Studio Reveus

Done!

2011-06-22T14:10:00.002-04:00

Finished shooting and editing few days ago, now I'm enjoying my break!

Reviving back from the grave

2011-06-17T06:13:00.004-04:00

Hi Guys,

I've been spending the past six month out here in Vancouver doing my film study and pursing my dream. Been busy pretty much everyday. But that doesn't mean I stopped with my sculpting and hobby work! Recently I've been focusing on a individual study project which, for me, involves making a model and a diorama and then shoot it in a cinematic way. The model now is complete, and so is the diorama. What's left now is putting two things together and then some touch ups. Planing on shooting it on Saturday!

Here is the model:

And here is the concept picture I have in mind:

---- EDIT ----

Finally finished all the work, now is time to shoot!

That's all for today!

Back from Japan And Alive And Well!

2010-10-24T12:35:00.010-04:00

Hi guys!

Is been a long time since I updated, and yes, I got back from Japan few weeks ago.

The trip to Japan was great, brings back a lot of memories,and once again it brought back one of my childhood dream : living in Japan.

Guess I will just have to work hard and achieve my goal one day!

For more photos click here

Watched animation REDLINE while I was in Japan, this is definitely one of the best animated film for the past decade!

Recently I've been volunteering for an independent feature film shoot as a production assistant, therefore I haven't had time to much of sculpting stuff since I got back. The shooting starts between 6 to 8 in the morning and can last up to 14 hours a day. Although the hours are long, but the experience and the people there are really good! I'm learning new stuff every day and I'm excited about it!

Took this while I was on set. :P

And time flies! I will be heading to Vancouver in a month for my film study, can't wait for it! Now I just need to find a place to stay...

Main Colors Complete

2010-09-18T23:59:00.003-04:00

I just realized how much I dislike about painting metallic colors. Although the result turns out great, but the process is just very long and time consuming. Here is the latest progress:

I`ve pretty much finished all the body work of red and blue, except few touch ups and the shields.

On the side note: Heading off to Asia starting on Wed, gonna try to finish as much as I can before I leave.

Lots of Touch-Ups

2010-09-13T02:18:00.002-04:00

Masking have been taking up alot... I mean ALOT of time on this kit. Spent pretty much about A WEEK working on and off just trying to masking out the body. But in the end I still have LOTS of touch ups needs to do once the over all paint works are finished.

And here is the over all look after the body is done:

A New Direction

2010-08-29T23:17:00.006-04:00

University has been a struggle for me, and finally after five stressful years, I have finally completed my university degree and able to pursuit my true passion and dream. Looking back five years ago, I've come a long way, from someone who was so confused and lost, to someone who finally discovered his dream and passion, I gotta say, without the experience and people I met throughout these years, I would never be able to get here. Therefore I deeply thank you for all the people who have helped my through out the years, and thank you for all the readers who've been checking out my blog from time to time! (Although around 3K viewers over the past year isn't much, but still, thank you for dropping by!)

Now back to the main topic, since finally school is out of the way, I'm able finish up one of the work I've been working on, Gurren Lagann. (yes, I got so many projects to finish off that is not even funny -__-) And here is the latest update:

I finished the silver paint a while back, but wasn't happy with the surface so went back and did some sanding and now I'm preparing for a repaint of the silver.

And here are some of the progress pictures:

and here is the sneak peak of the finished forearm:

I wrote an entry few months back and mentioning about heading to Vancouver, and yes, by the starting of January 2011, I will be going to Vancouver for a year for Art and Design to truly pursuit my dream, and I'm really looking forward to it!

That's it for now, more updates coming!

Almost Ready For Paint Work!

2010-06-25T23:03:00.002-04:00

After spending last two weeks on and off sanding this kit, I'm finally close to start the paint work. The sanding work has been a frustration for me, especially due to the shape and the details on this kit. Now just need little bit putty here and there and some final sanding and then the paint work starts!

Let The Work Begin!

2010-05-11T00:36:00.003-04:00

Finally, school is *almost* out of my life for a while, after gone through 8 months of stress, I can finally see the light at end of the tunnel! Just three more months of summer school with light course load and then I can finally focus on what I love doing the most!

Here is a sneak peak of what's coming up:

----------
Add:

And I'm slowly working towards the finish line for unicorn's head display. >_>

Still Alive And Well!

2010-03-24T23:21:00.004-04:00

School is giving me a very hard time in my last year of study, but thank god there only about a week left and then comes the exams. Can't wait until school is over so I can get back to doing what I love the most~!

Finally Spring is here!

PS: I will be heading off to Vancouver next year for film study, wish me luck!

Project Review!

2010-01-22T18:25:00.008-05:00

Hi everyone, is been a while since my last post.

School is starting again, that means not much of sculpting or modeling work for me. However, I will be done school after this semester~! Can't wait until is all over!

Spent couple of quality hours at studio earlier this week to take pictures of all the "completed" works I've done at studio:

Start with a skull head, this is my 5th try on the human skull, is close to a life size.

Then did some facial feature practice:

Note that the eye is missing because I made a cast out of it, right now is sitting somewhere in my room...

And just before school starts, was playing around with my imagination...

And no, that's not ambassador Spock....

For more images, you click here.

Note that I'm trying to most of my pictures to flickr, please let me know if there are any dead links to the pictures.

