#PartialRepaint

[the-enzyme]

I cleaned my GameToys 1:6 scale Sephiroth’s figure lower-eye-lids a bit further, once again. I know I could have just wiped the whole thing, but I am scared of re-repainting the irises. I have terribly shaky hands, and the way they are now is not too far off from what I want. They could be cleaner of course, as I said, my hands are shaky! I have tried all the tips for shaky hands people doing miniature re/paints, I have been an acrylic on canvas artist my whole life now. So, yes, that’s as good I can get. I am in-love with this figure nonetheless so, so much! My ultimate all-time favorite video game character is Sephiroth! That’s why I have so many dolls representing him (none of them will ever do him any justice, and I would adore a CC version that was accurate, but never happening). However, out of the box this figure was a huge disappointment. I know a lot of GT fan-boys didn’t mind the less than stellar paint apps on this figure out of box. However, for the cost, it was quite the letdown for me because HT figures are licensed and sometimes cost less than this one did but have much more precise and accurate paint apps. Not like I love HT, but they do have better paint apps in general, for what their figures retail for (no Japanese video game ones from them ever again, sadly or fortunately?).

Long rant longer, I am happy with him for now! I wish I could redo the lips and be satisfied with them as well. I removed a lot of the gloss, and they do look better (to me), but far from what I wanted them to look like. Not only are they uneven (due to my shaky freaking old-person hands!), but they are also a lot darker than I wanted them to be. I will attempt redoing those once again, another time. These are all repetitive extreme close-ups because I am “showing off” his newly cleaned lower eyelids, and there are a thousand photos of his, already in his full-set elsewhere. I was lazy to remove his body from his box (I don’t have display room for massive 1:6 figures right now, or any figure for that matter), to take photos of him on his default Sephiroth outfitted body. 

I took these with my older than dust cell phone’s camera, because it takes more accurate photos (light, color, ambiance, shadows etc.) than my newer cell phone’s camera (with all and its fancier settings). However, the older one has trouble now not taking ultra-blurry photos. I also need a tripod for my cell phones. I was never into the idea of taking photos with my cell phone, so I never got one and the one for my camera won’t work. Unless I have an adaptor, and I am not sure which one will be more costly. I might “splurge” on one or the other, when I am feeling extra fancy. lol! DX

[the-enzyme]

More GameToys Sephiroth spammage! I cleaned up his lower eyelid a bit (the puffy, “smiley” lower-eyelid part, not the waterline). I am in love with this figure for sure, despite my shortcomings when it comes to repainting tiny things. He was a gorgeous figure from the beginning, just felt short due to what GameToys advertised his face apps would possibly look like (they never mentioned what pro-companies say to death, “prototype” not final product, paint might vary, partially done by hand, etc.), then the final product didn’t come close. It is because I struggle so much with my shaky-hands of doom, that I am not a fan of companies not doing the detailed work they advertise. 

I took these with a white background, so that my camera wouldn’t do weird things. The poor thing is on its last legs, and I love blackness, but I feel that my camera struggles more with dark backgrounds. I don’t have space for displaying him out of his box right now, so that’s why I didn’t take any photos with his “extra” parts, like his epic Masamune or wing (the latter which I’ll probably won’t use ever, because it seems some of them weren’t set properly and the dye bleeds). I didn’t want to switch out his hands for that reason as well, I will be keeping him in his box for a while and his other hands don’t fit inside the cut out he rests in, without possible damage. 

I included some full-shots this time, as well as a not too close, close up of his closed eyed sculpt. Which I was contemplating repainting, but they did the lips a lot nicer than on the opened head sculpt, so I won’t do anything to it (for now). It is not as detailed and precise as the prototype either, but because the eyes are closed, it’s not a huge deal (for me). He doesn’t stand all the well without his included stand, but I didn’t want to build it due to the reasons I already mentioned above. I had to use a heavy glass bottle to prop him up, so he might look a bit odd in the full-shots for that reason. DX I love him nonetheless, and I’m quite glad I pre-ordered him around a year ago, despite what was obvious even back then. He is a beautiful rendition of Sephy. (:

[the-enzyme]

I’m finally done (for now!) with my partially repainted GameToys 1:6 Sephiroth action figure. I might attempt making the lower eyelids a bit less “make-up-like” in the future. I realized I don’t have tiny enough brushes for shading tiny headed figures. I could have definitely done a much cleaner job all around, but I’m okay with how he looks for now. He looks so much nicer IRL, but I suck even worse at taking photos and setting up lights, than I do at repainting anything, let alone tiny things. 

