It’s been a while since my last update, but I’ve got a lot to show for it. I’ve been busy working on figurines inspired by EarthBound, Mother3, and Animal Crossing.
Ness, the hero of EarthBound, is cast in 4 pieces, painted with acrylics, and is 3.5″ tall. There are 6 total.
Here’s an in-progress shot. The original is made of Super Sculpey.
Minus Man is inspired by a little known Mother 3 enemy. I cast 20 of these sad little fellows in Task 9 resin bySmooth-On and added yellow and white dyes for color. Each one came with a happy sun pin made of polymer clay. I had a lot of fun designing the packaging~
I was particularly proud of this mold because it gave me so much trouble, and I finally got it to work. I had to slice up my model and change the original pose to make a two part mold possible. It held out just long enough to produce all 20 casts.
The annual Starmen.net Halloween Funfest had a chimera theme, so I made some Ultimate Chimeras to be given away as prizes. I’ve been thinking of trying something different, so I bought some flocking fibers and glue.
Applying the flocking fibers wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but it definitely requires a little patience and experimenting. I lined a box with a plastic bag to catch the excess and filled a small squeeze bottle with the fibers and went to work. I smeared on a nice thick layer of tacky glue mixed with a little water to thin the consistency a bit. I heavily applied the fibers to make sure the surface was completely covered. The tricky part was being fast enough to apply the glue in a thick, even coat before it dried too much for the fibers to adhere.
After they dried, I shook off the excess and they were left with a pink, velvety texture. I also learned that if the flocking didn’t quite turn out, it was easily peeled off in almost one piece with little damage to the surface. I’ll definitely try this technique again!
A friend commissioned an Animal Crossing figurine as a gift for his lovely wife, Jen.
I designed the background in Illustrator. The figurine is painted with acrylics, and made of Super Sculpey (for the head and body) and Sculpey SuperFlex (for the hands, flower, watering can handle, legs, and feet). I used nylon thread to simulate water and applied brown flocking to the bottom.
Making this figurine reminded me of the many months I spent digging up fossils, watering flowers, and collecting furniture in this game. It’s addicting!
i bought the mother 3 book based solely on the design of the book and the knowledge that your artwork would appear throughout. absolutely LOVE these guys. please keep up the AMAZING work.
interesting take on the subject, count me as a new subscriber!
why arent you working for nintendo you are awesome
check out my painting at starmen.net benjsmith
Shipping address:
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I am pursuing a degree at fullsail for game art and eventually game programming hoping to get a job at nintendo,if i do your damn sure Id mention your name . I wish the whole world could see your truly amazing talent!!!
do you sell them?
i would really like to see if i can get one, you see, its for a gift, really important, so please, let me know
oh by the way im interested in the ness figure
Lovely article man, thanks. I love this game.
Your great blog is definitely worth a read if anyone comes across it. Im lucky used to do because now Ive got a full new view of it. I didnt realise how the issue was so important therefore universal. You definitely put it in perspective for my family, thanks for the awesome info.