Joe of War Customs

3" Anatomical Vinylmation

2011-05-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

This custom Vinylmation started out as just fooling around with a 3" white blank figure. I wanted to see how easy it would be to chop one in half, so I took a hair dryer to soften the vinyl, and a very big knife and boom! Easy as that. Next was coming up with something interesting to actually do with the vinyl. I stewed around with some ideas fr a few days and finally settled on making an anatomical Mickey. He's not exactly scientifically accurate, but it gives a decent representation of a body under the skin. I modeled the organs and their locations after human organs. Everything anatomical on this vinyl was sculpted with Aves Apoxie. For the base I repainted a Mcfarlane Halo helmet display, and used some magnets to help hold the head up and to attach the interchangable hearts.

I thought it would be cool to show the insides of a Mickey without eing too gross and graphic. I think I pulled it off with some cute details and only a few dabs of blood on the brain. The lungs, intestines, brain, ear brain, cartoony heart, and realistic heart were sculpted with Aves Apoxie. Rare earth magnets about 1/16 of an inch can be used to interchange the cartoony and realistic heart like an accessory. I painted the outside muscles in patterns so they would look like they could move independantly. My girlfriend thought it would be cool to do part of the head as a skull and the other part as muscle tissue. I took Val's advice and love how it turned out thanks babe!!! For the skull half, I painted the pie eye with some brain seen through it. The only marker I used was for the teeth and the crack on the top of the skull. I made the crack in the skull so that the ear would look like it was brain sort of coming out of the skull just for a cool effect. Finally for a base I tried to give it a rusty metal feel, so I gave a McFarlane Halo helmet display a full repaint. Added more magnets to the top of the base, and Mickey's head stays on easily (even weighing as much as it does with all that Apoxie brain!)

Breakdown:
Base figure - 3" blank white Vinylmation
Base stand - repainted McFarlane Halo helmet display
Apoxie Sculpt - lungs, intestines, brain, ear brain, cartoony heart, and realistic heart
Rare earth magnets

Work in Progress and finished pictures:

9" Vinylmation Bioshock's Sander Cohen

2011-03-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Another Sander Cohen custom, this time I made from a blank white 9" Vinylmation. I used only a pencil and acrylic paints, no stencils or shortcuts. He is by far my favorite villian from Bioshock, so I wanted to point out some of his features I gave him that are also seen in the game.

Starting with his ears, his right ear is the symbol for the "Incinerate" plasmid. Basically gives him fire at his fingertips to defeat foes. His left ear represents the "Houdini" plasmid, which helps him to teleport short distances. As for his head, I wanted to give Sander his face paint he wears in the game. I painted his face in a skin tone, then went over it many times with mostly subtle shades of white and grey. I wanted to give him really creepy eyes that stood out, so they were my focus for his face. Long eye lashes, runny makeup, and bloodshot eyes give this artist / showman that slightly disturbed look. Added a few blood stains on his face and on his gloves (from his dirty work).

Moving onto the suit, I based its coloring on a painting I have of Sander, by Robb Waters. I wanted to emphasize the flower on his jacket lapel, so I made it bigger than it should be. I also gave him a crooked bow tie, vest, shirt, and another bit of blood spatter. His shoes are the iconic two-tone style of the early 1900's. I figured he might like wearing a little pink.

For the back of his head, I painted a wooden bunny mask. Many references to bunny masks in the game, including his symbolic poem about not being able to take his off. Other Houdini splicers in the game wore wooden masks, so I thought it would look cool. Confetti surrounds his mask to represent the confetti falling when you first lay eyes on Sander Cohen in Bioshock. Also wanted it to be possible to turn his head around and make it look as though he's wearing the mask.

His back focuses on a mannequin (really a person forcefully covered in plaster) holding an empty picture frame on a stage. I made steps to the stage and also some nasty worn red curtains. The mannequin was part of Sander's work of art which he called his "Quadtych". It featured multiple mannequins holding picture frames that you had to fill as part of a mission in the game. And at the bottom of the steps to the stage, I gave him some bold red initials.

