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Thing is, I know Ex will take in the manner intended. I can wait for as long as need be.

...and Lardy...that was a lot of plastic...

I'm gone so long sometimes. But when I come back and get to go through a thread like this I get so HAPPY!!

This is so amazing! Really, REALLY, sweet and exciting work you are doing, Ex.

Did you find yourself...attracted...to my action figure, Temp?

Oh yes, more so than you!

Anything that makes Tempest happy makes LW happy.

Ohhh...

Yes.

Well this thread has be officially JACKED!!!

Sorry.

I really love this Ex, amazing work.

Look like the only way to "unjack" this thread is to actually... you know... do some work on this figure.


So....


"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 7: Hit the Road, "Jack"


So, when last we left Dev, he had a spiffy lower half of his tunic and now I had to adjust the upper part to match.

A little bit of clay to create the "seam" to marry up to the lower part:



Bake... sand... and the torso is ready for priming:



A little spritz in the back yard and... once again... the black on black defies any sort of attempt to take a decent photo:



I notice the lower half has dulled a bit since a primed it a couple weeks ago, so you can actually see a bit more detail on that now.


So... all the bits are primed up (as with the Lard Lad figure, I won't be priming the flesh colored pieces, as I really have no faith in my ability to repaint eyes), so it's time to start painting.


Dean's drawing only goes down to the knees, so I'll be using an earlier drawing by Viridis Lament (formerly dedman) as a model for the boot design:



I'll modify the boot colors slightly to match the rest of the outfit (basically the belt and boots will match, and the circle design will use the same green and red from the pants and tunic)

Now, Dean's color patterns are rather complex so it's going to take a few passes to get it right.

I started with the base coat on the pants today. I decided I would lay down an aqua base coat (because I think it will be easier to go darker as opposed to lighter):



After this dries (probably tonight) I'll go darker with like a sea green before "washing" in the shadows. The "scale" pattern I'll put in last.


Thanks for all the nice words, everyone, and I think I'll be picking up the pace on this now that I'm in the back stretch.

I'm feeling all giddy again.

btw, can you post the Deddy pic of Dev? I lost my file in a computer crash years ago. Thanks.

Sure, here's the pencil sketch:

http://www.geocities.ws/lmbp_outpost/GALLERIA/dedman/devem01.jpg

And here's the colored version:

http://www.geocities.ws/lmbp_outpost/GALLERIA/dedman/devem02.jpg

Thanks

Not really a full update or anything but, since I put the base coat on the torso pieces, that sort of "high gloss" shine that the primer gives off has been dulled down, so you can see a bit more detail now:




I then did a second coat on each on the torso pieces (as I'm going over black it will take a few passes for the red to come out... right now it's sort of burgundy) and darkened up the blue on the legs with a sea-green.

It's still a ways away from being correct, but I figured after so long without an update I'd let you see the "work in progress":




FYI - I decided not to use the hands from the original Lobot figure because they are sort of oddly positioned (his left hand has two fingers extended, like in a smoking position) so I'm going to cut the hands off an extra figure I have that are more fist like and just superglue them onto the Lobot pegs.

oh wow!! seeing this makes me want to make one of Whitelighter now, but finding a figure with wings will be a pain... maybe I'll take a crack at Amethyst since I already made her as a barbie doll.

I know it seems like I have about 80 different "LMB" projects going at any given time, but - even though some might take longer to finish than I'd like - I promise each will get its due eventually.


I don't know what it is, but there is just something so appealing to me about this cast of characters that inspires me to keep approaching them from different angles.

It's hard to put into words, but it's something like... each person (poster that is, not character) has this unique creative world inside of them based upon their own experiences. For one person that might mean their imagination is informed by their fondness for sci-fi, while another might lean toward sword and sorcery. Someone might be into Roman history, while another is into film noir. Somebody might be deadly serious about their creative work, another might be just screwing around. Somebody might just really be into penguins.

But whatever unique vision someone has, these people found each other and said, "You know what? What if there were a shared creative space where all of those visions coexist, and are all equally valid?"

