My custom HT Hudson and Apone and repainted Drake and Ripley heads..

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JediMike71

GEAUX SAINTS!
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Hey fellow ALIENS fans and customizers out there. I am finally getting to a point of finishing my custom head for Hudson I got from Chris at EVA. I repainted his eyes blue, and cleaned up the paint job some more. At first I gave him brown eyes, and made his face too dirty I thought. After seeing a big recent picture of Bill Paxton from a board member I saw he has blue eyes. Here's a picture of my Hudson. Yeah, I still gotta touch it up some. I want to add the matte spray to the head, and gloss the hair up to make it look sweaty, and put gloss on the eyes and lips. I painted his forehead a little "splotchy" to give it that sweaty look to help enhance his panicked expression. But he's getting close to being done I think.

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Next is Drake. Oh boy. Well, at first I started out too light and too pink on his hair. Then, I went too yellow, and even got a review of his hair on this board as looking like Dennis Rodman! I didn't want Drake to look like him! I think I got it as close as I could to how he looked. I got some light brown in there, and some blonde highlights. I referred to the many screengrab pictures posted on the board to help me out. Here he is. I really think he looks great. I do have to add his scar coming from his left eye.

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Next up is my repainted head for Ripley. I had quickly painted her hair dark brown at first from the horrible red hair HT gave her. But now I've gone totally black with it after seeing other board members paint their Ripley that way and it looked great I thought. I painted over her red lipstick and tried to give her lips a more subdued natural look. I also painted her eyes a dark brown, instead of keeping them blue from the HT paintjob. Ripley didn't pile on the makeup going on a bug hunt!

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Last is the custom head I got from Lonnie Hale for Sarge Apone. The "hero head". I painted his lips too pink at first, and I've gone in and toned them down now (another suggestion from a board member). I think he looks much better now. Check him out.

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That's it for now guys until I can get the gear and stuff I need to make my custom Hicks and Frost. I'd appreciate you thoughts on them. I enjoy seeing everyone's customs, and respect your opinions and thoughts! Thanks! :D
 
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Hudson looks a little chubby in the cheeks but that's just the sculpt. Drake looks much better now without the flaming Dennis Rodman hair. Excellent improvement. Ripley looks terrific. Apone... his eyes are buggin! Looks like you painted white dots on the pupils. Leave the white dots off and just paint a small amount of gloss clearcoat over the pupil and it will reflect the light naturally like real eyes.
 
Thanks dekadentdave! Yeah, Hudson's cheeks do look a little "chunky" I guess, but I really love the headsculpt I got from Chris at EVA. I'll paint over those white dots in Apone's eyes, and put some gloss coat on them, and all the others eyes too. I left the white dots in Drake's eyes that were there from the HT paintjob. I just painted his eye color blue like it was supposed to be. I thought about painting white does in Hudson's eyes, but didn't after changing their color to blue. I will take out the dots in my custom Hicks's eyes too. Thanks for the great review. I always trust your tips and help and use it to help me out. Thanks again!
 
Nice work Mike.... The Drake is probably my favorite, looks the most natural. And Dave is right about the white on the eyes, it works a lot better when you leave it out. I used to do that very same thing, I think all custom artists go through a phase using those. But really, your work is coming along. Just keep at it and I promise they will only get better and better with time.

:rock:rock:rock:rock
 
Thanks guys for your reviews! I appreciate it. I'll adjust the eyes on Ripley, Apone and my custom Hicks, and take out the "white" in their eyes. I'm going to leave the white dots in Drake's eyes that Hot Toys put in there. All I did was just paint blue around the white. Unless you think I should go over the white dots in Drake's eyes too? Let me know. I think Drake's eyes look fine right now with the dots in his eyes. But then if I left them in there he'd be the only one of my marines with the white dots in his eyes until I finish my custom Frost using the Hot Toys Apone head like Dboz has done.
 
Great work on all those figures buddy!