I took a lot of photos, but sadly my camera’s battery is dying, and I am not going to be replacing it, because my camera is also dying -- there’s no point in it anymore. Some of these are more horribly blurry than others, but I am keeping a few just because I liked the darkness/light. Most are repetitive close ups from a few angles, because I repainted his face and nothing else. There’s plenty of GT Sephiroth full shots anywhere else. That’s not why I took these. DX

I wanted to try making his irises a bit more cyan with yellow centers like OG Sephy, but I ended up leaning more towards AC/Crisis Core on accident (not because I suck, of course!). Regardless, I am happy with him (for now), despite the kind of not so clean lower lid. Which I’ll blame on my lack of tiny brushes for shading, I’ll need to get some for sure and maybe try again. Hoping I won’t ruin the irises but probably will leave for a lot later in the year. The last image is a comparison of the GameToys “prototype,” the actual final figure as I received it, and my partial repaint. Because just from the craptastic quality of my lighting/photos, it might not be obvious which is which. Lol! (:

[the-enzyme]

My partially repainted GameToys Sephiroth “1:6″ figure. I think I did the lips a bit too big. I also seem to have made them too dark, which wasn’t something I wanted. This is the first time I find pastel oxidizing so much that it looks much darker. Not sure what happened. I did line them with acrylics first, to make sure I made them as “thin” as the prototype seemed to have them.

The good thing is I can always redo them again, whenever I feel like it. I was thinking the head sculpt is different from the one GameToys used for their prototype. Then I was doing mock ups in PS, and thought maybe the eyes are just painted much sharper on the prototype. However, now I think maybe it is a slightly different head? I was looking at it from all the photos available, and it seems like the nose is thinner, or less wide at the bridge. Right between the eyebrows, or it could be the brows were painted closer together, to make him look angrier, slightly more insane (which I love!). I suck at this scale regardless, so my eye enhancements are not as clean as I would have liked.

My hands were shaking terribly, I should have put it off for another day. The thing is, I don’t know when, or if my hands will be less or shakier the next day. DX Old people’s problems, I would say, but it has only gotten worse with age. I was already a shaky-handed individual, long before old-age hit me. T___T;; I’m not happy with it, but I am okay with all the partial repaints for now. I will more likely than not, do the lips again before the year ends, and may or may not attempt re-painting the eyes. It was a partial eye enhancement this time, but I might try completely repainting them next time. I don’t want to ruin the rest of the factory paint, because it is nicely done, if not as detailed nor precise as the prototype. That’s why i keep saying to me this is not a $300 USD worth figure, they should have done the paint apps they showed the prototype in, or not shown what they couldn’t reproduce at a “mass-scale.” 

[the-enzyme]

I decided to go ahead and attempt repainting the lips once again, instead of putting it off, until whenever. I am quite happy that I decided not to wait. I also went and “enhanced” the eyes a bit further, and once again I am happy that I did. He doesn’t look as clean and perfect as the prototype, but I’m an old-fart, with super shaky hands and I don’t take decent photos to save my life. I can continue to make a thousand more excuses for sucking at repainting tiny miniature faces, but I won’t! I suck, I have said a million times if I said it twice. I suck!!!

I’m happy with how he’s turning out, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. I can complain all day, about how crappy and not-clean my paint apps are, but I’m not going to be staring at him through a microscope. Nor taking a million photos of him, once I am done and feel satisfied. I rarely take photos of my other 1:6 figures, even the ones I painted fully myself. So, I know I am just venting because I suck, but that’s alright. I can get frustrated, and as I said before too, it’s only going to get worse. DX

I took these before I seal the work for the second time. I will more likely than not, attempt adding detail to his irises a bit more. I will probably screw up, but I can always try again... T___T;;; I kept some rather dark shots in here, to show the lovely factory texture they added. It’s kind of hard for me to photograph (I’m not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination). That’s why I didn’t want to do a full repaint. I like the subtleness of the factory paint; I just wish it was a lot closer to what the “prototype” looked like, even if not as detailed or as precise (soundlikeabrokenrecordmuch?). 

