1. The blocking stage. This is the first layer of Sculpey with a few anatomy details laid atop the initial layer. It's always a good way for me to get a feel for how much foil is actually needed before I get into any detailed sculpting.
A place to have fun with clay.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Building: The Mummy
This was a small project, much smaller than my usual size. The Mummy stands just about eight inches high, compared to my usual figure height of 14-20 inches tall. This was an experiment, and overall I enjoyed the new challenges of working with Super Sculpey at such a scale. Unfortunately, I did not snap photos of the armature or foil-covered stages, but that won't hinder things very much. Despite the post order, this piece is older than the Mechanic and was constructed after the Captain.
1. The blocking stage. This is the first layer of Sculpey with a few anatomy details laid atop the initial layer. It's always a good way for me to get a feel for how much foil is actually needed before I get into any detailed sculpting.
2. Smoothing and more blocking; this time it's the clothing. The pose has changed a bit as well.
3. After moving further along with the clothing detail, I had to stop and plan out the method I was going to use to set the bandages in place. Cutting too deep would make them appear too thick, and if they were too lightly carved in, they would easily get sanded away.
4. The pants and belt, along with the shoulders, have gotten some seams. The tie is also now in place.
5. I finally discovered the perfect tool for carving the bandages - the long needle from the first post (#6 in the first photo of various tools). After I'd sharpened it to a fine point, it was slow going while etching the lines in place. My hands aren't the most steady things anymore, so it got a little hairy at times.
6. Since the face had finally gotten its bandages, the mustache and cigar could also be added. The cigar is on a small length of wire and can be removed at any time; this was useful for painting, as always.
7. Whoops! Looks like you've dropped something. Oh, it's your hand. Yes, during baking, the left had somehow decided to drop straight off. Thankfully it wasn't otherwise damaged, but the break was too messy to glue. What to do, what to do...Oh, I know!
8. After creating a tinfoil sling, I added new Super Sculpey to the broken area (circled in red), repaired the bandages, and put the figure back into the oven for 15 minutes. The result was a successful reattachment. The new clay was lighter and the hat got a bit darker, but other than that, it was smooth sailing.This is a useful technique for filling in cracks, though if you're following the instructions on the box, Super Sculpey shouldn't crack during baking.
9. Sanding and base coats. Not much else to say.
10. The sanding is done, and more base coats have been added.
11. Still more coats. Moving on.
12. Now some shading has been added, plus a bit of the detail work like buttons and the belt buckle.
13. The shading of the bandages needed some varied tones of gray to give it a more natural look. A second tone had been added to the shirt for shading and seams, too.
14. The painting is mostly finished now; only a little more to go.
15. The final shot, with multiple views (which were strangely missing before now); the Mummy is now completed. This character is actually so massive that, if I'd sculpted him to scale with the others I've done, he would have needed to be about 24-27 inches tall, and his shoulders would have ended up 14-18 inches wide. I'd always wanted to sculpt him, but I haven't exactly got room for something so huge. Working at a smaller scale was a fun change. The other characters from his story could be sculpted to scale with this smaller version, however, but they would be an even greater challenge. I don't know if I'm capable of sculpting tiny details on 4-6 inch high figures.
Well, that's it for this Mummy adventure.
1. The blocking stage. This is the first layer of Sculpey with a few anatomy details laid atop the initial layer. It's always a good way for me to get a feel for how much foil is actually needed before I get into any detailed sculpting.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Building: The Mechanic.
My latest project gave me a few troubles here and there, but overall, everything went well. The Mechanic stands about eighteen and a quarter inches high, and several of her parts are removable. Let's dive right into the timeline.
As always, click on the photos to see the full-sized versions. Some of them might need to be right-clicked, then choose "view image" (even after you've clicked them), because they don't show at full size with a simple click. It's kind of annoying, but those are the breaks.
1. This is my procedure I use to build the average armature. If you click on the photo, you can read the step-by-step text included.
