Custom figures and dioramas

Dearth

Dearth

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Oh wow!

I don't have time to scan them and get them posted at the moment, but I had a blast from the past when I got home from work... my wife was unpacking some holiday decorations and found a pack of pictures that I hadn't seen since we moved into this house about five years ago.

Among the photos were some in-progress photos of my first two custom Muppet action figures: "Kerzie the Bog" (aka Kermit and Fozzie's Dad) and my namesake, Dearth Nadir!

These were taken with a non-digital camera, so the focus isn't as good as what I can do now, but as a record of the stages they underwent, these are irreplaceable. Very cool. I can't wait to convert them to digital files and share them with everyone here.

Hopefully a little later in the week! Happy holidays!

DN
 
Fluffets

Fluffets

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Dearth said:
Oh wow!

I don't have time to scan them and get them posted at the moment, but I had a blast from the past when I got home from work... my wife was unpacking some holiday decorations and found a pack of pictures that I hadn't seen since we moved into this house about five years ago.

Among the photos were some in-progress photos of my first two custom Muppet action figures: "Kerzie the Bog" (aka Kermit and Fozzie's Dad) and my namesake, Dearth Nadir!

These were taken with a non-digital camera, so the focus isn't as good as what I can do now, but as a record of the stages they underwent, these are irreplaceable. Very cool. I can't wait to convert them to digital files and share them with everyone here.

Hopefully a little later in the week! Happy holidays!

DN
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Happy Holidays to you too, wish you all the best and can't wait to see the pictures when they're done, I'm sure a lot of other people here can't wait for them either.:big_grin:
 
Dearth

Dearth

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Okay, here we go! I scanned all the old photos, and also took some additional pics to illustrate some of the stages.

First, an archival pic of the Dearth and 'Kerzie' figures, with production Gonzo and Fozzie for comparison:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132910&imagewidth=666&imageheight=374

The pinkish areas are unpainted Super Sculpey. You can see that on Dearth's body, I covered the furry Gonzo arms with smooth sleeves. I also cut off the bumps on the chest and smoothed that over, then added the trademark "egg slicer" chestbox.

To make the helmet, I cut off Gonzo's head and began modifying a Darth Vader PEZ dispenser to become Dearth Nadir's helmet. I removed the nose from the Gonzo head, shaved it down to flat sides and hard edges, and later reattached it to the Dearth face. Here's a pic of that same Gonzo head, which I found in my parts fodder bin all these years later:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133135&imagewidth=624&imageheight=377

More on the creation of the helmet in a moment, but first, here's a pic of the figure when it was spray-painted with primer grey:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132911&imagewidth=395&imageheight=261

I wanted to keep the Gonzo hands, so I masked them off, and sprayed the helmet and body separately. Notice that the shoes were removed before painting (breaking one post off in the process, regrettably). The shoes were hand-colored with a Sharpie magic marker, keeping some of the details original while making other areas black.

Then I sprayed the body matte black and the head gloss, although in this pic the wet matte looks kinda glossy as well:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132912&imagewidth=419&imageheight=260

The cape was made of black fabric with a piece of elastic hotglued into place. (I first *tried* to dye the existing Gonzo cape black, but the dye slid right off of the metallic threads.)

Okay, back to the helmet. It was hard to see what all had been changed on the Vader PEZ dispenser, so I took these pics last night:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133272&imagewidth=696&imageheight=367

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133271&imagewidth=741&imageheight=386

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133270&imagewidth=737&imageheight=358

As you can see, I greatly elongated the flare in the back (the PEZ hinge was only part of the problem) and also brought the forward edges into a curve. The cheekbones and mouth-grill were modified, the eyelids were added. And the nose was glued back on.

After it was spray-painted gloss black, I hand-painted the facial areas with an acrylic matte black.

Now, on to Kerzie...

More to come!

DN
 
Dearth

Dearth

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If you look at the pic of the unpainted Kerzie, you can see a 'bib' of fur on the front of the chest.

That's because when you remove the bow of a production Fozzie's tie, you get a big rectangular hole in the sternum:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagepopup.php?imagename=http:%2F%2Fthreads.rebelscum.com%2Fphotogallery%2Fwatermark.php?file=133133&imagewidth=357&imageheight=471

In hindsight, I should have used the bare chest of a Vacation Fozzie with the regular Fozzie's limbs, like this more recent 'Fozzie the Bare' custom that I did:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133134&imagewidth=395&imageheight=475

But, quite simply, this possibility just didn't occur to me five years ago. And, in all honesty, I don't like the way the regular Fozzie shoulders fit in the Vacation Fozzie torso.

My solution back then was to make a push mold of the fur on Fozzie's back and then place a positive cast onto Fozzie's gaping chest wound, smoothing down the edges and feathering it into the existing fur.

I added the Kermit-style frill with Super Sculpey and also Sculpey'ed over the eyes so they would be fully smooth, instead of having the raised eyelids.

Here's another archival pic of Kerzie after he was given a coat of equipment grey primer:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132913&imagewidth=358&imageheight=296

You can still sort of see the 'patch' of fur (no pun intended) in that pic.

I gave him a base coat of green acrylic:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132920&imagewidth=327&imageheight=363

And then I did a dry-brushed lighter green over that, to really accentuate the sculpt of the fur. The frill was painted with a more yellowish version of the green, and the facial details were likewise added by hand.

So, as a reward for you guys putting up with the blurry old pics, here the two customs are, five years later, in a brand-new focused digital pic:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=132921&imagewidth=626&imageheight=571


The only modifications in the interim were the addition of the 'crypto-anagon transmitter' accessory to Dearth a couple of months back, and I added a glossier sealant to Kerzie's eyes, which seemed a bit dull.

DN
 
Dearth

Dearth

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I recently bought some Muppet stuff on clearance from ToyRocket.com, including some Uncle Deadly's for $2.50 each. I didn't really need the Deadly's, but I did want some more Muppet Ghosts...

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagepopup.php?imagename=http:%2F%2Fthreads.rebelscum.com%2Fphotogallery%2Fwatermark.php?file=133130&imagewidth=492&imageheight=601

And I got an extra OMGCNFO version of Animal, so now I've got all the extra figures set aside to eventually make the Leprechaun Brothers:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133131&imagewidth=480&imageheight=570

Beaker will be a hybrid from the turtleneck-sweatered torso of Super Beaker and the hands and legs of a regular Beaker. I will need to create an extension of the arms to bridge the gap between Super Beaker's oven mitt gloves and the long sleeves of the regular Beaker's lab coat.

Swedish Chef is also a hybrid, from two Chef's that I was using for various projects:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133273&imagewidth=744&imageheight=542

I had originally planned to use that torso and legs for Dr. Bob, but realized that the cracked torso would work better for the figure who would have a sweater sculpted over it. I also decided to keep the checkered pants for the LepBro Chef, rather than paint over them for Dr. Bob.

The backdrop for the LepBros is not the same one I posted here previously. I have since re-cut it from green-glitter foamie instead of green-glitter cardstock. In this shot it was only propped up and not glued into place, but I have since glued it and it looks much better.

The green craft puffballs in the baggie in front of Animal will be glued onto the top of their tams, which will probably also be Sculpey:

http://threads.rebelscum.com/imagep...hp?file=133274&imagewidth=640&imageheight=480

DN
 
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