[the-enzyme]

More of my GameToys Sephiroth! It seems I am currently obsessed, with completely ruining him for no reason. DX I just want him to photograph a bit better, I know I suck at taking photos, amongst other things. However, I don’t really like how “smudged” or eyeshadow-like the blushing under his eyes looked, once I was “done’ partially repainting him. He looks a lot more precise IRL, but my photo and light setting skills are just none-existent. 

I took a million extreme close ups to see if any would turnout semi-decent, but no luck. He still photographs like he has makeup or like maybe he needs some serious night-sleep (a bit racoon-eyed, coming from an actual insomniac who doesn’t suffer from those, I am not happy about it!). I tried placing my lights at a few varied distances, and angles, but nothing helped. I don’t own any pro-lighting equipment, and I don’t plan on getting any. I hoard too many toys to want to lose space for things I don’t really need nor use often to justify space.

I’ll add one comparison between what he looked like when I originally repainted him, and now. Probably hard to tell the difference, due to my craptastic photos, but you can definitely tell by the lashes. They are way crappier now! The ones on the left eye turned out particularly messy, which was something I was dreading, thanks to my shaky hands. They also photograph way darker than they are IRL, which is another annoyance, but for now, I think I will keep him as is. Maybe later, I’ll remove all the partial work on the lower lid and pray I don’t f-up the irises. Then I can have a “clean” canvas and try again, much later in the year, I am hoping. I’m a bit burned out right now. I love how he looks now, more than when I first received him, but maybe I should not try to aim for perfection, when I own the shakiest human hands on the face of the planet. T___T;;

[the-enzyme]

This is what I want my partially repainted GameToys Sephiroth to photograph-like all the time, when I take photos with my camera and not my crappy cellphone camera. Because I suck, and my cellphone adds a gazillion bits of pixelation. I’m not sure what I do wrong, when I take photos with my old dying camera, or if it’s just the light placement. I’m not a photographer as I have said a million times before -- my dying camera just takes clearer photos, with little to no pixelation. They are blurry as the dickens half the time, because I broke the lens and it takes time to adjust, but they are still far clearer than the cellphone ones. That’s why I tend to prefer it when I take or want to take “decent’ clear photos of my customized toys.

I took these when I was partially cleaning up his lower eyelids, with my cellphone, just to be able to magnify everything as much as possible while doing the “cleaning up.” To me, he doesn’t look like he’s wearing make-up, and looks just as he does to me IRL, just as I hold him in front of my eyes as opposed to through a camera lens. However, in the clearer photos taken with my camera, he looks like he has some amount of make up on his lower lids and a touch harsher in terms of facial features. Or at least, that’s what I see, and it bothers me to know end. Because I feel I sound like a crazy person saying nonsense, when I say he looks nicer IRL. Lol! I just wanted to provide a better visual of what my eyes see, and yet what he photographs as. I know taking photos in the sun, can make a world of difference, but it’s snowing here, and I have no plans to go out and do that anytime soon -- I love snow, and don’t mind shoveling a ton of it, I just don’t want to stand in it while taking photos of my toys. Nor will I try ever, because no snow means bugs around here and I’m not into going into their territory. ^_^;;

The acrylics were still drying in these, so that’s why the inner corners look particularly glossy and not nice and matte.

[the-enzyme]

Crappy cellphone photos of My 3D-artist resin cast 1:6 Leon S. Kennedy head sculpt, once again. I just repainted the eyes this time, because last time I kind of f-ed them up, by adding too much gloss. It’s a pain in the gut painting on such a small area with acrylics and getting it to look as smooth, clean and as detailed as possible. I wanted to add more detail, but with such a small area like this, when you have shaky-hands of a drunk, it’s better to do less (IMHO). I think I'm done for now. Maybe later when I start to scrutinize every single small flaw, I’ll repaint the whole thing all over again. Now I just have to consider whether I want to add gloss or keep the eyes matte. DX

I took the second image when the MSC was still drying, so the eyes look particularly weird/semi-gloss. I think I painted the right iris a bit off center, giving him the dreaded lazy-eye look, which is kind of not too noticeable, thanks to the hair right in-front of it, but it’s kind of starting to bother me. ^__^;;

I got a loose DAMToys RE2R Leon S. Kennedy body, so I can use it with this head sculpt. I originally got the WorldBox AT011 for it, but then I decided my VeryCool Monk head look good on it, and was too slim for Leon, so I got this one very conveniently meant for the same character, instead.