Oh, been trying to pick up on photography lately:

(So much for being busy with school -_-)

Now, I have to spend rest of the month in piles of school work...

Production Assistant..? (Oh, Happy New Year)

2009-12-29T12:42:00.003-05:00

Well, looks like I will be involved in a school project for rest of the year! (yes, 29 to 31st) Got a chance to help out school's film board as a member of the production team, and another event in January. In that case... Happy New year everyone! And... A belated Merry Christmas! Hope everybody got what they've wished for!

Unicorn Head Update

2009-12-23T00:53:00.003-05:00

So here is a quick update on the head, most of the putty work is done, what it needs now is a proper base, or stand.

Time To Get Back To Work

2009-12-21T00:12:00.002-05:00

Finally finished all my exams, now I can fully enjoy my two weeks of x-mas holidays!

That means, is time to get back to work!

My skills are getting rusty, so the first thing I need is little warm up before I get back to sculpting later.

Start off by some hobby work:

Dengeki Hobby January Edition's special pack, managed to get two for a good price:

and some light work to the V-horn and over all design:

Should be done quick. Stay turned for more updates!

What's Going On Lately

2009-11-08T02:03:00.003-05:00

School's been tiring me out lately, hardly have any time for me to do things I love doing and keep it up to date here. However, better late than never. Here are the list of things that's been going on lately:

Got myself a first ever DSLR, still needs to get use to it, but gotta love the result and difference the DSLR makes!

Brought up the set design project that I was working on a while back, changed few things and submitted for a school project... I know, what a waste eh? At least it give me some motivation and some break from all the stress of school homework, and finding time doing stuff that I love doing. So here are the finished pictures:

The thingy in the center is a treadmill... don't ask me why is there.

... and some dude is peaking at it...

Out of boredom, just realized that now you can get something printed so easily... like this:

Also, got my hands on this little creature...:

Didn't have much time to play around with it, with all the homework still piled up there...

That's all for now, time to get back to endless assignments...

"Project R"

2009-10-15T10:52:00.003-04:00

Its been long time since my last blog entry. School's been eating most of my time and couldn't get around to do some cool stuff. Anyhow...

Recently I decided to collaborate with my buddy to try something new. Been planing for a while, right now we are still at the stage of getting ideas down on paper, is going to take a while to actually take off. However, got our first idea down for now.

Designed by my close friend Kai.

Is our first draft, although I can tell is little bit creepy at some point... The finalized version might going to take a while, so stay Tuned~!

Not sure if this is what we are going to call it, but we call it "Project R" for now.

Time Flies...

2009-09-07T20:28:00.003-04:00

Time sure flies. Is been almost a year since I opened my blog, although there isn't that many viewers, but it sure does keep me on track about what I do want where I want to be. Hopefully more interesting things can take place in the up coming year or so...!

Anyway, school starts in two days, been chilling for the past few days to get myself relaxed. You sure won't realize how tired you are until you take a break from it~!

Spent around two hours the other day roughly sculpted a T-28's head using sculpey.

Munny!

2009-08-25T20:24:00.004-04:00

Due to the fact that I've been keep seeing alot of munnies lately, finally decided to get one myself to know what's all the buzz about. Got myself a 4" munny, boy, I'm impressed! I really gotta give credit to Kidrobot for coming up this brilliant design that is so simple, yet its so standing out in a way. Anyway, here are the pics:

Now they just made me realize how far I have to go...

Edit:

............ THE BEST AD I've seen for a while now.

Random Update

2009-08-23T12:20:00.004-04:00

Been spending most of the time these days on a project that "we" decided to kick off lately. Therefore haven't been active with the blog post until I had no reason why I woke up at 6am today just to realize that my photobucket account reached to its limit. It's fixed now, but thinking of going to switch to flickr now.

Anyway, got these two books in the mail the other day, great reference books for collectors!

Its called I Am Plastic: the designer toy explosion and Full Vinyl. Both books are published in 2006 but still makes a good reference material!

And here is a sneak peak inside of I Am Plastic:

For sneak peak on Full Vinyl, you can find it here: http://www.notcot.com/archives/2006/12/full_vinyl.html

Also went back to Rage Tube the other day, decided to go over the concept once again because for some reason it looks out of proportion now.

Oh, ignore the dude on the right......

Unicorn Ver.S

2009-08-05T00:07:00.007-04:00

So finally got chance to post this thingy. Got it most of the work done back in end of May but never really got chance to finish it off. The main focus on this build is on the color scheme and the V-fin. Want to give it some kind of angle. Enough talk, here are the pics:

Not a lot of pose, because is wayyyyyyyyy too fragile -_-........

Some WIP pics:

----- Edit ----
weapon pic:

Took this a while back.

Mold Done

2009-08-04T22:21:00.002-04:00

So finally got the mold done. (the rubber mold was done on Friday actually, but need to finish the plaster hard cover on the outside.) Instead of block mold, this mold is done in a more traditional way. It costs less and more common for traditional artists. So here is a look inside of the mold:

The green part is the rubber mold, and the white part is the plaster cover to protect the rubber mold.

And here is the casting result:

Not bad IMO, except the fact that there are few air bubbles on the mold.

Studio Study Progress

2009-07-29T22:26:00.004-04:00

Here is another update of what I've been doing in the studio lately:

- Been practicing sculpting the human head in small style, did around 5 total, each one took me about an hour to complete, then realized that I'm having a horrible time sculpting the eye and nose part because I'm not familiar with the structure. Here is a picture of my second try on the head:

(yes.... I know is a very ugly looking ~~old~~ young man...)

