mechanicalcrystalheartcrest

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I take weekends off, so I take the time to repaint my customized dolls during that time. I was super happy, that my Rou was coming along nicely. I thought I just needed eyelashes and brows, and then I would add a few additional details here and there, and be done. But nope. Something went completely wrong. I have zero idea what, exactly. A huge old piece of the fixative came right off, as I was blending paint on his left side!

Never in my more than twenty years of repainting toys, has anything like this ever happened to me before. Not even when i was a brand new, newbie repainting toys. It's so frustrating. More so because I have no idea what went wrong, in the first place? I live in a neutral humidity area, there was no rain Saturday when I sealed the face plates, to prime them for painting. I didn't start painting until Sunday, so the primer was well beyond cured by then. I saw no signs that the fixative hadn't adhere to the resin, no cloudiness, no shininess, nothing. I don't know what went wrong.

Now, I am so frustrated. I kind of want to just wipe both plates and start again all over from zero. Part of me also just wants to add more fixative and try to move on. I want both plates to look like the same exact face, because that's the way it is supposed to be. My Fairyland Chic Line Rou represent my custom OG Dissidia version of Sephiroth. That's who I want him to be, and I don't know how to feel right now. Other than completely frustrated! So many wasted hours, just to have zero worthy results of the time wasted. T__T;;

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

More of my recently repainted Limhwa Limho Mano. Now, back on his body. I am super happy with how he looks IRL. I suck at taking photos, and this is the first time I take photos of him, without an actual camera. I suck at taking photos, I can't ever say that enough, so I need all the help I can get. Cellphone cameras are awful at that for me. I used to take semi-not-too-craptastic photos with my vintage Samsung. Now, that one is dead, I feel (maybe it just needs a new battery, who knows). I can only rely on luck to get a semi decent, not too blurry but awfully pixelated photo, that may or may not be a completely different coloration than real life. T___T;;

I am a thousand percent to blame, because I am a klutz, I dropped my poor camera once too many on its lense. Now, I am stuck with crappy cellphone cameras, because I am too cheap to spend money on something I'll have to upgrade just every few years anyway. On the other hand, I could always get a new camera... except I suck, so I'll probably take terrible photos anyway, but at least I would know for certain it was all me sucking, and not the tool. Lol!

The last five photos were taken with my newer phone that takes more accurate colored photos, but super pixelated if not super blurry ones. I made the asymmetrical bangs wig he is wearing; I used to hate that wig when I first made it, but then I used it to test how much I loved him after I repainted/modded him. So, I am kind of growing extremely fond of it over time. I am in love with how he looks with it right now, at the very least -- and I kind of love him with his default Jpop wig. I am super happy he still looks dark and gloomy, despite going very light on the shading, and my cellphones refusing to show the actual soft fleshy colors. I tried different lighting, so these are all over the place in color and tones, but I am trying to take better photos of him, that are not terribly dark, blurry or pixelated. You can't even see the textured shading; it just looks like a blob of color terribly applied randomly for no reason. Funny, I think my cellphones prefer my timer repainted head sculpts... (;

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I repainted my Mano, after more than five years without even looking at him. The last time I took photos of him was back in 2019. I wanted to modify his lips once again, to widen the top one. I feel like I didn't do a half decent job when I made the lips bigger than life. I always wanted him to have massive lips. It started slowly, then I got them to be this size. I purchased new Aves Apoxie to mod them, last year. Then I got lazy, and waited until this year to finally go ahead and mod my Mano once again!

Except, I thought maybe I can just get away with repainting his face, without even attempting to modify them again! Lol! I am a lazy old fart, what can I say! I know I'll mod him eventually, I just wanted to see if I could get away without modding. I feel like I could, but I know I'll mod him, just because that's how much of a crazy old-fart I am. And I can see every little flaw, and it kind of drives me crazy. He is a 67cm tall doll, so he's pretty huge, I should be able to do better (mods).

