Magenta (head part 4)

I made a mould and a few casts of the heads. I primed with Mr. Surfacer and painted with Vallejo Model Color and Andrea Color vinyl acrylics.

Magenta (head part 3)

So I ran out of Sculpey Firm just as I was about to start head no. 4 I scrounged my stash and found some normal sculpey (which I feel is too soft for small details) and some old Fimo. I decided to use the Fiom and re-constituted it with some isopropyl alcohol and diluent, I shaped a cube around some wire and baked it. This was then carved and sanded down to an oval shape close to the size I wanted the head to be. I then proceeded to sculpt details on top with more unbaked Fimo.

Magenta (head part 2)

So here's head number 3. Again done with sculpey firm, this time, without the epoxyputty or beads inside. The image above shows how far I sculpted before the first bake and also the final result after adding details and baking again. This time no problems with cracking whatsoever. The result with this attempt was decent. I felt I achieved the following things:
1.) The face should look feminine.
2.) It shouldn't look too caucasian, a mixed racial look would be preferred.
So although I was not able to hit the mark in terms of look, I felt the head was usable. That is until I compared it to the Krote Mechanic. Head no. 3 felt small and under scale. The scale issue is not so obvious in the photo but was quite severe in reality so I decided to embark on head no. 4 This time, not only would I sculpt a larger head, I would also try a different approach to sculpting the head.

Magenta (head part 1)

Undoubtedly, the most challenging part of this project is sculpting the head. The figure was designed to have the head come as a separate piece, to aid in sculpting as well as casting.
I started off with a blob of duro epoxy putty wrapped around a piece of wire and with 2 beads representing the eyes stuck to it. This was then roughly covered with sculpey to get a sense of the head's overall size and proportion.This revealed one glaring problem which was that the eyes (beads) were too far apart. I felt it was best to start over again. The result can be seen on the right side of the image above. Satisfied with the position of the eyes, I went ahead and refined the overall shape of the head using a subtractive technic with the box cutter / razor saw blade technic.
Here's a comparison of the head with a 1/20th Ma. K. plastic figure. Once I was satisfied with the overall shape and size, I begain adding and refining the head until I reached the stage in the image below. The head was then baked in a toaster oven. A huge crack developed in the head after baking. I didn't anticipate this happening considering how small the head is. The number one cause of sculpey cracking during baking is the uneven rate of cooling, and I suspect that the epoxy or the beads underneath was the main culprit. Not to worry as this can be easily patched up with more epoxy putty, but of course a second baking is now out of the question. In this final image, I've patched up the cracks and built up the eyeballs with magic sculp 2 part epoxy putty. I stepped back and assessed the result and my conclusions were:
1. Although the head was adequately feminine looking, it did not achieve the look I wanted. I wasnt all that happy with the shape of the eyes and the cheeks or the forehead for that matter.
2. There were some rough spots on the cheeks and neck.
At this point, it's taken me a couple of days sculpting. However I decided to press on, knowing my subsequent attempts can only get better. I also wanted to try a different approach to sculpting the head. So this head was put on hold for now, you will see the result of the 3rd attempt soon!