References and finished product:

Custom Nintendo Controller Vinylmation 3"

2011-02-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, I am a massive video game fan and it all started back in the mid 1980s when I was about 3 or 4. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in 1985 in the U.S. My parents got it for my brother and I, and we were both soon sucked in, believe me! I still love the original 8-bit video games and I wanted to take a shot at designing a Nintendo controller on a Vinylmation. He's got the directional pad (D-pad) on the front of his head, and the initials NES on the back of his head. On his chest are the select and start buttons, as well as the grey patterns on the controller. On his shoes I painted 85 and made a nice shiny silver background to help the numbers stand out. The 80s were great years for me as a child, and this is one of my fondest memories of them. Oh yeah and I made a new logo for my vinyl customs! Thanks for looking!

Sketched this design to start:

Father Wales from Bioshock 2

2011-02-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

Going along with my Bioshock customs, this custom figure was made in the image of Father Wales from the game Bioshock 2. "The Silent God" referenced is the main character from the first Bioshock game - Jack Ryan. Let's just say Father Wales held Jack Ryan in high esteem. I started out with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure that is about 6 inches tall. His arms were far too stubby, so I sculpted extensions out of Aves Apoxie. I also sculpted rose petals, a giant butterfly to go on the cross, vines for the cross, and his hat. Used Citael and Testors acrylic paints to give him his new look. Since he's a spider splicer in the game, I had to give him those meat hooks to swipe at you with.

Base figure - Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure
Head and hands - repainted DC Universe head (Abin Sur)
Hooks - Mcfarlane fodder
Hat - cut vinyl brim and Aves Apoxie
Rose petals - Aves Apoxie
Cross - Buffy fodder
Cross vine - Aves Apoxie
Butterfly - Aves Apoxie
Small cross and book - Buffy fodder
Arm extensions - Aves Apoxie

Reference photo:

Base figure used:

WIP shots (Aves Apoxie - everything white):

Father Wales with accessories / butterfly cross:

Coy's Toy Chest logo

2011-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

This is a logo I made for my buddy Coy for his website, where he sells sweet 80s Transformers, GI Joe's, Ninja Turtles, HeMan - you name it! Oh I photoshopped everything but the banner, just so I don't get sued haha! His website is www.coystoychest.com.

Bioshock's Sander Cohen (version 2) with Mannequin

2011-01-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is my second attempt at Sander Cohen, Bioshock's resident disturbed artist. I used a different base figure for him and I also wanted to add one of his creepy mannequins that appear, and reappear many, many times in Fort Frolic. The DC Direct "Planetary" Elijah Snow base figure for Cohen was easy to paint over sine he was all white. Cohen's mannequin was made to look like he used plaster over a human body. I used a plant for the mannequin's rabbit ears, which fans of the game will understand. (Note he no longer has any arms even if he wanted to take them off). And on the plaster Sander seems to have painted little moths...creepy.

Cohen is holding a splicer mask that he repainted to his liking. He also includes a flower and paintbrush that I used Aves Apoxie and a toothpick to make. Check out those classic two-tone kicks! I think Sander would definitely wear pink. Oh and the mannequin's picture frame is also made out of Aves Apoxie. Tried to take a few moody shots with some gloomy lighting. I think they turned out nicely. Here's the breakdown of what's in the pictures:

Sander Cohen base figure - DC Direct "Planetary" Elijah Snow figure
Flower - Aves Apoxie
Paintbrush - Aves Apoxie and toothpick
Mask - Bioshock ladysmith splicer mask repainted

Mannequin base figure - House of the Dead zombie figure (plus Aves Apoxie, minus some limbs)
Mannequin rabbit ears - plant from Pirates o.t.c
Picture frame - Aves Apoxie
Figure display - Pirates o.t.c.
Poster - printed out

Base figure I used

Mannequin work in progress

Shadow of the Colossus 3" Vinylmation Mickey Mouse

2010-09-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

This here is my first custom Vinylmation. I got this blank white vinyl Mickey way back during my Easter vacation to Disney World in 2009 with my family and girlfriend Val. Didn't want to customize it until I had the right inspiration I guess. Playing through Shadow of the Colossus for about the 6th time recently, I was definitely inspired. Here is the 3" Mickey as Wander. Wander, the main character, must climb a series of 16 colossi and defeat them only by finding their weak points and putting his sword to good use on them. Defeating all 16 would release his girlfriend from a sort of deep sleep or curse. Pretty much one of the most beautiful games I've ever played and I've been playing them for 23 years so that's saying something.

