A Pair of Bat Cowl Sculpts in Progress . . .

I've been working on these two sculpt for a couple of months, and am getting close to being ready to mold them.

The first is a commission for Shellhead's brother ( http://www.therpf.com/f24/dragoncon-...9/#post2298424 ). It's based on this steampunk concept:


And here's the finished cowl sculpt:




John specifically asked for the smooth forehead and nose, as a contrast with the rest of the cloth textured cowl.


The other cowl sculpt is for my wife, as a companion to my Gotham by Gaslight cowl ( http://www.therpf.com/f24/gotham-gas...pg-2-a-123743/ ). Here's the concept we came up with for her costume:


Here's the sculpt, still in progress:



When I'm done with it, it'll have the same leather textures as my GbG cowl, including the large leather stitches on the forehead piece. I'll post some more pix of this one when the sculpt is done, which should be soon.

These look great! Nice work Tom.

Thanks!

Very cool, I love Bat-variants!

What type of clay did you use for this?

Thanks, InExtremis!

SampleName said:

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What type of clay did you use for this?

I used Chavant NSP medium, which I've used on almost every cowl/mask sculpt I've done. Firm enough to hold detail, soft enough to work with most of the time.

Thanks for the info. If you don't mind me asking another question, how many pounds of clay do you generally use? I'd love to try sculpting sometime down the road.

The amount of clay you'll need will depend on how big your armature is, but I'd say in the 8-12 pound range for most of my cowls. Keep in mind, since it's oil-based, the clay can be reused.

As much as "steampunk" makes me want to punch people in the kidneys, this is very well done. Looking forward to finished product pics. Again, mighty impressive.

Qui-Gonzalez said:

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As much as "steampunk" makes me want to punch people in the kidneys, this is very well done. Looking forward to finished product pics. Again, mighty impressive.

THis is not steampunk since no technology is involved. It´s just a victorian age style reimagination. And yes, steampunk does that to good people, if the execution is bad (like totally insane cogwheel usage that does not make any sense, i.e. purely decorative).

Great work, very curious to see the completion of the costumes.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product! Great work so far!

I'm liking this interpretation! Looking forward to the progress...

thats awesome

Thanks guys!

A Victorian age cowl might be more accurate, but it was referred to as 'steampunk' by somebody when I first saw it, and the name stuck in my head. I believe that John (who commissioned the cowl) is thinking of his costume as a western outfit. His whole family is doing western-themed variations of the Bat-family (I linked to his brother's Joker in the first post).

I'm really looking forward to seeing John's (and his family's) completed costuimes!

Finally finished the Batgirl sculpt today:






I'm hoping to mold this baby in the next week or so. Already molded the Batman sculpt, so I should be able to pour one in a few days.

Both are absolutely beautiful sculpts! I can't wait to see them worn by a live person

Holy cow Batman! This is awesome!

Thanks guys!

First pull of the Batman cowl can be seen here: http://www.therpf.com/f67/steampunk-...5/#post2327468

Damn,That looks absolutely amazing

Thanks!

What material are you going to use for the final cast?

Stunning work. Question: to have the cowls have a "perfect" fit to the wearers head, I assume one ought to have a mold taken of his head, (block in two segments), fill the (united segments), making a unique head sculpt off of which is made the cowl?

I know absolutely nothing about the process (brand newbie) but wanted to see about having a cowl made that would fit appropriately (no loose movement of head in cowl, or overly tight). Since I have a larger head (~7 3/4 to 7 7/8 depending) I was thinking special consideration like what I describe may be necessary for a cowl having a "film grade" look and fit.

Thanks for any comments.

These will be latex, Vinchenzo (answered in the other thread, too).

Samaritan, if you can make the sculpt directly on the lifecast of a person, then the cowls should be a good fit. However, having a lifecast of yourself done can be expensive, so for this cowl I had John send me a bunch of measurements of his head and face. I used those measurements to sculpt an approximation of his head and face onto a purchased armature, then sculpted the cowl onto that. If I did it right, it should fit him well.

I've also sculpted several cowls using my own head as a guide (too claustrophobic to do a lifecast). Most of my cowls were made to fit my 24" head, and I've had good luck with them fitting others. If a guy's head was a little small for the cowl, it's easy enough to add a little padding for a better fit.

This is just how I do it, one of many variations. Definitely more than one way to skin that cat.

Very Cool Work