Silvanusaurus' Customs - New Megalosaurus Photos

[Silvanusaurus]

I've only gotten back into dinosaur collecting very recently but being a full time artist I've had quite a lot of creative ideas for custom figures. One of the things I've felt slightly dissatisfied with when it comes to dinosaur figures is the homogeneity of certain design details; a certain neat conformity that doesn't necessarily represent the oddities and variances of real animals. I've seen a lot of very interesting artwork exploring the possiblities of speculative fleshy or feathery adornments; things that may only ever be speculative but which bring a greater sense of the unique qualities these creatures must have had. There have been some really interesting figures of late that have stepped outside the box, but I thought I might try a bit of experimentation myself for my first custom sculpted figure.
Because its my first go at this I didn't want to risk ruining a really nice figure, so I went out and bought a Schleich. I'd not really been that interested in Schleichs because of their exaggerated, cartoony designs, but when I actually went out to look at them properly in a shop I was kind of charmed by some of them. There's something I find appealing about the contented looking tyrannosaurus, so i thought I might try and turn it into something more unique.
I had an idea for a sort of old, grizzled, past it's prime tyrannosaurus that wasn't looking too healthy any more, he's had a tough life but has kept going through sheer, primal will. The tatters of feathering still cling to sagging, crusty skin and he bears the scars of the conflicts that failed to finish him off. I'm not necessarily interested in scientific realism with this, it's more a chance to try out sculpting different skin textures and flesh formations, but I'm also trying to make the schleichian proportions more realistic in the process.

After slicing the poor fellow up and rearranging a few things I spent a bit of time sculpting and here is what I've worked on so far:

He now has some sags, some wrinkles, some scars, some malting feathers, some diminutive arms and some kind of fleshy protuberance on his throat which I'm unsure about. I don't know if it's successful but I thought it might serve some kind of display function, but I just have a fondness for throat sacks so I thought, why not?
It's only the green-stuff sections that are complete, so theres a fairr bit left to work on, but any comments on the work in progress or ideas for further details I could add would be wonderful!

[stargatedalek]

Impressive! I've always been curious about the potential for this figure, I'll be watching your progress.

[Dinomike]

This is looking great! I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[Kayakasaurus]

Wonderful! And I love the concept. Dinosaurs had amazing characteristics in their bones with plates, frills, and all; it seems fair to assume their fleshy characteristics were equally impressive. Here is an example of soft tissue on an edmontosaurus, an interesting thing to consider when doing similar dinos like Iguanodon and shantungosaurus. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/12/surpise-well-studied-dinosaur-actually-had-a-cocks-comb/

[Simon]

Wonderful!  Can't wait to see the final result - it has the feel of a real animal!!

[Silvanusaurus]

Wonderful! And I love the concept. Dinosaurs had amazing characteristics in their bones with plates, frills, and all; it seems fair to assume their fleshy characteristics were equally impressive. Here is an example of soft tissue on an edmontosaurus, an interesting thing to consider when doing similar dinos like Iguanodon and shantungosaurus. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/12/surpise-well-studied-dinosaur-actually-had-a-cocks-comb/

I was looking at that very article the other day, it's very interesting to imagine such possibilities, and the thought that there likely wash't a rigid uniformity in such features, even across one species.

[earth108]

That's a great interpretation of the rex! I really love that you added his characteristics. Personally, I do love his throat.

[Rathalosaurus]

This is the best custom I have seen on this figure so far.

[pylraster]

Finally someone who'll take on the Schleich rex. I'll be watching this thread intently for tips, since I'm gonna turn the Giga into something else. Keep it up.

[pylraster]

How were you able to take off the head by the way?

[Tyrannosauron]

I'm really digging this! For some reason it's reminding me of a more realistic version of the T.rex from the movie "Caveman." Do you intend to add bulk around the whole body?

Really looking forward to more progress shots!

[Mamasaurus]

I love all the saggy wrinkles you've got on him so far, and he's looking great!  Really looking forward to seeing your progress on this 

[Silvanusaurus]

How were you able to take off the head by the way?

Not the most delicate technique; I just pulled it off with my bare hands! The head has a protrusion on the back that slots into the neck, and holds the jaw in place It came apart surprisingly neatly, whatever glue or sealant was used just tore off, now it can be removed and replaced easily, but I'll have to glue it back in at some point and sculpt over the seam. I'm trying to retain the moving jaw but it will probaly end up limited by the additional sculpted bits around the neck.

[Silvanusaurus]

I'm really digging this! For some reason it's reminding me of a more realistic version of the T.rex from the movie "Caveman." Do you intend to add bulk around the whole body?

I haven't seen that film but I just looked up a picture of the rex and I can definitely see what you mean.
I am going to be adding more meat around the body, I had originally planned on doing something more minimal but as I've worked more on the head and neck areas it's made the whole thing unbalanced, so I'm adding some extra flesh to the tail too. Hopefully the whole thing will be very consistent. I've also reduced the size of the feet because I started to really notice how ridiculously big they were, fortunately it still stands fine with smaller feet as long as theres an equal distribution of weight. I'll post some more pictures soon.

[Tyto_Theropod]

All I can say is, Wow! I'm already blown over by this figure and your sculpting skill. You've already made him look so real and alive! I love the skin folds and ragged feathers. Good luck with finishing him - I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread for updates.

[Silvanusaurus]

I'd just like to say thank you for all the really positive, encouraging comments, this is the first time I've tried something like this so it means a lot.
Here are some updated photos of the sculpting, which is turning out a lot more intricate than I had planned. I hadn't really planned on adding as much featheriness either but it just seemed to grow organically as I went along...

I have done more than these pictures show as well; more meat around the legs and the base of the tail and things like that, but I won't flood the thread with too many images. I'm starting to think about colour schemes, I think I'll go with very autumnal shades of reds, browns and ochres, to emphasize the idea of the ending life cycle, they'll be fading colours that still hint at the past resplendence of his youth. 

[Simon]

Man, I can't wait to see this puppy finished.  With all of the Frankensteinian dinosaur customizations that I did over the 10 years that I was active in the modeling hobby, I never tried doing feathers.

Frankly, although I didn't really have much interest in them at the time, I think that I would have been intimidated by the prospect of the insane detailing required to feather a critter like you are doing with this TRex.

This particular model itself has some really nice features, and was just crying out for someone to fill in the "gaps".

[Silvanusaurus]

In addition to the old Rex, I've started a bit on a second venture that's very hypothetical; a custom figure of Becklespinax, the british dinosaur that is only known from three long vertebrae, that indicate either an acrocanthosaurus style ridge or a concavenator-esque hump. So I thought, why not imagine something a bit different that's not inconceivable given comparable specimens such as conco or icthyovenator. My scientific reasoning was as follows: 'For some reason I like humps and ridges on dinosaurs. Apparently Becklespinax could have had one. No-one really knows either way. And what's better than one hump?'
Two humps.
The sculpting is good enough to work as a fairly natural looking theropod, but not so detailed that I won't be able to expand upon it myself. I had the idea that the humps would have originally served a functional purpose but over time were also adapted to to be used as flamboyant display features, and while this one will be a male, i might make an accompanying female with a less exaggerated shape. It's all a shot in the dark of course but I'm finding it quite fun imagining the possibilities and how they might work.

[pylraster]

Green stuff right? Like the one that dries a bit flexible, so it isn't prone to breakage easily?

[Silvanusaurus]

Green stuff right? Like the one that dries a bit flexible, so it isn't prone to breakage easily?

Yes, it seems to be perfect for this kind of project because it is very like plastic in look and feel.