[Update 2/26/21] I'm reworking pretty much the whole figure and sizing her up. Check out the new version starting with this post.


[Update 2/23/19] Finished the 3d print testing and painted the prototype. Ordered a copy from shapeways. Once I've got it and made sure it doesn't need any further refinements, I'll make it available for purchase. Finished prototype post here.




[Update 2/2/19] Started 3d printing tests beginning with this post if anybody wants to skip the design discussion and go straight to the prototype work. I hope to have more substantial updates and even a full test print in the next few days.



[Original Post]

I've been working on this on and off for a while and I'm almost ready to begin test prints. I thought I'd throw this out there for any feedback/suggestions before I do that, though.

This is Charlene from the Marvel G1 comic book. Skids was injured and pretty much left for dead by the Autobots while they were returning from a mission to the Decepticons' base. Charlene found him and had him brought in to a shop and repaired, assuming he was just a regular van (how she was planning to resolve the whole title/registration thing is anybody's guess). Skids liked her so he hung out with her for a while. Pretty much the reason why there's any interest in her character at all is this panel from the comic.



Mmm. ....what was I saying? Oh yes, so I've been designing a model for printing and based it on the Mega Construx figures because I love their articulation. I've given her pretty much the same articulation they have but I skipped the wrist swivel as she doesn't really need it and I didn't want to make her wrists big enough to handle a joint (her arms are already a little on the beefy side as it is).

I feel like the face is off and I tweak it pretty much every time I open the file, but I can never seem to get it right. I'm still fairly new to 3d modelling and faces are super difficult in any medium. Here's the expression I'm trying to capture but I just don't seem to be able to pull it off.



Anyway, I welcome any feedback/comments/suggestions. Once I've finished this, if it turns out well, I plan on moving on to Circuit Breaker - Charlene's clothes are separate meshes so I can drop them, model CB's outfit, and do a new head sculpt while re-using most of the work I've already done.

[Edit] Thanks to all the feedback I've gotten, I think I'm happy with the new face (below) but I still welcome any other feedback.

 

I think it is the width of her overall face along with the pointed chin of the render. The comic panel shows a longer, narrower, and 'boxier' head shape (for the lack of a better term). The eyes on the render are a bit bigger than what they should be, and the nose seems to be pointier than what is shown in the comic panel (a flatter nose).

Issue #20 Showdown! was penciled by Herb Trimpe. If the comic did not provide enough reference pictures, maybe looking at other similar-looking female faces (that 80s Marvel look) drawn by Trimpe would help.

 

Thank you so much! I'll try implementing your suggestions. As for the eyes being bigger, that's actually on purpose - the whole head is going to be around 5mm so I deliberately exaggerated her features to make them more visible at that size and so the detail will survive printing, some light sanding, and painting.

 

Needs an alternate cowbody hat headsculpt, otherwise fantastic. You have really good modelling skills.

 

I actually plan on making a hat that fits over her head. You might be right about the alternate sculpt though - it'd fit better and look nicer. Yeah, I'll do that instead. Thanks!

 

Those eyes are windows into a cold, dark void of eternal blight.

Otherwise, not bad.

I will also require a Zarana alternate head sculpt.

 

Better?



I've widened her jaw, narrowed the rest of her face, flattened her nose, straightened out her upper lip a little to look more like the comic panel, and I've reshaped her cheeks a little. After widening/narrowing, it became apparent that the big eyes were a problem so I shrunk them down a little (which is a huge pain because it requires making a million adjustments to the eyelids), and I also brought her eyelids down a little to be closer to the panel.

Yeah, I'm hoping as a physical figure with paint, the eyes will look less creepy. I'll have to try printing her with and without the pupil holes. I figure it'll help get the paint into the actual pupil area (which is stupidy difficult at this scale) but I might just need to get rid of the holes and just use paint.

Had to Google Zarana as I was never a Joe fan. I'll have to think about it but shouldn't she have more clothes and like boots or something?

 

Eh, if this is a true Mega scale, I can work with existing pieces and add to this chassis. Get where I want with some bashing.