In the meantime, I'll enjoy how he looks for now -- I am happy with him, but need to fix his applied lashes, I suck at those too. I lost one of his piercings in the process as well, he has thirteen stainless steel ball bearing glued to his face as facial piercings and I lost one! I know I have extra ones, I purchased a few when I first gave him ball bearings as piercings (prior I was using a reproposed ball keychain as the piercings-beads). Sadly, I haven't been able to find them since I repainted my Luna, and wanted to give her some as well. I'll keep looking nonetheless, but I might have to get some more and that's going to hurt me more than I wish -- I hate wastefulness! T__T;;

His brows are darker than they might appear in some photos, and his lips are lighter. I wished I knew how to take photos, but I suck! DX The last photo is a comparison of 2019, the last time I photographed him, and his current bod1less look. Lol! I painted him using acrylics only, and tried giving him some texture with a slight stylized shading on his cheeks. I didn't want to make him look like he's wearing make up, but still like a dark vampire prince! (:

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I finally got around to repainting my second GDToys GD97005 head sculpt. The one that is supposed to be a realistic-ish version of Sesshomaru. This one I got loose, to customize to be my fanart version of Ayami Kojima's Alucard (Castlevania). The Japanese Konami developed video game version, just in case that's not clear enough. Not the "anime" version on that streaming platform, which I really don't care for. I played all OG games, gave the Spaniard developed ones a chance, but no. I stick to the OG Castlevania, as my one and only Castlevania, true love. DX

I'm super happy with him, I feel like my work is getting so much less clean and lousy with each repaint. But, oh well! I am having a lot of trouble with super shaky hands with each passing day, and that's okay. Too bad, I can't really do much about it. Putting technical skills aside, I am happy with how he looks. I hope I'll be able to get his hair to be at least half of the majestic hair that miss Kojima gave Alucard in Symphony Of The Night (not as big though, as I prefer realistic hair bulk). I am still unsure if I'll be rerooting, making a wig, or just restyling his hair. I know in SoTN, his hair is on the more golden blonde side, and this head is not meant to be Alucard, so his hair is a thousand percent silver. So, yeah. That's going to be a pain in the lower back.

I also feel like I didn't do a great job doming his irises, but again, my freaking shaky hands. I'll try again, since I can at least try! Lol! I don't know yet which body I'm going to be using for him, I am thinking the Kamisoul MAF body, but I don't know which color will match, nor if it will work proportionately. I own the first release, and now there are four colors now. However, I don't know exactly which color was the first release, since there are two pale ones now. One pinkish, and one that's yellower. I have zero clue which shade the 1st body release was supposed to be, since it wasn't listed as being a particular color, because there was only one at that time. I feel like I'll proably never get to see him complete, because my sewing skills are non-existent and there's zero chance I would be able to find something readymade that would come close to Ayami Kojima's art, let alone for cheap or in the size of the body I choose for him. DX

The first few of these photos are from my older phone, and the last five are from my crappier phone, that takes more color accurate photos, that are blurry and washed out, most of the time. (:

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

More spammage of my Decora Fashion Girlz Luna doll repaint, with applied upper lashes. I wasn't able to find my 1.5mm stainless steel ball-bearings, so I am going to have to find those before I give her a million facial piercings. Otherwise, I am super happy with her. I wish I could find shorter lashes, but just as full as these. Sadly, I can only find synthetic human-meant eyelashes near me, so they tend to be as long as posible and never short. I prefer fuller lash-lines on my dolls, but not necessarily super long. Never super long, actually.

Regardless, she's all put together now. I am still giving her piercings, but I am super happy as she looks so far. I only wish I could find more gothy looking mass-produced fashion doll clothes for her, but I am pretty certain goth is not what all the little girls are screaming to get their hands on. So, I'll just have to leave her as she is or get off my lazy-old-fart behind and sew something new for her. Knowing well, I know I won't do the latter. Lol! DX

I love her regardless, I'm pretty happy with her, in case I haven't said so a million times already. (:

Edit to add: a shot of her face without factory paint. She has pretty heavy staining from all the purple and hot pink factory make up. So, I did a light color correcting layer or two. I didn't want to spend too much time on that, since I was just going to be covering it up with her bangs anyway. I also went with very light pigmented skin texture and shading, since I am not a fan of make up looks myself. Not even when I was a young girl, so now as an older than dust, old-fart, I can't say I like them more. I prefer my dolls to look like they are not wearing a thousand pounds of eyeshadow. That's what my aim was for her, while still leaning towards a vampire/punkish look.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I tried fixing his wig once again. I feel like it still needs to be a touch darker, and have a heavier gradient effect, from the roots. However, I am so happy with how he's looking so far. I am very much in-love with this figure now! I only wish I could sew decently, so I could hope to recreate te jacket he's wearing here. It's his OG-RE4 jacket that I got with a set, with everything he's wearing here. However, the material the jacket is made out of, is peeling everywhere! It's already literally tearing at the seams. I know it's not going to survive for much longer, so I try to avoid making him wear it.