Onto the symbolism of what I painted. On the front side I wanted to depict Wander as he looked in the game using a key element of gameplay. I painted his ear as the sun because in the game you have to use your sword's reflection of the sun to locate the next colossus in a massive open-world environment (including desert, forests, caves, lakes, etc.). The sword is from another figure I borrowed. The glyph on the front of his shirt is actually what the weak points of the colossi look like when you find them, only theirs glow in a vibrant light blue.

On the back side I used a reference picture of a colossus and painted him as a black sillouette. But I wanted to give a feel for his texture so I added some brown and green to depict the colossi hair that you had to latch onto in order to actually climb the darn things! They were made of mostly stone, grass, fur, and parts that looked like building features. There was a very architectural feel to all of them since they basically rise out of the earth when you find them. Anyhow I painted his pants green and it doubles as grass for the scene on his back.

On the sides I wanted to add some feathers of different birds hanging on his belt. In the game you could collect lizard tails, but I liked the look of hanging bird feathers instead (a little artistic license).

All in all I really like how it turned out. Up next I will be customizing a 9" Vinylmation Colossus to accompany Wander here. Enjoy!

Paints - Testors and Citadel acylic flats

Reference pictures:

Finished Wander figure:

The Artist:

The dog and the girlfriend's pretty nails:

The Mutant Raphael (Universal Monster)

2010-08-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well hey there! This wasn't really a difficult custom, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a huge influence on my cartoon watching when I was a little Joe. I collected them all, and recently I got my hands on a pretty beat up Raphael figure. His paint was chipped and rubbed off, so I figured I'd give him a new paintjob! His name is The Mutant Raphael and he is from a Universal Studios series of Turtles that Playmates put out in 1994. Anyway, I wanted to give him a new paintjob that made him look like he was straight out of an old Universal classic horror flick! P.S. huge horror/zombie fan here!

I used Citadel and Testors paints, mixing a few greys to get that greyscale feel to the figure. I Photoshopped him into the sewer photo, but I kept his original paintjob, get it? If I saw this guy stumbling towards me in a dark swer I wouldn't know if I should run or throw him a slice of black and white pizza!

Finished Raphael:

Bioshock's Dr. J. Steinman (a very plastic surgeon)

2010-08-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

My Dr. Steinman started out as a Freddy Kreuger in a surgical outfit. I switched Freddy's glove hand with Jonah Hex's. I popped his head off, added a Jonah Hex head, and sculpted his mask, head piece, flap on his chest, buttons on the flap, a bunny mask, some intestines, and a red adam bottle. A good amount of sculpting, but I love the game so I don't mind the work. The corpse and gurney are from a McFarlane X-Files Mulder set. I cut open the corpse and added plenty of nastiness to the pure white gurney. I bloodied up Steinman's face, hands, bonesaw, gurney, and corpse. Pretty much repainted everything here. Throw in some surgical tools and he's all set!! Enjoy!

base - Freddy Kreuger
head - Jonah Hex
mask - Aves Apoxie
right hand - Jonah Hex
head piece - Aves Apoxie
bunny mask - Aves Apoxie
adam & eve bottles - Aves Apoxie
intestines - Aves Apoxie
flap and buttons on surgical gown - Aves Apoxie
corpse and gurney - McFarlane X-Files Mulder set
tools - fodder
paints - Citadel

Reference:

Work in Progress shots:

Accessories:

Finished Product:

Batsu vinyl Kratos

2010-07-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

My second custom of my favorite video game character, Kratos. This time I took a stab at working with the oh-so popular vinyl medium. I think it turned out nicely too! I used a NECA Gears of War Batsu that I got for $5 from TRU. Nothing like cheap, fun materials!!

