Rem - Deathnote // Build Thread

[elro]

Hey Guys!
Well, this sculpture sub thread has been made at a good time as Ive just started sculpting!
(along with that, im not entering the comp as I dont want to pressure myself with this build). This outfit is actually for next year, but ive got a lot to do, so earlier than later is the best time to start

(Oh and for those of you watching my HEV suit build, this is on hold until I can find a place to work with chemicals + power tools, Im actually really happy I can use clay in my garage - No travelling to get things done for once!)

Ok here is the character im building (minus the wings as they are normally retracted most of the time) :


So the build thread begins! - Summarised, I made a cloth tape expanding foam mannequin for the base, and im sculpting wed clay over the arms, legs, and torso. The hair will be wig ill have to construct and the face and eye will be a prosthetic and latex makeup.

IMPORTANT (so you dont think im entirely terrible at sculpting) : Im unable to make molds or do casting in my garage, so I have to transport these parts over to my friends house to do all the molds when time comes - But first thing after the move will be the main fixes to the surfaces and finer details will be applied. For now, im just get the main parts down, getting all my proportions right etc.
Basically, if I do the details now, the cling wrap and transport trip will negate any effort put it in so itll have to wait until they are moved

Pictures speak for themselves, hope you enjoy the progress so far :













First time working with wed clay. this stuff is reallllllllll nice to work with!

[Thewomanwarhead]

Wow! Gonna be following the progress of this thread

[elro]

HEY GUYS!!!!!!!!

SO after taking a break from working on Costumes (after finishing the FF weapons, which i still need to update my thread there with the completed pictures), Ive continued working on Rem (HEV suit is still on hold, waiting for payday as im going to layer it in apoxie sculpt, seems to be a good surface layer over body filler and glass) anyways, back on topic..


I got myself a table to work on downstairs in my garage, and some shelves etc. to put stuff in (thank god for a useable work space finally!!!) :P


SO as of now, the arms are currently stored in airtight cling wrap, have done most of the block details and shaping, and will be doing the final touches and details right before molding time. They have been wrapped for a few weeks now, and are staying soft so the wrap job worked :P



And now new progress ! I decided to start on a leg. You can see I have a shoe taped on at the bottom, this ensures my foot will be happily inside the sculpt, and also give more of a foot proportion (The pair of shoes were on special at KMART for $2! ). Ive only done work on the shin as of now, need to do the calf next, then move on to the thigh. I plan to wear the legs with straps extending around my shoulders, with a breast strap across to stop the material straying, and from that ill attach the arm gloves with straps and clips also. Enough talk now , here are the pics !!!

This is the reference im using the for the calves, it has a much more aesthetically pleasing look out of the different interpretation - Also, its closest to the undetailed shots in the anime.











And Wrapped up at the end of the night



Am hoping to continue on this on Saturday, so Ill see how it goes

[gardengnome23]

wow cant wait to see more of this one great work

[elro]

So I did manage to get some time into this project on Saturday. The leg is almost done (For this stage at least, once molding time is closer and I have dried the clay out a bit I will need to clean the surfaces and perform smaller details, its too wet to hold fine detail atm).

So All thats left on this leg is :

1. Adjust all the rear lines so they intersect randomly to give a more tendon effect
2. Add a small 'neck' around the top of the leg (so the part will fit snuggly around the leg once cast)
3. Add some small ridges on the shin.
4. General tidying up of the edges etc.

Not too much work left here as of now, then its onto doing the hard part - Mirroring the work onto the other leg xD

And here are pics! :










YAYYYY this is coming along well, and WELL ahead of its due date (Next year August/September), I suppose the quicker I get this done the more time I'll have for more projects xD

[n0regret5]

this is AWESOME. keep it up!!!

[elro]

I Know, I should have made the armature first - But I was excited to get stuff done.

So, after not being able to find simple methods on the net I decided to slap my own together (the stands are 1 metre high, so this is good for large body parts with foam internals). Sooooooo - You lucky people just got a cheap / non fancy / effective armature tutorial! - Enjoy!!!