Then went back and did few studies on facial features... First the eye (Did the mouth before, see previous post):

Then the nose:

And made a mold for the eye today, this mold is done in a different way:

Think the mold will be done by Friday. Now what's left is the ear, then I think I will be doing a bust in august to see how far I've come to.

My Work Station

2009-07-27T20:56:00.002-04:00

So after five days of waiting, finally got myself a new PC. Spent most of the weekend setting up the new PC, as well as rearrange my work room now so that I can move in my new PC. So this is how it turned out:

Like the fact that PC is one side and work station is on the other. Very convenient for me now because I don't have to run between my work room and PC. While was cleaning up my work stable, realized that Rage Tube isn't too happy about the fact that I haven't finish him for almost two months now...

Now, I think my table will be messy again by end of the week.

This is what I was sculpting right before my old PC crashed on me:

Miniature Tokyo

2009-07-22T13:35:00.007-04:00

While waiting for my new desktop to arrive, decided to take over my parent's computer for a while when they are not using it...

So came across to this video on youtube today, thought would like to share:

Miniature Tokyo, is just totally blow me a way... The entire film is done by taking photos and edit it through photoshop... simply amazing.
Few more:

Sigh There Goes Everything

2009-07-18T22:29:00.007-04:00

Well, finally my desktop is giving up on me. Hard drive crashed because it is too old... Now I really need a new computer, and just lost all the pictures I took before for my work... Sigh

Two hard drive crash in 3 months, lost everything you had twice.... not cool

More Skull Studies

2009-07-07T22:26:00.002-04:00

Been spending most of the time on skull studies in the last two weeks. The latest one is close to a life size skull. Still having trouble sculpting the mouth part, but improved alot on the over all proportion of the figure.

Here are the pics:

And a smaller Skull:

And here is the comparison pic:

Lame Health Care

2009-06-21T01:12:00.004-04:00

So have my first experience in Canada's "ER" last night, due to the fact that somehow I caught a "flu" for no reason... Woke up friday morning and can barely move my muscle due to the massive muscle pain and headache, along with fever and some other flu symptoms. Got worse in the afternoon and couldn't take it anymore at night so decided to head to ER to get myself checked for swine flue.... after nearly 4 hours of waiting, finally got myself checked, which, didn't even took 10 mins. What a lame health service it is. Cause of the sickness: flu + took two wrong pills in the afternoon -_-.........

On the side note: No, I will absolutely not going to use Twitter because is a waste of time. period.

What's Going On Lately

2009-06-14T11:09:00.003-04:00

Been spending past two weeks at a studio lately to do some self study for sculpting... Therefore don't have much time to get back and finish up Rage Tube and got lazy to finish what's left for unicorn as well....

And this is what I do at the studio:

couldn't get the hanging of it in the first few days until I found the trick for sculpting. Now I'm trying to push myself to do one to two projects a week for rest of the summer if I can to improve my skill~!

Well, there goes my summer plan...

DONE~!

2009-06-01T01:13:00.004-04:00

Phew, finished all the work last night. Only needs top coat now. Here is all I can show at this point.

More photos to come~!

Rage On Hold

2009-05-24T23:11:00.003-04:00

Rage Tube is on hold for now while I'm trying to finish up this other project done (almost done) and getting published if I can... (really should get one done and then start another one... sigh) So be back once I'm done~! (and that's why I've been MIA lately)

Oh, and no pics this time until I get response from the publisher...

... Rage Tube!

2009-05-14T22:24:00.003-04:00

.............

Well be done soon...!

Random Update

2009-05-07T18:24:00.010-04:00

Been playing around with mold making alot lately, trying to get the hanging of it before going back to sculpting. (and yes.... I spent around two weeks on it...)

Since there are some mold that I made previously and realized that I will not be using them ever again, I decided to recycle them and turn it in a new mold.

First, cut the old mold in to small cubes:

Then just mix it with some now silicon and pour it in:

Once it dries, is done. The cast turned out well, but I wouldn't recommend if you are planing to keep the mold in the long run. But very useful for making one time only type of mold.

So moving on, also tried to make a larger mold the other day, but it turned out to be a failure.

Here is the picture before the silicon been poured in:

And here is the result of the mold:

The problem? Do to the fact that the pouring path is on the side,he resin can't travel fast enough to reach to the end of the mold. Also, the air is having a hard time to escape there are alot of details involved in each parts. The correct way should be playing the pouring path in the middle of the mold, and keep the mold simple, which will result in better casting quality.

Will be going back and remake the mold soon.

And... is time for some sculpting work...!

So here is a few hour work-out for today:

Some Mold Making

2009-04-24T22:26:00.004-04:00

Well, guess I won't be getting a new desktop for awhile...

Since I have a huuuuugeee break between my next exam, decided to make a two piece mold.
After some research, I found that two piece mold works out alot better than one whole mold in terms of pushing out air bubbles. If you don't have a vacum machine to suck out the air while casting, is better to make two piece mold than one whole mold.

Alright, so here are the pictures:

First, use super sculpey clay to make the base, so I can place on the parts. Since it won't stick on to silicon, once the top part is done, I can just pull it off and recycle it for next time.