Well here's how it all went down. I gave him a base coat of Citadel grey foundation. Then I penciled in his facial features. Basically I penciled all of the lines before getting to the final paint job. After penciling, I used a lighter grey/blue Citadel for his skin tone. He's that color because in the game he's covered in human ashes. And I wanted to give his black lines on his body a sketchy feel that's why they aren't completely solid. I think it gives a cool video game vibe. His little cloth piece in front was from a Pirates o.t.c. figure that I repainted. And there was no Apoxie sculpt used in this custom for once!

For his blades I took a pair of God Of War weapons and repainted them completely to give them a metal blade look. Then I bloodied them up to give them a less friendly look, and also gave them a magnet each. For the chains I used some McFarlane "Creech" tentacles and painted them a bronze color, and added 2 magnets each. They are fully flexible since they have a wire inside, and connect to magnets on the back of Kratos' arms. Makes for some really cool posing actually! Check the pics! I used 9 rare earth magnets in all so that his blades could be posed for action shots. He also has a magnet on his back so he can hold a blade there when not rolling heads.

Recipe:

base - Gears of War vinyl Batsu toy
blades - God Of War figure fodder
chains - McFarlane "Creech" tentacles
paints - Citadel
cloth skirty thing - Pirates o.t.c. fodder
9 rare earth magnets for posing

Before and after shot:

Bioshock's Frank Fontaine (with plasmid effects)

2010-05-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

Audio Diary #47 - Fontaine's revenge... (written by joe_of_war)

"I gotta tell you Andy, your persistence never ceases to amaze me. You think you can just send over one of your tin-can cronies to finish me off?! I had the drop on that scrap metal freak quicker than you could say 'Busto'. Put a knife in his belly and his suit on my back! This day forward, neither you or none of your Daddies can waltz into Fontaine Fisheries expectin' to come out alive. So let this Delta be a prime example of what's comin' to you. You come out here with so much as a crooked smile on that mug and mark my words you'll be fish-hooked, gutted and floatin' topside by curfew. Now I got myself inside this clunker, all spliced up with more Adam runnin' through my veins than God-given. You want some kind of a war, Ryan? Some sick revolution or evolution like that Tenenbaum broad?? I got news for ya both, it ain't gonna happen! Not on my watch. I got workers linin' up to snuff you out for nothin' more than a handshake with the boss! Better lay off the cheap dames and the nose candy 'cuz I'm comin' for YOU Ryan, baby! And I'm gonna send you back to fresh-air Liberty in a box!! YOU HEAR ME RYAN?! IN A BOX!!!"

This is Frank Fontaine in a Subject Delta Big Daddy suit. He is also sporting the Winter Blast plasmid (basically a superpower that allows him to control ice). He was made from a NECA Subject Delta and has some heavy modification going on. Starting with the head, it was a DCU Lex Luther that was a clear cast and had to be painted in full. I gave his eyes a wintery feel too. His torso was from a DC Boomerang - repainted brown, and the neck blue for ice.

The factory NECA figure was an empty shell with no human inside and no way of seeing inside the suit. The factory helmet was solid, non see-through, and you couldn't remove it at all. Well I fixed all that! I altered his helmet to be removable and I also added clear plastic for his see-through visor. The helmet can be unhinged and put back in place since I added 2 rare earth magnets 1/4 in diameter - 1 on the helmet and 1 behind his head. Ice was sculpted around the visor and the helmet was painted to look frozen. As for the drill and alternate right arm, they were also painted to look frozen. Seashells, barnacles and starfish were all fodder from various figures. Paints were Testors, Tamiya and Citadel acrylics.

