Lifesize Peter Cushing head - a WIP thread

ob1al

ob1al

Sr Member
For the last couple of months, I've been working on and off on a lifesize Peter Cushing head.

Cushing is a great hero of mine - not least, as Tarkin in SW, but even moreso due to his Hammer and classic British horror / thriller work.

After many hours of labor, mucho failed efforts too, I've arrived at what I consider to be the best representation I can muster, based upon a Cushing facecast I own, with a fibreglass skull inside, much reworked and built up to a full head.

The last great step now is to open the eyes. I am awaiting a set of glass eyes to work around, to this end, so I can shape the sockets to fit exactly.

Here are some progress pics:





My concept is to mold this and cast it up in either resin or silicone...or foam latex perhaps. To be decided.

I want to make a few Hammer character heads (see Wampas marvellous renditions!) and a Tarkin, too.

All feedback at this stage would be appreciated - I'll certainly continue to show progress pics as I move forward with the project.

I really have a passion for this one at the moment and can't wait to get a finished cast painted up and haired!

Regards,

Al
 
Thanks my friend - possibly. Mr Lee is a bit of a sore point at the moment, was supposed to be working with him but seems to have come to nothing.

We'll see...
 
Thank you!

I can't tell you how many screencaps and reference pics, movies and stills I have studied so far to get it to this stage. A part time obsession, if you will. The lifecast I have was the greatest help, of course, and much of that is still evident in the sculpt.

This is the first full size head I have tackled - previously my efforts have been limited to painting/finishing other peoples sculpts, or props like the daggers of meggido, a cross of coronado and some other, less challenging stuff, so it is a big leaning curve for me. But I am really enjoying the process, it's fun. :thumbsup
 
This is something really unique and awesome! I always like the Imperials and the best of the was Tarkin. I'll be watching closely.(y)thumbsup
 
Hi Al,

Looks cool and a great project to boot.

Can you explain how you've gone about this... Looks exactly like one or two good quality lifecasts I've seen. Is it a direct clay impression from one of these that you're retooling? Looks virtually identical to the ones I've seen down to the last wrinkle. ;)

Phil
 
Cyberman said:
Hi Al,

Looks cool and a great project to boot.

Can you explain how you've gone about this... Looks exactly like one or two good quality lifecasts I've seen. Is it a direct clay impression from one of these that you're retooling? Looks virtually identical to the ones I've seen down to the last wrinkle. ;)

Phil
Click to expand...

Hi Phil, that´s exactly what I thought. I also had two lifecasts of Peter Cushing that looked very simular. The same as you can get here:

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=61825
 
Yup, it's a clay impression of a cushing lifecast, reworked. The head and ears have been scratchbuilt with a fibreglass skull I made so the whole head is hollow - ready for the next job of sculpting the eyes! :thumbsup
 
Looking cool.
Maybe I'm being a bit thick here, but how do you get a clay impression from a life mask?
I'm presuming you made a mold from the lifecast and then put clay into that mold. My question is - what sort of clay do you put into the mold to enable you to remove it without getting any distortion / damage?

Cheers,

Chris

ob1al said:
Yup, it's a clay impression of a cushing lifecast, reworked. The head and ears have been scratchbuilt with a fibreglass skull I made so the whole head is hollow - ready for the next job of sculpting the eyes! :thumbsup
Click to expand...
 
I made a quick alginate mold then heated some chavant clay and spooned it in.

The alginate just pulls away easily but it did take me a few attempts to get a face that was usable as a starting point. I had to rebuild the neck and nose, fill a few distortions etc once the face went onto the skull section.
 
You have to be so careful with lifecasts... the weight of the material that was used to originally create the impression from the actors face would have inevitably distorted or flatten out many of the facial features. Look at the way Cushing lips are squashed down out of shape and the soft tisues surrounding the eyes.

You'll need to bear this in mind when modifying your bust ;)

Phil
 
I've always felt that using existing stuff like a life casting to accomplish a likeness was a bit of a cheat and would eventually create more work than by doing it by scratch. Can understand using it as a sanded down template to get the basic shapes right - eye, brow, cheek, nose, chin position - but I wouldn't trust it for the surface details.

But maybe that's just me.

Looking forward to seeing more.
 
I think the facecast I have was from the amicus film, The house that dripped Blood - it's the only Cushing film I can think of where his head would have needed to be copied, although in the film the mouth is opened in a scream. Still an easy enough job for the SFX guys to take care of if they used the same lifecast as a base.

I've opened up the eyes today, resculpted the nose, worked on the ears and done a bit of 'de-aging'.

I'll get some more pics up soon!

Al
 
Thanks guys!

Here's a quick update, where I'm at with the project as of today:



Just a little more work to do on the eyes and back of the head, then I'm going to mold this and get to work on a full, lifesize, painted, haired, glass-eyed Cushing head - Hopefully, Dr. Van Helsing lives again! :)

Regards,

Al
 
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