And here is the mold:

However, the cast did not turn out good:

Mainly because of the path opening for me to pour in is too small, and the air is having a hard time escaping from the mold. So went back and fixed the mold by making a new pouring path for it.

In the picture, you can see that a new path added on the middle part, which starts from the side. This way, while pouring in the resin, the air will be pushed upward more easily and smoothly unlike the previous one, due to the fact that the path were too small for it.

And yes, the result of two seperate mold is definitely better than making one whole mold. Although it is slightly complicated, but is great way for casting if you don't own a vacum machine.

Laptop Died...

2009-04-14T00:09:00.003-04:00

So there goes my laptop, harddrive died, needs to get a new desktop, and is exam period so I guess there won't be much update for another week or so... ><

So... next project?

2009-03-30T22:54:00.004-04:00

Well, I realized that the Xam'd project will most likely be a failure for me at this point, due to the fact that is bit too complicated for me for now. So decided to go look around and get some ideas for the next project.

Came across these two awesome trailers today....

I Can't Paint

2009-03-22T19:13:00.004-04:00

Ok I now admit that I can't paint figures.

Painting figures takes a different approach of painting models. Unlike painting mecha models, where most of the time you just spray, spray and spray (unless you are doing damage or shadowing), you have to know where the highlight is, and how to show the expression it has. Well, I guess you won't know where you went wrong without trying it first hand. So here is the complete pic:

Been sick for the whole week so the finish touch is horriable, I will paint another one sometime in the future once I feel better.

Ran out of flat coat........ have no choice but to suck it up and finish it with clear top coat since needs to finish this one asap.... been sick for the entire week.

Yeah I know... I didn't show the kind of effort I put it on compare to one of my old mecha works(Ex-S, see label). Please... throw the eggs if you want, but let me put something on first...

Colors!

2009-03-16T23:23:00.003-04:00

And this is why I don't have much post recently...

First of all, casting the base:

Added few left over plastic runners to create the pour in spot and spaces for air to escape.

Then, place it inside the casting block, and just pour silicon rubber in to it.

And here is the 3 piggies before the one of them about to get painted =P.

So, here comes the exciting part, painting!

Here are the colors I'm planing to use:

And here is what I have done so far......

The head is pretty much done, only needs to finish up the eye.

There are two more colors left on the body, should be finish soon.

The base is done.

Check back on the weekend for the finished pics hopefully!

About Time...

2009-03-03T00:07:00.002-05:00

Been busy with some personal issues as well as school work in the past few weeks so couldn't get much done until now.

Spent last weekend to set up my spray booth so that I can start spray again! (Yay~! Finally some paint work!)

So the piggy experiment is pretty much finished, over all, 9 pig heads, 7 and half pig bodies....

Few of them turned out well, however it requires alot of putty work because of the bubbles that got stuck within while pouring in the resin. Is somewhat manageable.

So here is a pic of one of the pigs been primed and sanded. Note that alot of bubbles on the surface area.

Also made a new base (looks kinda small...):

So within the next week or so, I will be focusing on painting one of the pig, as well as making a new mold with few adjustments to the prototype. So stay tuned!

Oh, the putty I'm using now:

Damn good!

Some Casting Result

2009-02-16T14:35:00.003-05:00

So last week's topic in my sculpting class was pour in resin in to the little mold I made two weeks ago. Since it was the first mold I ever made, there are few things didn't turn out well. The head mold didn't turn out well, however, the mold for the body turned out to be really well. So here are some pictures:

So here is the pic of the mold filled with resin, with tape wrapped around to keep the mold together from leaking...

And then take the pieces from the mold:

As we can see, the headband for the head didn't get casted properly, but the body turned out really well, except that i cut the leg too short...

So got time to play around with the mold, and somehow ended up with 5 pig heads on my table...

and with 4 bodies...

Note that some of the area didn't get casted well, especially the ears area.

However, one of the head I casted turned out good enough, just few small fix and stuff. So what I'm going to do now is going to fix up the one I'm happy with and make a new mold to fix few air bubble problems. Then hopefully I can start paint them if the casts turned out well with the new mold!

Err... Mold Making

2009-02-07T19:42:00.005-05:00

So this week's topic in my sculpting class is about mold making, that means.... we get to make our on mold for my figures~! So, I decided to make the mold of Mr.Piggy! (Which is the starter figure in from Vance Project, click here)

The mold wax (the material for making the mold) I'm using is called Smooth-On Mold wax 40, is a type of silicon rubber, really great for mold making and no mold release agent required when removing the object from the mold. (somehow I can't find a good info page about it at this point)

So here we go:

First step, I use Mr.hobby's Casting Block to build up a wall around the parts to pour in the silicone.

Then mix up the silicone and pour it in, try to pour it from one corner, because it reduces the chances of bubbles building up around the kit. So after pouring, we have:

A block filled with silicone, which the parts inside. Note that there are bubbles flowing on top, but that's ok, because is trying to push out the air inside the mold.

And things don't always go right for the first time, same this case. Since I did not stablize the head strong enough, it started to flow while pouring...(half of the head was above the mold... looks like a man diving... with half of his head above the water) so we had to push the head down every time it starts to flow... until the silicone starts to settle.

So after 16 hours, the mold is fully dried. And guess what, the head didn't pop out!

By removing the blocks, I got...

A mold!

