Jurassic Strike Force 5 “Spike” Action Figure: Final Sculpting & Painted Figure

Welcome to the Jurassic Strike Force 5 Action Figure Sneak Peek, featuring the second character in the line: Spike! The figures are based on characters from Zenescope’s/Silver Dragon Books’ popular Jurassic Strike Force 5 comic book series by Joe Brusha. Action figure art direction by Clayburn Moore; sculpted by Josh Sutton.

“For Rex’s teammate Spike, I contacted Josh Sutton, who we’ve worked with before and who also has toy experience,” said Clayburn. “He’s experienced with articulation and mechanical details, so I felt he was a good choice. On seeing how the figure is progressing, he’s proven to be an excellent choice.”

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Jurassic Strike Force 5 begins with evil alien overlord Zalex and his army of highly advanced reptiles being awakened after 100 million years of entrapment within the ice of Antarctica. Having combined Earth’s Jurassic reptiles with alien technology, Zalex has created a seemingly unstoppable force of mutated dinosaur warriors ready to conquer the Universe.  But there is one thing that might be able to stop Zalex and his powerful army and that one thing is Jurassic Strike Force, another group of alien enhanced dinosaurs who have sworn to protect both humanity and the rest of the universe from Zalex’s evil plans.

Below are pics of the finished, unpainted figure, and then the fully-painted piece.

 

Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Action Figure Part 2: Final Sculpting and Painted Figure

Welcome to the Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Action Figure Blog!  This is an exciting series by Zenescope Entertainment that has led to what I hope you agree is a very cool action figure line co-produced by The CS Moore Studio and Zenescope.

Here’s the Monster Hunter Story:

“The Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide is the comprehensive guide every Monster Hunter must have! The guide covers the strengths and weakness of every known and unknown monster on earth or otherwise. Monster hunters will find it packed with tips on how to take down these creatures, or if they should steer clear of the beasts. Whether they are a weekend Bigfoot hunter or a hardcore Vampire slayer, this guide will help keep even a novice hunter alive.”

Art Direction: Clayburn Moore
Sculpting: Mat Brouillard
Prototype Painter: James Rowell

FINAL SCULPTING

Revised Hair

FINISHED FIGURE – See more pics on our website!

 

Jurassic Strike Force 5 “Rex” Action Figure Part 2: Final Sculpting & the Finished Figure

Welcome to the Jurassic Strike Force 5 Action Figure Sneak Peek, featuring the first character in the line: Rex! The figures are based on characters from Zenescope’s/Silver Dragon Books’ popular Jurassic Strike Force 5comic book series by Joe Brusha. Action figure art direction by Clayburn Moore; sculpted by Mat Brouillard. Prototype Painter: James Rowell

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Jurassic Strike Force 5 begins with evil alien overlord Zalex and his army of highly advanced reptiles being awakened after 100 million years of entrapment within the ice of Antarctica. Having combined Earth’s Jurassic reptiles with alien technology, Zalex has created a seemingly unstoppable force of mutated dinosaur warriors ready to conquer the Universe.  But there is one thing that might be able to stop Zalex and his powerful army and that one thing is Jurassic Strike Force, another group of alien enhanced dinosaurs who have sworn to protect both humanity and the rest of the universe from Zalex’s evil plans.

Here are pics on the final sculpting stages of Rex, and then the full-color pics!

FINAL SCULPTING

FULL COLOR PICS – See more shots on our website!

 

Alice Action Figure Part 2: The finished figure & color photos

As I mentioned in the last post, I used Eric Basaldua’s beautiful artwork on Alice for the costume. I also used that reference for the hairstyle. The costume was sculpted in Super Sculpey mixed with black Sculpey III to get the gray color. I didn’t use a metal armature for the skirt, but instead built up a thin layer of skirt and baked that. I then had an anchor to sculpt the rest of the skirt onto. For adherence to the figure, I brush a thin coating of Vaseline onto the figure and I then mix the Super Sculpey with a small amount of Vaseline to soften it and make it a bit more sticky.

