Character Description
The character I based my project on is one of my own design meant for use in a future video game. The gameplay and narrative center around this character's strategic and tactical decisions in a guerrilla conflict. The player is tasked to defend a civilian population against an enemy army that they can never actually defeat. To continue in the game and keep their own population alive, the player must earn the trust of neutral factions and ultimately decide whether to use their newly made friends as fodder to delay the approaching enemy. The player's actions throughout the game are reflected in the personality and appearance of their player character who takes on an increasingly demonic appearance as his list of crimes grows. The game itself is meant not to teach any lesson but to make players wonder how many horrible acts they or anyone else would commit for the right reasons.
Original Design
Initially, the model for my Dragon Helmet was a low poly sci-fi pilot's helmet created by me for use in games.
Redesign
The character slated to wear the pilot helmet is an morally corrupt individual so to represent this, I took advantage of the pronounced oxygen mask, turning it into a snout filled with dragon's teeth. In my final model, the toothy mask is fused to the character's face, giving the character a monstrous appearance.
3D Print and Cleanup
The digital model proved to be a significant challenge as I created my sculpt from a model that was made of multiple pieces. The character's head, helmet, visor, goggles, and oxygen mask were all separate pieces of geometry. Fortunately, the 3D printer was able to understand how the pieces fit together and printed the model without issue. With a bit of XTC, most of the lines from printing and model seams were covered over and the 3D print was ready for casting.
Molding
My model fit perfectly well into an oval shaped metal flange, saving me the trouble of created the walls out of clay. Due to my 3D print's size however, I had to dip into the classes supplies in order to have enough silicon to finish the mold. Remoiving my 3D print from the mold required cutting the entire mold open as my character's large pilot helmet and oxygen mask nearly caused mold-lock.
My relief model was used by professor Scott as a demonstration for the brush-on mold. Later, when another student, Vic, had extra Onyx plastic, it was poured into the relief mold for my model.
Casting and Cleanup
Casting my relief model proved simple but the cast came out with many imperfections. To fix the cast, I first filled in holes and 3D print lines with watered down Plumber's Putty. The added water made it easier to smooth putty over the cast and press it into voids created by air bubbles.
After the putty, I sanded down unwanted hard edges, remaining print lines, and excess putty.
Weathering
Due to the dark nature of the character, a glossy, bright finish seemed inappropriate. I lightly sanded the entire surface and applied paint primer as a dull base white before filling cavities with darker paint to accent the model's details.
Painting
The white relief was relatively easy to paint with light coats of acrylic. The end result reminded me of alligator skin, consistent with the model's toothy grin. The relief was cast with onyx and I decided to work with the dark color, painting it to resemble heavily corroded bronze, with red accents to highlight the important shapes on the model.
Wax Castings
To create my second set of casts, I melted down a collection of wax candles. The color of the wax casts came out a deeper red than the candles they were made from and end up with a rough, pitted surface. An imperfect finish works well for the character so I did minimal cleanup on these casts.