However, since the kind of mold I'm making only opens on one side, (so that it reduces the seam line while casting) it was pretty hard for me to take it out without breaking the parts. So this is what happened...

A mold:

With broken Mr.Piggy XD:

Which is not that bad, considering the fact that is the first time, and the mold turned out to be ok, especially for the body, and the damage is somewhat fixable.

So for next week's class, we will try to pour in resin in to the mold and cast it, hope the over all process will be a success!

DIY How to Build An Armature ... for NOOBS!

2009-01-26T20:58:00.004-05:00

Spent few hours over the weekend to play around with aluminum wire to see how difficult it is to build an armature by yourself. It turned out to be a lot simpler than I thought. So here it goes:

Before you start, you have to know how big you want your armature to be. While I was playing around with it, the armatures are either too big or too small. Once you know the size, we can get start with it.

Tools we need:

One or two wire clipper, and a wire cutter. Not to mention the materials we need, aluminum wire, lots of it.

First, we start with two wires both with length of 25 inches long, take one wire, find the middle point, and then bend it, and twist it using the wire clipper (clip on one end and then start twisting) to make the head, turn it in to something like this:

This will give my armature around 12 inches tall.

Then, for the other wire, which is 25 inches long, we cut it at middle point, We will use it to make the arms. Then, we find the middle point of the armature I just built before. In this case, the middle point will be 6 inches from the head(or leg...). We apply the same concept, we take one of the shorter ones we just cut and start twist it together with the previous one, make sure that we are twisting the direction of the head instead of the feet... and we have:

Now we are almost done, all we have to do now is just twist the two leg wires together:

And this will give me an armature that is around 11 inches tall.

And here is the result:

Note: we can start with some longer wires and then cut it to the size we wanted after we done, but have to make sure that the ratio is correct: the leg is equal to half of the armature's entire height, meaning if the armature is 14 inches tall, then the legs has to be 7 inches long. And don't forget, when we extend the arms, it has to equal to the height of the entire armature!

And here is a small one, which is around 5 inches tall.

If there are any things unclear, please leave a comment, thanks!

New Year's Second Mail Delivery

2009-01-20T23:56:00.002-05:00

After 6 months of waiting.... this thing finally arrived at my mail box today...

is...

Gurren Lagan by Volks!

The cast quality is just amazing:

And here are some detail pics:

Here is the famous clear flame part:

Xamdou Update II (Here comes the arm~!)

2009-01-18T23:34:00.005-05:00

My original plan was to just build the body of this project, since I don't have much of experience of building armature for figure sculptures, decided to give a try on the arm. There is also an armature inside the body, but it was poorly constructed... Anyway, here we go:

Start with 5 aluminum wires, then twist all these wires together, leave one end open to support the fingers. Then I used aluminum foil to warm it around so that it can give space to clay to shrink once is fully dried.

Then cover it up with first layer of clay:

Then the rest:

And here is a test fit (also did some reshape to the body, pics later):

Now I need to figure out which way works best to connect the arms to the body...

For my next project, I will try to write a full self armature build since is hard for me to find a good DIY armature build for figure sculptures.

Edit:

and this is why I like gundam 00....

Project Xamdou Update #1

2009-01-14T19:59:00.003-05:00

This project turned to be alot more tougher than I thought, mainly because is the design/structure of the model, but a really good test for me to see how far I have got from my first one =D. So here is the progress for the body, got the shape out for the head:

That's it for now, stay tuned!

Project Xamdou

2009-01-11T15:45:00.004-05:00

Since my sculpting class won't start until Friday, it will be a waste of time not doing any sculpting/modeling work until then.

Here are the reference pictures from their official website:

and here are some progress:

Oh... here is the PV of Xam'd from youtube:

Hopefully once this one is complete, I can move on to super scupley clay... That's it for now, stay tuned!

Ryuo-maru Test Fit part 2

2009-01-07T19:06:00.002-05:00

Spent past two days to finish up most of the assembly work for Ryuo-maru, have to say that this cast is not great at all, same old problem as I mentioned in the previous post.

Anyway, here is the complete pic:

Due the quality of this kit, me thinking of resculpting this one and use the current kit as a reference. A good practice to me to see how far I have come =P.

Side note: Will be taking sculpting class starting next week, can't wait!

Ryuo-maru Test Fit part 1

2009-01-04T21:58:00.003-05:00

This kit didn't turn out to be what I was expected. Maybe the main reason is the fact that the kit I got is a recast one of the original kit. Spent two days on cleaning and assembling the body, and here is the progress:

Is almost impossible for me to assemble the arms and legs without major work on it, guess this one is going to take a while.

While assembling Ryuo-maru, watching this makes feel like a 8 or 9 year old kid....

Oh.. and for those who doesn't know where Ryuo-maru comes from, here it is:

Note: set design project is been put it on hold until I can get my hands on casting materials and set up my spray area.

New Year's First Mail Delivery

2009-01-02T20:22:00.004-05:00

This thing arrived in mail today:

Always wanted to get a hold of Ryuo-maru model since I was 9, now finally got my hands on it~!

Test fit pics coming soon, missing two parts.

New Year's First Post

2009-01-01T23:44:00.004-05:00

First of all, happy new year everybody!

Finally got my camera back, couldn't update the banner with a decent picture until now. Well, better late than never!

From someone who lost his directions, to discovering the true passion in his life, 2008 has been a long year for me.

