It is expensive! My problem is that I’d basically like someone to design/render a little known character from a lesser known comic series (only 2 issues). I’ll never have the opportunity to purchase any swag of him, so my only option is to have it done myself. Lol, if you google image his name there isn’t even more than 1 page, but the character design is so cool, so here I go.
I found a wolverine model I liked on Etsy and I noted that the guy selling the 3D print had a small mini-painting business. I asked if he was willing to paint the larger model for me, and he was happy to for an added fee. Below is his progress - I’ll post what it ends up looking like once it’s delivered. This is my first commission so we will see if there is any learned lessons. I imagine he did not come up with the design himself. It seems like a number of these guys license the render.
Seems like a triple threat to find someone who can design the render, print it, and paint it well, so likely going to have to break those up…but I’m not super informed on the 3D printing ecosystem, so not sure what my options are or what’s available out there.
You’re also in a hard spot, since that’s a fairly stylized comic drawing (the very planar surfaces and hard edges of his face) which you may or may not like in a 3d model when you see it from all angles. It will also take a lot of modelling skill to get there (never mind if his costume has many other textural challenges and you’re trying to marry them cohesively), and for commissions, unless you’re willing to pay 2-3X as much, the artist won’t like revision notes.
Good points, I think I’m used to some variation in style when it comes to characters. I mean there are probably 10,000 slightly different versions of wolverine and superman out there. I certainly don’t like them all, but I don’t think I’m looking for a 100% true to comic version.
I don’t know if it is better or worse that there is only 1 “true” version of this guy out there for reference material. If I commit to this, I’ll probably have to dig into the comics to find as much reference material as I can find from all directions - maybe even send the comics to the artist, hah. In reality, I’ll probably be looking for the style of the artist I like most and think would be a good fit, and let them do the model in their style. Then have to do the same thing with the painter. I’m not a creative person myself, so 90% of the time I can go along with the artist’s intent, and make superficial suggestions, if anything. I’m not a guy who says “I want the figure to be posed like this, head slightly tilted into the sun, while gazing wistfully towards an unseen memory.” I’ll probably find a pose I like in the comic and say “Do This”.
Some other concessions may need to by made too - like the little bits of flair that might be unnecessarily challenging (the rope with attached disc on his belt for instance). I didn’t think about the “textural” challenges like the fur around his collar either. Will be interesting. A lot of it just depends on the artist.
You could try making him yourself using a custom miniature site like Hero Forge or Eldritch Foundry. I haven’t used them myself, but my wife did last year to create a miniature that looks like me. Which it sort of does.
I just found this Youtube review of the Playmobil Enterprise set and, holy cow that thing looks well made and highly detailed. It’s still waaaay out of my price range (Amazon is showing currently at $368.59 which is lower than the initial MSRP of $499, but still, yikes) but I gotta admit I’m finding myself tempted.
That sounded a lot more interesting before I watched the video. The bridge just looks wrong. Too small and cramped, I think. I’m not interested in Star Trek enough to have tried it, but there are some diorama builders out there who have done really good stuff at a scale that looks right with action figures. I could probably see being interested in it as some kind of collectors item if I was a huge Trek fan, though.
I often stumble into and look at Action Figures of various types, but when I was a kid I collected G.I. Joe damn near religiously and Transformers were secondary. I assume people know about the G.I. Joe Classified series, but OMG, I am just blown away. If they had these when I was a pre-teen, my parents would’ve been more broke from me buying them than they already were. lol!
The first Joe I ever got was Rock 'N Roll. My brother picked him because he looked the most like the original Joe. I think Major Bludd was next and probably within the week. I had to relive this… so I just ordered Rock today. I threw in Stalker because he’s going for $14 and he was a badass and one of my early favorites. Not sure how many I might collect, but they are brilliant looking to me, and they’ve released so many now that a lot of the later super cool guys like Lowlight, Tunnel Rat, Dusty, and more are available. I see Airborne is coming in April. That guy’s a must for me. Wow.