With the LMB, any approach seems to be able to successfully be integrated into the whole, both enhancing it and being enhanced by it. It's that quality, I think, that really made me fall in love with the world of the LMB, and keeps inspiring me to keep trying different creative endeavors, more so than I ever did when I was just reading comics.


OK... enough philosophizing! Jeez... just show the action figure pics, already.


"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 8: Army of Dev


OK, this update might not be the most exciting because it more has to do with the "guts" of the figure that you'll never see in the final product, but it's all part of the process, so...


In the last mini update, I mentioned I was going to sub out the hands of the figure because I didn't like the way they were positioned. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that - if I was going to be cutting up the hands anyway, there was actually a second thing I should probably do that uses the same skill: replacing the pegs that connect the arms to the torso.



You'll see above, on the left, the arm I've been working with thus far. To the right is the arm from the "Captain Typho" figure, for which I'm using the torso. Obviously the left peg is noticeably shorter. This created a situation where, although it fit, it was very tight and would put pressure on the torso when rotated. That meant that if I went ahead with it and rotated it too high, I would run the risk of it splitting the seam of the torso. So...



... a peg swap was in order. I sliced each off with my X-acto knife, then using my pointed pick made a small "well" inside of it in which I could place a pin:




I cut the pin down to size I need with tinsnips, and glued it in place. This is to sort of "rebar" the two pieces to provide addition stability when I super-glue them together.

I then repeated the process to replace the hands with the more fist-like hands from the Typho figure




Here you can see the "rebar" thing I was talking about, again used for the hands:




I then glued the respective pegs to the arms and hands. Looking good:




OK, cool... got the boring update out of the way. On to finishing up the painting.

When next we speak, Dev should be looking a lot closer to a finished product.

Very cool.

Your multiple talents amaze me.

Long weekend coming up...

You've been reading my mind again, Mr. Em

Yeah... absolutely... the little pieces are sitting right next to my computer and, every time I sit down here, I think... I've got to finish that up. I guess that's what happens when you push your enthusiasm in too many directions - you get a bunch of half finished projects.


But, since Mrs. Nihil is out and about this weekend with her girlfriends, I promise you... I'll make at least one day this weekend an all-Dev paint-a-thon.

Ohhhh....so excited, now I got something to look forward to!

Okey doke... all alone in Casa del Nihil so, as promised:

"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 9: Getting a Leg Up


After too much procrastination, I busted out the paints again this morning and hit the legs with a darker base coat of green:



I then dry brushed in the blue highlights to try to get that blue/green blended effect from Dean's drawing:



Next, washing in the shadows with a darker, very liquid shade of the green:



Then adding the sort of "scaled" pattern over the whole piece (you can also see the first base coat of the boots done here):



I followed the same drybrush and wash method for the highlights and shadows of the boots:



and then added the first bit of detail painting in the form of the boot laces:



The laces still have to be touched up and dulled down yet, and I'll add the little "eye" logo later on when I mix up the red shades for the torso... but I need to take a break for a while, so I figured I'd let you guys see where I'm at.

Looking faboo.

It always bums me out that the pictures I post on this thread - while a fairly good representation - never really look like they do in person.

I think I just found out why.

It's the light in my office. It's one of those "soft light" energy saver bulbs and it always makes all these pics look so much "warmer" or something and washes out all the detail.

I just figured this out after doing the little "eye" logo on the boots then taking the piece outside to dullcoat it.

This is what it actually looks like:



Way better, right?

I guess the trick is to take a pic outside, on an overcast day, at 5PM on May 26th.

Therefore, Dev... next update: this time next year.
Let's hope for clouds.


Just kidding, Dev! Put down that hammer!


I put another base coat on the torso pieces:



but I think I'm going to reassemble the torso onto the legs - and superglue the chest and back pieces together before continuing. It will give me better leverage for painting if I have a larger surface to hold, and I also have to build the epaulettes, in any case.

Seriously, that is looking amazing so far...and it's just the legs.

Cannot wait to see him next to Lil Lardy.

How DO you do it all, Ex? Photomanipulations, writing, and action figures... Seems like you can do almost anything!

Well, far as we know, he can't grow a giant monster penis capable of throwing Collosal Boy into the ceiling!