Thanos the Mad Titan

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So I've been lurking here on the RPF for a few months and figured it was time to start up a thread. Seeing all the amazing projects here will hopefully keep me motivated to finish this one through to the end (I have a real problem with that).

Back in film school, I took a workshop in special FX makeup. I've always been active with different artistic projects and fell in love with this instantly. I've done a lot of smaller appliances or front face only pieces, but this will be my first stab at a full head (and hopefully costume/armor) design.

Being a life long comic geek, I loved the Avengers movie. Thanos, I've always thought, is one of the coolest Marvel villians ever and seems perfect to mesh with my love of SFX makeup.

I've only just started this with only a couple hours of progress so far, but figured I'd put up a few images of the progress as well as a CGI study I found in a Google search that will give me a rough guide for what the final piece will be like.

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[Banner]

Fixed the image links.

I always have a problem of keeping my progress symmetrical. I'll get going on one side and not keep the other side going, so then I get to play catch-up.

:behave

This clay I'm using is kinda a pain the the butt to work with as well. It's a NSP plasteline made by Chavant I've never used before. It says it's medium grade, but it's hard as heck. Have to throw it in the oven on the lowest possible setting for a few minutes to soften it up so it's actually useable. Anyway, I'll try and get a bunch more progress done this weekend. All the good shows are still on winter break, so need to keep going while my distractions are at a minimum!!

 

[CessnaDriver]

Cool, will watch to see how ol grape head turns out.

 

[Bluenyte]

Lookin good so far. I wish I would have taken a portrait sculpture class at the film/game school I went to

 

[Bloody Bones]

WOW! Very impressive.

 

[Banner]

Put in over an hour or so tonight trying to even up both sides a little bit. Looking better little by little. Need to get some sculpting tools this weekend since I seem to have misplaced mine when I moved recently. There's only so much I can do with my stubby fingers and "found objects" on my desk.

 

[BATS]

I was going to say rake out the nasal labia but if you have no tools LOL


Neeeeeveeeermind


Where in Wyoming are you?? I spent a few years in Cody as a kid.

 

[Banner]

Moved to Casper recently for a job, but lived in Montana all of my life. Its not bad here, if you don't mind all the ridiculous wind! . But Denver only being a few hours away is nice.

Yeah, no tools makes it pretty tough to do much detail work yet but I've still got some work to do with the basic form before I dig too deep into the fine touches.

 

[Banner]

Lookin good so far. I wish I would have taken a portrait sculpture class at the film/game school I went to

I wish my school had had more....or maybe it did in the art department, but I mainly stuck with film classes. A lot of what I know how to do now I learned from a former student at MSU that got me hooked on it. Did some REALLY limited wax carving in high school art class, but for me anyway additive sculpting is WAY easier than subtractive sculpting. Gives me that much more respect for the old master and all their stone/marble masterpieces.

 

[TessLaeh]

yaaayy! I love thanos! Chavant Clay will be awesome when you get to the detailed part and add in skin texture. You can always throw it in the microwave for a minute too, or get a big tubberware box and put a clip lamp inside it to keep it warm.

Watch out for the symmetry around the eyes- the cheek and brow on the left side of the sculptures face looks like they are out more than the right side

 

[Banner]

Yeah, I'm notorious about working only one side at a time, so last night I decided to at least make it seem like I'm doing both at the same time. I'll probably go back tonight and try and work on the symmetry a bit more.

Should have some more progress tomorrow afternoon... or later tonight if I get enough done.

 

[IndyFanChuck]

Okay, that is sooooooooooooooooooooo coollllllllll! Too cool man. I can not wait to see more photos. I will be following this thread closely!
:thumbsup

 

[Banner]

Got a few sculpting tools so started working on refining the detail a bit. Starting to fill in the back of the head. Kind of thinking I'll probably go structurally the same way the Dark Knight film cowl works so I can have more head mobility by separating the head from the neck.

Thinking the nose might be getting a little large and might have to chop it completely and start that feature over. It wouldn't be too much of an issue since structurally the nose actually sits on top the bridge of my actual nose (since you can see the top of my nose peaking a bit through the nostril). Including a comic reference image to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

 

[gregoriarts]

It's looking cool, looking forward to seeing the finished product

 

[GenoDesigns]

It's getting there Banner...you're right on..about the nose...a bit smaller....
Can't wait to see more dude!

 

[made007]

I like it, but are you doing the movie one, or the one you posted? Like the comic?

 

[synistergiggles]

this is looking great,it looks like a good reference for the super skrull i'm sculpting as far as the basic face structure being as meaty as it is.

 

[Banner]

this is looking great,it looks like a good reference for the super skrull i'm sculpting as far as the basic face structure being as meaty as it is.

Yeah, I always think about Skrulls when I see the ribbed lower jaw for sure.


As far as which version I'm going for, it'll end up being somewhat a mix of the CGI reference AND comic book reference. Personally, I prefer the look of the comic Thanos, but I've done enough sculpting to know that it wouldn't translate as well to a living character as I'd like (or maybe I just personally can't pull it off). Any critiques or suggestions are welcome!

As far as the rest of the character goes, I'm thinking of doing something similar to what the RPF member that did the one piece Venom costume did for the body and then scratch building some of the armor elements. That's a LONG way down the road, though.

 

[chuckyAPP]

looking great. why don't you try making your own tools? I've made many for myself and I like using them more than the ones I've bought.

 

[Remba989]

this looks great!!