TMNT Cosplay Build - 90s version

I'd love to get some input on my sculpt and what I need to do to get it to where it needs to be. I like the look so far, but I feel like it could be better.. but I don't want to screw up what I've already done trying to perfect it.
 
Don't worry about screwing up your sculpt. It's clay. The thing is, the more you work with it and the more time you spend sculpting, the better you'll get. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz. I once had a teacher tell me, "get your sculpt about 95% done...and then tear it down and start over"

I think you could take down the brow a little bit. Also, I'd try and work on the symmetry between the sides.
You're doing well, keep it up.
 
Thanks, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'm one of those people who will never finish anything if they aren't told "hey, that's good..."

Because I always find things wrong with it.
 
I'd say the sculpt is a mix of Leo and Donatello, but I would say it leans closer to the side of Donatello

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At least if you look more at the first movie. If you look at all of them it could lean slightly more towards Leonardo.
 
I agree that you can't be afraid to screw something up. If it happens just put some new clay over that section and start again. Basically, you are guaranteed to screw up here and there. It is looking really good so far. I also agree about the brow maybe needing to shrink a bit, but at the same time, don't worry about being slavish to the reference. It's okay for you to put your own spin on it.

I'm not sure with monster clay, but you should be able to smooth it with 99% alcohol. Anybody else know if that's not correct? Also you should be lightly raking the thing. Buy or make a rake tool, and that allows you to even the surface. Even just rubbing it down with water on your finger can really help to smooth things out.
 
Thanks Exanimus. From what I've read, mineral spirits, 99% alcohol or lighter fluid will do it. I have a set of sculpting tools so I have a couple different rake tools. I've already done it some, but I wanted to get the shape where I wanted it before doing too much more on it. I'm going to work on the brow some. I think I'm happy with the mouth as is. I kind of want this to be "inspired by" more so than an exact copy of the one from the movie. But at the same time I want it to be clearly recognizable, and I think I'm already there in terms of that. I want to make a mold, and make a few casts of it possibly.

I'd also like to get it to a point where I could possibly do some minor work to make all 4 at some point.

I'm not sure if this is the same "monster clay" people use now. I bought this several, several years ago. I says "monster makers" clay on the plastic, and comes in pan size bricks. I have to melt it to use it.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
So I removed the eye mask completely from the sculpt. I'm about to completely redo the eyes. I've seen some people sculpt the eye balls, and some use ping pong balls as placeholders. Which was what I originally did, but now that I'm redoing it, that idea is out.

I got bored of sculpting so I started trying to figure out a way to build a low budget shell. I've decided that this build is going to be more of a "my own design" instead of trying to get everything accurate to the movie. I'm more going towards the "feel" the characters had in the first movie, more so than trying to copy them exactly. I decided this because of budget, amongst other factors.

I know everything on the originals were made of foam, but that's just out of my budget. So I'm trying to find alternatives that will look just as good, and function as well or better. I found a tutorial online of how to make a turtle shell out of cardboard/fiberglass/resin. My worry with trying to make a "hard" shell is that it won't be very comfortable, and I won't be able to sit without taking it off.. kind of like wearing a non removable proton pack. I thought about using my cardboard shell as a base to apply EVA foam and make the actual shell itself out of foam, because the shell could stand to be a few inches bigger all the way around.

Thoughts?

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I like the foam shell it looks good and it will move more like they did in the movies if you watch closely you can see the shell flex, mostly in the fight scenes
 
I like the foam shell it looks good and it will move more like they did in the movies if you watch closely you can see the shell flex, mostly in the fight scenes

Yeah, I just wish it was a little more "flat" where the joints are. I was watching the movie and the shells are totally rounded, there's no angularness to the back. I guess I can live with ti though, this being a budget build and all. Hopefully I can make up for it with paint job and detail work.
 
Thanks! It's not perfect, but I think it will be fine once all the details are in, latexed and painted up! For something that is just a bunch of Hexagons glued together this was the hardest thing in the world to make.
 
Okay, I haven't updated this in a while.. so here we go. I've gotten this to where I think I like it. I'm going to finish fixing a few places for symmetry and smooth everything down and get ready to texture! Any suggestions on how to do the texturing?

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Yeah, I just wish it was a little more "flat" where the joints are. I was watching the movie and the shells are totally rounded, there's no angularness to the back. I guess I can live with ti though, this being a budget build and all. Hopefully I can make up for it with paint job and detail work.

Do you have an orbital sander? You could sand back the sharp edges using that and round it out with fine grit.
 
I actually don't, I don't think. I has to do with the fact that the pieces are slightly bigger than they needed to be so they aren't making a full bend at the edges, it's not that big of an issue.
 
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