I did make an accurate top for another Leon I was working on many years ago, it was terrible, but I feel it might not look too bad with the jacket on. Sadly, this one is already disintegrating on me. DX

I will try to remake the top, as I have zero clue where I left the other one. I believe I still have the pattern I made for that one, so I might get away with just sewing a new piece, instead of trying to do another patter. Which I suck at as well, so... (:

This are super repetitive, but I don't have hands that look good, and for some reason my cell's camera exaggerates the size of the hands he's wearing, making him look so disproportionate and weird. I need to repair his right iris, as I damaged that already more than once. I also need to thin the bangs on the right side a bit further. I suck at cutting and styling hair, let alone 1:6 tiny hair. Although this hair is pretty awesome, soft and extra thin (strand wise), I wish I knew what type it was. I was gifted it, by my bff and she doesn't recall where it came from, sadly.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

Some photo-bombing of my 1:6 scale, custom OG RE4 Leon S. Kennedy action figure. I just repainted him, after modifying his eyes once again. I am supper happy with him. I did ruin the irises once, after doming as is a habit of mine, one that I don't enjoy nor purposely do. Yet here we are. I feel like I managed to save the irises, despite them not being as clean, as I originally painted them. I somehow like them better, even if the right pupil is much larger and makes it look sheep-ish, it's not, it's just my poor doming technique. DX

Regardless, I am super in-love with my Leon, and I just hope to do a better, cleaner job next time I repaint him and/or/modify him again. Leon is by far one of the characters I love the most (aside from Sephy and Sasuke!). Original RE4 Leon will always be my favorite, and I will always dream of owning an accurate figure of that version of him. This is probably not it, but I am super happy with how he's looking so far. Maybe one day, I can make him look more accurate, even if the head is massive and will never look accurate on any actual 1:6 action figure body. The whole facial structure is ways off, but oh well. There's not much I can do, yet I might keep trying. Stubborn as I am.

I am working on a new wig for him, and hopefully this time it won't be as puffy as this one, and also a more accurate shade of dirty blonde. Which will be hard, as telling correct synthetic hair colors from a screen is kind of hard. These are quite repetitive, but because he's head is so huge, the neck on the DAMToys LSK RE2 figure is kind of thin, so I have to pose him in ways the neck won't make it look like an apple on a stick. Which is my biggest annoyance on dolls/figures in general.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

Here's my sealed work on my repainted Ken Looks number 5! I'm super happy with him. The only problem is his under-eye area turned out shinier than I was hoping. It was already like that before I sealed the repainted work with a few layers of MSC matte, and a single layer of MSC gloss. Otherwise, I am happy with all other areas of his face after sealing. I like using a light layer of gloss in-between, because it adds a nice "dewy/human-flesh-like" finish to my more "realistic-ish" repaints. However, I am not sure why it looks hyper shiny at the chin and under the eyes. Although, it was already like that before I sealed the work, as I said. I didn't expect to look like that after the layers of MSC matte. I don't mind it IRL too much, particularly the chin. But those under-eyes...

I might have to mask-off all other areas and add a layer or two of more matte fixative. I don't want to completely dull all the rest of the face, as I am happy with how it looks IRL otherwise. Just not super excited of how those two areas photograph. We'll see...

I took a lot of crappy repetitive photos of him; I am super happy with him now. Not the repaint work as I always feel I could have done a better job. I'm just in-love with how he looks in general, now. I like more realistic-ish looking repaints, and this is definitely a lot less cartoony than my last repaint work on him. So, I am happier for that reason. I do find this head sculpt extremely beautiful, otherwise I wouldn't have purchase one, let alone two (to customize one). I wasn't happy with the default chin, brow-bone and lips sculpting, so I modified the brows and chin a bit during my first repaint on him, back in 2022. I forgot about those when I repainted him a few days ago, so I just did a quick softening of the chin once again, but I thought I could have sanded even further. However, now that he is sealed and "finished," I feel like I don't mind the chin so much anymore. It is a pain to have to paint it to look the way I want it, instead of it just being the shape and size I want it to be. However, I don't mind it anymore. I am happy to leave him like this forever!