[elro]

A minor textual update :

Will be scrapping the front thigh progress when I continue on this tonight / tomorrow, The majority of reference pictures of the character look more like vomit recasted in plaster... (Ugly I know), but Ive chosen a mixture of asthetics of this pictures, along with the smoothness presented in the anime portrayal of the character.

Ive figured my version is currently looking too armorish, and scrapping it will help achieve a much more bone structure inspired look respective to the character design. Ill post new progress pictures tomorrow night

[Johnboyhardy]

Nice build bud! Great to see some talented prop makers close by!

[pRoJectEarth7]

WOW!... Man this is just AMAZING!!!

I will follow this thread with great interest... keep it up!

cheers!

[elro]

Ok, UPDATE :

Have torn up all the current leg work (AHAHAHHAHAHHAH. *EVIL LAUGH*)

Was not satisfied with following the anime / Figurine version of the character. I only managed to get 2 hours work back onto the leg on Saturday, but have blocked in, and started refining the leg shape respective to the movie version *(I figure, the creators made Rem look different in the movie - BECAUSE if she was real, that is how she should look. I would only later regret no making the movie version, so I should just go all out and make the live version instead. Better to stop and restart now than later. No big loss )

Here are some quick shots after the 2 hours (Not currently as 'pretty' as it was, but after some more work tonight (If it isnt too cold) it will look a lot better. Also, have the BluRay of the deathnote movie on the way, so ill have some good quality ref. pics to run with soon


Bugger. Phone is flat... Will upload them once its on charge soon...

[elro]

OK here is the new progress @ 2 hours in. Have to condense the upper 2 parts of the shin (As illustrated in the final pic), and attempt to make it all appear VERY skinny (Quite challenging as the character looks as if they have been stretched more than William Wallace in the final scene of Braveheart xD)

[elro]

OK!!!!!!!

So, I went home yesterday after work. Normally, my afternoon ritual is go to the convienience store up the road, buy some liquid energy cans, have a smoke etc... I more or less pulled up, jumped out the car and marched like a trooper straight into my garage. I had new shoes and pants on (Which I bought the day before) and just started hammering into the sculpt (No shoes or pants were hurt in my motivated state).

Last night was a really satisfying night, I hit the 'zone' state, tuned out for 6 hours straight and got the job well on the way to being done. I think last night is a good show of myself improving at sculpting (Keep in mind, this is my first free form sculpt (Laying plasticine ontop of PEP is very different), So I was able to actually achieve a state of happiness with my work / condensing the height of the character design into human dimensions (which is slight battle of making the piece appearing longer than it actually is, I think ive got the effect down pat now).

Now im just waiting on the BluRay of the death note movie in the mail so I can collect detailed reference pics of behind the shin (Which is only in one scene from a distance >< Ill do my best with it. Too bad I cant get the actual 3d model lol).

OK enough aspergerish blabber, here are the pics :









AND here is a comparison to the anime / figurine version I was originally following... I think we can all agree taking on the challenge of creating the live action version is turning out to be a good choice.


Very excited to keep working on this again tomorrow night!!! (Have a birthday to attend tonight xD)

[elro]

Hey guys!

I've gotten another 3 hours onto this build (Its bloody winter here, and a concrete garage isnt the most pleasant place to be this time of year) - Oh that reminds me of something last night :

There I was, working away on the build and thinking to myself "awww yeah, getting stuff done, being totally badass. Feeling pretty good right now! Having a great night!!!"
-Then, life decides to step in and let me know other people are probably having a better night than I am... well, one of my neighbours were being very loud (If you know what I mean)..." immediately I realised that there are other things that would've made my night better. I felt very cold and lonely in the garage. >< LOL.

Anyways, back to the update :

3 hours work : FInished off boney flesh on left leg, added some bone cracks to see what it looks like (((((((ANYONE HAVE SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO SCULPT BONE CRACKS, AND TIPS ON PAINTING IT????)))), Started on right leg, finished shin flairs. Next is thigh and boney flesh area. and here are pics :





Here is the boney cracks, not entirely convinced by how they look. Have inspected some real life bones but havent managed to reproduce the same sort of look >< I figure a lot of the effect will come out in the painting stage (things like old vein stains present on bones). But yeah, any suggestions tips etc would be greatly appreciated!!!


