Mando Skull themed helmet sculpt *Pic Intense*

Hey all,
Been a while since I posted anything on these boards and seeing the different creative idea threads I figured I throw some pictures out there to inspire some.
This is a helmet I modified as a Christmas gift for my brother. its based on a sketch I did quite some time ago that he really liked. I was doodling lots of different mando helmet permutations, just pushing the boundaries of what a fett helmet could look like and still be recognizable as a mando helmet and this one really popped out at him. So, I had no money to buy him anything for christmas but did have a Sgt. Fang helmet sitting around begging to have something done to it. So here's the pics! I gave the helmet to him in a raw state so he could paint it however he wanted. Hope you enjoy! (sorry a few of the pics may be sideways)

Raw Fang helmet with some scribble lines on it
holes cut out, surfaces evened out, (you can see a sketch in the background a little)

mouth and nasal bone area built and beginnings of symmetrical ear caps
Further work on symmetrical earcaps (Thanks stormtrooperguy for the earcaps)

finished helmet with real grooves and scratches filed into it.


Next to my custom helmet from a few years ago

Both lids look great! Your custom job really really stands out. Love the gold visor and the raised vent on the front. Also interested to see what paint job ends up on the skull helmet. Cool work

That's looking pretty sweet!! On a custom, you rarely see weathering that authentic, props to you good sir.

Dude your on to something really nice there! I love the cut out detail on the side of the cheeks too.

Isn't my brother the best?

Some more pics:



It goes along great with the digital paints Lonewolf made me for my birthday:

super awesome!

Had a worry then, I have an idea for a helmet, but seeing it, it's not like my idea

It's looking good though!

Lonewolf, love your custom work and your artwork! EVer heard of Simon Bisley?

G-Fett

Awesome!!!

Wow, that has to be some of the coolest custom Mando I have ever seen!!!

that looks sick! can't wait to see more!

Some awesome looking stuff you've got going on here, nice work!

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

I can't say that I have heard of Simon Bisley.

I always enjoy designing custom mandos. As a designer I'm kind of drawn (literally) to doing custom things. With Mandos, my goal is always to push how far I can go with it, yet keep it rooted firmly in the star wars design aesthetic and still recognizable as a boba/ jango mandalorian base.

This means to me realistic weathering (appreciate that shout out) without being to over the top. I always try to make it look like the scratches and flakes really happened. And washes. Lots of washes. Gotta wash your helmet if you want it dirty. The fully painted helmet in the pictures has I don't know how many washes of various earth tones- basically I spent about 4 hours or more just on the washes.
I also try to kit out my mandos as though they were built by the star wars original trilogy prop department. This means leather pouches, WW2 era looking weaponry, greeblies from other star wars components. Seriously, you never actually realize how many little bits were reused all over the place. On my mando backpack I have r2 greeblie parts and a sandtrooper style magazine pouch. On Cadet's skull helmet some of the mouth detail was made to resemble T-track. Its the little details that make it look right

I'll be doing more mando stuff coming up in the near future. I'm actually about 30% done with a Rav Bralor/ Vhonte Tervo build for my girlfriend, I plan to do a Pilot themed Mando for myself, and heck it looked so cool I want to do a death mando for myself too!

Now to just acquire a new helmet or two since my brother had my only blank helmet :p

Have to agree with you, I love the creative process too and it's always fun to have ideas and realise them

That's an amazing start so far!

Busted out the Wacom for a little bit tonight. Was more just getting used to Photoshop CS4 and my new IMac, but started throwing some color onto a sketch I did. gives you an idea of what I would be going for.

no that's pretty!

I LOVE IT!! Dude, that is a really cool idea, you gotta make it like your drawing.

Yay for Wacom! That looks wicked! It's ganna be awesome...

that helmet and sketch is awesome!

howd you do the gold visor tint? did you use an automotive window tint?

nice!!!

I'm normally not too crazy about customs, but dang..that last sketch you have posted there looks killer!!!!!!! Looks like one bad dude!!!!!
D

the tint looks like a motorcycle visor cut to fit... am i right?

that design is fantastic! i never really thought about how to do the custom visor shapes before but i might have to play around with the idea.

Amazing sketch. Love the little details, down to the bones on the hand armour. If the costume turns out even close to the sketch, WOW!

Nice helmet!!! And the design looks terrific. Its a great idea to use some transistors as "teeth"...

Originally Posted by Jango's kid

I'm normally not too crazy about customs, but dang..that last sketch you have posted there looks killer!!!!!!! Looks like one bad dude!!!!!
D

I second that!

Too cool!

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement guys and gals. I'm going to work a little on my girlfriend's Rav Bralor, then bust the wacom out again and work a little more on this sketch.

