ShadoKat's Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 3) helmet sculpt - WIP

[alix965]

OOOooooh AAAaaah

Nice

 

[ShadoKat]

And, in case anyone missed it, Classified thread is up

 

[playdohlord]

looks sweet! i like how after 2 weeks on Halo, MC's armor went from pearlescent green to muddy sage color...but even after all the horrors that Samus has seen, her armor isnt even chipped or anything

 

[ShadoKat]

looks sweet! i like how after 2 weeks on Halo, MC's armor went from pearlescent green to muddy sage color...but even after all the horrors that Samus has seen, her armor isnt even chipped or anything

That, sir, is the magic of energy shields!!

 

[ShadoKat]

So, for my first day of vacation, I decided to obsess just a little more over the paint job. I believe I mentioned I have only had a few moments here and there to work on it for like 30 minutes at a time a couple times per week. Basically what this work has entailed is spraying a coat of paint one night, then wet sanding (or something else if I'm working on the "metal cast" paint tester) a few days later. My last spray-job was a first clear coat on the "red cast." This morning I wet sanded the clear coat. As before, it looks really nice and smooth and shiny when it's wet, but it gets really dull when it dries. This gave me an idea... I grabbed some Meguiar's Quick Detailer from my auto-products shelf, sprayed a bit on, and gave it a quick buffing...

This has me VERY excited!! It's still not perfect, but I'm starting to actually see hints of the finish I'm going for hiding in there somewhere! I just need to coax it out! So, in an effort to smooth out the finish some more, I washed it off, dried it, and put on another layer of clear coat. If I keep repeating the process, I hope to be able to smooth out the clear coat even more! For now, though, I'm gonna get back to sculpting! (It takes too long to set up and tear down my sculpting area my S.O. HATES the mess, but my vacation gives me an excuse to leave it out LOL!)

Thanks much, everyone!!

 

[Roadwarrior]

That looks absolutely amazing, Just read the whole topic.

I'm thinking of sculpting my next costume and was wondering what clay hardness you used.

 

[ShadoKat]

Did a little bit of sculpting on the shoulder bells this weekend. Just doing the rough blocking on it so far, but this is where it stands currently...

Since destroying the helmet, the front is starting to get a "Darth Samus" look to it

Still LOTS of work to do. Have to finish the blocking, do the detail work, and throw it on the Symmetrizer (which still needs a better name, and I'm taking suggestions, btw) to do the other side. One problem I'm having is that, in this rough blocking stage, the clay is REALLY hard to apply to large sections when it's this cold. One of these days I'm going to have to hit up the Goodwill for a junk pan so I can just put it on the stove or in the oven. At the pace I work, I really doubt I'll have the bell sculpting done by the end of vacation, but I do expect to be a lot closer. Oh, Halloween, why must you come only once a year?

That looks absolutely amazing, Just read the whole topic.

I'm thinking of sculpting my next costume and was wondering what clay hardness you used.

Yeah?!?! I LOVE scratch builds, what are you sculpting? Thanks so much, very glad you like!! I use Chavant NSP medium hardness clay. I tried a few different clays before settling on this. It came highly recommended, and I can definitely see why. It's fantastic for a certain level of detail but, after a certain point, I found it to be too soft. Everything I did on one part of the sculpt would mess up something somewhere else. YMMV, though, as this is only from my extremely limited uber-noob experience, I don't have a lot of skill or talent, and I'm REALLY clumsy. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[skylow]

Im not sure if it helps or if anyone has mentioned this before. But the way to make that candy red really stand out is to first spray a bright metallic silver coat of paint then do a transparent candy red coat on top. after that just go over it with some wet-look clear coat and it should look this this finish.

 

[ShadoKat]

Wow, skylow, that paint job looks just gorgeous! Do you have more pics of this that can be seen from different angles?

