General Grievous Bust Build

[Elevader]

I haven't posted any builds yet, as I've mostly worked on projects that are well worn territory (various lightsabers and blasters, etc), however I thought this one was a bit different so I thought I'd share.

While I know General Grievous isn't the most popular character around these parts, I personally love his design. While being an OT fanboy, I still like collecting a lot of the beautiful PT props. I came across this 3D PLA printed bust kit on Etsy from Galatic Armory and had to give it a shot. This is the first bust kit I've put together, so it's been a fun learning experience.

I didn't capture the WIP images, as I wasn't sure where I was going with this or how it would turn out. There are still things I'd change, had I known better, but for still being a noob at this, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Notes on the build.

While prepping the pieces with bondo and sanding probably took the biggest chunk of time, painting was a close second. I'm not a painter, so it was some experimentation with figuring out how to get the right mix of stone/plastic/marble look I was going for. Overall, I eventually found a method I was happy with. I can't tell if it's fully coming through in the photos. Some angles on my screen seem to drown out some details.

I also spent a lot of time capturing screen shots to try to figure out the details under his head. One point of contention was his throat. From everything I can tell, it's a fleshy bit of his body. A lot of art or other builds I see have it as a darker color, but I went with a more organic look.

I also had a few breaks and mistakes that took time to fix. Using some bondo resin, I was able to fortify the parts as needed when things snapped or broke.

A few notes on some changes I made to the kit I received.

• Added glass eyes - I knew I wanted to put some glass eyes in this thing, so I found a pair I thought matched up well on Etsy and spent the time removing the area around the eyes. It wasn't really built for this, so it was a challenge to try to clean out the area in a way where I could put the eyes in through the eye openings while also making sure they stayed put. I used some super glue to get them in place then used some milliput to fill in the space around it and blend it with the rest. The rest was paint and an aqua gloss finish.

• Made metal fin greeblies - The metal fin greeblies attached to his mouth were 3D printed, but because they were so small, they seemed to print out pretty stringy. I couldn't quite get them smooth and they were standing out quite a bit, so I went on a journey to rebuild them. I got some blendable aluminum bars and then made a trip to Hobby Lobby, grabbing a bunch of random metal bits in the build-your-own-jewelry isle. I lucked out with some of the pieces lining up perfectly. I then used some milliput to shape the top and bottom parts, which were more specific in their design. Once the milliput pieces were painted, it looks pretty good.

Altered the base - The base that it comes with, has a more traditional statue look. It kept throwing me off when looking at it, so I decided to cut through the stand to take off the lowest part of the base. I then replaced it with a bottom portion of an aluminum paper towel stand and then got an aluminum disc that matched the size of the portion I cut off. It doesn't look amazing, but adds a different feel that I prefer.

That's about it on the basic details. It was a fun project, and I still plan to refine the grill a bit more, but I'm definitely ready to move to something else. Haha.

 

[eethan]

awesome result! your paint up is really well done, thank you for sharing

 

[Elevader]

awesome result! your paint up is really well done, thank you for sharing

Thank you! I’m know it’s nothing too crazy, but since I don’t see too many Grievous projects on here I thought I’d share.

 

[Eruonen]

Brilliant work there! For all the wooden dialogue the production design of the PT hit so many home runs.

 

[Grievous]

Love this!! Excellent work! Agree with Eruonen regarding the PT designs. I’ve always liked his look (and his tragic backstory made him a bit more interesting). Others may know, but his cough was actually done by George Lucas himself.

 

[Eruonen]

Love this!! Excellent work! Agree with Eruonen regarding the PT designs. I’ve always liked his look (and his tragic backstory made him a bit more interesting). Others may know, but his cough was actually done by George Lucas himself.

Haha yeah I remember an interview with Matthew Wood where he said George came in one day with bronchitis or something and that the cough sounded too good to not get recordings of

 

[Elevader]

Brilliant work there! For all the wooden dialogue the production design of the PT hit so many home runs.

Agreed. While was disappointed by the PT, the designs really were beautiful.

Love this!! Excellent work! Agree with Eruonen regarding the PT designs. I’ve always liked his look (and his tragic backstory made him a bit more interesting). Others may know, but his cough was actually done by George Lucas himself.

I didn’t know that. Really good tidbit!

 

[Halliwax]

Amazing attention to detail.. the finish work is wicked

 

[cbutlerc]

This is such a great build! I bought the Galactic Armory bust as well, that I plan on doing at some point.
Thank you so much for the detailed process.

Do you mind elaborating on your paint process. Did you use any particular colors, or just go based off of reference.

 

[Elevader]

I used Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the yellow and mixed it with my acrylic airbrush white for a light yellow and medium yellow. Along with the plain white, those were the three colors used for the main coloring. I first started by painting everything in the medium yellow. It looked like a Battle Droid when that coat was done.

