Poltergeist clown (original)

[laellee]

This project has been a WIP for waaaayyyyy too long, so I'm hoping by sharing progress so far, it will get me motivated to get going on this. you don't see too many out there, and (IMO) the prices when they come up are exorbitant to say the least. So here we go!

Original clown:

I kicked this project off by jumping right into Blender and working up the most definitive part, the head. This kind of project is definitely in my wheelhouse. Ignore the pupils in my model (the original had them painted on), I can use those as stencils for the head.

With a bit of photogrammetry and patience, we got a head! I have 4 prototypes so far, both full heads and halves to just get a literal 'feel' for the look.

Low res proto #1:

...And a 4th gen with a bit higher resolution:

Now optimally, the game plan is to have a head with neck as above, with a twist-lock flange that attaches to an upper torso 'shaper' that also has ring mounts for each arm. My thought is, that setup will allow the doll to be fairly 'rigid' when displayed, perhaps more so not 'slouchy', if that's even a word. The wrists will also have inserts with a wire armature for the fingers. And, although to be honest I am not excited for this idea right now, the flanged twist and release head means I could swap over to creepy clown head:

Not a big fan of that guy, but it's good to have the option I suppose

For the sewing end of things, I have learned and have a greater appreciation for the nuances of particular materials and the care that needs to be taken. It seems most likely that the majority of the fabric is crepe back satin, a bit finicky to work with. I believe I've got the patterning worked out quite well, but I think I will leave the heavy lifting (or teaching) to the best seamstress I know: My mom. She's not a fan of clowns (who is anyways), but she's on board and will at least make sure I do a bang-up job.

Updates will likely be slow on this, but at least if it's on here, you guys can hassle me to get this wrapped up in a reasonable bit of time. Thanks for looking!

 

[cyberpred]

What would be cool if you made the head so it would have the 2 different expressions. One on each side,

Then have a remote that would rotate the head revealing the scary one.

You could have the poltergeist theme playing in the background with the happy face and as soon as the remote button is pushed the scary one shows as well as you hear the manacle laugh and scary music

 

[laellee]

What would be cool if you made the head so it would have the 2 different expressions. One on each side,

Then have a remote that would rotate the head revealing the scary one.

You could have the poltergeist theme playing in the background with the happy face and as soon as the remote button is pushed the scary one shows as well as you hear the manacle laugh and scary music

That is actually an awesome idea. The only reason I am putting armatures into the hands is for the creepy clown choke move

 

[cyberpred]

I think movement and unexpected is the best way to go

C

 

[laellee]

Finally found some time to work on the Clown, starting paint tests on a couple of primed V4 heads this weekend. The V5 head is being run on an SLS machine next week along with the body form, I should have very little cleanup before molding. Time to start ordering some fabrics too!

 

[lmgill]

I worked with the prop master and he told me they made a number of clowns with different, gradually more intense expressions. He said they ended up only using a couple of them.

 

[laellee]

I worked with the prop master and he told me they made a number of clowns with different, gradually more intense expressions. He said they ended up only using a couple of them.

I had heard something about that as well, beyond the first and final scene versions. The photogrammetry on the initial scene(s) in the movie have matched up consistently and surprisingly well; The later scenes (as tension is building) are a bit darker, I'll pull my initial head into a couple of those and see if there's any variation.

 

[laellee]

Hand painted a V4 to see how the new colors look. My painting sucks, but at least the clown is starting to get the right vibe I think. A new batch of hair should be showing up for his head today as well