50 steps 100 steps: December 2015

Well, while I was done with Yoda ornament, I was still in the mood for another. I also had all of my tools out on my desk, why not try one more, right?

When I was looking for Stormtrooper helmet references for "Star Wars Deluxe Design a Vinyl Storm Trooper Play Set", I came across an awesome design by SKL0 and I really like it. I knew that I could utilize that reference and get this custom ornament done ASAP.

By using sharpie, I marked certain areas so that I know where to carve/shave and build up each area. I didn't take that many photos since I just needed to complete this one as fast as I could.

Nest step... Just getting the rough shape in place.

Now a bit more detailed sculpting...

I also baked several "round" black sculpy III for his eye. I must had a dozen different sizes to figure out the best size. It's much easier for me to sculpt around hardened eye for details. I overlaid fairly thin sculpey around his body, feet and arms so that I can put lines as his fur.

Instead of spraying primer, I used Liquitex gesso to prep surface. I must have put good 3-4 layers here. Now time to paint!

Now it's all done!!!

...now to the 360 view

Close-up/Fisheye view

...and a bonus image with watercolor.

Here i go again. On the left is a white blank PVC plastic ornament from my work. On the right is the finished custom yoda ornament.

The place I work hosts various fundraiser events. Occasionally they have an event like this and showcase how talented all these artists and designers are with custom toys, shoes, etc. This one is a blank PVC ornament and you can do whatever (and they do!).

Just like any other projects, I sat on it for days and it was in my bag for sometime. I knew it will be another Star Wars theme, but I wasn't able to decide what to do with it.

Once due date was near, i just needed to go ahead and move on.

So here I go! I always liked stylized toy Yoda from the clone wars and found a few awesome references. So that's what i have decided to make.

Since i will be laboring and sculpting for hours, I need to secure his leg and the head. I just didn't need these pieces to move around while i was sculpting.

I needed to have some sort of support for his ears since it will be extended more than usual. I have drilled holes for the armature wire to go thru.

I love playing around with Super Sculpey! Sometimes it feels too soft, but I can always come back hours later (or days later) to continue sculpting. I've heard about Super Sculpey FIRM, but never had a chance to use it.

His body didn't too long to sculpt than I thought. I didn't use the arms from the original parts.... they just didn't fit right for what I needed him to do.

I baked his torso first so that I would have a firm grip around his body for sculpting his head.

now this is about 80% done with his face/head. Still missing some details and hair in the back of his head.

now it's all done sculpting and ready for baking!

DING! now his baked and pretty hard (and HOT!). you can see his toe nails is getting a bit brown... that's the result of being baked twice. Small/thinnest part usually get dark if you bake more than once. I actually don't know what would happen if you bake more than twice. It might become brittle... not sure.

I thought i made the hole in his hands big enough, but it wasn't quite big enough for his lightsaber... so i used several drill bits (by hand) to widen the hole. well, i wasn't getting a good grip so i placed the bit on the power drill and tried to go slow........ well, it was way too strong and chipped his fingers and part of his hand!! You can actually see the damage in the picture. I did consider using the air-dry epoxy (Magic Sculp), but it will take waaaaaay too long to cure it. So i just glue it back.

I think you can paint right after baking it, but I do like to prep the surface by spraying primer or some sort of gesso. I had an used can of gray primer but it didn't have enough to cover entire sculpture, so I primed it again with white.

I only waited about 1/2 day or so to let it dry and start sanding. You can see some gray showing up. You also see my Yoda toys as reference for colors.

Now it's time to paint!

I'm about 80% done painting the figure...

Since this is an ornament for christmas, I have created standard lightsabers (with glow-in-the-dark paint) and candy cane sabers. White/Red candy cane is made out of Sculpy III. VERY soft and it doesn't even get extremely stiff when you bake them. You can actually bend it and snap in half. Not a big fan if you're making something detailed or small.