#3dprintedheadsculpt

[the-enzyme]

I modified my 3D artist OG-RE4 Leon S. Kennedy head sculpt. I also repainted him, for the gazillionth time, if that wasn't obvious. I have to say, modifying a tiny eyelid was pretty easy to do with the Vallejo Plastic Putty, the only issue is, it doesn't seem to sand all that well. It started to crumble when I tried to sand it. I let it cure for longer than 4-hours, when is supposed to take only one to two hours, according to Vallejo's own website. I had read mixed reviews about it sanding well, or not. I guess it doesn't? Kind of weird, considering it is meant to be filler for models, and then it goes without saying, meant to be sanded afterward for a perfectly smooth finish...?

Regardless, I feel it works well enough for me, for tiny modding projects. I am definitely going to use it again for my Leon, whom I feel happier about right now, but I still know that he's not accurate enough. He'll never be, because he wasn't sculpted accurately enough, and that's pretty sad. However, the only thing I can do is try to make mine as accurate as I can without having to pay someone else to 3D sculpt another one for me. I could try myself, but I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't want to have an adventure trying to figure out how to create a 3D sculp/mesh/file to then have it 3D printed somewhere. I haven't (3D) modeled anything in more than a decade. I feel like my old dusty 3D Max and Maya, are probably not it, for 3D printing and that's all I know. Since those were the programs, we were allowed to use in college, back in the dark ages. When I learned how to 3D model. I believe blender is the popular choice for 3D printing nowadays, but that wasn't allowed so I didn't even bother trying it. Of course, I am not going to be 3D modeling a head at this stage. I much rather mod this boulder of a 1:6 head sculpt. It's a huge head for what it is, and not accurate, but it's all I got! DX

I am happy that I found something that is less wasteful than a tiny .25 oz container of Aves Apoxie, and less expensive as well. I am probably going to try modding my Myou Bettina next, since I wanted to give him smaller eyes, but still don't want to waste money on Aves' clay, when I know I won't get even halfway through the tiny container. Now, I can actually try, without fear of wasting clay, money and possibly sanity. Modifying (relatively) tiny heads is a huge pain in the gut, but I still want my Leon to be more accurate, but not enough to pay anyone again for another failed likeness. I also want my Bettina to have much smaller eyes. He looks too baby faced for my taste. I do love my Leon so far, I feel he makes a gorgeous looking figure. However, I want my OG-RE4 Leon to be accurate and this is not it. I sanded his upper lid a lot, the 3D sculptor gave him te droopiest lids ever, I also sanded his jaw quite a bit -- Leon has a very roundish head. Not sure what the artist was thinking. I added an actual upper eyelid with the Vallejo putty, because the 3D-sculptor didn't give him any. Certainly not even close of an eye-shape as Leons, but I feel like I'm doing good progress. I wanted to see what the putty was like, before doing heavier eye mods. Now I kind of know, so I am comfortable moving on. I will try first on m Bettina, however, because that is an even larger head, with huger eyes to try plenty of times, without worrying too much about heavy damage (I hope!).

The 1st image and the last two were taken with my older than dust cellphone. I like the way those look, the "newer" phone adds a lot of noise/grain, for absolutely no reason, and also the colors are kind of gross, but they are all samsung phones, so I have no clue why the "newer" ones suck so badly -- I suck at taking photos as well, but I need all the help I can get. The "newer" phone, doesn't do me any favors. Sadly.

[the-enzyme]

More of my 3D-Artist resin cast 1:6 scale Leon Scott Kennedy head sculpt. I decided to "enhance" the eye area a bit further. I have extremely shaky hands, even with all the techniques that are helpful to keep hands steady when painting miniatures. My hands still shake. I can't do cleaner, sharper lines, as much as I am frustated. There's pretty much sh1t I can do about it. However, I am happier with him now. I am always complaining that his facial featuers are not as accurate, and one of the main reasons for that is because I suck at painting miniatures, but also because I am very picky when it's about accuracy of characters I love. HT version of OG RE4 Leon was so off, i didn't even considered ever owning him. Later, once he was completely sold out everywhere, I did regret it a bit. Now, I kind of don't. He's not accurate, doesn't even seem like they tried it to be.