I don't know, Mega eyes aren't so buggy?

 

Well I took some measurements from a Mega figure to start with but I didn't stay exact so it's not going to be compatible. I just mentioned Mega because I'm going for the same type of articulation (minus the wrists).

And yeah, I need to soften the seam between the eyelids and the rest of the face a little but at this scale, it's not going to be anywhere near as pronounced as it is in the renders.

[edit] Also, this is what Teela looks like when she's an actual figure and not a render.



The detail exaggerations I'm doing are to try to make the final figure look better than that, hence the buggy eyes. But I've taken your point to heart and I'm working on debugging them a little. Thank you!

 

@Hicks_Royel A little better? I've pushed her eyes back into her head a little and adjusted the eyelids and surrounding area of her face. I've also strengthened her philtrum (the divot under her nose) after seeing Teela's in that render, but it's not right so I'll need to mess with it a little more.

 

So, first point, you really need to look into scaling to Mega. I'd imagine that a lot of us would look into buying new head sculpts for our figures if not other parts for customs.

Second point, same thought. Battle Beasts heads for Mega's new Spartans. I have been hoping for someone to do it since they started with the new bodies.

Third, definitely getting better. I suggest looking at Mega's other renders that use less color around the eyes. Like Kirk:

 

I might do some custom mega work in the future. I really like their figures. This figure is scaled to mp Spike and I'm just using mega as an articulation guide. It's not too far off from mega but probably a little shorter and some of the pegs are smaller so I could make her arms and legs skinnier.

 

I think the main issue with the face is the size of the eyes. If you shrunk them down quite a bit (probably more than you think is necessary) it would go a long way to diminish that "creepy" factor.

If you find that when you shrink them down something is still off, try putting so.e more space between them and narrowing the bridge of the nose/nostrils.

I'm no modeler, but I've done a fair bit of sketching. These are the typical changes I make when I'm not happy with a wholecloth drawing.

 

Yeah, I needed to step away and come back with fresh eyes. I think I actually need to make the eyeballs bigger but set them in deeper so less is showing. That would make them smaller in her face and less buggy. Also, looking at it on my tablet screen, her face looks wider than I'd realized so I think I'll need to squish it in a little more. I hate that about art - just by working on it, you're basically training your brain to get used to it so you can't see the flaws, no matter how glaring.

 

Woo! I'm just glad that you're getting closer to her model. From looking at your earlier images from your first post to the latest one her face is getting closer to the comic image. At first I was going to say that her nose was a bit too short compared to the comic page, but the changes you made fixed that look.

As you can see from my avatar I loved that issue from the comics and have some pages from the comic just because I loved the interaction Skids had with Charlene.

 

Thanks! I'm stupid and forgot to copy the latest file from my work computer back to my cloud (can't have it auto-sync on my work computer) so I haven't been able to work on her since I got home but I'll be back to it tomorrow.

I love that comic too. It's why Skids is such an important character to me and why I was so excited when XTB did him. Can't wait to recreate the car wash scene and the Megatron dream scene.

 

This is a really interesting project. I’m excited to see where it goes. You’re going on a great track in terms of editing the face design. And it’s reminded me to pick up an XTB skids in my next scheduled purchase. Thanks.

 

Thank you!

Still tweaking the face. It occurs to me that I should probably be focusing on doing some test prints to make sure this project is even viable and then tweak the face like crazy but eh, I'm away from my printer and I have access to Blender so I'll keep at it.

Made the eyeballs bigger and set them further into her head so they're less buggy. I also brought the sides of her face in to make it a little thinner.



Not sure what I did but now her smile looks fake. Like she's being polite but isn't really smiling. So now I'm trying to figure that out.

 

Could try moving the opening to center on the upper teeth. I think that is how people's mouths look when smiling like that. Maybe that's why it looks odd?

 

Yes, I think that does look better. I also fixed her cheeks a little. Turns out that if you turn off the modifier that makes everything smooth and round, it becomes much easier to spot mistakes.



Lips, eyes, eyelids, and eyebrows are all separate meshes which is why they're still smooth and round.