Side by side view (I just realised i took these at different distances, they are actually more mirror like in RL xD).




And there we go! Hoping to do some more work tonight, if not, definetly tomorrow!!!!!!!!

[elro]

OK, so last weekend I got a head cast done... It was great when it was over. Its the middle of winter here, Had to cast twice - The first lot of plaster bandage never kicked, most likely a bad batch >< I sat in the head cast for 2 1/2 hours in the bloody cold with only a plastic bag around my body in 5-10 degree celcius weather. It sucked.:S

The second time round, the back of the head from the first cast had actually set, so we decided to reapply it and just do the front again. It turned out fine :P

So, ill be able to sculpt the eye, chin, and wig parts directly off the top of my cast :P
and pics :






This weekend, I didnt get any progress made though >< , BUT, My GF is heading interstate this coming weekend, so I shall aim to spend as long as possible in my garage this weekend. REALLY looking forward to working on the chest, am currently half way through mirroring the leg (and we all know that is sometimes a pain in the rear xD )

[Nwerke]

God mate I love seeing first-time sculptors ace it. Nice going!

Re the bones, best thing might just be to look up some real-life reference of bone sutures and come as close as you can? I suck at painting so it'dbe bog-standard washes and drybrushing for me...

[elro]

God mate I love seeing first-time sculptors ace it. Nice going!

Thanks mate! That really means alot coming from you!

Mostly just having a lot of fun sculpting, and keep working the clay until im happy with it xD (Still need to do a refine run over everything, but there is no point at this stage since i keep it wrapped in plastic bin bags, any detail added would be distorted. Basically will finalise surface detail the same day or so as the mold gets done.

Re the bones, best thing might just be to look up some real-life reference of bone sutures and come as close as you can? I suck at painting so it'dbe bog-standard washes and drybrushing for me...

I have been looking at some dog skulls my friend has in his studio (He was given the skull, dont know the name of the dog, so its been nicknamed michael jordan).
I am actually heading out 2 hours west this weekend to my tax accountant (who lives near my parents, so its a win/win trip), so Im thinking of catching up with some farmer friends to see if they have any old bones laying about (Of cows, goats, etc that is. Fairly normal thing to see laying around out there) So ill take some latex and a heat gun along to take some texture stamps :P


OH, and out of interest, the leg on the right in the picture (Technically, the 'left' leg), Ignore the two finger sized holes on the knee and shin. These were simply depth checks to see how far i had to build the other shin out xD

[elro]

OK! Legs are pretty much done *(Apart from the calf area, need to get references from the blu ray of the movie...which is a few seconds in one scene that is kinda blurry ><). The legs are wrapped up, and waiting for the day they will be cleaned up, textured, and molded :P So now onto the chest!!! (been looking forward to the chest, hope I can get the proportions looking right. For those of you who know the character, the headpiece will contain the stapled next part, and the chest part will only be boney masses. I think the seam will hide much better that way.

And pics :

[elro]

OK!

Spent 4 1/2 hours with the chest last night. Started with nothing, ended with the following pics!!!











The previous Images brought to you by Samsung MP3 + V energy :


xD

[Syrus]

This is amazing!! I have to follow this and see it when it is finished...

You were talking earlier about trying to make some bony cracks in the legs and whatnot... I want to preface this by saying that my experience with sculpting is limited to what I did in my high school art class, so take this idea for what it's worth

Anyway, I was thinking, what if you got some sewing thread and let it drop naturally on one of your pieces, repositioned it as necessary, then gently pressed the thread into the clay to leave an impression? Then you could pull it up out of the clay and "sharpen" or widen some of the impressions to look more angular and crack-like? Then when you go to paint it, it'd be really easy to just slop a brown wash into the cracks and dry-brush the edges....

Like I said, limited experience with sculpting, so take that as you will.

I'm excited to see where this goes!