Reference:

Base Figure:

Work in progress of head and body (paint and sculpt):

Frank Fontaine finished:

Indiana Gerry

2010-05-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

This latest custom was for my Uncle Gerry, who loves Indiana Jones. It was commissioned by my aunt Sandy for his 55th birthday. He's a big Phillies fan too, so I figured hey I'll throw an old 80s style light blue Phils jersey on him (all my dad's brothers are into Philly teams, we hail from Delaware so it's a must). Since he was turning 55 and also born in 1955, I painted that as his jersey number in maroon. Had to give him the hat and whip, otherwise he wouldn't be Indiana Gerry! Painted his pants brown like Indies', and gave him a lighter brown shirt under the jersey. Also had to paint the jersey logo, stripes, his moustache, and hair. I just wanted to go half and half with the themed colors, and I think it worked out well! He loved it and my Aunt thought it was awesome, so looks like another point for Joe! Oh and the skin color looks the best in the pics of him holding the figure. My pics are a little yellowish. Thanks for checkin' out my first McVey family custom!
Recipe:

Body - Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Military Xander" figure

Head - Buffy TVS "Spike"

Whip - Castlevania "Simon Belmont" whip

Hat - The Spirit

Paints - Testors and Citadel flat acrylics

Base Figure:

Reference:

Finished:

Doctor Solar

2010-04-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well here he is Boges! The custom you motivated me to work on. I saw that you used the ML Astonishing X-Men Cyclops and I knew I had one in the 12 inch Marvel Icons scale collecting some major dust!!! I dremmeled down all the yellow lines on his costume and got his visor down to the appropriate width. Actually the visor could be better but oh well. I sanded him down a lot and all the white in the WIP pics is Aves Apoxie! My first time using so damn much of that stuff, and it was awesome! I used it to make a sort of twisting flame coming out of Solar's torso, his chest logo, and also the pouch on his waist. I wanted his flame tail to mimic the comic cover shown. I had never heard of Doctor Solar before Bogie, but I loved Bogie's figure so I made my own version with a twist. Oh yeah and that is most definitely a doll stand holding him up, thank you much hahaha. Rock and roll, hope you guys like it! Comments appreciated as usual!

Recipe for the paragraph-phobes:
• Base - ML Icons Cyclops (Astonishing X-Men)
• Aves Apoxie - chest logo, flame tail, pouch on waist
• Testors Model Masters/Tamiya paints
• super awesome doll stand
• backdrops are printed form the interweb

Comic Reference:

Work in Progress (major sculpting!) :

Doctor Solar finished:

Bioshock's Andrew Ryan

2010-04-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Recipe:
Base figure - Giles from Buffy the V.S.
Head - Tony Stark
Apoxie used for - fixing shoe, golf tee and flag, golf ball, golf club head and handle, cigarette
Golf club (grey part) - ink holder from inside of a pen
Golf cup - pen part
Golf green - foam board wrapped in green felt
Magazine props and backdrops - printed from internet
Pistol - ML Union Jack

Okay I am a GIANT fan of the game Bioshock! Played through at least 4 times. Anyway I thought I'd make a custom of Andrew Ryan, the head honcho of his underwater city, Rapture. Backdrops are print outs I made at work, I did not design them I just grabbed them off the ol' interweb. Base figure was Giles who is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So I swapped his head with an angry Tony Stark head and repainted his outfit in Model Masters. I also had to fix his left shoe with Aves Apoxie. Other things I made out of Apoxie were the golf tee with flag, golf ball, golf club head and handle, and cigarette. The actual grey golf "club" part is the plastic ink holder of a pen. Golf green is made out of foam baord wrapped in green felt. The actual golf cup is bordered with a circular pen part. Enjoy gamers and feel free to comment!

Reference from Bioshock:

Base figure I used:

Andrew Ryan finished:

The Great Tiger

2010-04-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

My love for videogames is undeniable in my everyday life....still at 26 years old haha! My girlfriend and I bought the new Wii Punch-Out game and I had to make this guy! Here we have The Great Tiger from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! I thought that Kraven was the perfect base for him, being slender but muscular and having a GREAT facial expression! I didn't give him a darker flesh tone even though Tiger IS from India, but I still like how it turned out. The colors I used on his pants and gloves, along with the tattoo are all my new tweaks to the character. The chest tattoo is a tribal tiger image I painted, but was found on the web. Oh yeah and there I am painting haha!!!!