I say that now, watch me redo his face paint and mods once again in a few years. Lol! (; I am in love with this Ken, even if I am a crazy old fart who wants to mod and repaint things a million times over! I only wish I knew how to re/style hair a tiny bit, so I could try different hair styles on him. Or, that I was willing to re-root or shave him. I hate re-rooting dolls, and I like his hair style as is, a lot. I only wish I could restyle the hair, from time to time! I'm also petrified of doing anything because his flocking keeps falling off all over the place! That's what's on his face on some of these photos at his chin and lips. In case some of it is visible, I kept blowing it off his face, only to find more a few seconds later. I keep his hair in a plastic wrap "hat," to keep the hair from getting messy, but I don't know if that's the reason for the flocking to be coming off all the time, or if it's just a natural thing with flocking. I don't own that many flocked things that are unboxed -- or that I handle at all! Last four are from my older than dust phone, because it takes slightly better, hyper-washed-out photos, the newer likes adding a pound of noise and they are always dark as the dickens, which I would love, if it wasn't for the extra-crispy pixels. DX

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I first repainted my Ken Looks number 5, a bit longer than two years ago (around April 2022). I have been meaning to repaint him again for a while now, using the acrylics only method, of repainting 1:6 action figures. I am super happy I finally did it!

I already loved this Mattel Ken doll very much, but now I feel I am finally getting closer to what I was hoping, with my first repaint on him. I wanted him to look "scary," as that is my main goal with most of my male dolls. Intimidating, menacing type of scary, for the most part. I feel I have accomplished that this time. I always thought I gave him way massive eyes, on my first repaint on him. However, I feel like I probably did a cleaner job back in 2022, because my hands are growing shakier. I can see his lashes were cleaner, the whole eye area really. Sadly, I can't turn back time. I'm older, and my hands are indeed getting shakier with old age. T__T;;

Not like they weren't shaky already, but still, it stings to know it'll only get worse, because there's nothing, I can do to stop it! Repainting my own toys is a hobby I sincerely enjoy. I am super happy I learned I can use only acrylics, even if a little too late because my hands shake like the dickens now! Of course, I already used acrylics for line work, but it's still huge old pain in the behind, that my hands are even shakier now!!!

Moving on, I am super happy with him (for now!), I still need to seal the work -- that's why it looks so shiny! I could always do a cleaner job here and there, yadda yadda, but I am happy with him and feel he's done for now. I'm including comparisons to my 2022 repaint on him, and also progress of this repaint, because I might need it later as quick refence! I wanted his chin smaller, it's the one part I am not a fan of, and the lips! I forgot about it in the two years I didn't feel like working on him. I did soften the chin a bit further this time, but I feel I can make it a lot less wide and just less "huge" in general. I am also not a fan of the lip shape, but I am not sure how I want to tackle that. I feel once I reduce the chin to my liking (later on), I'll be able to see what I want to do with the lips. I'm particularly not a fan of how they sculpted the lower-lip.... paint does help a little, but I am still not sold on either the chin nor the lips. DX

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

My MYou Bettina male, mature tiny BJD, with his new eye mods! I had to redo those sooner than I had hoped, because I learned that the plastic putty is not a permanent solution for modding tiny heads, sadly for me. I got a new batch of Aves Apoxie Sculpt, so I want to use as much of it as I can, before it gets too old to work with. Hopefully, I will remember to put it in the freezer this time, before it does go beyond saving. DX

I am supper happy with how these mods turned out. I still could have smoothed out a lot of the shape as a whole, particularly at the corners of either side of both eyes. However, working on tiny heads, even with opened eyes, that are much larger than true 1:6 scale action figures. Is still a huge pain in the lower back! I love this tiny dude regardless; I love him so much more each time I work on him some more! I look forward to completing something else, based on Ken Kaneki for him, since he is my fan-art doll based on him. I just want to keep on taking photos of him, even in crappy clothes, or no clothes! Lol! I find him incredibly beautiful, even with my crap-fest of a repaint job and mods! (:

