Metalalien
Sr Member
Well damn it looks like you do this for a living! Great job to say the least!
A Pumpkinhead one-off, build thread (pic HEAVY!)
- Thread starter Palantirion
- Start date
Palantirion
Active Member
My new favorite quote:
"Effort requires no talent."
-Maxx Crosby
"Effort requires no talent."
-Maxx Crosby
Metalalien
Sr Member
So I gotta know... do you do this for a living?
Palantirion
Active Member
- Nope. I am an investor and artist (2D painter). Not related. Or, the former pays for freedom in the latter. I've always drawn, went to a tech high school where I studied drafting and graphic art (before computers existed), wanted to pursue aeronautic engineering after high school but my math wasn't good enough at the time, then looked at architecture but similar issue when it came to calculus and architectural engineering. I didn't paint until college, ended up with a useless degree in "Art" and no career counseling. Been mostly self taught, really wished YouTube had existed back then. I made mediocre aircraft models as a kid but didn't really focus intently on sculpting or 3D stuff until about 5 years ago.
That was a side effect of getting into toy and prop collecting. Things evolved into a pretty big collection, and (law of probability) sometimes you get stuff that's broken. So gotta learn to fix it. My key events were: 1) A very rare 1/2 scale Super Sonico resin figure that was destroyed in shipping that I resurrected (still needs final paint), which lead to 2) Fixing this shipping-destroyed 1/6 scale VF-1 cockpit for a friend (Extensive restoration of 1/6 VF-1S cockpit), which led to 3) Fixing my beloved 1/4 scale Aliens Queen's face (The chronicle of my Queen (kit restoration)), which pretty much removed any fears when it came to fixing stuff.
The two minis I painted (My first mini, that isn't a mini, but it's...), bookended with the 1:1 scale AvP queen (A.K.A. the Green Queen) crown project (ADI AvP Queen test casting, repair and modification), gave me a LOT of experience observing how techniques and perception of contrast and shapes change from the very tiny to the very big. This Pumpkinhead project being smack dab in the middle of that range. I used a lot of mini techniques on him, but some airbrushing experience from the Green Queen too. And incorporating dual-OSL into this Pumpkinhead figure seemed a natural extension of what I learned repainting this pencil sharpener: Aliens Queen OSL pencil sharpener repaint (warning VERY pic heavy!).
I am in a fortunate position of (now) being financially independent, so I can be selective when it comes to art. While I've sold paintings in the past it's always been person-to-person. I wasn't interested in developing a signature style for marketing purposes, so gallery's weren't often interested. And, since I was busy with investing I didn't have the time to produce the volume in painting that would equate to monetary success. So I've gone completely the other way with it now. I sometimes conceptualize it as "I'll only do it if it's interesting enough that I'd do it for free", and then give away the end product (or incorporate it into my collection). Art for the sake of art and sharing, as much as possible. Like the VF-1 cockpit above, that took 80 hours, and my sole goal was to give my friend the proper unboxing experience that he was denied by the guy that shipped it to him. That was very fulfilling to me. I've also done a couple paintings for museums, as donations. Like this one for the now-closed Riverside International Automotive Museum , and one for Yanks Air Museum in Chino (don't have a pic uploaded yet).
I'm an big auto (and aviation) enthusiast, and done some auto design contests (won one back in the days before 3D rendering). This is my modernized take on the Studebaker Avanti, trying to keep true to Loewy and Kellogg's original aesthetic principles: I also own an Avanti, was my dad's, which (because it's paint was ruined anyway) I repainted as an art car: Tribute Concept My second, after painting my Z4 M Coupe.
I did my first mural earlier this year, as a 80th bday present for my mom. It was (basically) a 1-day-build, because it was suggested at the last minute by her party planner. It was 97F, and I hate doing murals because I can't move the canvas, and I didn't have have mural or glass paint. So I used what I knew: acrylic. And altered my technique to suit the timeframe, and because it needed to look ok from both inside and outside, and front lit and back lit from each direction too. Turned out ok, some luck was involved.
So my projects range all over the place. Keeps things interesting. Also learning new stuff all the time is a constant uphill struggle and greatly reduces my volume of work.
Anyway, I've rambled long enough. But you asked
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Metalalien
Sr Member
Very impressive! I like your work! My story is super boring.. I used to draw a lot but that is not satisfying to me. So I tried drawing stuff big which I liked better but it still is not enough... so now pretty much all I do is build fullsize stuff. It's the only thing that really scratches that itch.
Palantirion
Active Member
- It's good that we all have different preferences, different ways of expressing ourselves! That way more different stuff gets created, and we end up getting to see more stuff we like.
Speaking of which, this guy does really excellent monster designs! I bought his book and it's as good as you'd expect! And guess what.....he ALSO painted this same Pumpkinhead figure! I just found out when he messaged me in IG. Been chatting, and his approach was similar to mine in terms of intentionally using more color than the OG Pumpkinhead. I think it's really neat that two different artists can arrive at two very different vibes using the same subject and materials.
Metalalien
Sr Member
Both you guys are kicking ass and taking names... setting the bar high for my upcoming paint job!
Palantirion
Active Member
- I hope so! Your sculpt is so cool, can't let up after the hardest part!
Palantirion
Active Member
*UPDATE*
Kyle came through and took some awesome pics of Pumpkinhead! His first time shooting a model-sized thing, so quite an experimental project for both of us in our respective fields. He chose lighting that physically matched the direction and colors of my OSL paint treatment.
Great thanks to @kylelemburg (www.kylejlemburg.com)!!!
This one was with the lighting reversed relative to the OSL colors. Interesting how it grays out, additive (projected) colors neutralizing the subtractive (paint) colors.
This one is exactly how I envisioned the scene when I was painting the figure.
Kyle came through and took some awesome pics of Pumpkinhead! His first time shooting a model-sized thing, so quite an experimental project for both of us in our respective fields. He chose lighting that physically matched the direction and colors of my OSL paint treatment.
Great thanks to @kylelemburg (www.kylejlemburg.com)!!!
This one was with the lighting reversed relative to the OSL colors. Interesting how it grays out, additive (projected) colors neutralizing the subtractive (paint) colors.
This one is exactly how I envisioned the scene when I was painting the figure.