Recipe for Great Tiger:
• Base - ML Kraven
• Gloves - SOTA Ken
• Aves Apoxie - turban, mustache, goatee, glove parts
• Chest tattoo - pencil, pen, then black paint
• Testors Model Masters and Citadel paints

Joe at work:

reference from Nintendo game:

Work in Progress with sculpting:

Finished:

Overlord (with Minions)

2010-04-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

This masked man is from the videogame Overlord for PS3 and Xbox 360. He is an evil dominating ruler of his land and has many devilish minions who carry out his every diabolical wish. I took some new pics of Overlord since the August CMC with his evil minions (courtesy of Gamestop). Overlord took weeks to complete and has multiple coats of Citadel and Testors Model Masters paints. Note the worn armor effects and how the armor realisticly shines in the sun...hopefully blinding his pathetic enemies!
Recipe :
- Base : DCU Ares
- Aves Apoxie : anything white in WIP photo (helmet horns, arm gauntlet) plus red horn on bottom of axe
- Weaponry / silver armor / Lion Boot : Spawn fodder repainted
- Cape in back : from DCU Azrael repainted
- Cape in front and below waist : Spawn and DCU Azrael also repainted

reference is from concept art of game:

Work in Progress with Aves Apoxie:

Overlord finished:

Goin' old school with The Magus Triumphant

2010-04-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

(from Infinity War circa 1992)

Recipe:
Head - ML Magneto series 3
Body - ML Adam Warlock (Red Hulk series)
Belt - repainted fodder
Afro - sculpted
Lightning Bolt - sculpted
Right Arm Band - sculpted
Shouler Pads - sculpted
Boot fronts - sculpted
Paints - Citadel Acrylics

This is The Magus Triumphant as portrayed by me. I was reading through the Infinity War and Infinity Gauntlet series and I thought this guy was awesome! He's basically the alter ego of Adam Warlock, which is what I used for the base figure. I used a couple different refences as you can see, one from Infinity War, and another with the afro from Wikipedia. Gotta love the afro! Everything in the WIP picture that is white was sculpted by me. Everything in general was disassembled, dremmeled, sanded for paint rub, and repainted too.

comic reference:

Work in Progress:

Completed Magus:

Kratos My Little Pony

2010-04-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

from God Of War (Playstation 2 game)

Backstory:
Kratos (the ghost of Sparta) has become one of my favorite video game heroes of all time ever since the first God of War came out for Playstation 2 in 2005. He plots fiercly against the gods of Olympus in his efforts to rescue his wife and daughter from the grip of Hades. Kratos had mistakenly taken the lives of the latter in a blind rage while in the heat of battle. Kratos was consequently forced to bear his wife and daughter's ashes on his own skin for the rest of his days. This is why he has an ashy grey appearence. And for the rest of his days, he would hunt down the gods of Olympus(and everything else in the way) to regain what he had lost. Kratos basically trades his soul to Hades to have the chance to get his family back again. Athena would lend him aid through guidance and weaponry on his long journey. Kratos eventually faces Hades, the god of war, in an epic final battle for the first game. Claiming victory, Kratos sits upon what was once Hades' throne in the clouds of Olympus. I could write a lot more but that's the gist of things and this is all why I am joe_of_war.

Pretty good amount of work went into this little guy! A full repaint of a silly ass My Little Pony toy from the 80s. Then with Aves Apoxie I sculpted his goatee, head armor, blade, and a little on his saddle. Borrowed some armor fodder from my buddy McFarlane to give him the armored horse feel. Kratos actually wear armors in the game at some point too, so I wanted to incorporate that.

I added rare earth magnets (really tiny ones, about an 1/8 inch wide) to Kratos' hooves, chain, and blade. One on each hoof, one on each end of the chain, and one on the blade handle. This way I can pose him and have some sort of articulation going on! It worked out pretty nicely for my first use of magnets, I really love how he turned out!!! Let me know what you guys think! Thanks in advance and sorry if you have dial -up I took a ton of pics!!!! Recently sold on Ebay for $88....YAY!