Thank you for all the people who walked me through all the difficult times I had in 2008. I can't thank you guys enough! <3

Wish the best to everybody in 2009, the year filled with opportunities, love, and... cows!

Oh.. and the snow man:

And tool of the day:
Upgraded my hobby knife, OLFA AK-4, it has great handing, and can use multiple type of blades on it, but it is not recommended for beginners~! XD

Edit: fixed the music player, now using imeem.

Finally Back to Work

2008-12-22T22:04:00.005-05:00

So much for "this will be a quick build..."

Been busy with school work and all, couldn't get much done until middle of last week. So anyway here are the process:

The chairs are giving me a very hard time to work with because of the clay, since my fingers sweat a lot while working with it, which makes it difficult to work with the clay because water makes the clay go soft. So far, only managed to finish 2 out of 8 chairs.

However, on the plus side, most of the major components of this project is done. Right now it requires a lot of details, such as bulletin board on the wall etc.

And here is the door:

Here is the handle:

On the negative side, there won't be too much of an update until Jan because my camera will not be with me for a while. Hopefully I can find another one instead.

Oh, last but not least, Merry Christmas everyone!

Making Of Heating System Part III

2008-12-06T01:30:00.002-05:00

So... did you guys miss me?

After two major failures, I finally found a way to make the turning part of the smoke pipe for the heating system. So here it goes:

Here is the first try:

But the result didn't turn out to the way I want it. The reason is that the part that i want to work on involves two different materials, epoxy putty and plastic, which makes it really difficult to work on. So back to the drawing board:

This time, I start with a metal rod, and cover up the rod with putty this time.

However, with the lack of measurement while working on it, another epic fail. So for the next time, I decided to use .5mm thick styrene sheet and cut them in to circles, connect them with the metal rod and fill up with putty between them.

Then use hobby knife to work around with it, and here we are:

Together with the power supply:

.... 8 seats... needs some sanding/sculpting work

And look what I got?!

Making Of Heating System Part II (Making of Fence)

2008-11-23T01:19:00.004-05:00

So here comes the making of the fence.

Starting things off by build the two basic frames. The top one and the bottom one:

Then on each frame, drill .65mm (.025") big hole for the rod:

Then insert few rods for test fit:

Fill up all holes with diameter of .64mm styrene rods:

And finally, finish up the rest:

HOWEVER, I totally miscalculated the height of the heating system. The heating system ended up some what too tall IMO. Might going back and fix it (by cutting one side off and replace it...) later on if the scale is off horribly.

I call this some what epic fail. This is a lesson learned for me, still a long way for me to go.

Next, off to the pipe and the power supply.

Making Of Seats and Heating System Part I (Byousoku Update #4)

2008-11-18T00:08:00.006-05:00

We now return to regularly scheduled program.

Here is the close up pictures of the chairs:

It involves four steps:
First step is just making the seat.
Second step is making the back.
Third step is use design knife and dremel tool to sculpt in to the shape.
Last step is use sand paper and sand it in to the shape I want.

Now thinking whether I should just cast the prototype one eight time or make three more of chairs...

And the progress of the heating system:
Reference Pic:

-------- some more reference picture from the movie -------

-----------------------------------------------------------

Increased the thickness of the tube by 2mm by using epoxy putty and basic putty, the power box is made of Styrene sheet.

After some sanding, here we are:

Power box:

A different angle:

Now off to the fence around the heating system.

Quote of the day: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realisation that something else is more important"

So, How Would You Like To Be Introduced As?

2008-11-11T20:33:00.003-05:00

Been wondering few things recently so didn't really get much stuff done.

Was having a chat with my friend the other day on the topic of how would you like to be introduced. So it really got me in to wonder, what kind of person do I really want to be?

Everybody is unique, therefore everybody has things they really want to do. But the reality is different, there are things that what would you like to do and what you have to do for everyone. For most people, they have conflict answers for it. There are things that we all like to do, but there are also things that if we don't do it, we might not survive. But what if what you like to do is what you have to do... what if...

The current Yami:

"This is Yami, he is a programmer"

Wait a minute, a programmer... Everybody is a programmer...

But what if... :

"This is Yami. He runs Studio Reveus at (some place) for custom figure sculpting."

There, doesn't that sound alot interesting?

Life is too short to be wasted, be what you want to be, not what they want you to be.

Making Of Windows (Update #3)

2008-11-05T23:55:00.002-05:00

Spent some quality hours today on the windows, managed to finish 3 out of the 4 frames. The windows is built of 3 sections, back and front front frame, the middle one is a piece of clear plastic, which will be used as window glass.

Starting things off, here are the materials:

The frame is build out of 1.5 X 1.5mm and 1.0mm X 1.0mm strips.

Starting with the small window, use the 1.5mm strip to build the middle frame and use 1.0mm to divide up the frame.

Then place it in to the window section and finish it up the other half.

Then use this frame as the guide and build another frame, this will finish build front and back frame. Then cut out one of those baseball card collection protectors and use it as the glass.

Test fit.

Same thing for the other window, except the size is larger.

And here we are:

Making Of Wooden Panels (Update #2)

2008-10-30T23:08:00.006-04:00

First of all, happy candy day! (a.k.a, Holloween...)

Dropped by at hobby shop today to see if I can get any supplies for the wooden panels for the wall. Unfortunately, there were no right size for me. Well, time for DIY:

The main tool I will be using is BMC 0.15mm chisel, along with few supporting tools such as needle and ruler for the basic line scrap.