I took a whole bunch of equally crappy photos, because I am super in-love with this tiny doll! I already loved him enough to purchase him, but now I am over the moon! I know I love narrower eye shapes the best, but I kind of thought Bettina already had narrower eyes. I am still wondering if I should have gone with Alan, despite me loving Bettina's mouth shape better.... >___<;;; Not regretting going with Bettina, just wondering. n_n;;

He's wearing the same top I can't recall who I made it for, but I feel it was for my MH Invisi Billy custom. It's a great fit on him, and I quite like it. He's also wearing the five wigs I've made for him so far, and I'll probably need to try to make yet another one, that's more anime-accurate. Try, is the keyword.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

More of my Leon S. Kennedy 3D-artist, resin cast head sculpt mods and repaint. I kind of fixed his left iris, so I feel less like crap about having f-it-up a few days ago. I still managed to ruin it a bit with the doming, but I'm not too angry about it now. I was furious with myself, when I did it yet once again. However, he doesn't photograph too terribly, and I am in love with how he's looking so far, so I am okay with it for now.

I took photos this time on my DAM toys body that belongs to my repainted Looks Ken, so the body doesn't have hands, and I tried to avoid many full-shot photos for that reason. This head was also sculpted so inaccurately, that it is huge on most any bodies, and DAM bodies are freaking huge! Not as huge as Game Toys bodies probably, but I don't want to have to get a second one just to find out, if this sculpt will work on it. I could use my GT Sephy's "nude" body, but I don't really want to find out this sculpt looks well on it. That body is a pain in the gut to get now, and I don't want to spend a fortune on a body for this sculpt. As much as I love the head sculpt now, I already spent too much on it -- mental stress more than monetary or anything else.

Regardless, I love my custom RE4 OG Leon, and I am super excited to work on him some more! For now, I'll keep him like this. I'll take a few more photos of him on the body that's wearing the RPD uniform, and then work on my MYou Bettina's eye mods next. After, I'll probably wipe this dude clean, and work on his upper eyelid mods once again. It's a royal pain in the gut, doing tiny eye mods, but I'm looking forward to finally having a more accurate LSK RE4 heads sculpt! I love RE4-OG Leon and having an accurate figure/doll based on him is one of my doll/figure/toy grails! Having one based on Crisis Core Sephiroth is/was my number one grail, but I feel like I can get that with the GT Sephy I already own. So, now I just want my very own semi-accurate Leon, and I don't mind having to work a little harder to achieve that goal The last two shots were taken with my much older phone -- I really like how it doesn't add a thousand pounds of noise, but it's sadly not as sharp as the newer phone. Not like I don't suck at taking photos...(:

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

Just some quick crappy photos of my repainted Leon. I managed to damage the irises twice already, and once again I'll have to redo the left one. I am terrible when it comes to doming the irises. It's a pain in the gut, and at the same time the part of the repaint I "love" the most, on head sculpts with painted eyes. I feel they breathe so much life onto the sculpt. However, I suck at it! I had given him cleaner eye paint apps, but I managed to ruin both irises the first time I domed them. Then I redid them, and the paint apps turned out like sh1t. I had to redo a whole lot of the left eye, not just the iris, so it looks super sh1tty now. Still, i love the way my Leon is looking, so I wanted to keep trying and now I once again ruined the freaking left iris and already peeled the gloss off, so I know for sure it is ruined!

I almost feel like wiping him off completely clean, and start doing the additional mods I need, to get closer to my more accurate, more ideal version of OG Leon. Having said that, I really love him so far. So, I want to keep him like this for a while longer. I will try to fix the left iris once again, hopefully I won't f-it-up once again, although i already ruined the crappy lower lashes in the process, so who knows if frustration will win. The last photos were taken with my older phone, which sometimes does me some favors, but doesn't take the sharpest photos in the world.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I am working on my 3D artist cast (OG-RE4) Leon's head sculpt, once again. I wasn't planning on redoing the upper eyelid mods that I did back in April, using plastic putty model seam filler. I was just thinking of redoing the crappy paint apps. However, I learned when I removed the paint, that the putty melts away with high percentage alcohol, so I had to mod him again, whether I wanted to or not. This time I used Aves Apoxie Sculpt, because it is a sure thing, this won't melt with alcohol or acetone. I am not a fan of redoing the whole thing all over again, unless it's a repaint. I prefer "permanently" modifying something, and then 'improving" the work as I see things I might have missed the first time.