Recipe:
Body - My Little Pony
Saddle - My Little Pony
Blade - Aves Apoxie
Blade handle - McFarlane fodder
Chain - McFarlane Guitar Hero fodder
Armor - McFarlane fodder
Scar and goatee - Aves Apoxie
Head armor - Aves Apoxie
Magnets - rare earth magnets
Paints - Citadel Acrylic

Kratos from God of War reference pic:

work in progress pictures (painting and sculpting)....

sculpted head armor:

base coat of paint done!! :

Here he is finished:

blade was sculpted with Aves Apoxie:

chain with 1/4 inch diamter rare earth magnets:

My first REAL person custom - Chris Ford (my homeboy)

2010-04-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

This is a custom I made for my long time friend Chris Ford, hence the Ford logo on the t-shirt. The base used was a NECA Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield. Chris, my friend, is the man. I saw the resemblance right when I saw the NECA figure and I told myself I GOTTA make this for him.

The work -
Okay so I had to chop off a lot of the gear the NECA figure had, like holsters and the belt. I wanted to give him a more solid normal upper body, so I filled in gaps with Aves Apoxie. I used hands from a Battlestar Galactica figure. He loves Texas Hold 'Em so I NEEDED a hand with some playing cards in it. He also loves video games, and has played a ton of Guitar Hero. That's where the McFarlane guitar comes in. Only thing I did to that was to make the guitar strap out of a maroon vinyl. Easy stuff. I sculpted a baby bottle and put an "A" for Alexandria, his adorable little daughter. Oh and the bottle sits nestled softly in his belt holster haha.

Paints are Citadel flats. I repainted him head to toe to give him a less militant feel. Anyway I think that's it, and I hope you all like my first real person custom. Thanks for stoppin' by guys and girls! Chris, now you gotta make me one haha.

Here's Chris on the left:

Another shot of us (he likes Guitar Hero/Rock Band):

Base figure I used:

Finished figure:

Bioshock's Sander Cohen

2010-03-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sander Cohen is one of my favorite characters/antagonists from the game Bioshock. He is basically an artist who's snapped in the underwater city Rapture, where the game is based. Once reaching his area of the game, you'll find his grotesque mannequin sculptures and paintings scattered everywhere and his artistic perversions are revealed little by little. The Sander Cohen I made here was a commission, and I based mine on the original artwork of Robb Waters. Robb Waters created the character for the game and actually did a commissioned painting of Sander for me. It's shown below and is hanging in my living room. Anyhow, after a little dremeling, repainting and just the right amount of TLC, I present Sander Cohen! A round of applause my little moths??

Base Figure - Dark Knight Returns "Joker"
Hair - sculpted with Aves apoxie
Bunny Mask - fodder and Aves apoxie for ears
Bow Tie - Aves apoxie
Flower on Lapel - Aves apoxie
Vest and buttons - Aves apoxie
Rabbit and Butterfly paintings - watercolor by me
Paints - Citadel

Reference painting by Robb Waters:

Base figure I used:

Work in Progress pics:

Sander Cohen finished:

Classic Era Storm

2010-02-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest. With a grand total of ONE point of articulation, I present to you my Classic era Storm. She derived from a NECA Pirates of the Carribean "Tia Dalma" figure. With a complete repaint and an added (still modified) McFarlane base, she comes to life! I used all Citadel/Testor acrylic paints for this project. Storm's mohawk was taken from a DCU Ares. Her original base figure only had a right ear, so the left ear is from a wrestling figure. When I removed the original hair, I also had to repaint her entire skin tone because of blemishes from facotry glue.

As for paints on the dress, I used black, blue, and yellow mostly - which are Storm's primary X-Men uniform colors. Gave the black a slight purple wash and the blue a darker blue wash - might not show well in my pictures sorry. Oh and for her "petticoat" underneath her main dress I gave her a tannish off-white color with a blue and red wash. Let's not forget her white X on her stomach to symbolize who she crews up with at the end of the day. This I suppose would be a relaxing outfit for Ororo, but in the right time period of course.

The base. I used a McFarlane "Danger Girl" base that I got in a trade from one of you Soupers, sorry I forget who right now but I think it worked out! I sculpted over the front of the base to make it look like rock. Then I painted it grey with a wash and hand-painted that Storm logo - which comes from the Storm comic book I show in the reference picture. I sculpted snowballs that are coming from her hand to the base, along with foot placing for her to stand in. I was going to do a small tornado effect but she already has a base with that from a Legends figure. Well hope you guys like her.