 

[Roadwarrior]

Yeah?!?! I LOVE scratch builds, what are you sculpting? Thanks so much, very glad you like!! I use Chavant NSP medium hardness clay. I tried a few different clays before settling on this. It came highly recommended, and I can definitely see why. It's fantastic for a certain level of detail but, after a certain point, I found it to be too soft. Everything I did on one part of the sculpt would mess up something somewhere else. YMMV, though, as this is only from my extremely limited uber-noob experience, I don't have a lot of skill or talent, and I'm REALLY clumsy. GOOD LUCK!!!

I was thinking of doing the Mk V Spartan armour, I'm just now finishing my Peped Fallout 3 costume and I don't want to cut out any more paper parts.

Another Question, If you soften, lets say the hard kind of that clay with heat, when it cools will it be just as hard as before it was heated?

And, How many pounds of clay is that? And can it be found cheaper than 10.00$ for two pounds?

 

[DarkBebi]

I was thinking of doing the Mk V Spartan armour, I'm just now finishing my Peped Fallout 3 costume and I don't want to cut out any more paper parts.

Another Question, If you soften, lets say the hard kind of that clay with heat, when it cools will it be just as hard as before it was heated?

And, How many pounds of clay is that? And can it be found cheaper than 10.00$ for two pounds?

I am trying to do the armored suits of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and I have the same question, how much clay did you use for your helmet? I looked on brick in the yard and I found a 40 pound bundle for 135 dollars, thats like 6.75 for a 2 pound block, but they also have 2 pounds for 7.50, link is Here

 

[Roadwarrior]

That's not too bad, but I would prefer to pay at most 3.50 for two pounds of clay. But it's good clay so I guess it's alright.

 

[ShadoKat]

I was thinking of doing the Mk V Spartan armour, I'm just now finishing my Peped Fallout 3 costume and I don't want to cut out any more paper parts.

Another Question, If you soften, lets say the hard kind of that clay with heat, when it cools will it be just as hard as before it was heated?

And, How many pounds of clay is that? And can it be found cheaper than 10.00$ for two pounds?

Have you ever sculpted before? There are a lot of things about sculpting that I found to be very difficult. Symmetry is the first and biggest example that comes to mind. I know you said you don't want to deal with paper anymore, but if you check out Surmainey's and skylow's threads, they both seem to have had a great deal of success sculpting clay over pepped helmets. And, yes, when you soften the clay, it will go back to its original hardness when it cools. I think that it may harden even further under refrigeration. Someday I'd like to get a spare refrigerator and try that out (BTW, totally OT, but have you ever noticed that people spell the shortened version of "refrigerator" as "fridge" with a "d" in the middle, even though there is no "d" in "refrigerator?" ) As for how much clay was used on this helmet... I have no idea. I lost track. I bought several two-pound blocks and one ten-pound block. All of the two-pounders are gone, and I haven't even touched the 10-pounder yet, but I have several large balls of clay that have been trimmed and scraped off at various points of the build. My clay was purchased from a store that had a closeout special on it, and had dropped the price in order to get rid of it. I think I ended up getting 28 pounds for less than $100.00.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Have you ever sculpted before? There are a lot of things about sculpting that I found to be very difficult. Symmetry is the first and biggest example that comes to mind. I know you said you don't want to deal with paper anymore, but if you check out Surmainey's and skylow's threads, they both seem to have had a great deal of success sculpting clay over pepped helmets. And, yes, when you soften the clay, it will go back to its original hardness when it cools. I think that it may harden even further under refrigeration. Someday I'd like to get a spare refrigerator and try that out (BTW, totally OT, but have you ever noticed that people spell the shortened version of "refrigerator" as "fridge" with a "d" in the middle, even though there is no "d" in "refrigerator?" ) As for how much clay was used on this helmet... I have no idea. I lost track. I bought several two-pound blocks and one ten-pound block. All of the two-pounders are gone, and I haven't even touched the 10-pounder yet, but I have several large balls of clay that have been trimmed and scraped off at various points of the build. My clay was purchased from a store that had a closeout special on it, and had dropped the price in order to get rid of it. I think I ended up getting 28 pounds for less than $100.00.