[elro]

Hey Man! thanks heaps!!! Yeah, limited experience here too. This is my first full body sculpt xD

Thats a really good idea i think with the thread!!!. To give it a more 'jagged' look, ill try and fold it up and then drop it down on the surface first. Regardless, there will be pictures of the attempt on the way

This is amazing!! I have to follow this and see it when it is finished...

You were talking earlier about trying to make some bony cracks in the legs and whatnot... I want to preface this by saying that my experience with sculpting is limited to what I did in my high school art class, so take this idea for what it's worth

Anyway, I was thinking, what if you got some sewing thread and let it drop naturally on one of your pieces, repositioned it as necessary, then gently pressed the thread into the clay to leave an impression? Then you could pull it up out of the clay and "sharpen" or widen some of the impressions to look more angular and crack-like? Then when you go to paint it, it'd be really easy to just slop a brown wash into the cracks and dry-brush the edges....

Like I said, limited experience with sculpting, so take that as you will.

I'm excited to see where this goes!

[Darkie]

any updates?

[elro]

Updates! (Sorry, been busy doing OTHER things >< we all know how annoying it is being kept away from our work xD hehehe).
---

Ive started on the back of the torso, and have put most things in place on the back. They still need refining (had only just slapped these on, then received a call from my GF saying I needed to go somewhere xD)

So I started off with the pelvis *NICKNAMED 'THE NAPPY'*, and then moved on to the spine *'THE BAT SIGNALS'*. (Naming parts is totally normal....)


And then, I tuned out into a working frenzy before I woke to having this :


Havent touched this since Sunday due to other commitments *grrrrr*. And will only get a few hours on this sunday (entire weekend is consumed except for sunday morning ><). At least I love doing the work when I have the time to. I seriously don't understand how people can procrastinate on getting stuff done - Its too much fun!!!!!!

Oh, and I bought this badboy last night :P (been looking forward to an airbrush for ages!):

Too bad its going to be a little before getting to use it properly >< heheh.

[elro]

Happy new year to all!!!

I had 2 weeks off (from my normal job), and spent the first week at my parents countryside home - Which I used the time to 'relax' AKA, cleaned out my fathers workshop and organised everything :P (There is nothing to do out there, and I was bored to hell ><)

I spent the last 5 days of my holiday to :

1. Make mold of second leg. (HANG ON, I didnt do that update. I've made one leg mold and casted it since my last update and this update).
2. Finish Torso sculpt, and make mold of it.

Everyone loves pics, so here is a picture of the 2nd Leg mold, and the arm soaking in water that I sculpted about a year ago now (I didnt know how to mold at the time + they were my intro to Wed clay, remaking the arms is the best thing to do )



^ Creepy isnt it :S lolololol.

Ok, from where I had last left the Torso, I still needed to create the shoulder spikes, and add the neck tendons.


^ Basically created a trowel, then added rolled strips of clay. Then pushed their sides down to join them to the surface, and create overlapping effect.

Now, a quick breeze through the rest of the pics until the end of the molding process :


^ If you look at the bottom, I noticed the Movie 3d modellers added a small part of female anatomy into the character. I refer to this part as the anatomical name...

The back! Where most of the western comic fans will find their favorite part : Dont they look like an array of bat signals? xD At least I think so LOL.



^ Sliced the spikes off so the mold wasnt stupidly shaped / impossible seam line.




^ Have cleaned both sides out since that picture.

THIS ONE, I NEED ADVICE ABOUT! :S
I ended up with a large crack in the mold. This is mostly due to the prying stage of the mold. I put it down to using flathead screwdrivers as my pry tools - The problem being the 'small' amount of area the tip and the length of the tool is pushing on the clay. There must be better ways to create pry holes + Methods in the wall stage that will cause less destruction at the pry stage? Ive watched lots of Tuts but havent seen any real tips regarding the pry points???

Some advice would be wonderful !!!



Im simply going to use some 2 part epoxy glue to join this part back on, then reinforce the outside with more plaster and some more burlap.


Well, not far to go now - The arms are relatively simple, and the hands and feet are nice SMALL enjoyable pieces to do compared to the legs and torso :P

I LOVE MAKING THE STUFF!!! SO MUCH FUN

[Strickler]

Looks amazing, planning on having this for supanova this year?