A Mini-Me for the In-ko-pah RR!

[Ray Dunakin]

I finally have some pics of my self-portrait figure. First, here's one of the pics I used as reference: Here's the unpainted figure: And here's a front view of the painted figure. I'm not sure why, but it looks better in person than it does in the photos: I think the hair on top of the head probably should have been a little taller. Side view: And here's an example of how it will look on the layout: Eventually I plan to build a model of my Trooper, complete with miniature versions of my aerial photography rockets, and set up the figure to look like he's about to launch one of the rockets.

[GearDrivenSteam]

Ray, that's very nice. You're quite talented. If I may point out a small discrepancy. I think you added a tad too much color to your beard. LOL 

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks, and you're right! When I painted the face I was using a close-up photo from about three years ago. Later when I compared it to the pic posted here, I was surprised at how much more gray I have now.

[JRB 1953]

HI RAY, THAT LOOK'S REALLY GOOD!!!  WHAT IS YOUR FIGURE MADE OF?

JOHN

[Ray Dunakin]

JRB 1953

HI RAY, THAT LOOK'S REALLY GOOD!!!  WHAT IS YOUR FIGURE MADE OF?

JOHN

It's made of Premo brand polyclay (similar to Sculpy) over an armature made of twisted aluminum foil. I learned the basic techniques from the figure making "classes" put together by Chris Walas, which you can find at this site: http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/22/postid/7681/view/topic/Default.aspx

[Marty Cozad]

Thats great, love the bridge in the last photo..

 

OH,,

YA, mini you looks good to.

[g. gage]

Hi Ray, nice work. How did you do the shirt? I'm an oil painter and do some portaits but I favor painting soild clothing.

Rob   

[Ray Dunakin]

g. gage

Hi Ray, nice work. How did you do the shirt? I'm an oil painter and do some portaits but I favor painting soild clothing.

Rob   

I made the shirt by first building up the basic shape of the upper torso. Then I rolled out some clay really thin, cut it roughly to shape, and applied it over the torso, smoothing out the edges and seams and cutting a clean edge across the bottom. I then did the same thing with the sleeves and collar. The shirt was painted by hand with a small brush. First I painted the whole shirt yellow, then added the orange blotches to sort of look like a typical flowery Hawaiian print.

[grandpopswalt]

 Ray,

Congratulations on a first rate project. Do you have any previous art training? The reason I ask is to gauge if there might be any hope for a no-talent like me. About how long did it take you to make that figure? And do you have any others you could share with us?

Walt

[Ray Dunakin]

grandpopswalt

 Ray,

Congratulations on a first rate project. Do you have any previous art training? The reason I ask is to gauge if there might be any hope for a no-talent like me. About how long did it take you to make that figure? And do you have any others you could share with us?

Walt

Thanks! Except for a few arts and crafts classes in junior and senior high school, I've never had any formal art training. However, I have spent most of my adult life working in the field of art in one form or another -- mostly commercial illustration. Despite that, I still can't draw people very well at all, and was pleasantly surprised at my success with these little figures. You can see my first three generic "passengers" at this site: http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR-Figures.html Those were just created out of my imagination. When I created "mini-me" I found that working from photos helped a lot. Something else that helped was studying some really good quality commercial figures. I have a couple Fine Folk 1/20 scale figures, a few SLM figures, and a few Preiser people. The Fine Folk figures are really superb -- I'm still trying to achieve that level of realism.

[MTCarpenter]

 Very nice job on that.  You've captured your likeness really well.