Interesting thoughts.

If you ever plan on doing a symmetrical OT helmet... I'd think that only these two features I mentioned are needed to be changed and pretty much nothing else.

However... you do know that the lines from the tip of the cheek corners to the eyes are dead straight on the RotS and not curved. I'll see if I can find a picture that shows this, in case you don't have a clear picture of the side of the mask without the dome on. In case you want to add this feature.

Oh yes. It goes without saying. And yes, I am very much interested in doing a symmetrical ANH.




I observe a very, very subtle curve to it though, and this most subtle curve is evident on the "Vader Project" pink, light green, light blue and gold helmets where detail is not obscured by gloss black paint. But it does make sense to have some straightness because eventually I have to extend the cheek lines to the back of the skull.

If someone can share side profile shots and 3/4 shots of their MR while standing 6-feet back, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Sorry for the yellow circles and text... but these were the only pictures I could find:



And you're right... there IS a slight curve... but not as curved as the OT.

It has to be curved at the upper cheeks because the upper cheeks are naturally curved. If this curve isn't there it'll look so-so and possibly forced.

Also, I guestimated that there is a slight "S" curve. It looks like on the prop here the cheek line ends by running into a vent.
I'm not sure what you mean by nail marks.

As to the comment "only seen on the right cheek on the OT helmet" the reason is that the left cheek corner is angled downwards on the OT helmet. That's how you get a straighter line.

No no... I think you are misinterpreting the pictures. Disregard the text, as the pictures were meant for something else... only look at the helmets and the lines and curves and ignore the rest.

The nail marks are the "tear drops" or whatever they're called underneath his eyes. They are squared on the RotS helmet, whereas they have more of a nail shape to them on the OT helmets.

Cheers. Hope you can use the pictures. Though... I think they are also on Jez's site, without the text and lines... might be better to use as reference than these.

The tear ducts are square-ended, indeed. There is, however, a slight curvature to them. They are also of consistent depth, so sculpting is a wee bit harder, but not impossible!

Impressive!

most impressive

Hey, thanks guys!

A little sanding to soften the features, and to approximate my best guess of the cross section of the nose.

And that's it for the day....

I have to go back and re-profile the nose. After the previous consecutive attempts, the arch of the nose was sanded down to accommodate the various possible interpretations of the bridge of the nose as seen in various available photos. So now that I think I have the bridge of the nose down, now comes the arch...

Take a look at the ROTS prop here:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/s ... Vader7.jpg

Regarding the cheek line, there is definitely an "S" shaped curve here. The lines are not straight.

Also, notice the tusk tubes, as they look pretty straight too.

Holy BigMac!! Amazing work!! And awesome detail on showing us how this project is being done. Appreciate the hard and detailed work your doing

Thanks, Sewie!

Here's a pic I had forgotten to post.

Sometimes it helps to take a break from a project so that you can come back to it with a fresher perspective. I'm working on another project to blow off steam.



The bridge of the nose turned out okay. Phew...!

So... four months later, I decided to pick this up again. I'm now noticing some discrepancies between the photos and my work. Time away from a project is always valuable, especially when you're constantly learning new aspects about Vader.

It's time for Casper to be black. A little black primer and, behold, Black Casper!

Now the eyebrows look weak, but then they kind of do on the MR. I have a decision to make: to try to idealize it or to match it as closely to the photos as I can. Part of the look is off because it's tubless and doesn't have teeth.

We'll remedy that shortly. I'll just add some more material to the eyes for now and then figure out where I want to go with this.

The lower eyelids are given better definition as well. The nose has been reshaped.