You really have brought the Hot Toys figures to another level with those custom heads. Now they all look like their on screen characters and actors. Your Ripley and Drake in particular look dead on in my opinion. Your repaint of those two heads clearly shows that underneath the factory paintjobs lie some very accurate sculpts. The Frontline Apone head is dead cool also and shows tons of character with that cigar in his mouth. I agree with the others though painting over the white dot in his pupil will enhance it alot. You really captured the "game over/why dont you put her in charge!" aspect of Hudsons character when he was pissing his pants lol The sweat on his forehead is a cool idea!

Its such a shame that Hicks is so expensive on ebay now coz you really could do with him and Vasquez to complete your collection. There is a Hicks on ebayright now, ending very soon, which will certainly go for $270 - $300. Thats more money than I care to spend for one.

Maybe you could get an Apone for less and do a custom Frost.
 
Thanks Stendec! I appreciate it! I painted over the whites in the eyes on all of my marines heads last night. I also repainted some on Vasquez's head, repainting her eyes dark brown, and repainting her lips. I'll post some new pictures soon. I am going to use the HT Apone head and body for a custom Private Frost. I'm bidding on an Apone body on eBay now. I'll use a body and most of the gear from the HT Hudson to make my own Drake. I agree with you that I won't spend over $200.00 on a HT Hicks. I'll just make my own for much cheaper than that. Since Hudson and Hicks armor and BDUs are almost the same it won't be too hard to put together a Hicks that way. I already have a "hero head" for Hicks painted and ready to go. :D
 
If you need a head/body for Hicks there is someone selling a loose nekkid HT Stoner body on ebay. The id is 150134487080.
 
Thanks bwayne, but I'm good for Hicks. I have the custom "hero head" already painted, and I'm getting another Hudson body to use to make my custom Hicks. Thanks for the eBay tip though. I appreciate it!
 
Beautimus work Jedimike! Likeing your daring. Go for it bro!
Great repaints.

And yeah, not to belabor this....but I am the white dot hater of all time...

NO WHITE DOTS!

Sorry. Had to do that. Use clear gloss dude. Only animes and little toy cuteseys have constant white dots in their eyes. I hate 'em with a passion. Make me cringe. Your figures are too bada$$ for the likes of those...things....:monkey4

There. All better now. :lol

But otherwise, you are rocking your figures quite seriously! :rock
 
Hey Mike, or anyone who repainted Ripley, Did you paint the Ripley before or after you put her together? I am sending mine out to be repainted and am wondering what to do. I just got Ripley and want to put her together, but if it will be a pain in the @$$ I will wait.
 
Wow, thanks Figuremasterles! A good review from you for my repaints and customs is a good thing...a very good thing! Especially after having seen your masterful work on the Elder Predator and your marines, and other commissioned work you've done. I really appreciate it Les!

I'll have a group shot of all my marines and Ripley soon for you to see Stendec. Everyone at least except for Hicks. I hope to get an extra Hudson from board member Cocoboloboy, and use him to make my custom Hicks. I got in the jumpsuit and white tennis shoes/sneakers today in the mail for my custom Bishop. I have to paint Bishop's eyes on the Frank Black SS figure. He'll be in my group shot too. The jump suit I got isn't 100% movie accurate, but it'll do for now. At least until I can get a suit for Bishop that is more accurate. Hey, Pjam and other board members who've made a custom Bishop what jumpsuit or flight suit did you use for him? Let me know here on this thread if you would. Thanks!

By the way, Les, all of the white dots in all of my marine are now gone. I even painted over the white dots in Drake's eyes that Hot Toys had in there. I added more blue in there, and more of a black pupil. I'll put some gloss coat on all of their eyes soon, and some matte coat spray on the rest of their heads. I'm really proud of how my Vasquez turned out too. I repainted her eyes, and put some dark shadowing around her eyes, and toned down her lips. I think she looks much more like actress Janette Goldstein as Vasquez in ALIENS than Hot Toys painted head did. Like other members here have said Hot Toys has snuck in some nice likenesses to the actors under their weird paintjobs for Ripley, Vasquez, and Drake. Not for Hudson and Apone and Hicks. That's where great custom heads come in and save the day.