2. Here I've begun to add the clay, and toyed with a basic pose idea. This project went through a few different poses; I kept deciding that the current pose wasn't what I was looking for. Basic outfit pieces have been laid in place to give a small idea of where they'll eventually wind up.
3. More basic shaping has been done to the hair, which was completely missing prior to this shot. The ponytail is a separate piece that fits into a small hole in the foil of the head. This sort of shape really, really likes to demolish itself in the baking phase if it is left alone. I tend to eliminate such problems before they arise, since with this scale, I've got to lay the figures down to bake them in my oven. The foil layer for the legs was far too thin, which would have used up a lot more clay in the long run, so I've stripped it off and added a large amount of foil.
4. Super Sculpey had been added back onto the legs, and a few more outfit details have been blocked out with simple strips of clay.
5. This shot has gone through a lot more filling-out and detail work (also the first pose change) since the last one. The bangs are fuller and closer to finalized than the rest of her hair. The outfit is still blocky, but it's getting filled out and progressing. The wrench finally got some clay, but that wouldn't last long.
6. Some more detail work on the head and hair. She wound up needing much more volume than this, however.
7. Things are moving right along with the head and hair. If you look closely at the ponytail you'll see the inch and a half long wire used to keep it in place. The hair band (and the hair shape on the back of her head) keep the wire snugly in place when the ponytail is attached. These eyes were not what I was looking for; too much clay in the lashes.
8. The eyelashes have bee trimmed very carefully using an X-acto knife.Since my hands are shakier than they used to be, it was somewhat nerve-wracking.
9. Jumping ahead, I finally got a pose I liked well enough to keep, the head has been baked, and some base coats were applied. The bangs are also attached by wires and were delicately snapped off of the hair after baking. It is very troubling to paint a face that is hidden by parts, so I plan ahead and create areas that are not firmly sculpted to one another, which will eventually allow me to make a clean break. Later on I can superglue them back together, or simply leave them as-is if there's no danger of the piece falling out on its own.
The head and neck were baked separately because the collar of the shirt allowed it; the seam is well hidden and nobody would notice unless I pulled the head off in front of them. It was easier to bake the head first because I was able to work with the unbaked body Sculpey the rest of the way unhindered. No accidental damage to the head or hair,since they were on a shelf away from the body! I could also create a perfectly matching impression of the neck in the collar, insuring a great fit.
10. These shots show the eyes and lips. The face has gained a lighter shade of sienna than the last one; the paint straight out of the tube was far more red than what I'd imagined, so I needed to mix up a better tone.
11. I began finalizing details on the body at this point. If you've got a box of Super Sculpey handy, then you can get a rough idea of the size (sorry for not including something else in any of the shots for size comparison).
12. The basic wrench became a pipe/monkey wrench over time. It, along with several bags for her tool belt, were baked before the body, since they were all made to be detachable. The preliminary sanding has been done, and a few of the wires are visible in the shot. On the body you'll notice many wires sticking out; these were left in place to keep the tool belt bag holes from getting closed by accident, and to keep their shape during baking.
13. This is a multipurpose shot. Top-left: this is the "rig" I use when baking a figure that must lay down to fit into the oven. It is made from the same armature wire as I use for the figures. I can modify it in many ways to accommodate whatever pose I need to bake! The wire jutting out on the right is where the figure's feet will be anchored; I usually use a small loop that one of the figure's base wires can fit into. If needed, I'll add a second loop to hold the other foot.
Middle-left: a side-view of the rig. My last project, The Captain, needed her right foot supported in a different way during baking, which explains the wire in the upper left portion of the rig. The wire on the far right is usually used to steady the character on their back, or, in some cases, is used to hold the wire their head fits onto.
Bottom-left: the rig had to be heavily modified to fit The Mechanic! Both feet are anchored on the left side, and the right wire holds her neck armature wire. This was lucky; no Sculpey was dented or pressed in by the rig this time around. She was fairly well-balanced.
