (VGC earth), then using a size 0 brush with a good tip painted in the basic feather lines on the wings and marked out the difference between the neck, body and tail (using a mix of earth and bonewhite). The last highlight of pure bonewhite was used to make the feathers take final shape, define the beak and the head, put little feathers on the body and tail, and bring up the feet a bit too. All of this was flat, without shading to follow the folds of the cloth. Painting the pattern with the shading incorporated would have been a nightmare. To blend them in I just glazed in a very thin mix of black and night blue wherever the purple had shading. Several careful coats of this shading glaze later, you have what's in the picture! None of it is too complex, like most of my painting it breaks down into very simple steps *wink* Not sure what I can say about the light box, it's two cookie boxes opened flat with one narrow side removed and taped together down a large side, with a piece of paper stuck to the back and tin foil to the sides (shiny side down to reduce any glare in the reflections). The side I cut off the boxes has notches cut in it to slot over some similar notches in the front of the foil sides, and I taped some thick corrugated card onto it to keep everything solid when I put a model in. The tabs that keep the curved paper in place are just V shapes cut out of the top layer of the card and folded up a little for the paper to slide under. For the light diffuser, well that's still a work in progress but it's a roll of paper that slides over the bar of my lamp. Hope that helps some! It certainly provides an excuse to buy cookies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omenbringer Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 (edited) Also, I am sure not only I, but many others would rain down heavens of love if you made a short tutorial on how to build that lighting box of yours. xD Here are a few tutorials for this: Pass thru style (Light Tent) Artistic bottom up Light Table Bounce Box Reflective Surface "Box" Super Cheap and Easy Bounce "Box" *Created a blog entry here for my thoughts on each of these setups. Edited December 8, 2012 by Omenbringer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CloudFang Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 i only count 24.... seriously though, you couldnt let me have my cranes? hahahahaha.... they look fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I counted two halves as one whole crane, so all the edge ones add up *wink* I've been planning this one for ages, like before I finished the sculpt (kind of daft really!), after finding a fabric like it during a google search for purple kimonos. It's taken me almost a year to get round to it though and you totally beat me to the punch! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 Allrighty, comedy shenanigans with needlessly complex lightboxes over, here's a bit of work on Lucius. I haven't got the knee up high enough yet so the thigh is also too thin at the lower end, but he looks a lot more balanced now! He's also heavy and stable enough that I've taken him off his pins so he stands free. Going to work on the base for him sooner or later but not sure what to do yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoeRender Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 so far very awesome on the large Lucius . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webmonkey Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) Lucius's bottom half looks kinda like old-school star-trek pants and boots to me,.. not sure why though,.. *L* I keep expecting to see Kirk or Bones or Scotty on the top half of the model. I'm sure that'll change as the work progresses though. Nice draping of the fabrics though. And the smoothness of the clay is fantastic. mine always seams to be a bit grittier then that somehow. Edited December 10, 2012 by Webmonkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Heh, hopefully the details and finessing will change that a bit! The smoothness is done with a licked finger, to make it easier to rework the folds with files and sandpaper later on. Actually getting the fabric folds right has been the biggest challenge of the trousers, its one of those things that can totally wreck a model if you don't get it looking natural. Spent a bit of time looking in a mirror with belts tied round my shins to get reference material! In an unrelated thing, this is the latest teaser shot of the model I've been doing as an aside. It's pretty big (the base is 50mm, so it won't actually sit in the centre section of a 50mm lipped base!), which is why it's taking so much work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgraz Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Without knowing what it will eventually be or what stage you're at I'm hesitant to comment...especially since your sculpting skills and knowledge of anatomy are strong. The rib/lat area is not right for a human, the abs are too squared, there should be a gap between the pecs and the abs, and the collar-bone seems extra pronounced. I'm assuming that these things are intentional, but felt compelled to point it out just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 It is somewhat stylised, especially around the sides of the rib cage. He's actually designed to look almost human, but not quite. Which is a tricky thing to achieve! People can instinctively see mistakes in human anatomy, so being off enough to be a bit non human while maintaining the style of a human is a total sod. The abs do need a touch more shaping though (its on the list, the final shape is still being refined) and the shoulders are in no way finished. They just got put there to give it a little bulk to work off. ---------- Post added at 01:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 AM ---------- Actually, I have to say major thanks dgraz, you've done something I rarely see (and I'm counting people from top to bottom in sculpting and painting on various forums and such). You actually thought about it and carefully said that your comments were applied to true human, and that you had considered that I might not be aiming for that! So many people glance at things and decide what they're supposed to be. I can't tell you how sick I got on one forum of pointing out that green justice didnt have the same proportions as a human because she wasn't a human! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgraz Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 I'm pleased that my faith in you wasn't misplaced. From past examples you've earned the benefit of the doubt. Way back in my misspent youth I wanted to draw comic books for a living...even went to college for art...so I studied anatomy pretty extensively....and a lot of drawing comics is exaggerating or twisting the basic humanoid form. That artist eye training never really goes away, you know? So that helps me see things from other angles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Yeah, it's the balance between accurate and exaggerated that's the real trick isn't it. And there's no substitute for a well practiced eye. I'm still learning the details and find it a fairly narrow line to try and get stuff human, but not quite human, usually takes me a lot of tweaks. In this case, that solid block of uncured putty became so hard to work with that I needed to bake it just to handle it! Will need to go back and work all the final finishes in at the end once I get all the parts sorted out and built. So far there's only one arm and the main torso... My sculpting challenge one will be a total pain for this, it's got to be perfectly accurate for human but with all the mechanics and such in there as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edonil Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Loving the look of it. This is one for your own personal line, correct? Count me in for a pre-order if so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgraz Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Yeah, it's the balance between accurate and exaggerated that's the real trick isn't it. Agreed. Very difficult to get right. And when you're showing a WIP it's tough to really judge something like that. It isn't until it all comes together that you can really see if you got it. I was certainly the bane of many erasers in my day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mako Posted December 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Yeah, luckily the erasing I did on this already doesn't show! That's the fifth (or was it sixth? Lost count...) version of the lower body after I tore off and replaced the previous versions! And you're dead on, it won't be until the end that I realise if I need to rework some bits. Hopefully none, but really not the arms or the head though. Not sure I could face redoing those, and I've only done one so far! Although the most stressful bit was the slicing it in two before baking, then separating it after the bake partly re-sealed it. Over an hour with a blade and a very tiny pry bar to get the halves apart! Yup, this is the personal line one. I'm kind of hoping to get him done before April, but I'm not making that a promise! *grin* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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