First, here is the measurement, the width of each cell is 0.5cm wide.

Then draw lines across and scrap along it :

And here is the result:

Over all:

Not bad eh?

Byousoku 5cm Projcet... Update #1

2008-10-29T12:59:00.006-04:00

Just a quick update, think this one is going to be a quick build unless I have enough time to paint it over the holidays. Anyway here it goes:

Will be using this as a reference, along with the art book

Spent few hours and pretty much finished the base, details will be added on from here:

Cut spaces for window:

Some quick detail touch:

Set Design Project...?

2008-10-27T23:07:00.005-04:00

Thinking of doing something different this time, instead of making a mecha model, I decided to do a set design model. So I took out Makoto Shinkai's reference book I got earlier this year:

which contains references for Byousoku 5cm, Beyond The Clouds, Voice Of Distant Stars and one of his Short animation for a morning newspaper in Japan.

(Camera is out of battery...)

Flipped few pages, then I decided to do a set design on this scene from Byousoku 5cm:

Since is not too complicated, I think it should be a good challenge for me to test my skills.

A better look:

Gonna do some drawing and see how the scale is going to be in the following days, hopefully I can start by end of the week, treat it as the project in November!

Toppi Is Done...? (Update #8)

2008-10-26T22:22:00.003-04:00

Finally got around to finish up Toppi this weekend.

Spent considerable amount of time on the bag strap, as well as the left hand, just try to get it almost identical to the right hand. However got lazy in the end, didn't add too much details on it. Planing to move on to the next project =P.

Project started middle of September, finished at end of October... Total updates: 8. Way too long, need to speed up.

Anyway, here are the pics:

Front:

Back:

Side:

Bag:

Comparison with original drawing:

"Let's be friends forever~!"

Alright, time to move on to the next one.

Booo Could Not Finish It

2008-10-14T22:38:00.004-04:00

Ok so I lied, couldn't finish Toppi by end of thanksgiving long weekend. However, I got close to finish, right now just need to finish up left hand and the other side of the strap. Then just some minor touch up, I have no idea when I will be done, maybe in a day or two, or maybe nothing until next Sunday. (Note, yeah is the week of 26th or something Orz.. )

In order to make up for my crime of not finish it on time, here are two pics:

Thoughts in a corner: A trip to France during x-mas...?

Now thinking about next project, any suggestions?

Quote of the day: Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.

Toppi update #7 (Toppi Is Angry!!)

2008-10-13T00:58:00.006-04:00

Hello everybody, this is Yami.

Here is some small update on the bag, there is some difficulty with the strap of the bag, the clay is too weak, so have to use epoxy to make it.

Here are the WIP pics:

Basic shape:

Here are some details been added:

And here is the test fit pic, note that the strap broke after I took it off (it was an accident T_T)

=====

Off topic, my dear France friend showed me a trailer of Pushing Daisies the other day... I got addicted.

PS: Yay counter hits over 100 since I added! (Note: at around 40% of them are from myself...)

Toppi update #6 (Neck ring is DONE!)

2008-10-09T21:06:00.005-04:00

Hello readers, this is Yami.

Spent couple quality hours today and finished up the neck ring. Used MSG (Modeling Supply Goods) for spikes. The size is slightly off, so have to spend around 15 - 20 minutes on each spikes to get the size right. Damn I love the result XD.

Here are the pics:

8 spikes been worked and ready to be glued on:

Finished product:

Overall look:

Next stop, the headband and the bag. I will come back to the hand later since I'm not quite sure how it should look like at this point.

That's it for now, stay tuned! (I can feel it, is almost done...!)

Old Work: Ex-S

2008-10-08T22:15:00.003-04:00

This one was posted on my old blog, and since Ravious Works died, might as well post it here and at least I can share it with my readers.

Ex-S Ver.S, completed in April 2008.

===================
Just too many pics... I will try to add it more later once I have time. That's it for now! Be back with more posts =P.

Ravious Works Is Over...

2008-10-08T22:06:00.005-04:00

Exactly 10 months a go, I got a invitation from a friend of mine I met on the forum to starting up our own hobby show case website, called Ravious Works. Things was going well until middle of August, the project has gone on hold due to variety of reasons. Today, things finally falls apart, but it was a great ride and a pleasure to know all these hobbyists that helped me along the way.

From bottom of my heart, thank you for those people who helped us out (if any of you are actually following my blog, if not, wherever you are, thank you!), although we have failed, but it was a great experience and worth a blast.

Without failure, there won't be success.

Some Mental Health Work

2008-10-07T00:28:00.004-04:00

Hello, this is Yami.

Added few things on my blog today, since the Toppi project is going very slow at this point. Here are the things added:

1) Music

Yes, I'm not a big fan of putting on music on to my blog, especially this one which will be focused on my sculpting works only, however I don't think it would hurt. Just adding some new flavors =P. The song I currently have on is called Diamond Crevasse from Macross Frontier (Yes, I do watch few mecha anime just for the heck of it = =;). Really like the voice and melody of this song...

2) Counter

.... Just for the heck of it
As time goes on, more features will be added, I hope they are not getting in the way for viewers =P.