The rabbit and accessories I also sculpted in Super Sculpey.

Michael Measles molded the figure and James Rowell then painted the master prototype you see here.  He’ll also paint the Chase figure of Alice we’ll post soon.

Thanks for reading!

CSM

PS – You can see Alice in person at booth #4920 during Toy Fair in New York, February 12-15!

 

 

Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Sasquatch Action Figure Part 1: Early Sculpting

Welcome to the Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Action Figure Blog!  This is an exciting series by Zenescope Entertainment that has led to what I hope you agree is a very cool action figure line co-produced by The CS Moore Studio and Zenescope. — CSM

Here’s the Monster Hunter Story:

“The Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide is the comprehensive guide every Monster Hunter must have! The guide covers the strengths and weakness of every known and unknown monster on earth or otherwise. Monster hunters will find it packed with tips on how to take down these creatures, or if they should steer clear of the beasts. Whether they are a weekend Bigfoot hunter or a hardcore Vampire slayer, this guide will help keep even a novice hunter alive.”

Bigfoot Action Figure 
Art Direction: Clayburn Moore
Sculpting: Mat Brouillard

What would a Monster Hunter be without Bigfoot? These photos show the very early sculpting stages of this awesome figure. In the next installment you will see much more detail including fur and weapons!

STAGE 1

  

STAGE 2

 

Jurassic Strike Force 5 “Spike” Action Figure Part 1

Welcome to the Jurassic Strike Force 5 Action Figure Sneak Peek, featuring the second character in the line: Spike! The figures are based on characters from Zenescope’s/Silver Dragon Books’ popular Jurassic Strike Force 5 comic book series by Joe Brusha. Action figure art direction by Clayburn Moore; sculpted by Josh Sutton.

“For Rex’s teammate Spike, I contacted Josh Sutton, who we’ve worked with before and who also has toy experience,” said Clayburn. “He’s experienced with articulation and mechanical details, so I felt he was a good choice. On seeing how the figure is progressing, he’s proven to be an excellent choice.”

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Jurassic Strike Force 5 begins with evil alien overlord Zalex and his army of highly advanced reptiles being awakened after 100 million years of entrapment within the ice of Antarctica. Having combined Earth’s Jurassic reptiles with alien technology, Zalex has created a seemingly unstoppable force of mutated dinosaur warriors ready to conquer the Universe.  But there is one thing that might be able to stop Zalex and his powerful army and that one thing is Jurassic Strike Force, another group of alien enhanced dinosaurs who have sworn to protect both humanity and the rest of the universe from Zalex’s evil plans.

In the first stage you see the figure shape blocked in. Stage 2 shows the figure further along in the sculpting process, with more detail and joints added in. In the next installment we’ll show finished, painted photos of Jurassic Strike Force 5′s Rex and Spike!

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

 

Jurassic Strike Force 5 “Rex” Action Figure Part 1

Welcome to the Jurassic Strike Force 5 Action Figure Sneak Peek, featuring the first character in the line: Rex! The figures are based on characters from Zenescope’s/Silver Dragon Books’ popular Jurassic Strike Force 5 comic book series by Joe Brusha. Action figure art direction by Clayburn Moore; sculpted by Mat Brouillard.

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Jurassic Strike Force 5 begins with evil alien overlord Zalex and his army of highly advanced reptiles being awakened after 100 million years of entrapment within the ice of Antarctica. Having combined Earth’s Jurassic reptiles with alien technology, Zalex has created a seemingly unstoppable force of mutated dinosaur warriors ready to conquer the Universe.  But there is one thing that might be able to stop Zalex and his powerful army and that one thing is Jurassic Strike Force, another group of alien enhanced dinosaurs who have sworn to protect both humanity and the rest of the universe from Zalex’s evil plans.

In the first stage you see the figure shape and joints blocked in. Stage 2 shows the figure further along in the sculpting process, with more detail and added armor. In the next installment we will show a sneak peek of Spike, the line’s second figure, followed by finished, painted photos of both amazing action figures!

