Jordu Schell realistic Spock bust

[SirRamenNoodle]

Lol... Its the old Zachary Quinto version spock! If anything could make this piece any better than it is I think lighter skin tones would do the trick.

Again, this is great work

 

[cjh5801]

The sculpt looks pretty damn amazing to me.

 

[Bilbo Baggins]

The level of realism is chilling. Bravo!

 

[spockboy]

Dear Jordu,
First of all, your quality of work is absolutely outstanding. The realism and detail are total perfection. You are obviously a remarkably skilled individual. I joined this wonderful site in the hopes of receiving motivation, encouragement, and constructive criticism. In the spirit of that desire, I would like to share my thoughts with you, if that's okay. In my opinion, there are a few minor details in Nimoy's face that require tweaking in order for you to achieve absolute perfection. I have attached pictures to better demonstrate what I am saying including a photoshopped version of your remarkable sculpture with the following changes. Here, in my humble opinion, are the issues to be tackled.
NOSE-His nasal labial folds are not that pronounced, the end of his nose isn't bulbous, and the bridge of his nose is narrow and slightly hooked. Also, his lower eyelid furrow is quite pronounced.
EARS- Because Nimoy's ears were glued down, they dent in slightly in the mid section.
MOUTH-His top lip is sharper and more pronounced and his philtrum (lip scoop)isn't so pronounced. His lower lip isn't as wide and is slightly more pronounced, and without such heavy down turned lines at the sides.
HAIR- His sideburns are more groomed and sharp. His eyebrows are also more groomed.
JAW- Nimoy's jaw is much narrower at the bottom.
NECK-His neck is thicker where it is joined at the jaw.


I hope you don't mind me sharing my opinion with you Jordu. Once again, you are amazingly talented which in my opinion, more than warranted the time and effort it took to share my thoughts with you.
I look forward to seeing more fantastic work from you in the future!
Take care
Paul

 

[Alaneye]

If you don't mind me saying, the photo shop doesn't look any better than the original to me, but IMO there is no point in these kinds of discussions, Jordu has completed the project and it is what it is. But looking at images of Nimoy and knowing how close Jordu got with Grand Moff, it has made me wonder what his intentions were in sculpting this piece... to me there is so much of Zachary Quinto in there that I wonder if he wanted to create an amalgamation of the two, or purely a Nimoy Spock.

 

[darthwhitey]

GO Jordu!

Another amazing bust. He's at the top of his game. These things are SO hard to get right, because our eye is so used to seeing these guys hundreds of times. His attention to detail and finish work is in the top 2-3 bust makers working.

I think it's pretty easy to find problems with any bust, but I'm not sure how it helps to offer photoshopped changes to a bust like this? Is Jordu going to redo the sculpt? Are you in some way helping one of the greatest sculptors and movie maquette guys get better? I don't know, it's not like this was a post that said "Hey, it's Jordu...help me fix my Spock sculpt."

Great job and thanks to the original poster for posting these pics!

 

[mistymills]

I can never ever ever get skin texture and tone right so I am so amazed by this that it hurts.

 

[zuexeus]

GO Jordu!

Another amazing bust. He's at the top of his game. These things are SO hard to get right, because our eye is so used to seeing these guys hundreds of times. His attention to detail and finish work is in the top 2-3 bust makers working.

I think it's pretty easy to find problems with any bust, but I'm not sure how it helps to offer photoshopped changes to a bust like this?"

One thing about hyper-realistic sculpts like this is while they are incredibly detailed, if the basic form is slightly off it affects the likeness. The initial amazement about the details of skin texture, hair and paint distract from subtle variances in the form. You see this quite a bit in celebrity wax museums.

One thing I've noticed about sculpts is though the monochromatic clay sculpt might look right, When it gets transferred to a different medium like translucent silicon or skin tone latex, subtle errors start to pop out that weren't noticed before.

Being that Jordu didn't even post this may be why there is some critique going on. Constructive critique is healthy... it makes better art. There's no maliciousness or personal jabs going on here. I think the Photoshopping is more for us trying to figure out the subtleties of what is off about it, not a request for Jordu to fix anything. I don't doubt that this is hard to get right, even for a pro, but being that he is in the top 2-3 pros out there, and that Spock is such an iconic character, there is going to be some critiquing if it's not spot on.

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

Being that Jordu didn't even post this may be why there is some critique going on. Constructive critique is healthy... it makes better art. There's no maliciousness or personal jabs going on here. I think the Photoshopping is more for us trying to figure out the subtleties of what is off about it, not a request for Jordu to fix anything. I don't doubt that this is hard to get right, even for a pro, but being that he is in the top 2-3 pros out there, and that Spock is such an iconic character, there is going to be some critiquing if it's not spot on.