Base figure - NECA Pirates of the Carribean Tia Dalma
Base mohawk - DCU Ares
Base stand - McFarlane Danger Girl modified and sculpted on
Snowballs - sculpted
Right ear - wrestler fodder

Base figure I used:

DOOM 3 Demon Revenant

2010-01-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

This bastard from Doom 3 shoots rockets out of his shoulder rocket launchers and runs at you all creepy-like to slash at you with his claws. Just take a chainsaw to him and you'll be fine!!

Ingredients:

1. Head: repainted Blanka skull accessory (SOTA line)
2. Torso and shoulder guns: Aves Apoxie sculpt for all pipes on torso (all white in WIP photo), base torso was ML War Machine
3. Forearms and Hands: ML AoA Sabertooth
4. Legs: translucent legs from Judge Death clear variant
5. Base stand: black circular flat base with translucent fire (fire is from ghost rider motorcycle, I believe)

REFERENCE:

Everything in white is sculpted with Aves Apoxie

http://www.kylerobinsoncustoms.com/toysoup/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=258&start=15

Fallout 3 Vault Dweller

2010-01-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Every Fallout fan knows what it's like to survive in the Capital Wasteland...NOT EASY! Here we have my Fallout 3 Vault Dweller with custom weapons. I included my absolute favorite weapons from the game so hopefully you guys can enjoy. What's a Wastelander to do without their trusty Fisto, Pip Boy 3000, Shishkabob, Super Sledge, combat shotgun and pistol??!!

Recipe:
Base: McFarlane Metal Gear Solid Sniperwolf 6 inch figure (re painted skin tone, face, clothing, all weapons)
Fisto weapon is from a SOTA Blanka (re painted silver and added metal bars for machine look)
Armor on right shoulder and left thigh from McFarlane fodder (repainted of course)
Bullet belt from DCU Deathstroke
Gun holster and pistol from ML Union Jack
Re sculpted hair and painted pink giving her that post-apocalyptic feel
Re painted outfit including dry brush highlighting
Re painted and used Apoxie Sculpt for Super Sledge (see WIP pic)
Sculpted Pip Boy 3,000 on her left arm
Repainted shotgun
Shishkabob is random fodder re painted and added flames
Paint: Testors acrylic

base figure:

http://www.kylerobinsoncustoms.com/toysoup/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=258&start=15

Apocalypse of Egypt (Sigma 6 style)

2010-01-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

My biggest custom to date!! I have always loved Apocalypse for his sheer size and power. So instead of using a Marvel Legends base, I used the biggest Sigma 6 character I had - Heavy Duty. And since Apocalypse hails from Egypt, I wanted to give him some extra Egyptian godlike flare (helmet and base). I dremeled the joints, sanded down facial features, and repainted the entire Heavy Duty figure with Testors glossies (blue, silver, black, and a grey skin tone). I repainted a McFarlane helmet and borrowed a base from McFarlane, and the skull from a Blanka figure. Looots of time went into this guy, mostly the paint in his face and number of coats I did. Check him out next to Wolverine....what a beast! The first picture is the base figure "Heavy Duty" that I used.

http://www.kylerobinsoncustoms.com/toysoup/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=258&start=0

Fulgore from Killer Instinct the arcade / SNES game (1st custom,summer 2008)

2010-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Here's my first custom that I completed in the summer of 2008. It's Fulgore from Killer Instinct the arcade/Super NES game. I remember rocking this when I was 12 in the arcade and owning 20 year olds haha! I used an old Spawn "Overtkill" figure and you can see he has been changed dramatically from the original.
I remolded his entire head with Sculpey. His claw blades were cut down from another old crap figure. I took the tubes from the Overtkill to use for Fulgore's breathing tubes on his head. Oh and the hair is a torch from an old Soul Reaver toy. I used Testors acrylics and I think it gives him a sweet cartoony look. Also lots of dremeling went into this guy! Let me know what you think of my first custom ever!

http://www.kylerobinsoncustoms.com/toysoup/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=258&start=0