Scratchbuilt sci fi astronaut for Reapercon

[Ironhammer]

Right, so I finally decided to do a WiP on this guy, mainly in the hopes to get some good feedback on the painting process.  This will be one of my Reapercon (in the Open category, being as it is a scratchbuild). 

 

First off, some older pics going back a few months, showing where I started from.  I started by sculpting a few faces and picked one that I thought would do the job.  Then I built a basic armature, established a pose and then began fleshing it out.

 

I'm afraid I didn't get any more WiP shots of the sculpting after this, so on to the finished figure (pre painting that is).

 

Here is the final figure prior to painting, complete with scenic base.

 

And because I really would like to show off all the work that went into it, here are a lot of detail shots of the various elements.  The discarded helmet was a little bit of a trick, as I wanted it to actually be hollow.  I dealt with it by sculpting the basic shape on the end of another tool, then carefully pulling it off and carving out the face plate and widening the rest of the interior.  The backpack and pistol frame were stacked sheet styrene, with added details in greenstuff and wire.  The base was just a couple of cutup corks with greenstuff textured over it.

 

Next up is painting.  Digging around online for inspiration I came across this image, which is supposedly of a 1950s era US Navy pressure suit.  I liked the olive drab and beige combination (though I may skip the white helmet), and decided I would go with something similar, but with warmer colors. 

 

 

The palette I wound up choosing for the basic flight suit is below.  For some reason the special edition colors have become some of my favorites.  Carnival Purple was a special edition paint for Reapercon '13 (I think), and has become one of my go to colors for shadowing, while Pumpkin Orange has become another one of my mainstays. 

 

 

Here is the figure after the first round of painting.  I went in with the intention of giving the suit a much ruddier look that was the case in the prototype (hence the Pumpkin Orange), but tn the end the orange really dominated the palette (which doesn't really bother me, so long as the end result looks good), The figure was primarily bascoated with black primer, while the head was done in white.  I don't recall exactly how much time it took me to get from there to what you see below, but I think it was close to two hours or so.

 

Whatcha' think so far?  I've always been better with a hobby knife than a paint brush, and this year I'm really anxious to up my game a bit.  Any and all input is welcome!

 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Ironhammer

[robinh]

great choice of uniform color!

[YronimosW]

Oh, that's fantastic!  I love the retro-sci-fi thing, this is some great stuff!

 

I kind of liked the olive-drab and beige color scheme on that navy suit, but then I saw the colors you chose instead, and I have to agree:  the colors you went with are the perfect choice!

[Ironhammer]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I've been experimenting with some different palettes for the olive green sections (at this point I'm thinking this will be the belt and harness, the quilted bib, the main body of the backpack, and possibly the gloves).  Right now this is what I've got lined up.

 

 

I'm toying with the idea though of substituting the Moldy Skin with Golden Blonde.  I'm not convinced that the values are quite right (it's still fairly close in that respect to the Olive Green), but my gut instinct is that highlighting the green with it will really make it pop, as well as matching the warmer tones of the flight suit.  What say you all?

[ub3r_n3rd]

This is SO COOL!

[Ironhammer]

Taking a moment out to work on the base. I picked out four colors, again keeping the with the same shadow color to try and keep the overall palette unified with the rest of the figure.

 

The base is pretty quick and dirty right now, but I really don't plan on putting that much into it, all I want is for it to set off the figure, not distract from it.  I felt a red-ish planet surface would do the job fairly well, especially given the retro sci-fi feel of the piece (it seems to have been kind of the default color for alien planets back in the day).

 

 

[Ironhammer]

I was still a little unsure about the secondary palette I picked for the harness and gear, so I started looking at "orange space suits" online to see what else might work.  Low and behold, I came across images of these suits from the early space shuttle missions, which basically use the kind same color palette I had originally planned (apparently this is the S-1030 full-pressure suit, used on the SR-71 as well at least the sub-orbital space shuttle missions, as with these gentlemen from STS-3).  I dunno, but I think it kind of works.  What say you all?

 

 

 

 

 

[robinh]

it does work

[chaosscorpion]

Mind blown!

[Froggy the Great]

This guy can usurp leadership of my Star Empire any day.

 

That sounded way better in my head.

[ub3r_n3rd]

6 minutes ago, Froggy the Great said:

This guy can usurp leadership of my Star Empire any day.

 

That sounded way better in my head.

Umm...

 

[Edsterdoom]

Great work on the sculpting and the painting. 

[LarsM]

So amazing!!

I want to do this when I grow up..

Edited October 7, 2017 by LarsM

[Gadgetman!]

Anything even remotely linked to the SR-71 is cooler than an july in Antarctica, so yeah, like the colour choices. 

 

[Ironhammer]

Thanks again for all the kind words!  Moving on with the accent color, I think its turned out rather well after all (even under the dubious lens of my impoverished photography skills).