STAGE 1

    

STAGE 2

    

 

Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Action Figure Part 1: Sculpting the Monster Hunter

Welcome to the Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide Action Figure Blog!  This is an exciting series by Zenescope Entertainment that has led to what I hope you agree is a very cool action figure line co-produced by The CS Moore Studio and Zenescope.

Here’s the Monster Hunter Story:

“The Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide is the comprehensive guide every Monster Hunter must have! The guide covers the strengths and weakness of every known and unknown monster on earth or otherwise. Monster hunters will find it packed with tips on how to take down these creatures, or if they should steer clear of the beasts. Whether they are a weekend Bigfoot hunter or a hardcore Vampire slayer, this guide will help keep even a novice hunter alive.”

In choosing a sculptor for this project, I wanted someone who can sculpt the human figure well and who is also very accomplished with weapons and accessories. He also needed to know the tech behind toy articulation. Mat Brouillard was the perfect choice as he’s an experienced professional who delivers excellent work every time and on schedule.

In the first stage you see the simple figure being blocked out.  In the second stage, Mat has started to add the articulation points and clothing details like finished wrinkles and gear straps.  Next, we see MH coming along well, but we wanted a more covert look, so we dropped the military shirt and Mat gave him a pullover type garment. In the last set of pics, you see fully realized gear details and plus MH’s shoulder armor.

Stay tuned for next time when you’ll see some awesome weapons detail and the finished and painted figure!

-CSM

STAGE 1

 

STAGE 2

 

 

STAGE 3

 

 

Alice Action Figure Part 1: Sculpting the Body and Head

I really hadn’t planned to do action figures again. There are many steps in the process and it’s definitely a more complicated process than resin statue production, and that’s difficult enough! Still, Joe Brusha at Zenescope Entertainment had talked to me about giving it another try for some time and if not for his persistence, I don’t think this would have happened.  It also helps that I like the Zenescope characters’ looks and I had enjoyed sculpting the Alice/Calie statue very much.

We went with a classic pose and I sculpted her using a stunning Eric Basaldua drawing for the look of the costume, with minor modifications. The face is a composite of several artists’ interpretations, including mine and Eric’s.

So here she is so far. In the next update we’ll show the figure complete with hair and costume. Hope you like her!–CSM

This first set of photos show the figure taking shape:

 

 

The following photos show the next stage of sculpting, with more smoothing/finishing, some costume lines and right hand.

 

   

 

The Magdalena Statue Part 5: Completed Figure & Base (without cape)

On most of my sculpture projects, there is rarely a stage at which the figure is complete and fully intact.  It happens, but on a complicated figure like Magdalena, the arms were finished separately, the figure was hardened and sanded before adding the armor and there were other minor details added after the figure was molded. To smooth the figure before baking, I use a metal tool that is squared off with a flattened taper at the end. I draw this over the figure until it has that smoothness that is essential to the look of the piece.

It’s best to look at the figure as a completely assembled casting prior to painting to get the full effect. There are some small adjustments to be made in the positioning of the swords, but the full figure is here, less her cape and scabbards, which are being molded. When you see the cape on the debut of the figure on our site, it might be of interest to those sculptors reading this that the cape was done by building up layers in Super Sculpey on a wire mesh armature in multiple bakings.

The scabbards were interesting to sculpt because Top Cow gave free rein on their look, which in the comics are fairly simple in design. I used a book on samurai armor to research the details, and centered the decorative features on a plum blossom motif. You’ll see them in the full color photos soon as soon as Jim Rowell has completed painting her.

The base has a cross design done in mosaic form, reminiscent of Byzantine architectural art of the early Christian period. I used Nelson Blake’s design for the base cross and worked up the design at one-quarter scale. The base was then skillfully executed by Josh Sutton with my art direction.

If you have questions about any aspect of this piece, just write us at service@csmoorestudio.com. We expect to have photos of the fully-finished piece in the next week or so.

Thanks for reading this blog and we’ll see you next time!

CSM