Forum rules
Costume making, prop building and other '66 Bat-related arts and crafts. Great place for info and helpful tips. Proudly display your latest creation. Please keep it '66 Batman related otherwise it will be moved to OFF-TOPIC.
(NO SOLICITATION). If you're looking to BUY or SELL something, go to the MERCHANDISE SECTION. Even if you're trying to assemble a costume by buying or acquiring different crafted items rather than constructing or customizing them yourself, then it belongs in the MERCHANDISE SECTION. Don't even ask somebody if they're planning on selling something within this section.
Be sure to read the Board Rules as well before posting for the first time.
As many of you know or remember, I've had a '66 Batman mannequin in my home studio named "Hubie" since 2005. Some folks may remember him from my cape snaps guide video here called "Snaps and You." Anyway, I finally decided to retire Hubie and cobble together my new Batmannequin, "Bill." I wanted this one to have more of an Adam stance and posture about him rather than the standard stand up straight stiff armed Ken doll one that Hubie had. Going from there, I replaced the face with the one offered by Chuck for his Adam busts. I ordered a pair of glass eyes while my friend and professional special effects artist, Chad Washam proceeded to do an amazing paint job over Chuck's stellar sculpt. The skin detail turned out insanely good and looks incredibly lifelike in person. I added some batting around the waist of the bit too skinny mannequin and used a combination of Saran Wrap and stage tape to mold the lower torso closer to Adam's physique without going into "Hot Toys" territory. Chad's assistant, Cydney added individual false eyelashes as a final touch. Since my tights were from my very first pair, they were a bit too light to my taste so I dyed them further to my liking.
So here is "Bill."
Here's Hubie in the corner space of my home studio. He stands between Victor and Bobbie. Since Yvonne did her own stunts, I named Batgirl's mannequin after her nickname that her family always called her throughout her life.
Here's Bill in his early stages with the new body, unpainted face without glass eyes, newly dyed tights and no body padding yet.
The finished face paint job done by Chad.
paint detail
Completed Bill now stands with Victor and Bobbie. He looks so good that I know I'm going to eventually be making upgrades down the line for Victor and Bobbie as well. But I knew that I was going to go down this road before I started on Bill.
Portraits that I took of his head before I brought him home to finish the body.
That's awesome. The paint job is terrific! I'm glad to see some others have life-size action figures also. I plan to go back over my collection and make improvements too. Your Batman is now Madame Tussauds quality! Well done!
I love this! It's amazing how something in the hands of the right artists can be made so life like you think it's a portrait of a living breathing person. Kudos to both you and Chad
We can't leave out Chuck Williams and his amazing bust of Adam so Kudos to him too.
STP Swallowthispill wrote:We can't leave out Chuck Williams and his amazing bust of Adam so Kudos to him too.
It all really starts right there. The best paint job in the world can't make up for a poor likeness. Not only is Chuck's sculpt incredible, but his casting technique/formula is so amazing that it had veteran special FX people including a real heavy weight Oscar winning one handing the face around and marveling over the casting, consistency, texture, translucence and skin like qualities it had BEFORE it ever got painted. All were extremely impressed.