Oh... and I don't think is fair without of pic of how far Toppi is doing:

Toppi has a tail now! (And all of the parts are present, now just need to finish it)[note, is tail not tale = =; Too much of Pushing Daisies these days]

Target: finish it by end of this week or early next week! (Damn this thing is been dragging for too long)

Call this an update..?! (Toppi Update #5?)

2008-10-01T01:33:00.004-04:00

Time sure pass by fast, October 1st, 2008.

Hello everybody, this is Yami.

Did a history check today, is already been almost three weeks since this project started, and is not progressing at the rate I'm hoping for. Kinda losing motivation at this point... Anyway, my goal is finish this between middle of October so I can move on to my next one (need to finish that one fast) and then progress to my "secret" (you called that a secret?) project... <_<

Ok enough chit-chat, time for pics:

"What are you looking at... Kuma"

front:

feet:
almost done the feet, didn't put much enough effort as I hoped. D=

Hopefully by the next update, I will get most of the body work done =P.

Toppi update #4(Time for some boddy work)

2008-09-26T19:22:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, this is Yami.

Been busy with school this week, now we are return to regularly scheduled program.

Since the head is almost done(except few touch ups), now is time to move on to the body. The arms and legs are all been separated, and I will start from the main body then the feet then the arms and hand after. Here are the parts:

Let the fun begin!

Toppi update #3.0...(yes... is 3.0 now.....with update on the head <_<)

2008-09-20T11:40:00.006-04:00

Hello my fellow readers, this is Yami.

Haven't really done much in the past few days (in my opinion...) so I can't really call this as an update (or maybe I should.... =P)

Got the ears close to finish the other day and reshaped the head a bit. Also added the nose at this point. still needs to be reshaped and stuff. Also, I decided to go with angry face!!! XD

----------------
(is not mickey mouse... is not mickey mouse...is not mickey mouse...is not mickey mouse...is not mickey mouse...is not mickey mouse...)

--------------
3.0 update, something just doesn't feel right, especially the eye part :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update on the head, pretty much done, only need to work on the head band now. Still not 100% happy with the result at this point, will come back later once the body is done =P.

That's it for now, really hope I can push myself over the weekend so that I can get the head done in time before getting piled up by school work =P.

Toppi update #2 (The head is starting to take its shape ^^)

2008-09-17T00:45:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, this is Yami.

After few hours of hard work today, now the head is finally starting to take is shape. I separated the ear from the head so that is easier when I try to create a mold when everything is finished. The nose needs to be add it, as well as the mouth and the eye.

The head is still not in the perfect shape yet, that will be done when most of the details are been added. Anyway, enough talking, here are the pictures:

Front:

Side:

Top view:

Parts:

Here are three choices of the face, still thinking over which one I would like to work on. (personally I prefer angry face, since that's stick to the concept art =P):
1. Angry face (as shown in the concept art)
2. Normal face (kinda boring in my opinion, but is a lot easier to work with)
3. Happy face (.............................)

any thoughts?

Toppi update #1 (Let's see how many updates is gonna take =P)

2008-09-13T21:51:00.003-04:00

Hello, this is Yami.

Did some final drawing and got the basic size done today. Now the real work begins.

(Please forgive me for the horriable drawing on the face <_<)

Here is the side view:

Now the head is slightly over sized, and this time, I need to learn how to divide up the figure in to several parts otherwise it will have a tough time while casting =P.

That's it for now, stay tuned ^^!

Project #2: World Destruction Toppi

2008-09-10T22:49:00.004-04:00

Hullo everyone, this is Yamisword.

Went to check out recasting materials today at art store, unfortunately unable to pick up the right materials that I'm looking for because is there just too many variety of supplies for me to choose.

Meanwhile, since most of the sculpting work is done for Mr.piggy, therefore since I won't be getting my recasting materials in a while, might as well start on my second project.

Toppi is a character from an anime called World Destruction, I found that this one has similar design as Mr.piggy, so might as well give a try =P.

So here is the concept art (I have to admit that I really need to improve my drawing skill):

And here is the scale drawing:

There are still few things I would like to add to the concept art, such as the side view of the body, the hand, and the shoes. The total height is about 11cm high.

That's it for now, stay tuned!

Yami

Vance Project Figure Starter Set

2008-09-08T13:34:00.000-04:00

Hello ppl this is Yamisword, here is my first sculpting project, Vance Project Figure Starter Set 1:

click here

Here are the WIP pics:

First I should explain what comes with this starter set.

(pic stolen from hobbywave XD)

Mr.clay, a set of sand paper from 400 up to 1200, a guide book for starters, a craft knife, mr.instant glue, a hobby knife and two tools that used for sculpting (I have no idea how to call them, please for give me <_<)

Here is the design in book =P

By start things off, I made a basic shape of the body, with holes everywhere:

Then apply clay to fill in the holes, as well as the try to get the shape of the head:

Then here comes the nose:

Next we have the ears, along with some simple drawing of the face and stuff:

Then here comes the eyes:

However, the nose didn't turn out to the way I wanted while I was doing some sanding today, so I filled up, and added details to the body:

side view:

Here is the complete pic, managed to finish most of the sculpting work by last week, now I need to make a mold of this and cast it =D.

Please, don't hesitate to leave any criticisms and feedback, I'm looking forward to hear the ideas and suggestions from you experts out there!

This is Yami

2008-09-08T00:30:00.000-04:00

Hello this is Yami.
Just trying to get a new blog running. More update on it once I have time.