Right: The figure has been baked on the rig, and momentarily put back together. There are many pieces on this lady that are removable this time around, which definitely makes sanding and painting easier.
14. Honestly, this is a pretty boring shot of the sanding in process. Sanding is boring. I'd have had to sand much less if I'd known about 91% rubbing alcohol sooner...
15. Here's the first base coats for the rest of the colors, and the hair has gone light pink. Too much cotton candy, maybe? Well, I was trying something different this time. I almost NEVER use "anime hair colors" on my characters. 99.9% have normal hair coloration; she's just part of the .1% who doesn't.
16. Lots of overhauling in these shots. The overalls have been given a lighter shade, the hair has been given a darker one, and things have gotten quite messy - grease and oil stains all over the place. Did you expect a mechanic to have pristine clothes? The wrench it also rather dirty, but that's always a sign of a well-worn tool.
17A. This is more or less the final figure, shown from five views. I still have a few tiny details to iron out, but nothing major. (Small warning: this photo is larger than the rest.)
17B. Once again, only closer up and with six views!
17C. A close-up of the wrench in hand. There is a wire-hold that I'd left in the palm when she was baked. I later made a small hole in the wrench, superglued a bit of wire in there, and created a perfect peg to fit into the palm's hole. The wrench is stable, and can also be easily removed for dusting, moving, or what-have-you.
18. A few small details have been painted here and there, but this is mostly the same as 17A. (Warning: this photo is much larger than the others)
Well, that's all for now. See you again, and happy sculpting!
As always, click on the photos to see the full-sized versions. Some of them might need to be right-clicked, then choose "view image" (even after you've clicked them), because they don't show at full size with a simple click. It's kind of annoying, but those are the breaks.
1. This is my procedure I use to build the average armature. If you click on the photo, you can read the step-by-step text included.
2. Here I've begun to add the clay, and toyed with a basic pose idea. This project went through a few different poses; I kept deciding that the current pose wasn't what I was looking for. Basic outfit pieces have been laid in place to give a small idea of where they'll eventually wind up.
5. This shot has gone through a lot more filling-out and detail work (also the first pose change) since the last one. The bangs are fuller and closer to finalized than the rest of her hair. The outfit is still blocky, but it's getting filled out and progressing. The wrench finally got some clay, but that wouldn't last long.
The head and neck were baked separately because the collar of the shirt allowed it; the seam is well hidden and nobody would notice unless I pulled the head off in front of them. It was easier to bake the head first because I was able to work with the unbaked body Sculpey the rest of the way unhindered. No accidental damage to the head or hair,since they were on a shelf away from the body! I could also create a perfectly matching impression of the neck in the collar, insuring a great fit.
Middle-left: a side-view of the rig. My last project, The Captain, needed her right foot supported in a different way during baking, which explains the wire in the upper left portion of the rig. The wire on the far right is usually used to steady the character on their back, or, in some cases, is used to hold the wire their head fits onto.
Bottom-left: the rig had to be heavily modified to fit The Mechanic! Both feet are anchored on the left side, and the right wire holds her neck armature wire. This was lucky; no Sculpey was dented or pressed in by the rig this time around. She was fairly well-balanced.
Right: The figure has been baked on the rig, and momentarily put back together. There are many pieces on this lady that are removable this time around, which definitely makes sanding and painting easier.
Well, that's all for now. See you again, and happy sculpting!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Building: The Captain
Today I'll go into the step-by-step process used to create The Captain, the figure seen in the blog logo and also in the previous post. There are many photos, but I neglected to shoot some of the steps along the way (though not very many important ones are missing). I'm not going into specific sculpting techniques and methodology just yet; that will come along later one, probably when I've started an entirely new figure. The current piece (not shown) was much too far along for that when I began the blog. Now let's jump right into the briny sea and swim until we've found some glittery treasure (or until our arms fall off)!
