comicbkguy

Another view. I will post more pics when I have it painted

This is the head of a Red Skull statue I resculpted for a friend of mine. He wanted more of a Kirby feel than the original had, and even though I'm not thrilled with it, it seems more Kirby-like to me than the original. I wound up changing the shape of the face a lot more than I intended. Looking back, I would have been able to match it to my reference better if I had started from scratch. There are some obvious problems with it, I don't think the eyes are as even as I would like, and the neck is a little longer than I wanted when you see it back on the piece. The area around the eyes looks flat for some reason, but it really isn't. I also was going for the look of a man wearing a mask, unlike the original I started from which was done of a later version when his head was an actual skull. That is why the neck and mouth are not as defined. I know it isn't a mini, but I thought you guys might be interested. Let me know what you think.

I deal with RTV mold rubber in my job all the time. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Whiz -- Yeah I meant Friday. Glad you liked the zoo.

Great first sculpt Jester. The most impressive part to me is that you did such a good job with proportion. So many people fail there at first. Probably a result of your 2D art or the dollies, or maybe a bit of both. The main things I would mention for improvement are that I would bulk out the legs a bit more. They seem a bit thin. Also I would ditch the dollies for wire armatures. The wire being thinner will given you the ability to apply more definition, you won't be running into the metal just under the surface as you are now. Also, the head seems a bit big to me, but I understand that is more or less a stylistic thing in the mini realm. Anyway, like I said it looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stuff.

Hey, Whiz, I didn't get to meet you when I was there on Saturday. What did you do with your extra day?

Well I was only there a few hours on Saturday, but meeting the few people I got to meet was cool. One real cool highlight was watching the casting process, then watching the castings get tossed right back into a pot of molten metal. And here is a pic of the mini in question by the way. Sorry she would have looked better primered, but I haven't had a chance to clean her yet.

Man, that sucks! Really sorry about that Jester.

Well, something has come up and I won't be there Friday. So I'll be the new guy who shows up Saturday.

I would strongly suggest Fort Worth over Dallas to you. Or to anyone else coming for that matter. FW has its act together in ways Dallas may never. Downtown FW has shopping, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, and a pretty large Barnes & Noble (Used to have a couple of really cool independently owned bookstores, but B&N took care of that). And it is really safe. Fort Worth's zoo and museum district are both highly regarded. Four museums (3 art, 1 science) all located together west of downtown. The botanic gardens are nice as well. The only reason to go to Dallas would be if you want to see live music. No pro baseball in town this weekend, but the Big 12 college tournament will be here soon, not sure if they will be here this weekend or not. But if they are it would be worth the price of admission just to get to see the Ballpark. Its a really enjoyable setting. I could be wrong, but I think the Byron Nelson golf tournament is happening in Los Colinas this weekend. So if you aren't a golf fan you might want to avoid the area in order to miss any traffic.

Aves is well worth it if you get a chance to pick some up. I really prefer it to Magic Sculpt. I know the guys in the Gore group use Aves alot, they turned me on to it. Michael

I just finished working for a company that did several licensed Frazetta pieces. It is a serious pain. Even though he retained the rights to all of his artwork, you will still get sued by the people who own the character's rights. Even if you don't refer to that character by name. Which means it is a double license situation, which is hard to coordinate. And if you do you are still paying two royalties instead of one. Cuts into profitablility. By the way your stuff is good. How long have you been working in castilene?

I'll definitely be there. And listed both names on my badge.

Just curious, when everyone bought their tickets did they list their real name or forum handle as the name appearing on the badge?

I was just kidding. Stupid internet. I always forget that text can't convey humor all that effectively.

I said they could, not that they did. Wasn't meaning to defend GW so much as to say that they could do it cheaper if they wanted to. I am surprised to know that they produce in the UK though (but you are right). I suppose that if they bit the bullet and bought all of the equipment they would need to produce plastics they could profit more in the long run. But with labor costs what they are in China I would still be shocked if they wouldn't be better off doing them over there.

Flynn, Ladystorm. Thank you I considerd myself duly chastised.

Actually Lars, resin is expensive to produce if you are a small company. But a company with the resources of GW could produce it much cheaper by farming out the production work over seas. They could do it for a quarter of the price they are selling it at now and still make a great margin. Especially since it isn't going to be cleaned up or painted. The only problem would be that they would need to probably produce and sell quite a few more. But with a lowered price point that wouldn't really be a problem. Having said that it is their intellectual property and I support them 100% in charging whatever they can get for it. It is a business after all. And they spent years making sure that their property is the premiere one in miniature gaming, so I don't have a problem with them cashing in on that work.

I might go, just wondering if it has sold out yet?

I have found that the perfect cure for burnout involves having a child. Nothing makes you want to paint more that not having the time to.

I usually get my best results ending on a Sunday night. I ended an Archaon on a Wednesday and got hosed. I have no idea why I did this. It only went for $60. I was hoping for more.

I am comicbkguy there as well, though I haven't sold anything in quite a while. Thanks mainly to the 5 month old you can probably hear screaming from the next room, through the internet all the way to wherever you are right now. Haven't painted much either for that matter. Thats pretty much my id everywhere though, here, CMON, TMP, etc. I've actually got a couple of things finished, just haven't had time to photo them. Michael

Ladystorm, Not that you need the info, since Reaper is helping out with shipping things for you guys, but the USPS office at DFW airport is open everyday until 10 pm. It used to be open 24 hours a day, but I guess they have changed that recently.

I've had a similar problem with Krylon white wrinkling the surface of plastic minis. I thought that the primer was just going on rough, but when I removed it it had actually melted texture into the surface of the piece. Nothing like what happened to you, but I may not have used as much primer either.

In addition to painting that glider I have a ton of their goblin stuff and a pack of their empire leaders. All of them are Klocke sculpts.