I appreciate both the putty and the Aves clay, because they are both meant for different things. I thought I could use the plastic putty for tiny modifications, on tiny head sculpts. That's not going to work for me sadly. Unfortunately, as much as I favor Aves for permanent mods, it is a pain in the freaking back to smooth and sand on a tiny area. These are not my cleanest mods I've ever done, but oh well. The putty was great for that, if only it was permanent and not a filler that melts away with alcohol. Lol! I'll have to find a way to sand the tiniest coners of this sculpts' eyes, somehow! Even my scrawny short, grown adult fingers get in my way of just being able to tell what I am doing. Let alone manage to do it, and not sand all the material right off -- it's a tiny area, and a tiny amount of clay! Why Can't I have tiny fingers at the tips of my giant fingers... T___T;;

The first image is my progress so far on the repaint, I still need a few more layers of acrylic, and clean up some areas. I haven't sealed anything yet. However, I'm very happy with how he looks so far, despite my not-so-smooth eyelids mod. Yet another reason why I hate it so much that he wasn't sculpted accurately the first time. *eternalsigh*

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

My Myou Bettina, wearing the first outfit I complete for him, based on Ken Kaneki, who he is supposed to be. He's a 28cm tall doll, and I am not skilled at sewing. So, I should have known making clothes for him, let alone based on anime characters, was going to be next level nightmare. I chose to recreate this one first, not because I keep forgetting to purchase size #4/#3 zippers white nylon zippers, but because I know the struggle is going to be real once I start making that outfit for him. I already made a few pieces of clothing for this doll, but finding patters that fit well is an ordeal. I also made a cloth/foam manikin, that didn't go too well. And also, an initial pattern for his awakened/battle outfit, but I am not sure it's going to go well either. I know I suck at sewing, and this doll is extremely stylized. His body is willowy and very close to skeletal-like (kind of like me, yay! Lol!). So, making anything from pre-existing fashion doll patterns needs a lot of alterations, and me making my own is an ordeal on its own.

Regardless, I am supper happy with him and how he looks with his smaller eyes! I am also liking very much how he looks as my Ken Kaneki! I knew I loved the doll, but now I love him so much more, that I know he can pull off the look, even if not anime/manga accurate (I feel maybe the manga version is more stylized, and has a larger head, but my personal preference is the anime with the smaller head, and not stubby proportions).

Unfortunately, and as I had feared. The mods I did on him are not permanent! I was fearing so, when I learned that people usually clean up mistakes when using the Vajello Plastic putty, using alcohol. I feared taht meant the product is not meant to have any kind of solvents applied to it. My fears were true. Alcohol will melt the putty right off! I was cleaning my 3D artist Leon head, and the mods came right off with the paint apps! DX Looks like I'll have to get some Aves Apoxie Sculpt Afterall! Oh, well! Live and learn, is what I keep on saying! I was actually excited about the plastic putty working for permanent mods, because I tend to not love my repaint work and rework/redo those repaints like there's no tomorrow! Now, I know! There's no substitute for Aves' Apoxie Sculpt! I kind of want to cry a little, even if it was kind of cool to find what I can and can't do, with the Vallejo filler stuff. T____T;;;

The super washed out looking photos were taken with my super old cell phone. I think I like the way that one works a bit more, but I don't like the hazy/blurriness of it all.

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I promise I didn't ask myself, " can I make a hyper-cutesy-looking-doll, hyper-creepy-looking, or what!" Lol! I always wanted to try my hand at repainting one of the Lol OMG dolls, particularly the male ones. When I got my Rocker Boi back when the doll released a few years ago, I thought he would be perfect for me to try. I got two, so I could keep one in box (he comes with Punk Girl). Sadly, he is a plastic shade of sun-burned red IRL. So, I kept putting that repaint off. I did make a mockup, and even planned on replacing his default body with the Mattel BTS body (I own too many, and don't really need any of them now! Lol!). His default body is too tiny for my taste, I would rather have a taller broader version of it, but there's nothing of the sort, that I know of. I am not a fan of the BTS body either, but that's probably the palest mass-produced body I own too many of, that I don't have to import and already have a million of them. So, I'll be keeping this dude on that body for a while.