1. Here we have the basic armature, coated with basic heavy-duty tinfoil shapes. I have left some wire curling around at the feet - this allows me to readjust the character's height if needed, and also doubles as a makeshift temporary base. The head is fairly overlarge and round at this stage, and eventually got hammered down into a more useful shape. The small hammer can be your best friend when fleshing out your armature. You don't want to pile your Super Sculpey onto bare wire; the stuff is costly and you certainly don't want to run out when you could have saved a lot of it by using the right amount of foil.
2. My initial pose was, of course, completely temporary (as it always is). The first layer of Super Sculpey has been added over the foil in most areas, and the legs have been lengthened a bit. The layer of Sculpey is very thin; I usually want to add more foil to flesh things out, so I'll lay down just enough Sculpey to give me ideas and then I can strip it off with little trouble or effort and try again with more foil. This test pose was from an idea that didn't really go anywhere; you'll see a bit more of it before The Captain shows up.
3. After removing Sculpey where necessary and adding more weighty foil, I began to do some light detail work and fool around with the pose some more. This piece, unlike many others I've done, was created totally by the seat of my pants at first. I did not have a character design in mind and was trying to come up with something new (which was eventually dropped).
4. More pose fiddling, along with some detail work to begin mapping out the face. She has a somewhat mischievous look and a wider stance at this point. Perhaps I was thinking of a mystical gal?
5. Another change in posture, along with more foil definition added into the body. Small details like the facial features are usually removed at this point, mostly to keep them from getting squashed (or getting in the way) as I work on refining the figure. The hair is no more than a few small pieces set in place to get ideas from; it can be mashed or cut off at any time, so I usually don't worry about damage at this point.
The excess wire has been clipped now that I've decided on the proper height and added feet. The wire is then straightened out and, using a drill to put two holes into a simple piece of wood from the cellar, I've got a sturdy base that is sure to keep her standing as I work on her. I used to create freestanding figures, which honestly looks nice and all, but you won't think so highly of the practice once you've knocked a figure off a shelf with a small bump. Nowadays, everything I sculpt is anchored with a base no matter what.
6. This is fuller than the last shot (and yet another pose), but not so different that we should dwell on it for long.
7. The ninja arrives! Yes, at first this lady was going to be skulking about with daggers/kunai in hand, but that occupational choice would not last very long. There's a new face and some semblance of an outfit, though the clothing is nothing more than rough "sketch Sculpey" thrown on to get a look at how things could shape up to be eventually. It's an easy way for you to get an ideal position for garments, seams, and accessories before you've made final parts to use. Simply slice some strips of Sculpey in the general size you think you'll want to use, then gently place them onto the body.
8.The ninja leaves! This piece sat for months gathering dust due to unforeseen circumstances, but when I'd finally gotten back to her, I couldn't stand the ninja idea and decided to go with someone much more familiar to me instead. Practically every ounce of ninja was stripped away, and I got much farther in a much shorter time since I was using a design I was quite familiar with drawing. The costume is far more complex than my ninja attempt, but I was able to block out the basic outfit much more quickly overall. The right foot was raised and she would now stand on a small barrel. The left foot still gives enough support, thanks to the base.
9. Now that things had gotten well under way again, I began to tackle the hair after (yet again) refining the pose. That barrel was simply too small, so I stripped off the Sculpey, wadded up some more foil, and soon had the beginnings of a full-grown barrel. Well, a larger small barrel, anyhow. The pose holding the sword was switched to something pirates love even more than cutlery: flashing a few golden coins. I had some spare coins left over from a previous project (they had gone unused for nearly a decade), and this would be a perfect place to finally get some use out of that dollar fifty I'd wasted on them long ago.
