Mass Effect - Asari headpiece WIP

[bonsai]

Hello everyone,
this is my first entry here!
I'd like to share with you my progress of my asari headpiece.
I already did one for my girlfriend's Liara cosplay, two years ago, but I didn't use a head cast and even if it was wearable, It wasn't her as I wished... I believe the cheap mannequin head I used was too small.



As you can see, It was casted in latex and then airbrushed using a mesh to give it some texture.
However, my greatest regret was that it had no scales... Over time I was became unhappy with this. I love to sculpt and even if I'm self taught I though that I could do something much better... With sculpted scales!

So, I did the head cast, this time. I did it in alginate and plaster bandages and it turned out pretty well.

Here you can see the sculpture before the texture work.



I'm now wotking on the texture. For those who are unfamiliar with Mass Effect, Here are some references:

I LOVE this kind of texture - not too reptile. I'd love to achieve something like this. Not this tiny though, cause I think It wouldn't show at all in photos, when cosplaying.

This is a first test. I'm not totally happy with it. I will probably try to figure out some other methods.. these are a bit too messy, maybe?



Thank you for watching!

 

[JonKross]

I'm starting to think I should try out these games, they seem to be a fav with everyone.
I like the texture you did, and I feel like a real life version of her would have that. The texture would be raised bumps, But since the game isn't to that quality they look flat in the game.
i feel like once you start adding smaller bumps closer to the face and the front of the neck it will start coming along to what you want? I'm just ranting…lol

 

[The Terminator]

This is a first test. I'm not totally happy with it. I will probably try to figure out some other methods.. these are a bit too messy, maybe?

View attachment 311338

Thank you for watching!

Nicely done so far. Perhaps you could try and make it a bit more subtle.

Liara! :love most appealing alien ever.

I'm starting to think I should try out these games, they seem to be a fav with everyone.

Just stay away from the third game. First one is amazing/incredible, I have played through it ELEVEN times also all of the DLC the released. ME2 was half as good, only played through it three times and Mass Effect 3 :facepalm played through it... and I'll never touch it again. But it is definitely a favorite series. Awesome characters, actors, music.... Femshep rules

 

[mxk]

It may take a while, but maybe you should try actually cutting in the scales with a fine needle.

 

[bonsai]

Thank you guys!

It may take a while, but maybe you should try actually cutting in the scales with a fine needle.

Yep, I've tried that, it's a tedious process but after smoothing out a lot it came out pretty cool... don't know if I prefer that, cause actually it seems a bit too much reptile or dinosaur skin.. I suppose that blending those scales to the skin would be a little more difficult..

 

[The Terminator]

Thank you guys!



Yep, I've tried that, it's a tedious process but after smoothing out a lot it came out pretty cool... don't know if I prefer that, cause actually it seems a bit too much reptile or dinosaur skin.. I suppose that blending those scales to the skin would be a little more difficult..

Check out this brilliant video
Sculpting Prosthetics: Skin Textures - YouTube

It has some great tips and techniques

SCALES!:

 

[bonsai]

Check out this brilliant video
Sculpting Prosthetics: Skin Textures - YouTube

It has some great tips and techniques

SCALES!:
Sculpting Prosthetics: Reptile Skin - YouTube

Thank you for the tip!
I''ve already watched that, I found it helpful even if I've tried his methods and I felt like they don't suit for this sculpture... They gave me some impressive scales, but it didn't feel quite right on it.
So after trying with texture stamps and several kind of scales, I pretty much returned to the original one - with more texture on it. It's not finished yet, but It feels acceptable to me.

What do you think?

 

[The Terminator]

Looks better
Perhaps make the edges of the "tentacles" sharper, like here:


Even if the sculpt isn't perfect, painting it will add a whole new dimension of greatness

 

[Emmabellish]

Just found this; WOW! Beautiful sculpt so far!

I ran in to the same problem with texture when I was making my head sculpt! It took me forever to figure something out; I eventually ended up making my own texture stamps. But yours look a lot better than mine did :lol I was (am?) very inexperienced with sculpting at the time, and the styrofoam texture stamp I used was the best I could manage.

 

[bonsai]

Just found this; WOW! Beautiful sculpt so far!

I ran in to the same problem with texture when I was making my head sculpt! It took me forever to figure something out; I eventually ended up making my own texture stamps. But yours look a lot better than mine did :lol I was (am?) very inexperienced with sculpting at the time, and the styrofoam texture stamp I used was the best I could manage.

Thank you! I must say that I LOVE your costume... And if I'm someway more experienced in sculpting... I'm absolutely inexperienced in sewing. Thank God I have some friend who actually can sew very well and I hope the will give me some hints.. I really hope I'll make a cosplay half stunning as your is
I tried with stamps too... But I hated them, they never gave me the right "feeling"

By the way... That's the finished sculpt. I tried a lot of different scales and textures and eventually I came back to something similar to my first try.
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Let me know what you guys think!