And to answer the question- yep that's a motorcycle visor, simply cut down to fit in the area.

Good eye on the resistors! No broken piece of technology ever leaves my home intact. Gotta harvest greeblies somewhere!

And a little update. After working on another project and going to the gym I played around a little more with photoshop. Here's where it stands :

Man thats cool!!!!!!! I dunno what it is, but for some reason I really like those "ribs" you have going down the outsides of the 2 chest plates!!!!!

I think you should make the ribs raised for that little touch of detail... as for the resistors, cool, I got tons of little parts like that, I got a broken memorycard adaptor, the chip from a blood glucometer, abroken chinese ipod etc.

Gotta love 'found' parts, heck I even used a retaining clip from a kids toy (retainer to hold toy into box) on my left cheekbone, look close at my avatar.

Good work keep goin

Dude I like where you are going with your mando helmet. Very unique!

Originally Posted by adonian

I think you should make the ribs raised for that little touch of detail...

I don't know about John's Death Mando, but on mine, the one this bucket is for, the ribs were going to be raised, as well as building up the spine on the abdomen plate and back plate. The thighs, forearms, and shins were also going to have raised sections for bone.

These were my concept sketches, my orginal, and then some refinment ideas to be even more skeletal:



*I am not my brother when it some to art :\ *

ZOMBIE - MANDO!!!!! Nice ideas Vode!!!!

Sick helmet man. When I first opened the post I was expecting a paint scheme. This custom rocks!

Eleven day's with out an update on progress... Wazzup? Need pic's

Originally Posted by adonian

Eleven day's with out an update on progress... Wazzup? Need pic's

Uh oh...I'm seeing Adonian fingering the whip again...

oh yea

Final concept art my Lonewolf for me:



Armor rough cut from Trashcan, the spine and ribs have not been glued onto the armor panels yet, along with my world war II era Russian ammo pouches for my belt, got them for like $8 at a flea market:

yeah, sorry. I'm bad sometimes about posting up on a regular basis sometimes. Been a little busy to finish up some of the new sketches I've made

I love the theme you've got going. It's very different, but still manages to be instantly recognizable as a mando. Good job.

Cadet, that is looking awesome, so your brother is the OP on this thread? Is he making your helmet for you?

I love the bones, your gonna put bondo on them and round them up a little right?

It looks freaking cool, you gotta put some glow powder into some paint and paint it to glow in the dark.

i love the bone-based design, it rocks!!!!

Looking Good!!!!

this is going to be awesome. looking good.

Yes, Cadet is my younger brother.

Wow! I can say that I usually look down on custom mandos (they usually look bad) but these are sweet! This really makes me want to do up a custom!

Your new armor looks great. I do have to say your first helmet is very tight. Can wait to see this finished

bump, anything new on this one Cadet or Lonewolf?
I really wanna see this one come to life.

I worked on my flightsuit and got it all put back together today. I'll get pics up later. It was a green us flightsuit, but I took off all the pockets, opened it up, put boba thigh pockets on it, added some piped straps on the body and arms and some little tool pockets here and there.

BAD TO THE BONE!

Very sweet custom!!! Love it! !WOW!

freakin awesome!

That's cool ! I realy like this idea and can't wait to see it finished ! Skulls and Bones man !

Looks great!!!

that is a great design. I love it. It's so different form all the other that ilve seen

Little tease, here's a in progress color study for Cadet's mando.

Holly smokes! lonewolf_1183 I would give anything to own a Mandalorian Skull Helmet like this one dude, it looks super amazing, I tried custom building myself a Star Wars Legacy Alien Species Stormtrooper Helmet a very long time ago but I horribly failed, you can see what I mean in Issue Zero if you have it, it also goes by Legacy Preview Issue, I thought that the concept looked pretty cool, but when I got to work on it, I just didn't have enough knowledge to carry it through nor the tools, but you! dude! ! I salute you! ! I hope that some day I could own my own Skull Themed helmet based on your concept man, congrats on your work! ! !

Oh man dude, I insist totally awesome work on the helmet, if I could afford it I would pay you to fashion me one just like this one, this skull helmet looks off the charts! !

whoa! this is really cool. I'm working on a custom Mando atm, and have yet to get my helmet, I was just going to go with the standard helmet, but I really like the idea of making it your own, granted my creative juices are more than lacking, so it would not be any where near as good or interesting as this... regardless this is mos def FTW! **jealous**

Absolutely sick!!! Lovin it.

What would you charge to do a smaller one of these (to fit the femme-mando above's petite head)? And what do you think the turn around time would be?

wow. looking great!

Wow necrothread, night of the living thread.

lonewolf i just want to say how much i love your art
good work