Custom Picco crew (with a Polynian, too)!

Hey folks-- been a while since I've been around, but I thought I may as well show my face again given the (partial) reasons for my absence are now (mostly) complete...! 
 

These two are Aikawa and Roy. About a year or so ago, I started the very long and arduous process of turning them into custom dolls/figurines-- ones that look like the characters as I draw them. They're done enough to show off, though at some point in the near future they'll have more faceplates (currently, each of them has 3).

 

Here they are pre-modding. I toyed with the idea of using a figma as a base for a while, but after realizing I probably wouldn't be able to dress them as I liked if I did so, ended up getting a Picco Danshi and an Assault Lily (since Azone makes such adorable 1/12 outfits-- no way am I willing to gamble on those fitting my dolls-- I want to be sure).

 

They work really well with all the little Rements I have, which is fantastic for taking pictures, but is... not so great for my wallet.

 

I'm very happy with how they pose. I ended up changing the bodies a bit to get Roy's height and Aikawa's build accurate (inspired by a user here-- elianti-- who went out of her way to really deeply customize her Obitsu girl), but luckily it hasn't limited their range of motion.

 

I've got what amounts to a roombox set up for Aikawa, which I'll post here eventually once I get some pictures of her in it.  

 

PS: I mentioned a Polynian-- here she is, as promised! The cutie standing next to Aikawa here is Phoebe. She's a Polynian Iana, and I love her to pieces. A lot of the Picco clothes fit her!

 

To quickly answer a few questions some may have:

"Why do their noses look like that?" That's how I draw them.

"What's Roy wearing on his legs?" Roy can't walk unassisted, so he wears an exoskeleton on his lower body to help him get around. 

"What are those things on Aikawa's temples?" Aikawa has eye augments that enhance her vision. The little sort of silver-y bits you see there house some of the necessary hardware.

"What about your yokai girls?!" I still have them and very much love them-- I just switch gears often when it comes to crafting, and it can take me some time to come back to things.

 

Oh man, those modded faces are amazing. Kind of like grown-up Muppets in the best possible way! I love them. 😍

I love how animated they are! Great job!

10 hours ago, Gallye said:

Oh man, those modded faces are amazing. Kind of like grown-up Muppets in the best possible way! I love them. 😍

Thank you so much!  I never thought to liken them to Muppets, but now that you mention it... I can definitely see it. That's a really charming way to describe their appearance.

10 hours ago, Syko said:

I love how animated they are! Great job!

Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised by how easy they are to pose and how expressive you can get some of the body language to be with these. Thanks so much!

 

Wanted to do a "making of" post in case anybody wanted to give this a shot themselves-- please keep in mind that I'm a novice and am pretty much exclusively self taught-- as a result, I may not have done this in a way that was super practical 😅. I'll make the images a little smaller here for ease of viewing.

 

Concept art/references are necessary to make sure stuff looks uniform. I still need full out ref sheets for these two, but was able to work with what I have-- these are just a few examples:

 

I started by flattening out two of the existing plates with epoxy clay, sanded these down/smoothed them out, then added on the noses/other defining landmarks (in Aikawa's case, her augments and her beauty mark). These became the masters I'd use to cast more blank plates.

 

Mold making came next and was by far the biggest pain in the a**. Took me 11 different molds to finally get one that worked. I don't have any pictures of the old ones, but here's a picture of the making of the ones I'm using currently:

 

A lot of the earlier casts came out with bubbles and defects because I didn't know what I was doing-- at first I brushed this off and was like "Whatever, I'll just patch these with epoxy or smooth out the uneven bits with Tamiya paste". I quickly abandoned this plan in favor of just making new molds because it was a massive waste of time, but this is why in some of the in-progress shots the plates appear to be made of like, 3 different things.

 

Hair! Had to carve, sand, and re-sculpt the hair. Unfortunately, I had to shave off a lot of the modding on Aikawa's hair because it made her head look too big 😑. Currently, I'm casting these pieces in case they break or the paint job chips-- it's nice to have back ups.

 

While I was doing all the stuff with the heads, I was also putting together Roy's exo, which is made from repurposed parts of a Frame Arms Girl kit. I actually had no solid design for this-- just ideas of how it functioned in-universe and was held in place. It bends at the knee and ankle, and because the hip parts are kind of "free floating" on the figure, Roy's able to abduct and internally/externally rotate his legs without difficulty.

 

Here they are, not too long before completion! Roy is still on the Picco Danshi body here. This was a little too scrawny for him and I couldn't make him taller (Roy's 6'4"), so I swapped it out for a Hobby base body. Aikawa has one, as well-- she's on it in her picture. Because she's supposed to be kind of wiry/muscular, she has the male figurine's arms and calves.

.

 

Finally, the day came where I could prime and paint all of these pieces! Faceplates were cast in white urethane-- from this point onward the urethane will be tinted to match their skin tones so I don't have to do as much painting/worry as much about chipping or scratches. Maybe I'll make decals in the future-- we'll see.

 

I also added some detail to the backs of their necks (both of them have dataports), and to Aikawa's hands and forearms (she has augments here that amplify her sense of touch-- I wanted to make that apparent somehow).

 

For those of you who managed to get this far without your eyes glazing over, thanks for reading! For those of you who didn't-- I don't blame you, and I apologize for blathering on 😅!

I'm always so amazed by how diligently you work on your dolls, Roy and Aikawa are no exception. The absolute patience and determination you had to have to go through a whopping 11 molds for their face plates and still keep going is inspiring. I'm very excited to see more of them around and your art for them as well.

I have a little more Phoebe here to share, since I said I'd show her off but only put one picture of her here...

 

When she first showed up, my partner and I had nicknamed her "wholesomebot" because all of her expressions are so cute and innocent-- I still call her that in my head, sometimes 😛. 

 

When my officemate left, I actually brought her into work to brighten the room a little and make me feel just a tiny bit less alone while making phone call after phone call to worried patients (this was right before quarantine began). One or two of my coworkers fawned over her, as well as the little "room" I'd set up for her to hang around in 😄.

 

In-universe, Phoebe lives with Roy's mom, and helps her around the house/keeps her company since she doesn't really have anyone else to do so. They're both very fond of one another and have something of a mother-daughter relationship. 

Whaaaaa these are SO CUTE. I lurk on this forum mostly so I don’t have a lot to say, but I’ve been looking around at Azone customs and wow!! 

OH MY GOSH! Phoebe is so cute! Thank you for sharing your dolls with us!