Topic: Darth More's Customs: Ugnaught Smith

[Darth More]

Thank you, RC-1136! It cost 12,90€ shipped (approx. $14.96). To me such customs are priceless, but some go for $30 to over a hundred dollars on ebay. Always love to look at all the custom masterpieces by Stronox's customs for hours, too...

Yeah, Bad Batch was a surprising announcement! It's like when the penguins from Madagascar got their own show. Lots of good stuff to come. Hopefully.
Thanks for your comment buddy!

[Tamer]

Wow, great custom. Had to get this one on the front pages.

If you can pm me or post en eBay link to your auction I can try to feature this customizer. Nice, very nice.

[Darth More]

Thank you, Tamer! We're currently chatting a bit and he has already sold most of his customs and the rest of the collection. So I was late to the party already, but he also showed me some pics of his other projects. He moved away from Star Wars and now builds dioramas of vinyl covers such as Metallica and Iron Maiden. Never heard of this idea, but it definitely rocks!

[Darth More]

Darth Sion - Lord of Pain


"Yes… of pain he has learned much. Of knowledge, of teaching, he knows nothing."
-- Kreia


"Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain, was a Sith Lord who lived in the time of the Old Sith Wars. As a Sith Marauder in the Great Sith War, Sion fought for Exar Kun's Sith Empire until the day he was struck down. Rather than die, though, Sion found that by calling on his pain, anger, and hatred, he could rise from certain death and achieve immortality, at the cost of all-consuming agony. With a body fractured and decomposing, but held together by the dark side of the Force, Sion survived the Great Sith War."
Source: Wookiepedia
Read the full article here.




I do not own this image. All rights and artwork belong to NexusMods and AlexPo21.
URL: https://www.nexusmods.com/starwarsjedifallenorder/mods/135



This one was on my list for a long time. And now I finally gave myself a try at sculpting.
With the latest reveal of Darth Nihilus for the Black Series 6 inch line, this fits even better in context. So I ordered a few materials, which were recommended to me and I like trying new materials and techniques in order to imrove my skills and gain more experience in customizing.
For my very first attempt at sculpting a male body, I'm quite happy with the progress so far:




Before & After:






List of Materials I used:

- Ugha Warrior (Hasbro 2007, Indiana Jones: Kingdom if the Crystal Skull, which I found on ebay.

- milliput Standard yellow/grey self-hardening epoxy sculpting putty
Buy this on ebay or Amazon using the forums' affiliate links (embedded)!

- Vallejo Grey Primer Acrylic Polyurethane
You can buy this on ebay or Amazon.

- Sculpting Tools
You can buy these on ebay or Amazon.

- Acrylic Paints by Citadel in grey and black (list of exact paints will be added soon)


You can see which other materials I use for my projects and how much I paid for them here.







Reference material:








It also comes quite handy to also take a look at some anatomical illustrations or even pictures when you sculpt a bare body:






About this custom:


I never thought I was going to be good at sculpting in 1/18 scale, but it also brings some advantages to sculpt in smaller scales. Less detail is necessary to achieve a satisfying result.
Darth Sion has been one of my favorite Sith Lords since I've played Knights of the Old Republic II on PC.
It's also a nice way to finally get along with my broken relationship. My girlfriend broke up 3 years ago and it still gives me a hard time. So far, I'm quite happy with the results. Never thought milliput was that great to sculpt fine details. It actually has two phases with different properties:

Phase I: right after kneading the two components, the epoxy-clay is nice and sticky. Make sure to wear fine gloves all along. The sticky clay attaches perfectly even to smoother, less rough, surfaces. But sanding the surface is always recommended.
You can form the clay perfectly since it is warm & soft here. It gains temperature because the reaction of the two components is a exothermic one.

Phase II: After about 50 minutes the clay becomes significantly harder. You can incorporate some bigger, less fine, details now. For example the collar bones were added in this phase.
Only sculpt as much as you can within an hour. I did too much and should've focused on the torso alone. But I was quite euphoric about the quality of the clay (plus I mixed too much together) that I also went for the right arm. I used some different tools like a tooth pick and the ones linked above.


I started sculpting the torso and the neck to get a feeling for the general proportions of this muscular dude. I wanted to avoid that the head looks too small or too big. I'm only getting started with sculpting, but I already appreciate Hasbro and their designers so much more. It's quite a challenge and needs much practice.

[Tamer]

You are already off to a great start. I think you are gonna be a natural with this sculpting thing. Thanks for putting in links to all the products you are using so folks can go give this a try themselves!

Off to the front pages.

[JDeck]

The sculpting is coming along really great! 

[Starchaser]

Nice job trying your hand at sculpting. It can be tedious, but take your time, the results are much better. Its fun to watch the progress you are making. Keep up the good work. I think Sion will look great when you are finished.

[RC-1136]

Looking great thus far! Keep it up.

[Moronarama]

I'm excited to see how it progresses.  I really appreciate the detail you are giving on the process.  I've had a kit bash Sion I've been piddling with for months, trying to carve the cracks in the skin rather than sculpt over.  My results have been spotty at best.  I think you have a much more solid plan.

[Don]

Damn! I can't wait to see this one complete!