Agreed

This piece is amazing. I would love to own both a Spock and Kirk bust from TOS.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Being that Jordu didn't even post this may be why there is some critique going on. Constructive critique is healthy... it makes better art. There's no maliciousness or personal jabs going on here. I think the Photoshopping is more for us trying to figure out the subtleties of what is off about it, not a request for Jordu to fix anything. I don't doubt that this is hard to get right, even for a pro, but being that he is in the top 2-3 pros out there, and that Spock is such an iconic character, there is going to be some critiquing if it's not spot on.

Well said. I don't think anyone here is, or was, trying to say Mr. Schell isn't an incredibly talented sculptor; that would be foolish. But if it's not right, it's not right, simple as that, and those of us who altered the photos of his Spock bust merely used Photoshop as a tool to better illustrate what we felt were minor inaccuracies in the sculpt.

 

[Robot]

I guess I'll never post another pic of my own crap after this!

 

[krell101]

I am looking for a Spock bust or Picard please PM here if you have one for sale

Thank you

 

[zuexeus]

i think jordu wanted $25,000 bucks for it. seriously.

 

[Mr Mold Maker]

i think jordu wanted $25,000 bucks for it. seriously.

I had heard from multiple people that his Tarkin was 10,000. I doubt he'd bump the price up on Spock another 15,000.
His work is incredible, and I don't mean to take away from it at all.... but 25,000 is totally unrealistic to me. That's more than I paid for my first motorcycle.

 

[zuexeus]

I had heard from multiple people that his Tarkin was 10,000. I doubt he'd bump the price up on Spock another 15,000.
His work is incredible, and I don't mean to take away from it at all.... but 25,000 is totally unrealistic to me. That's more than I paid for my first motorcycle.

Yea, I read something similar about the Tarken bust, but I think it was something in the neighborhood of 20K. Might have been $15-20 for the Spock. At any rate, it was a buttload of cash. Maybe Jordu wants a shiny new Motorcycle too...

 

[Joxman]

I think it is important to discuss subtle differences so that we can see more clearly and learn what to look for if our sculpts are "off". When doing a well known character it is important to not be spot on in the minutia. The likeness of a character is a very slight exaggeration of features to capture the essence. It's almost subconscious. I personally go for exact as possible duplications and often times it seems off. I think the reason is that when we remember a character we remember the motion. When ever I see a likeness of Spock I imagine the right eyebrow moving up slightly. It's a lot easier to spot differences in 2D images because it can be quantified, but I bet if we were to see it in real life those differences would be almost impossible to quantify and we would only see Spock. As sculptors we need to view our work from many angles and mediums, in mirrors, upside down etc. Stepping away to give ourselves fresh eyes is important too.

I'm always humbled by Jordu's talent.

Just my thoughts

 

[Zombie_61]

...It's a lot easier to spot differences in 2D images because it can be quantified, but I bet if we were to see it in real life those differences would be almost impossible to quantify and we would only see Spock...

I agree with what you're saying, but I did see this sculpt in person and my first thought was that the ears stuck out a little too much. To be clear, my comments in this thread were/are only intended to point out minor inaccuracies that I perceived in this particular piece and were not intended to denigrate Mr. Schell's work. I admire his talent, and if by some miracle this bust were to somehow be in my possession I would display it proudly. And, to be honest, if it were almost any other character or person I probably wouldn't have noticed. But Spock has always been my favorite Trek character, so I tend to be more critical (overly critical, perhaps) when it comes to the character's likeness.

 

[Joxman]

I never felt like you were denigrating Mr. Shell's work and Spock is my favorite TOS character too. I think it is important to notice minor differences no matter the artist. Noticing differences is an important skill that only gets better when we practice. I guess what I was saying is initially we see the similarities then we see the differences and sometimes we can't always quantify it when we see a 3D object. If it is our own work getting outside input is important. I love the discussing minor differences in order to move towards excellence. I don't think it's possible to be over critical of a piece as it is practicing a skill that is important to the sculptor who tries to duplicate with as much accuracy as possible. Criticizing the piece is not equal to criticizing the sculptor.

 

[darthwhitey]

I spoke to Jordu after his Tarkin bust came out a couple years ago. He said he could duplicate that bust for $10k.

He he also offered to sculpt any new character for the same price. So I think the $20-25k price might be a little high.

Im not trying to speak for him, just passing on the info

 

[Robot]

I commissioned Jordu to do a project for me recently and will have him do more in the near future, because you get a top quality piece of art. $10k is about the going rate, and it's a lot of money but he has other Hollywood SPX people that work on these projects with him. Factor all the actual costs in and it's not unreasonable. You have to know that someone else does the eyes, hair punching, hair styling, molding, silicone, and silicone seaming. Jordu sculpts and paints it himself. He's easy to work with and highly recommended.
Here is what he did for me.

I saw the Spock bust in his studio and it looks even better in person, but his Grand Moff is as good as it gets!