10. The barrel is taking shape now, as is the Captain's hair. I probably spent too much time on the head at this stage; I kept having to remove it to work on the body, all to avoid damaging it too much. But this isn't really so much a problem as it is a solution; I've created several figures with removable heads to aid in painting them later. The body and legs have been sculpted past their previous state, and so are the feet.
11. This is definitely when I began to focus on the head. Here's a close-up mugshot of the face and hair. The pipe is removable; there's a small wire running through its middle which slips into a hole at the corner of the mouth. This makes it removable for later after it has been baked, and makes it much easier to paint. The hair has its first layer of curls, but will soon get some more to add thickness. The foremost bangs have thin coils of foil in their centers to keep them from drooping during baking. I sometimes use wire for pieces like this, but I always test it with foil first, and it if works, then hey, it works.
12. Another head shot, this time with a lot more detail work finished up. You can see where I made a terrible mistake, too! This head is not currently connected to a neck! I stupidly left the neck on the body instead of attaching it to the head; I advise not to do that. If you've got an outfit that will hide the seam between the neck and body with some sort of collar, you can easily get away with it. This, however, was baked without the neck, so there is an unfortunate seam visible between the neck and head. You have to be looking at her from the right angle to catch it, but it's there, and I can't believe I messed this step up so badly.
13. The head has been baked. In this shot you can see the simple gold hoop earring in her left ear; it's nothing more than a small ring of wire with a small portion cut out. I baked the head long before the body was finished because I did not want anything to happen to it during the meantime. If I'd waited, I probably would have caught my idiotic mistake and baked the head with the neck attached, but what's done is done, moving on.
14. After baking the head I refocused on the body and began some detail work. The ruffles on the top were created by simply folding a strip of Sculpey back and forth until a uniform pattern was achieved. Well, more or less uniform; ruffles generally aren't precise. Below that are some fasteners and the outlines for the rest of the top. Below, the dress has been fitted by smoothing out some very thing pieces of Sculpey, though if I'd had one, I'd have simply used a pasta machine/Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine to get nice, uniform pieces.
15. The top has gotten several folds and some additional detailing. Both gloves have also been worked on, and now she's wearing both boots. The collar, too, is better off than it had been, and is now anchored properly instead of simply sitting atop the figure loosely.
16. Egad! I seem to have neglected to take some photos here, she's already been baked! At the top left is the sword in its sheath; I (very carefully) snapped it off to sand and paint it. It would have broken off anyway, so I planned on it ahead of time and made two cuts in the straps where they were attached to the belt. This left them weak enough to be gently broken away, to be later reattached with super glue.
Middle left is the barrel, quite battered-looking and bumpy. It is an ugly old barrel, but it doesn't let that get it down, no.
Bottom left are two accessory bags that attach to the back of the belt with wires. You can see one in the bag furthest from the camera. The other one had its wire get lodged in the belt, which was unforeseen but not troublesome; it still slips onto the wire and holds fast.
Finally, the figure with all of her stuff. The gold coins are not attached to the hand, they simply rest in a slot between her middle and index fingers.
17. Sanding has gotten into full swing. The Sculpey becomes much lighter when it has been sanded, which can be helpful to you, showing you at a glance what has and hasn't been sanded. This required a lot of small tool work to sand, wrapping fine sand paper around short lengths of wire and carefully filing away at the less accessible bits. The back flap of the dress was also carefully broken away for sanding and painting purposes, but it was unfortunately not an even break. Nothing disastrous, but not as planned.
18. After sanding, it is time to paint. Here I've laid out base coats in most major areas. This is where having a detachable head really comes in handy; so many areas would be almost completely inaccessible if I couldn't take the noggin off the body.
19. More painting. Gold accents have been added. Flashy pirates love their gold, don't they?
20. At this point, painting is more or less finished, or at least so close that there's little else to say.
21. A closer view of the Captain's face (and her coins), and a back view of her hair. You can see the skull logo (not yet finished) on her hip, as well as the accessory bags on the belt.