Thank you, that was very informative, especially the the part about it resetting back to its original hardness after heating to soften it. So I think I'll be buying one pack of the hard and medium clay to see witch I like better.

Yes I have sculpted before, but only with water based ceramic/stoneware clay. The kind used to make mugs and bowls on a potters wheel. But I mostly use it for Mugs and bowls.

I know about using a paper base, but I want to do it without it.

Also here's a link to my fallout Armour: http://wastelandoutpost.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=143 Not trying to thread jack.

 

[ShadoKat]

it sure does SEEM like a lot of progress...

Thank you, that was very informative, especially the the part about it resetting back to its original hardness after heating to soften it. So I think I'll be buying one pack of the hard and medium clay to see witch I like better.

FYI, I did just today heat a whole bunch of clay, and it works fantastically, especially when you have to slather it onto a whole big area like I'm doing. If you set the oven to its lowest setting and don't leave the clay inside it too long, it's not even too hot to handle when it comes out. I sometimes wish I'd gotten the hard clay, but I think the medium provides a good balance. Your Fallout armor looks great, GOOD LUCK!!!

As for this project, the pics above were taken yesterday morning... These were taken about an hour ago...

Strangely, I had only touched it twice in the last two months (and ever so briefly, at that) and, now, after only two days of work, I'd say that it's just about ready for symmetrizing. I can't believe I've made so much progress in such a short amount of time. Don't mistake my tone, I mean I really can't believe it. I'm honestly too skeptical to be proud just yet... I'm betting that tomorrow is when I find the problem that's going to make me have to redo the whole thing.

Wish me luck!!

 

[Roadwarrior]

Cool, You might want to make the circle 2-4mm wider so it shows clearly and molds easier.(But I'm just thinking out-loud here)

Are you going to put the carvings that are on the front also on the back? Otherwise you may have to sculpt it twice.

And I would like a picture of the "symmetrizer"

 

[ShadoKat]

Ugh, I hate days like this. Feel more clumsy and uncooridinated and off-balance than usual, like I'm in some sort of limbo, encumbered and with little things all over the place to step on and knock into. Try to work, can't, when I do nothing seems to go right. After adding a bunch of clay to the other side, the shoulder bell sculpt is totally back-heavy, and seems likely to tip over backward at any moment, so I just started chopping away at it willy-nilly. Also cut about an inch and a half off of the foam mannequin neck, hopefully that will give me a little more stability, but it's not a very straight cut. That's probably the main complaint I have with the Symmetrizer, it has to be set up just so, and the sculpt has to be properly aligned and sit on the platform just perfectly, or it gets more and more off the further you go. Still, I couldn't get along without it, especially for a piece like this that's going to be duplicated on both sides. Just... AAAAAARGH!! Okay, that was cathartic. Thanks for listening. Going to try to get back to work now.

Cool, You might want to make the circle 2-4mm wider so it shows clearly and molds easier.(But I'm just thinking out-loud here)

Are you going to put the carvings that are on the front also on the back? Otherwise you may have to sculpt it twice.

And I would like a picture of the "symmetrizer"

The circle is just a placeholder right now, in the finished product it will be a carved-out indent, same as on the game model and reference pics. And, yes, I'm going to carve out the details on the other side, that's all part of the symmetrizing process Basically I only have to sculpt one side, get it just the way I want it, then use the machine to do the other side and I don't have to worry about it (if I can ever get this frickin' sculpt frickin' centered on this frickin' apparatus). Dunno about pics of the beast, though, it's notoriously camera shy

 

[Roadwarrior]

Well in that case, I'll go grab my panama and we'll go searching for the bumbling oaf!

You could mount the mannequin to some plywood for a larger base and make it more stable.

 

[ShadoKat]

I'm betting that tomorrow is when I find the problem that's going to make me have to redo the whole thing.

Yup, I found it.

 

[Ronster]

Yup, I found it.

You gotta redo the whole piece now???