[Darth More]

Tamer: Thanks for your faith in me! Yeah, I always give my best to give a detailed description of how I make my stuff. If it's helpful for some other customizer, then it was already worth the effort.

JDeck: Thanks JD! milliput is surprisingly good to work with. It's sticky enough to stay on the figure, but at the same time soft to be shaped to even small details. I wonder how fine their white sculpting clay is when the standard one is this good already.

Starchaser: Thank you so much! I did take my time and spent 9 hours on 4 evenings on this project. Tonight, I finished painting him. I'll share pics of him tomorrow, but I can already tell it was well worth to take the time. 

RC-1136: Thanks, mate!

Moronarama: Thanks a lot for coming by! If only one member can find something helpful here, it was already worth the effort. You'll see tomorrow which parts I sculpted and which I carved. Would love to see your version of Sion! Feel free to share pics down below.

Don: Thanks so much for your comment, Don! All the comments of you guys pushed me even more to finish this dude. Tonight I did and will share all the w.i.p. pics tomorrow - so stay tuned


Thank you all for your support by leaving a comment! It really made me even more ambitious working on this project 

[Darth More]

Making of (continued):

I added more pictures to the reference material and the beginning of this post under Reply #168.

When the first part of sculpting was done, I decided to further sand down the rest of the body for two reasons: better retention between PVC and putty and to not let Sion's body appear disproportionately large.




Sculpting:



I think the second arm was sculpted better in terms of accuracy. But who knows how many fractures Sion got and what else he did to his body, so I let some parts look disfigured on purpose.

Before I went into detail I formed the rough shape of each muscle:




If you dip your tool in water it won't stick to the putty and you can sculpt nice details and also smooth out areas. The head was carved, not sculpted. And after about 7 hours on 3 evenings, I was done sculpting. I worked on my black version of General Grievous while the putty was curing.





I also made a paper stencil for his skirt. Each square is 5x5 mm. The design is inspired by him being member of the Sith Triumvirate. So each side stands for one member. This came quite handy because I had three sides to cover. I also wanted to vary the only clothing he wears from the Ugha Warrior I used as base. The design is slightly changed by my own ideas. I wanted to show as much flesh of his destructed body as possible and also to practice sculpting to start with.




The stencil was then translated to some artificial and very thin leather with a pen. You can look for similar cloths and other materials at your local tailor's. I also painted the entire body with vallejo's grey primer (see list of materials in list of Reply #168).









Painting:




Primer: Vallejo's 74.601 Acrylic Polyurethane Grey
Citadel:
1st Layer: Administratum Grey (dry-brush)
2nd Layer: Ulthuan Grey (dry-brush)
Wash: Mechanicus Standard Grey
Black parts (glove, skirt, band): Base: Abaddon Black
Wounds & Scars: Base: Mephiston Red, Base: Khorne Red (edges)
Eyes: Layer: Evil Sunz Scarlet, Layer: White Scar
Bone detail (optional): Layer: Screaming Skull, Dry: Tyrant Skull





I really think he looks great with two pale eyes, too. But I applied the pupil to his left eye to make it accurate to the reefence material. And here's how he looks finished:


Darth Sion - Lord of Pain


Darth Sion's Theme by Mr Game Sounds

I fixed the soft goods with superglue at the line where they were bent. I also bent the left one down and a little behind, so that his scar on the side of his thigh is revealed.



I do not own this image. All rights reserved for owner of embedded properties.
Source: https://hipwallpaper.com/darth-sion-wallpapers/


Comment:


I wondered how Sion looked on his back. Luckily I found this image above online.
I really enjoyed playing the KotOR games even though they're very time consuming. But they inspired me even more. More customs of Darth Traya to complete the Sith Trivagium and Atris will follow. I might even make my own version of Darth Nihilus after so many fans of the 6" line cried out in rage that Hasbro re-used Darth Maul. I'm just glad they give us more characters of the Expanded Universe. They wear black robes - that's what Sith do, but what do I know.

Working on my first Sion was fun. I went from dark to light and corrected a few spots here and there. Overall I'm quite happy with my very first attempt of sculpting a 1/18 scale figure. The colors look quite accurate, dry-brushing does almost always guarantee solid results. I took my time and tried to deliver his story. His body should look completely destructed with several crushed bones. That's why I left that bone tied to his right ankle. I though that might be the first rip he ripped out by hand. It's supposed to look like he bent it so tightly to his leg that it cuts into his flesh.

See also:

More customs of Darth Sion:

by Stronox Customs

by Strocos28

by jon_k

by jeffrey8322

by Rancor Scat

by TakeshiInhaba

by Rustyscustoms

by AjuntaPall


It always helps me to stay focused when I listen to music for example:[/size]

Grey Daze - In Time

- Philipp

[RC-1136]

Looking really good, brother. Keep it up! That cracked skin detailing is incredibly well done!

[Tamer]

Like I thought you are just a natural as this sculpting thing. He looks just awesome.

Hats off to you too for taking the time to show us the products, links, tools, and entire process of this from start to finish. This is just great reference material for folks trying sculpting for the first time. Hats off to you Philipp!

Of course off to the front pages.

[Mos-Eisley-Customz]

Looks amazing    ..that green stuff putty needs some major skill from my experience so props to you