22. Here's the skull logo again, now with a purple outline running throughout it. The barrel has been aged slightly to give its bands some rust and defects. It only says "this end up" so I know which way it should be facing; it baked slightly crookedly and only sits beneath her foot at one angle. A reminder was helpful. The left boot needed a heel added in after the fact to give her more stability. It is a bit thick, but I had no choice; the wire connecting her to the base couldn't be thinner, but you can't always get what you want.
23. It's a repeat of the previous photo from the last post, but it is from last week and far more recent than the others, so here it is again. Well, that's the entire ride from start to finish, though I regret not having a shot of the initial armature at the start. Oh well, there will definitely be one documented in another project post coming up soon. I am currently painting that figure, and I've taken many shots along the way. See you there!
1. Here we have the basic armature, coated with basic heavy-duty tinfoil shapes. I have left some wire curling around at the feet - this allows me to readjust the character's height if needed, and also doubles as a makeshift temporary base. The head is fairly overlarge and round at this stage, and eventually got hammered down into a more useful shape. The small hammer can be your best friend when fleshing out your armature. You don't want to pile your Super Sculpey onto bare wire; the stuff is costly and you certainly don't want to run out when you could have saved a lot of it by using the right amount of foil.
2. My initial pose was, of course, completely temporary (as it always is). The first layer of Super Sculpey has been added over the foil in most areas, and the legs have been lengthened a bit. The layer of Sculpey is very thin; I usually want to add more foil to flesh things out, so I'll lay down just enough Sculpey to give me ideas and then I can strip it off with little trouble or effort and try again with more foil. This test pose was from an idea that didn't really go anywhere; you'll see a bit more of it before The Captain shows up.
3. After removing Sculpey where necessary and adding more weighty foil, I began to do some light detail work and fool around with the pose some more. This piece, unlike many others I've done, was created totally by the seat of my pants at first. I did not have a character design in mind and was trying to come up with something new (which was eventually dropped).
The excess wire has been clipped now that I've decided on the proper height and added feet. The wire is then straightened out and, using a drill to put two holes into a simple piece of wood from the cellar, I've got a sturdy base that is sure to keep her standing as I work on her. I used to create freestanding figures, which honestly looks nice and all, but you won't think so highly of the practice once you've knocked a figure off a shelf with a small bump. Nowadays, everything I sculpt is anchored with a base no matter what.
6. This is fuller than the last shot (and yet another pose), but not so different that we should dwell on it for long.
7. The ninja arrives! Yes, at first this lady was going to be skulking about with daggers/kunai in hand, but that occupational choice would not last very long. There's a new face and some semblance of an outfit, though the clothing is nothing more than rough "sketch Sculpey" thrown on to get a look at how things could shape up to be eventually. It's an easy way for you to get an ideal position for garments, seams, and accessories before you've made final parts to use. Simply slice some strips of Sculpey in the general size you think you'll want to use, then gently place them onto the body.
9. Now that things had gotten well under way again, I began to tackle the hair after (yet again) refining the pose. That barrel was simply too small, so I stripped off the Sculpey, wadded up some more foil, and soon had the beginnings of a full-grown barrel. Well, a larger small barrel, anyhow. The pose holding the sword was switched to something pirates love even more than cutlery: flashing a few golden coins. I had some spare coins left over from a previous project (they had gone unused for nearly a decade), and this would be a perfect place to finally get some use out of that dollar fifty I'd wasted on them long ago.
10. The barrel is taking shape now, as is the Captain's hair. I probably spent too much time on the head at this stage; I kept having to remove it to work on the body, all to avoid damaging it too much. But this isn't really so much a problem as it is a solution; I've created several figures with removable heads to aid in painting them later. The body and legs have been sculpted past their previous state, and so are the feet.