I then started to apply the marbling effect and dirty marks. That included a large sharpie, an acrylic dark brown paint, and some alcohol. I woukd draw marks with the sharpie then thin it and spread it out with alcohol on a qtip. I then did the same with a dab of the brown paint on top of the sharpie area. It just adds a more realistic effect when the two colors are in the same space. I also went around and just did some solely dark areas or brown areas for blemishes. Make sure to clean up the edges as needed so it blends.

I then used the lighter yellow in various spots to break up the main yellow color and blend in the marble areas. It lets you balance out and clean up any harsh areas. Once i had a bit more variety with the two yellows and the marble effects were blended a bit, I dabbed white across the entire thing with a cotton pad, wiping/blending with another paper towel as needed. I then touched up some areas by going back with a fine tipped sharpie to add more detailed lines over the marble areas.

In the end I still think it looks a bit too clean. I plan to go back and add more blemishes and redo the scars. The angle of the ones on the print are a little off so ill fill them in and create new ones.

 

[joberg]

Great bust and fantastic paint jobThanks for the tuto also

 

[cbutlerc]

I used Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the yellow and mixed it with my acrylic airbrush white for a light yellow and medium yellow. Along with the plain white, those were the three colors used for the main coloring. I first started by painting everything in the medium yellow. It looked like a Battle Droid when that coat was done.

I then started to apply the marbling effect and dirty marks. That included a large sharpie, an acrylic dark brown paint, and some alcohol. I woukd draw marks with the sharpie then thin it and spread it out with alcohol on a qtip. I then did the same with a dab of the brown paint on top of the sharpie area. It just adds a more realistic effect when the two colors are in the same space. I also went around and just did some solely dark areas or brown areas for blemishes. Make sure to clean up the edges as needed so it blends.

I then used the lighter yellow in various spots to break up the main yellow color and blend in the marble areas. It lets you balance out and clean up any harsh areas. Once i had a bit more variety with the two yellows and the marble effects were blended a bit, I dabbed white across the entire thing with a cotton pad, wiping/blending with another paper towel as needed. I then touched up some areas by going back with a fine tipped sharpie to add more detailed lines over the marble areas.

In the end I still think it looks a bit too clean. I plan to go back and add more blemishes and redo the scars. The angle of the ones on the print are a little off so ill fill them in and create new ones.

Wow! Such a detailed write up. Thank you so much. The sharpie with alcohol is a great technique, something I will have to try.

Again, fantastic job on the overall finished bust. Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Elevader]

Wow! Such a detailed write up. Thank you so much. The sharpie with alcohol is a great technique, something I will have to try.

Again, fantastic job on the overall finished bust. Thank you for sharing!!

Thank you. Im not an experienced painter, so there was experimentation with trial and error. The frustrating part was sometimes getting an effect I liked but not being able to reproduce it. I eventually figured it out and the details above were the final solutions to reliably create the coloring and effects I wanted every time.

Always fun to do a project where you learn new skills and techniques you can apply to other projects in the future.

 

[cbutlerc]

Thank you. Im not an experienced painter, so there was experimentation with trial and error. The frustrating part was sometimes getting an effect I liked but not being able to reproduce it. I eventually figured it out and the details above were the final solutions to reliably create the coloring and effects I wanted every time.

Always fun to do a project where you learn new skills and techniques you can apply to other projects in the future.

I think we have all been there so many times, do something great then can’t reproduce it.
I started writing down colors and techniques, so at least I have something to base it off of. Hehe

Exactly, we learn from every project we work on. I always remember what some great painters have said to me “It’s only paint, if you don’t like it. Sand it off and redo it.”

 

[squirk]

Sorry to necro - but did you get the eyes from Megan Petersen (her Golden Dragon eyes)? If so, what size (in millimeters) did you get?

 

[dkraude]

Super Super Job!! I love it!!

 

[Snow Builder]

That's a fantastic sculpt, you did yourself proud.

 

[Elevader]

Sorry to necro - but did you get the eyes from Megan Petersen (her Golden Dragon eyes)? If so, what size (in millimeters) did you get?

Sorry that I didn't see this earlier. Yes, these are the Megan Peterson golden dragon eyes. I bought a few, but I believe I settled on the 20mm.

 

[squirk]

Thanks. And now that you are all done, do you stand by the 20mm, or would you go a little bigger if you could do it again? I ordered the 14mm (by just guesstimating), and they were way too small.

 

[Elevader]

Thanks. And now that you are all done, do you stand by the 20mm, or would you go a little bigger if you could do it again? I ordered the 14mm (by just guesstimating), and they were way too small.

Yeah, the 20 are what I preferred so you can get a sense of the shape of the pupil. The bigger ones cut off the tapered part of the pupil so you dont get as much of the “dragon eye” effect.

Its funny, I just pulled it out again to do some additional work and then I saw this thread again.