Hi guys... yesterday I finally got started on a project I've been planning for a few months (after an aborted attempt a couple of years ago).

Here's the image that inspired the idea:


The cover of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns... my favourite Bat story.

Using the silhouette as a basis, I came up with this:



And finally got started on the armature yesterday:





You can see from the second picture that I've got a brass section at the waist, which is where I cut the armature so that the parts will be easier to separate later... for moldmaking. I probably need to separate the head and cowl, if not one of the arms, but will see how things come along.

He'll be built out of Super Sculpey Firm... and will hopefully take less than 6 months to complete :P

Updates as they happen! B)

A very nice presentation. Haha, and i see that u'd hired Megathron and Optimus Prime as ur helper. :lol: :P

Very nice idea, and hope that u would mass product it :lol: :P

Keep the pics coming. :lol:

Very nice artwork. With that kind of talent you should start a comic book. :D

BTW, the spikes on his gloves, on your artwork, are they left off on purpose or just that they are at an angle that can't be seen? They can be seen on the comic art.

I look forward to following this. :)

:o Wow Insomniac Zombie...

'Scratch building' my favourite hero....COOL man....the 'posing' for this Frank Miller Batman/Dark Knight that you choose really looks great...i think u might be the 1st person who do this posing... This pose also reminds me 1 of the Batman Vs Judge Dreed comic ...:)

Waiting anxiously for it....All the Best.... ;)

Updates in a second...

Becky, that's just extra energy at the beginning. From now on, presentation quality will take a dive till its finished :P

PoohBear, I had to adjust the artwork slightly, so they're just at an angle that can't be seen. I was filling out Miller's silhouette when I realised that he cheated a bit to get a more dramatic picture <_<

PcEvo, he's my favourite too B) I'm surprised no one's tried this pose before. It blew me away when I first picked up this book... more than 10 years ago I think. I just looked up the Batman/Dredd cover you mentioned... forgot all about it. And Mike Mignola drew it too!

If it looks decent enough at the end... I'll be casting this baby up :D

Batman Begins! (Terrible pun, I know)


Put some aluminum foil around the armature to bulk him up a bit... later removed some of it from his arms and legs, because the layer of clay became too thin.












The tools I'm using... bought them from Multifilla... except for the paintbrush handles, which I carved.


I'm realising a couple of things:

1: Miller drew him HUUUUGE... I mean, he's really beefy. And I'm a bit worried about all that weight on my armature, which in hindsight, should maybe have been a bit thicker. He rests flat on the base though, and is only really put on the pole when I'm looking at the pose.

2: The 'firm' SuperSculpey's only really firm in cool temperatures... so will be tricky to work with when it comes to detailing. Air con all the way after maybe?
:blink:

It start to look nice now, amazing skill u hav there.
It juz that, he look huge like u said.
Keep it up man.

As for the completion, u should "hire" some "sexy girl" to do the presentation :lol: :P

aww gee man... thats nice... cant wait to see it done....

like the way Optimus and Megtron worshiping the wireframe... :lol: :lol:

Cool man!!! U remind me back when I was college n using the excectly same way to do the sculpture!! Can't wiat to c the progress~~

Lookin' good man! amaze on what you r doin'...the 3rd pic angle looks like 'spidey' :P

Well u r rite Insomniac Zombie...this Batman is 'beefy'..i prefer those 'movie' version..more muscular especially 'Val Kilmer' version... :D

Agree with Becky saying....wonder who's the 'sexy girl' will be...mayB someone is hinting something Insomniac Zombie.... :lol:

Hmm... that's what I thought. Will keep "sexy girl" presentation in mind ;)
U know what PcEvo? I was just going through my comic... He's still not beefy enough! I think there's lots of pretty and cool Batman sculpts out there, I'd like to put out an 'ugly' short-eared one... just the way Miller draws him. I'll put up some scans from the comic a little bit later too, for reference.

Pandaren, any stuff to show us? B)

Thanks for the encouragement guys... It's a good kind of pressure to have you all anticipating the next post. Otherwise I'll get easily sidetracked! :P

Artists cheat alot in 2d comic art. :D

If I remember correctly, Todd McFarlane (sp?) had done something similar to Frank Miller's pose in his cover art for Spawn vs Batman.

Great job and keep it up. :)

Eh... tat one just an old time story.. i onli done once in college. Now planning to start new 1 wit another more good clay n material, but time not allow. Need to plan how in the future.

http://z12.invisionfree.com/ScaleModelsMal...?showtopic=1616

this was the last time clay sculpture I build~~a not so nice work.. :(

Rough rough head sculpt...





