CSMacLaren
Sr Member
After six months of painstaking study and trial and error in studying the shape of Darth Vader's helmet in "Star Wars: Rebels", I'm finally at a point in my progress to show you the results of my studies.
When I was first asked to take on this design over on 501stSithLords.com, I initially regarded this as a simple project, given how toy like it was, and looked down upon it initially as oversimplified. However, the more I studied it, I found that my initial impressions were wrong. While there are very obvious features such as the cheeks, nose, etc. that might in themselves be easily duplicated, the subtleties, shape, flow, interrelationships, proportions, etc. were entirely another matter. This was no walk-in-the-park to reproduce a believable likeness beyond just a passing or generic semblance. Moreover, my work nowadays focuses on having the presence and emotion of the character emerge, whether my sculpt is oil based clay, epoxy clay, or - in this case - a digital medium; the artistic disciplines still applies.
Once again, I will be working with prop maker Bookface, the maker of my Quasimodo V2 helmets. We've shared some observations on how to realistically bring out the look of the character's on-screen appearance - just like we did with Quasimodo V2 ANH, ESB and the soon-to-come ROTJ. Shooting it all black would not do this justice. There are tonalities and surface reflections and refractions we're going to explore.
On top of this, I will be making armor to go with this. With Quasimodo, I have Structurally Matching Armor so that someone displaying or costuming in an OT situation can realistically recreate the side profile and posture of Prowse in costume - and with that upper body calibrated correctly, assuming you have good height and build, portraying Vader's emotion and body language would be a lot more effective. The TV Show's armor is a different shape, and the chest is not as deep as that of Dave Prowse, but I have yet to cross that bridge.
Here is a progress shot for you to enjoy. Now that I've captured his proportions and emotion, I am going to address some of the missing details and discrepancies and bits and bobs. It's coming very close and soon I'll have to figure out how to actually make this thing.
Once again, this will be handed off to bookface, as I prefer to remain just an artist. I'm not part of the transaction flow. Enjoy for now, and let me know if I did okay. :thumbsup
When I was first asked to take on this design over on 501stSithLords.com, I initially regarded this as a simple project, given how toy like it was, and looked down upon it initially as oversimplified. However, the more I studied it, I found that my initial impressions were wrong. While there are very obvious features such as the cheeks, nose, etc. that might in themselves be easily duplicated, the subtleties, shape, flow, interrelationships, proportions, etc. were entirely another matter. This was no walk-in-the-park to reproduce a believable likeness beyond just a passing or generic semblance. Moreover, my work nowadays focuses on having the presence and emotion of the character emerge, whether my sculpt is oil based clay, epoxy clay, or - in this case - a digital medium; the artistic disciplines still applies.
Once again, I will be working with prop maker Bookface, the maker of my Quasimodo V2 helmets. We've shared some observations on how to realistically bring out the look of the character's on-screen appearance - just like we did with Quasimodo V2 ANH, ESB and the soon-to-come ROTJ. Shooting it all black would not do this justice. There are tonalities and surface reflections and refractions we're going to explore.
On top of this, I will be making armor to go with this. With Quasimodo, I have Structurally Matching Armor so that someone displaying or costuming in an OT situation can realistically recreate the side profile and posture of Prowse in costume - and with that upper body calibrated correctly, assuming you have good height and build, portraying Vader's emotion and body language would be a lot more effective. The TV Show's armor is a different shape, and the chest is not as deep as that of Dave Prowse, but I have yet to cross that bridge.
Here is a progress shot for you to enjoy. Now that I've captured his proportions and emotion, I am going to address some of the missing details and discrepancies and bits and bobs. It's coming very close and soon I'll have to figure out how to actually make this thing.
Once again, this will be handed off to bookface, as I prefer to remain just an artist. I'm not part of the transaction flow. Enjoy for now, and let me know if I did okay. :thumbsup