My mockup for this repaint/mod has tinier eyes, and chipmunk cheeks. I don't know why I did that with the cheeks, there's no way in hell I can do that to this sculpt. I do want him to have much smaller eyes though. But I had to fill in the sculpted eyes with my old rusty Aves Apoxie Sculpt a million years ago, when I got this doll, because the LoL OMG eyes are massive!! And they are literally sculpted to be deeply carved onto the head. I had a huge pain in the lower back sanding all of that as flat as possible, without making the sculpt completely flat or ruin it in the way. I still need to mod/flatten it a bit further (the eye area), but I didn't have to add any filler as I had feared. The first time I modified him, and repainted him, I feared I had done a sh1tty job because my Apoxie was so old. However, I lucky didn't had to do any additional, additive mods. Just needed to sand a million years more! And I'll probably need to sand even further to get the tiny eyes I want, next time!

That will be the next time I am feeling energetic! I layered the paint way too thin at first, to match the much paler BTS body, so I kind of shot myself on the foot doing that. I do appreciate texture on realistic HS, but not on hyper-sylized ones as much. At least, not bumpy texture. I don't mind painted/faux/pigmented on texture on stylized heads, but I kind of mind this kind of thick texture from too many layers of paint (love it on 1:6 realistic-ish heads, but not on melon-headed anime-ish ones). It was my mistake, however. The next time I'll probably try to get myself a can of white acrylic spray paint first, or go thicker on my initial paint layers, for the color matching aspect. He's a vampire, so I don't want texture of any kind of him, I just want him to look dead-pasty-white-kind-of-pale, and I'll probably rebody him by then. I quite like him for now, I wish there was no texture to speak of, but live and learn I always say! (;

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

I'm done modifying my MYou Bettina's eyes!! I am pleasantly surprised, that the Plastic Putty worked, considering how much larger this head sculpts eyes are, compared to the much tinier Leon's eyes. There are many things that could be improved, as I am just learning and I suck, to h3ll and back. However, I am pretty happy with how he looks now. I am not satisfied with my modifications; I wasn't able to sand the material as smoothly as I would have liked. It just doesn't sand well, sadly. And because this is not meant to do sculptural modifications, it is a bit of a learning curb for me. I am however, going to keep using it for tiny mods. I might change my mind later on and splurge on a tiny amount of Aves Apoxie, only not to ever use even a tenth of the .25z, I believe the product is as a whole. But for now, I am happy I found this works rather well.

I might try with my Mano too, since it's a tiny area that I want to mod (I want to widen his upper lip, so it would just be the outer corners that I would need to add material to). Next, I will try on a few fashion dolls that I've been itching to repaint and mod and will try to smooth out the product before it cures, so that I void needing to sand it, because it's definitely a pain in the gut to actually sand it.

I love my Bettina very much, I just wanted him to have smaller eyes, as those are my personal preference. I do like giant eyes, but I prefer them on hyperstylized cutesy younger dolls. Not so much on "older" characters, and he's supposed to represent my fan-art version of Ken Kaneki, so I wanted his eyes smaller. That's why I went with Bettina, instead of my initial choice of Alan, but I guess I made the wrong choice, as Alan's eyes appear to be much smaller, considering the eyes my Bettina is wearing are his and the pupils are half the size of the default Bettina ones. Live and learn, I guess. I do love all the MYou sculpts, however, so I don't mind. I did always wondered if I got sent the wrong sculpt, but none of the Myou tinies, or at least the earlier four, have giant eyes. I wonder if the moulds got warped by the time I got mine, and that's why I got a head with much larger eyes? I guess I'll never know. Although, I did need to mod his eyes smaller in the end. Lol! DX

The last photo was taken before I sealed the work, the shininess is due to the acrylic mediums I use; it makes layering multiple extra thin coats of paint, shine bright like the rays of the sun! Kind of like I rubbed oil all over his face! Lol! (:

[mechanicalcrystalheartcrest]

Beautiful work so far. Look forwards to seeing him improved, by your modification skills!

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.