This head is a beautiful sculpt, but not accurate and a lot of the featues are simplified so much, that it makes me wonder which original sources the aritst was referencing when 3D modeling the head.

Regardless, I am much happier with him now, that I added more detail to his eyes, and made the shape more OG RE4 Leon-esque. He has a very unique eye shape that just wasn't sculpted right. So, me, with my crappy old-person hands, have to try a thousand times harder, just to get the lines around the eye and the shading in tiny places in the eye, to look not as sloppy as I can manage, due to my shaky hands. T__T;;

The last repetitive extreme close ups were taken with my older-than-dust cellphone's camera, because it takes photos that look more accurate lighting and color wise. My newer cell's makes things look extremely pixelated and "glam" as my bff calls, them, like it makes him seem like he's wearing mascara, which is not what he looks like IRL, nor do I want him to look that way. Simply because it's not accurate, and accuracy is more important to me than anything and everything else. When it comes to characters I love and want to own figures of.

I placed the black basic T-shirt this RE4 clothing set came with. It's pretty old, so the jacket is starting to disintegrate. I never owned anything like it before, so it's way more frustrating than anything. The original RE4 Leon's jacket is probably one of the most nostalgic aspects of the game, for most anyone who has ever played the game and loves Leon. I'm sure I'll never be able to find anything close, so it's kind of highly disappointing. There's no way in h3ll I would ever be able to attempt sewing something like that. Finding the fabric was a nightmare when I was hopeful a million years ago, when I was still young and adventurous. Now that I'm a much-older-old-fart, I don't even contemplate it. I will be attempting his tactical 5.11 top, although neoprene in under 1mm is probably not a thing and I'll have to settle for whatever other material looks rubbery but not shiny like vinyl. DX

[the-enzyme]

I got even more Leon photos to share! I finally felt it was time to dress him up, in his OG RE4 outfit. I was waiting until I felt like I had gotten him looking as accurate to his video game self, as possible by my terrible (shaky) hands. I thought this was the right time. Sadly, or rather as it was expected, I f-ed-up the irises. I was trying so hard to fix every tiny flaw I saw that I ended up doing what I feared the most, which was to screw the irises. Which took me so long to get “right.” Or at least at a semi decent point where I thought they were “okay.” Not to change them any further, and yet, here we are. I messed them up badly! Beyond saving, I am afraid. All thanks to what I dread doing the most at this tiny scale -- glossing the eyes!

Oh well, I’ll have to attempt partially removing the gloss from the irises alone, and hope it works well enough, that I can keep the rest of the eye area repaint intact. I at least hope I don’t mess anything else even more, or worse to start from zero once again. I have repainted this head sculpt so much already; it’s just irritating me, that I suck at tiny miniature work, more than it frustrates me now. I am very angry at myself, to say the least. T___T;;;

I don’t own any of his tactical gear from the game, because I thought the Hot Toys version of the figure wasn’t good looking enough for me to justify his cost at the time of release (in every sense of the meaning). I did regret my decision after he was sold out, but I do feel it is not a good-looking figure now, nor then. More than anything, I thought it did (OG) RE4 Leon no justice. I do still regret not getting it then, so I could at least own all the accessories, weapons and tactical stuff, which is going to be a pain in the gut-hole, finding or making myself. I got this outfit as a set, with the shirt (I didn’t recall if it had one), but it is not the 5.11 tactical shirt Leon wears in the game, nor the (not accurate) one HT RE4 Leon came with, so I am going to have to attempt making that was well, someday... I had already tried with other(s) custom 1:6 Leon(s) I was working on, and it was dreadful to say the least. 

The set didn’t come with anything more than the pants/belt, shirt and jacket. So, he’s wearing shoes I got that are exactly what he is wearing with his RPD outfit in the RE4 version, of that from the RPD set I purchase at the same time I got this one. I doubt I’ll ever find the RE4 main outfit shoes, they seem extremely particular to RE4 Leon, and no other figure I’ve ever seen has anything similar. I don’t believe I’ll ever be able to get the authentic HT ones, so I’ll probably settle for not owning them.