Pandaren, that looks pretty good actually. The anatomy is pretty accurate... I'd say if you get the right materials... you'd probably be able to work on more complicated projects without having to worry about things like drying time. With sculpey you can push clay around until you're satisfied, then bake it. I'd say that's a great job for a first time sculpt :)

Thanx man~~~ Tat head look good~~~

O ya, wat kind of material u're using for this? Can introduce some for me? Last time I use for tat one area make in korea, white color, hard to modify by pushing, n drying also take quite long time. But tat was no need to bake... seem it just like children use :rolleyes:

I hope can get some "real" material to start for another~~

Looking good Insomniac Zombie....waiting anxiously to c your final 'sculpt'

Gene,
coming along well.Are you going to make the figure as edgy as Miller's artwork? I was just wondering on the final rendering later because the artwork has such a poster like feel. You might have to resort to making this a modern art ala figure.
Jim Lee's art just graced the forum B)

Yup, the plan's to go Miller with his details later... especially the face. Haven't decided yet whether he should be grinning maniacally or looking very pissed off. I love his face when he's getting out of his Batmobile to fight the Mutant leader. I'm also thinking of making it a little bit more "Sin City" in style... sort of like this Marv figure



I believe Jim Lee's Bats was inspired by Miller. Here's a Miller blitz









I'm hoping to at least get him looking like this -

Very nice work Gene. I like the "you don't want to mess with me" facial expression. Can't wait to see the finish build.

Hi Gene,

I see quite a fair bit of progress since this thread started. Great action pose and I really like the facial expression. Nicely bulked up as well. Good thing you used foil coz as you said its going to be quite heavy on the armature.

Will you be using sculpey for the cape as well? I was thinking of foil to reduce the weight. Just a thought though.

Many thanks for sharing the progress of this excellent sculpt.

I like the marv (Sin City) look ... in DK/DK2 Batman should be a prettty old man liao ... so he should have taht Sin city Marv look ...

can't wait to see more progress from you ...

Well... the progress report is:

I'm starting over. His armature been a bit bouncy, and last night the brass section joining his upper body with his legs gave way, so I woke up to half of him on the rod and the other half on the table. Also, he's been sagging slightly.

Redoing the armature means his foundation will be a lot stronger.

Ah well... <_<

The Dark Knight had fallen :( How sad.

Do keep us posted as u revive the knight. :P

Ok, after that minor setback, he's back! :D


His new adamantium skeleton.

'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Knight'... :P

Best of Luck on the new 'build' Isomniac Zombie... ;)

Update:











I think his torso musculature needs softening up..

WOw! YOur great job made us speechless.......

You are fulltime modeller? I wann call u Master!!

I love your jobs. May I know where you bought those tools set
+ material to scratch built the figures? I wish to try one figure scratch building tooo. Thanks for sharing, Please PM me when u r free.

Small update, finally. Hope to have the head done by tomorrow :) Photobucket's not opening for me.. is anyone else having this problem?















Wuichong, I WISH I was a full time modeller :lol: This is still a hobby for me, though I hope in time, I'll be good enough to get a job somewhere doing this all day long! The tools and Super Sculpey came from Multifilla... and I got the metal rods and sleeves from there as well. Great place, if a little expensive.

Speechless :o , u the man ... keep it up... so real

Gene,
photobucket has that problem occasionally.
BTW its looking really good. The hands and head is very Miller consistent. Only comment is maybe the nose should hide inside the cowl?
I have compiled the mags last Monday but never got round to scanning the pages. I will do some this few days I hope, or else you want to take them first?

Thanks :)

Mr Loo, (can I call you uncle on here? :P) I've noticed depending on his mood, Miller sometimes draws the nose and sometimes hides it, I like the idea that Bats is getting a bit big for his cowl :)

Regarding the mags, thanks a lot, but please take your time... There's much sculpting to do yet. I've been talking to some garage kit makers in the States, they buy the sculpt from you outright, and then pay you and give you X number of kits in a standard deal. They also cut it up themselves, so it's not necessary to break it up for casting if going that route.

Wow, if this knight done, i wan a recast of it :P

Due to photobucket problem, I cannot see the pictures until now. I'm also having trouble logging into my account.

Your sculpting skill looks great! I like the bulky feel of Miller's Batman. I got tired of seeing too many sleek Batman.

Hahaha... Yeah, maybe I'll recast one of the kits I get back, and then sell it at a 'local' price. Otherwise it'll be out of my hands how much it goes for in the States/online, and they'll charge shipping some more.

Music to my ear :lol: Do keep us update :lol:

:)

WOw, look at that muscles, really Wow :o :P

Great sculpt, Gene.

Are U really serious about recast this?

CPTan

Where's the update ;) !??

Waiting for more.

Well, it's only taken me over a year but I FINALLY FINALLY finished the damn thing!

Here's a quick video I made:
http://vimeo.com/2765508