Paul Newman 3D sculpt as Fast Eddie in The Color of Money

[Bloop]

EDIT 01-16-24: Updated pic of finished version (see more below)

ORIGINAL POST:
New sculpt, still a WIP, but I've made enough progress that I wanted to share it. My plan was to do this as another NECA replacement head (with a tiny Balabushka cue as an accessory!). Not sure how long it'll take to finish, but here's where I'm at now:

I'm still re-working my Harrison Ford Deckard model, trying to fix some issues is taking longer than I thought, but it's coming along. I'd like to re-do it as Indiana Jones too. I'm hoping to make these available for sale at some point.

 

[joberg]

Looking good...the chin should be rounded and not "pointy" as showed.

 

[drusselmeyer]

You should do the earlier Hustler version.

 

[Bloop]

Worked on this a little more. Still working at a lower poly count, but I'll increase it when I need to work on sharpening up the details.

 

[joberg]

The chin is better now (lower part). Still a little filling between chin and lower lip will make it perfect

 

[Bloop]

Update: Included "full" renders rather than just viewport renders.

Still working at the same poly count, but I've been adding more detail. I changed out the eyes for new ones - it won't really matter for 3D printing, but they look better in full renders and help me work on getting the eye shape right. I've been recently working from reference pics that line up with the first renders above, so the last pic shows how I still need to work from pics featuring that side of the face (eyes seem a bit off from that angle, and his left ear is probably too squished in toward the head, lower lip & area below it still needs to be a bit fuller & blend together, for a few things).
I also edited a temporary pair of glasses from my Chief Brody sculpt - they're obviously not symmetrical or looking great, but I wanted something to have as a placeholder.
Edit: added color edited/filtered pic

 

[joberg]

You've nailed it

 

[Bloop]

Thanks, joberg! I knew I still needed to make a lot more changes, though. Here's the newest version - please ignore the overly-reflective eyes, I tried to tone them down, but I'm not too adept at the "materials" options in Blender:

Even though I had gotten the sculpt looking pretty good from certain angles, looking at it from the sides showed otherwise. I hadn't really started working on the side angles in the previous version, and it shows. Here's side-by-side pics of the previous version versus the current one:

It's pretty (very) easy to see just how far off things were since I was mostly working from the front angle. That's the biggest problem I have with 3D sculpting - I can get things looking good from one angle, and sometimes will keep working on it in just that one angle until it looks right, but rotating the model shows the problems I can have with trying to visualize 3D shapes in a 2D setting. As a child, I learned I was good at drawing, especially from photos, but I also could work from "life," and was able to convert the 3D world into a 2D drawing. Going the other way, 2D to 3D, is obviously more challenging.

 

[Bloop]

Started work on some new glasses. Newman wears 2 different styles in the movie, these are seen earlier in the film, and he wears an aviator style later on. Both are likely Newman's own (no pun intended) as he's been photographed wearing these, or at least very similar models, in his personal life. The manufacturer is likely "Revue," though I can't confirm for sure.
I'll probably try to make both pairs so I can swap them out on the 3D printed version - I decided to model these first because they seemed a bit easier to make since they're a bit chunkier than the metallic aviators.

I made a few minor changes to the face as well, though it's especially hard to see with the glasses on. Might need to elongate the chin a little, maybe narrow the face a touch too.

 

[Bloop]

Update: I think I might be done. I still need to get it ready for printing as a NECA head, which includes adding (or subtracting, really) the socket for the neck joint and simplifying the glasses so they print at the smaller scale - even though I made the frames more detailed and accurate to the real glasses scale, I kept the old version, so it shouldn't require too much work. Plus, I want to make another pair of glasses (the ones he wears more often in the movie). I also want to make this into a bust, but I'll finish the NECA print edits first.

Lots of edits, but some of the more noticeable changes from the previous version include lengthening the chin a bit and smoothing some of the wrinkles and creases. I increased the poly count in a lot of areas by using Dynamic Topology in Blender so I could increase the detail level. I liked the wrinkles, but they were a little too severe compared to Newman's face at the time of the movie. I also worked a lot on the shape and detailing of the hair as well as the overall head shape. I spent time on the nose as well, and the ears got some upgrades too.

 

[joberg]

Really great work

 

[Bloop]

Thanks! I did another quick color edit on my phone - in adition to darkening the mustache and eyebrows, I lightened the irises to look more like Newman's light blue eyes (in black and white, of course). I like doing these little edits not only because they give a more finished look, but they can help identify issues and lead to improving the likeness. I should probably start learning more texture work in Blender rather than simply editing the renders, but it's easier for me to just edit the pics with these small color changes.

