Well, I'm going to enter this great debate again. I will try to thread carefully, with this my longest ever post, present or future.
Firstly the fact that all the freaks who spent a lot of money on these might not be completely objective about the finished heads needs to be taken into account.
I paid less for mine, maybe thats a contributing factor in what I hope comes across as complete honesty. This is how I see it.
The sculpt is amazing, absolutely amazing. The thing looks almost real in the detolf.
The paint job is technically brilliant (I have favourites too from the heads we have seen so far). I have always loved the proto (obviously) I think it has a certain malevolence, but is it my favourite? Probably not.
So here's the difficult bit: Physically the paint is quite dotty, as if the surface of the silicon is peeling at a very fine level, look at any of the pics so far, Teddy's, mine, especially Neos (sorry Neo, I know you have claimed that you "pressed" them in, but I know you have done major clean up on your pics) you can see this effect. This is not because the proto is a little rougher than the others, actually having it in hand and comparing it to the pics others have posted, I don't think it is. The eyes on some don't work for me as well as others, some are too bulging, but thats just my taste. The hair and hairline finish is better on some than others, I think the hair on mine is better than A.N.Other but my forehead is a bit messier.
So from a few inches away and with the correct lighting (not sunlight, not strong angular light) these look amazing. But there are faults. Why? Because guys these things are
not real Heath Ledger heads, they are rubber and paint and animal hair. But they are so damn close that you can take pics of it and think its a real person. What kind of achievement is that in this artform?
I just feel as if no one is being really honest here, neither the fellow freaks who have gotten the heads or the naysayers who are just being negative for the sake of it. Regardless of the flaws (which I personally think are
no reflection on Bobbys incredible talent) there is nothing even close to these available. The scale has become a technical paint/material issue for some but to say these "don't look like Ledger" well is just plain stupid.
The whole photographic debate, which I mistakingly entered into a while back is really dumb. Firstly people who bother their backsides to take ANY pics and uploaded here should be thanked for sharing. Not slammed for not having good enough cameras.
I have an amazing camera set up. But I simply don't have the time and inclination to spend hours setting it up and then hours photoshopping out the blemishes like NEO does (Look at the first few pics he posted). I love seeing his pics, and he loves doing it, others don't. But people seem to want to turn that into something as if I'm dissing his work, I'm not at all. Love your pics NEO!
I stick mine on the desk and snap and share.
Its all down to personal taste at the end of the day. I would much rather see raw pics that really show what something looks like in the real world than glossed over comps. Thats just me.
I will finish with this, I work with the FX industry quite a lot, from practical to CG. i've been in many of the prosthetic workshops in Hollywood, and I have rarely seen anything as ambitious and impressive as Bobbys work. Short of Winston's studio stuff, this is right up there.
And I am very proud to own a piece of that, its not perfect, but its art. This is very different to seeing manufactured toys or plastic repaints.
...and rant is finished....
Oh and Edward? Let it go, you didn't get the proto, you ____ed it up!
