Animatronic Elite

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

What's up 405th. I recently posted a sneak peak thread of my animatronic elite, and it was my intention to keep in on the DL until I was done, but I figured a WIP would be easier.

To give you a brief overview of what I'm doing, I'm making a fully animatronic Elite mask/helmet. At the moment I'm just working on the head itself. I plan on making a full creature suit eventually, but for the time being, I'll focus on the task at hand. The pics below will show you the sculpting process. I based the sculpt on the Arbiter in Halo 2. It's the best reference for an elite with its armor off. I used water clay for the sculpt, mainly because it's cheap, and I was going to need a lot of it.

I'm molding the sculpt at the moment, but I don't have any mold pics yet. I'll try and stay on top of updating this thread.

Not much to look at. Just getting the clay onto the lifecast. Kinda looks like a dinosaur head.

Gettin' my hands dirty.

Basic form is complete.

Adding a bit of detail.

More detail laid in.

Final detail with veins and dorsal ridges.

Texture laid in.

Final detail: skin imperfections, wrinkles, etc.

I'll put some more pics up when I get them off of my camera. Let me know what you think. Questions, comments.

 

[Chriscamo]

Thugz this is a great idea...

Does the clay have to be hollow at all to use the animatronics?
And will you be curing? I'd be very interesting to see how it moves with the animatronics.. I'm not that accustomed to clay but doesn't it need to retain moisture to be flexible

Maybe I'm just thinking o the clay I used in little school ha .. Good times ...

 

[Sara]

Thugz this is a great idea...

Does the clay have to be hollow at all to use the animatronics?
And will you be curing? I'd be very interesting to see how it moves with the animatronics.. I'm not that accustomed to clay but doesn't it need to retain moisture to be flexible

Maybe I'm just thinking o the clay I used in little school ha .. Good times ...

He mentioned that he's molding it so I'm guessing the resulting cast will get the electronics.

This is looking great so far, can't wait to see where it goes from here

 

[Chriscamo]

Ahhh okay I'm really new to hands on crafts.. I think I've seen casting in a movie not to long ago... Bit like mission impossible type casting? Just the surface .

Now that would be awesome definitely going to watch this thread .

And ty for the heads up sara

 

[RTWHOCKEY]

Wow, that is some amazing clay work. Keep it up!

 

[Zagoner]

Woah, Just woah. That is some brilliant attention to detail?

How big is it? It looks quite small in the picture.

 

[02 Hawkeye STi]

that looks awesome, great job!

 

[SPACENAVY]

I require more!

 

[GuitarMaster157]

There seems to be a new fascination in the Sangheili around here recently... Blarg blarg honk. I am pleased. This looks awesome!

 

[SanguiniusBlood]

cant wait to see this project finished.

 

[foxleader]

huh i've seen another elite like this before, oh yeah that guy that made that halo wars elite.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

He mentioned that he's molding it so I'm guessing the resulting cast will get the electronics.

This is looking great so far, can't wait to see where it goes from here

Thank you everyone. Yes, I'm molding it. The final cast will be in latex foam. After it's molded, I will make a plaster core so the casting won't be solid.

@Zagoner: It's actually pretty big. My own head lifecast is inside to make sure that it will fit over my head.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

New Pics!

These are a few pre-mold pics. First, I sprayed Krylon crystal clear all over the sculpture. This keeps the sculpture from drying out during the molding process, it also works as a release when removing the clay from the mold. Next I put a large clay plug into his mouth to eliminate any under-cuts. It kinda looks like he's eating a sandwich. lol. After I mold each side of the sculpture, I will remove the plug and mold the inside of the mouth... it's a long drawn out process. Hopefully, I'll have some Mold pics up soon.

In the picture above, you can see some cracking occurring. Crystal clear keeps the moisture in, but it's not a cure all. I did patch the cracks before I molded it, however.

If you have any questions or comments, don't be shy.

 

[Sara]

Exciting stuff! Can I ask what material you sculpted with? is it wed clay? I've ordered some wed clay recently to have a play around with and I read that it can crack quite badly as it dries out. Glad to hear it patched up okay, keep us updated

 

[Rex084]

Can't wait to see this build continue, excellent work! Subscribed!

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Exciting stuff! Can I ask what material you sculpted with? is it wed clay? I've ordered some wed clay recently to have a play around with and I read that it can crack quite badly as it dries out. Glad to hear it patched up okay, keep us updated

I'm actually just using water clay. WED clay is technically water clay as well, but it has glycerine in it to help keep in moisture. The clay I used is called Horseshoe Pit Clay, its really just scrap clay. It's super cheap and easy to work with, the only down side is how quickly it dries out. After every session of sculpting, I had to wrap it in wet paper towels and cover it with a trash bag, lol. WED clay is pretty nice though. If I had a higher budget, that's probably what I'd use. That or Chavant.

 

[theTavernKnight]

I'm getting all chuckly and giddy just looking at this. This will be fun to watch be completed.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Update:

Pulled apart the mold and realized that my beauty coat was too thin. I wound up having exposed burlap on the inside of the mold, so I spent the better part of a day patching it back up and sculpting in reverse (which is a lot of fun by the way). It's a 3 part mold. Two sides and one plug for the inside of the mouth. I also had a bit of locking when I was prying it apart, causing a pair of large cracks to form. I used fiberglass to patch them up from the outside, then just reinforce the inside with more plaster.

 

[cuse]

Excited to see more!

 

[BLACKULA727]

Wow, this is very cool. I look forward to seeing more and will be subscribing to your thread. Awesome job!

Tony