Bwayne, I'd advise you to go ahead and put together your Ripley. You can easily take her head off and on with a little pressure. Just be sure to support her at her waist or knees when you are taking off the head or putting it on. That's what I do. I have taken off the head many times lately to repaint it and it comes off and on pretty easily. Who are you getting to repaint it? Figuremasterles? Have you seen Small_Collectibles awesome repaint? He put one on eBay recently, and he's posted some pictures of it here on the big Alien thread. Check them out! Of course Les's work is top-notch, and some of the best I've even seen!

Thanks again guys for all of your support and help. I'll post some pictures of my marines in line ready to kick some major alien *ss very soon. Take Care! :D
 
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Thanks for the help. I made a deal with DarkArtist81. I traded a Sandtrooper and Medicom Black Spidey (comic) for a few repaints. If I didn't make the trade, I was going to bid on the one on ebay. As it is, I spent more than I should have on a Hicks (but he is worth every penny).
 
I think the "white-dot technique" CAN work , but they must be REALLY small . I find the Frontline headsculpts can be tricky to paint when it comes to the eyes . I think this is due to the eyes being scaled correctly , because with most 1/6 heads , H.T included , the eyes are TOO large for aesthetic reasons . I painted the Frontline "Clint" and "Bruce Willis" heads and struggled like a Bastard to get the eyes looking right until I realised this . In the end , I painted Clint's eyes as completely in the shade i.e , a black line and likewise Bruce's ( very minimal) and voila! they looked great . Try and "overpaint" these areas and you'll come a cropper (sorry , U.K terminology!). Less , is more . Your figures are looking great though , Jedimike , keep it up ! ( Try out the pastel chalks though , you'll be amazed with the subtle effects you can acheive very easily ).:D
 
Thanks Thundergod. Yeah, I'm going to get some pastel chalks and give them a try. I've struggled with trying to "tone down" Ripley's lips and overdone it now. Now they look too pink for me and not that natural. I"m pretty happy with everyone else. Sideshow did a nice paintjob on the Frank Black head, so I just had to repaint his eyes and hair to look like he did as Bishop. I"m really happy with Vasquez after giving her the more accurate badass look like she had in the movie. I'll post some pictures of my marines all lined up very soon. Dealing with an earache right now, so I'm not too pumped up about doing much after a late night at work tonight.
 
Here's some new pictures of my repainted Vasquez. I did the wash of makeup around her eyes on purpose to make the Hot Toys figure look more like Vasquez did later in the movie. I think it turned out great! I'm very happy with it. I haven't put matte coat spray or gloss coat on any of my figures yet. I will do that soon. I did remove all of the dreaded "white dots" out of all of their eyes. I also have a few group pictures of everyone except Bishop. I'll do a big line up of all of them soon and post it in my thread here. Check them out! Here's Vasquez:

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Here's some group shots:

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Looks good Mike. Now you just gotta get her some of those Cheong arm-sleeves from War-Toys.
 
Oh yeah. Don't you have those for your Vasquez Dave? How much are they? I'll look into getting some. How do you search for them on there? By the title "Cheong arm-sleeves"? Who are they made by? Dragon, Hot Toys, BBI? Let me know. Thanks. I may also paint Vasquez's skin a darker tone. I saw on Harry Harris's site, that Janette Goldstein is naturally faired-skinned, and they actually used body paint to make her skin look like the darker, "Hispanic" skin tone. What do you think?

I found Cheong on www.war-toys.com but they didn't show any "arm sleeves". Just the weapons and body armor for that particular figure. Do I need to look somewhere else on there for them? I did find that nice GSG-9 jumpsuit for my Bishop that is more accurate than the Dragon one I have now. It's only $2.95. I'll order it soon. Get back to me Dave about those "arm-sleeves" when you can. Thanks again!
 
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