11. This is definitely when I began to focus on the head. Here's a close-up mugshot of the face and hair. The pipe is removable; there's a small wire running through its middle which slips into a hole at the corner of the mouth. This makes it removable for later after it has been baked, and makes it much easier to paint. The hair has its first layer of curls, but will soon get some more to add thickness. The foremost bangs have thin coils of foil in their centers to keep them from drooping during baking. I sometimes use wire for pieces like this, but I always test it with foil first, and it if works, then hey, it works.
12. Another head shot, this time with a lot more detail work finished up. You can see where I made a terrible mistake, too! This head is not currently connected to a neck! I stupidly left the neck on the body instead of attaching it to the head; I advise not to do that. If you've got an outfit that will hide the seam between the neck and body with some sort of collar, you can easily get away with it. This, however, was baked without the neck, so there is an unfortunate seam visible between the neck and head. You have to be looking at her from the right angle to catch it, but it's there, and I can't believe I messed this step up so badly.
13. The head has been baked. In this shot you can see the simple gold hoop earring in her left ear; it's nothing more than a small ring of wire with a small portion cut out. I baked the head long before the body was finished because I did not want anything to happen to it during the meantime. If I'd waited, I probably would have caught my idiotic mistake and baked the head with the neck attached, but what's done is done, moving on.
14. After baking the head I refocused on the body and began some detail work. The ruffles on the top were created by simply folding a strip of Sculpey back and forth until a uniform pattern was achieved. Well, more or less uniform; ruffles generally aren't precise. Below that are some fasteners and the outlines for the rest of the top. Below, the dress has been fitted by smoothing out some very thing pieces of Sculpey, though if I'd had one, I'd have simply used a pasta machine/Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine to get nice, uniform pieces.
15. The top has gotten several folds and some additional detailing. Both gloves have also been worked on, and now she's wearing both boots. The collar, too, is better off than it had been, and is now anchored properly instead of simply sitting atop the figure loosely.
16. Egad! I seem to have neglected to take some photos here, she's already been baked! At the top left is the sword in its sheath; I (very carefully) snapped it off to sand and paint it. It would have broken off anyway, so I planned on it ahead of time and made two cuts in the straps where they were attached to the belt. This left them weak enough to be gently broken away, to be later reattached with super glue.
Middle left is the barrel, quite battered-looking and bumpy. It is an ugly old barrel, but it doesn't let that get it down, no.
Bottom left are two accessory bags that attach to the back of the belt with wires. You can see one in the bag furthest from the camera. The other one had its wire get lodged in the belt, which was unforeseen but not troublesome; it still slips onto the wire and holds fast.
Finally, the figure with all of her stuff. The gold coins are not attached to the hand, they simply rest in a slot between her middle and index fingers.
18. After sanding, it is time to paint. Here I've laid out base coats in most major areas. This is where having a detachable head really comes in handy; so many areas would be almost completely inaccessible if I couldn't take the noggin off the body.
19. More painting. Gold accents have been added. Flashy pirates love their gold, don't they?
20. At this point, painting is more or less finished, or at least so close that there's little else to say.
21. A closer view of the Captain's face (and her coins), and a back view of her hair. You can see the skull logo (not yet finished) on her hip, as well as the accessory bags on the belt.
22. Here's the skull logo again, now with a purple outline running throughout it. The barrel has been aged slightly to give its bands some rust and defects. It only says "this end up" so I know which way it should be facing; it baked slightly crookedly and only sits beneath her foot at one angle. A reminder was helpful. The left boot needed a heel added in after the fact to give her more stability. It is a bit thick, but I had no choice; the wire connecting her to the base couldn't be thinner, but you can't always get what you want.
23. It's a repeat of the previous photo from the last post, but it is from last week and far more recent than the others, so here it is again. Well, that's the entire ride from start to finish, though I regret not having a shot of the initial armature at the start. Oh well, there will definitely be one documented in another project post coming up soon. I am currently painting that figure, and I've taken many shots along the way. See you there!
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