 

[joberg]

That's it: DON'T TOUCH IT ANYMORE

 

[Bloop]

That's it: DON'T TOUCH IT ANYMORE

Thank you! Well, I did make a few changes, but hopefully nothing that made it worse (I always backup frequently anyway).
I made some small adjustments to the lighting and rendering settings, which also helped me get the eyes to look more like Newman's. I adjusted the texture a little to lighten the irises, but it was mostly done in the materials settings in Blender. It doesn't make any difference as far as 3D printing goes, but it's nice to see the eyes look right when I'm modeling it in Blender. I also made the eye models a tiny bit smaller, and realized I had the eyes placed off-center, so now they're in the right location within the head. I had to adjust their position a little too. Minor tweaks were made to the head - I decreased the neck size, which may give the illusion that I made bigger adjustments. I widened the tip of the nose and enhanced the cleft and asymmetry.
The biggest change is the eyebrows - I always intended to add more detail, but I wanted to wait until I got everything else looking good first. They were also a little too asymmetrical in my previous versions, so I got tried to get things looking better on that front as well. The hair detail matches the mustache better now, too.

The thing I worked on mostly is the new pair of Aviator sunglasses. I had to guess a bit on some of the details (the hinges especially), as I couldn't find clear enough reference pics, but I tried to get them as close as I could. I "recycled" the nosepads from my Chief Brody model.

I also fixed up the other sunglasses - I found a pic that showed the hinge better - more of a barrel shape than what I had before.

And another quick color edit - I don't know how to make a gradient sunglasses lens in Blender, so I edited it in photoshop.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Knightmare]

Thank you! Well, I did make a few changes, but hopefully nothing that made it worse (I always backup frequently anyway).
I made some small adjustments to the lighting and rendering settings, which also helped me get the eyes to look more like Newman's. I adjusted the texture a little to lighten the irises, but it was mostly done in the materials settings in Blender. It doesn't make any difference as far as 3D printing goes, but it's nice to see the eyes look right when I'm modeling it in Blender. I also made the eye models a tiny bit smaller, and realized I had the eyes placed off-center, so now they're in the right location within the head. I had to adjust their position a little too. Minor tweaks were made to the head - I decreased the neck size, which may give the illusion that I made bigger adjustments. I widened the tip of the nose and enhanced the cleft and asymmetry.
The biggest change is the eyebrows - I always intended to add more detail, but I wanted to wait until I got everything else looking good first. They were also a little too asymmetrical in my previous versions, so I got tried to get things looking better on that front as well. The hair detail matches the mustache better now, too.

View attachment 1769697View attachment 1769698


The thing I worked on mostly is the new pair of Aviator sunglasses. I had to guess a bit on some of the details (the hinges especially), as I couldn't find clear enough reference pics, but I tried to get them as close as I could. I "recycled" the nosepads from my Chief Brody model.

I also fixed up the other sunglasses - I found a pic that showed the hinge better - more of a barrel shape than what I had before.

View attachment 1769705 View attachment 1769706
View attachment 1769707
View attachment 1769699View attachment 1769700View attachment 1769701View attachment 1769702

And another quick color edit - I don't know how to make a gradient sunglasses lens in Blender, so I edited it in photoshop.

View attachment 1769718

Thanks for looking!

Wow that’s awesome

 

[Bloop]

Thanks Knightmare!

Another color edit + film grain. I'm trying to make sure this latest version is better than the last. I do think it's more accurate, but I keep wondering about the eyes, if they're placed right (on this one and previous ones). It doesn't take much to make them look wonky - even a fraction off can lead to the "uncanny valley."

 

[Bloop]

Update: TEST PRINT

I got the head edited for printing at NECA scale so I did a quick test print in in PLA on my FDM printer and ended up throwing some paint on it to get a better look at it (shiny gold filament isn't great for seeing details or for taking pics).

I only used the FDM printer to test it to make sure the scale was right and the head fit on the NECA ball joint. I plan on printing in in resin once I get the glasses finished - I have to edit/simplify them so they will print at the NECA scale.

I stuck it onto the ol' Bob Ross NECA figure and everything seems okay as far as scale and fit. You can see all the layer lines with the FDM print, but it gives you an idea of what it'll look like when finished. I didn't bother sanding or filling since I'll being printing it in resin later, which will have much better detail. The paint was also done quickly, just figured I'd give you all a basic idea.

 

[drusselmeyer]

8k resin printers are affordable now.

 

[joberg]

Looking good and eager to see it in resin and painted

 

[animator]

AMAZING!