This is my first 100% sculpted action figure. I have been working on her for almost a year now, so it feels really good to have her finally completed. When I first started, being only 13 years old, I was really concerned that I might not be able to pull off this custom of Riyo Chuchi. Even with six years experience with making my own figures, it still felt like a daunting task. Rather than being paralyzed with fear, I just dove right in and my persistence really paid off. Perseverance went a long way when putting this figure together.
It took a few different action figures and a lot of sculpting to put this figure together. The base of the figure was a Star Trek "Uhura action" figure that was severely modified. I used Aves Fixit to sculpt and then sanded the torso to get it where I needed. I borrowed the lower legs from a Clone Wars Aayla Secura that I sculpted onto with ProCreate, and the arms were originally from a Clone Wars MicroSeries "Snow Bunny" Padme Amidala which were also modified with the same sculpting material. The head, believe it or not, was from a modified Ahsoka Tano action figure that was sanded very heavily to remove her montrals, and then, had Chuchi's hair sculpted with Aves Fixit to replace what we removed.
It took a few different action figures and a lot of sculpting to put this figure together. The base of the figure was a Star Trek "Uhura action" figure that was severely modified. I used Aves Fixit to sculpt and then sanded the torso to get it where I needed. I borrowed the lower legs from a Clone Wars Aayla Secura that I sculpted onto with ProCreate, and the arms were originally from a Clone Wars MicroSeries "Snow Bunny" Padme Amidala which were also modified with the same sculpting material. The head, believe it or not, was from a modified Ahsoka Tano action figure that was sanded very heavily to remove her montrals, and then, had Chuchi's hair sculpted with Aves Fixit to replace what we removed.
My Dad helped me fabricate the headdress from scratch. We sculpted it with ProCreate to keep the accessory durable. I was worried about using ProCreate because of the quick dry time with me being relatively new to sculpting. We made the headdress removable by placing saran wrap over the head before sculpting the piece onto the head. The crystal jewels on the back of the crown were glued to sewing thread before being sculpted into the accessory to maintain both strength and accuracy. My favorite part about the headdress is that it's removable.
At first, I was very intimidated by the pattern on her dress, due to its intricacies. My dad suggested that in order to make the painting process simpler, I could map out my pattern using dots. I placed the dots on the dress, then used a fine detail paintbrush to connect these dots and added the three circles. The Porcelain Rose paint was too bright, so to darken the pattern, I used a wash of the color I used on the rest of her dress. To get the right color on the lips, I painted them white then applied a darker blue wash to make them pop.
Now that she is done, I couldn't be happier. I feel like now that I completed my first 100% sculpted piece, I completed a rite of passage in the customizing community. It is a figure I couldn't have made when I first started out as a customizer 6 years ago. It took many years of building up my skill set to get me where I needed to be to pull this off. Now she is my favorite custom!
I hope when people think that they could never make their own Star Wars custom action figure, that they look to me for inspiration, because if I can pull off a figure that looks this good at 13 years old, they can at least give customizing a try.
At first, I was very intimidated by the pattern on her dress, due to its intricacies. My dad suggested that in order to make the painting process simpler, I could map out my pattern using dots. I placed the dots on the dress, then used a fine detail paintbrush to connect these dots and added the three circles. The Porcelain Rose paint was too bright, so to darken the pattern, I used a wash of the color I used on the rest of her dress. To get the right color on the lips, I painted them white then applied a darker blue wash to make them pop.
Now that she is done, I couldn't be happier. I feel like now that I completed my first 100% sculpted piece, I completed a rite of passage in the customizing community. It is a figure I couldn't have made when I first started out as a customizer 6 years ago. It took many years of building up my skill set to get me where I needed to be to pull this off. Now she is my favorite custom!
I hope when people think that they could never make their own Star Wars custom action figure, that they look to me for inspiration, because if I can pull off a figure that looks this good at 13 years old, they can at least give customizing a try.
Riyo Chuchi was a female Pantoran politician from the moon of Pantora which orbited the planet, Orto Plutonia. Chuchi served as a senator and represented her people in the Galactic Senate of the Republic during the Clone Wars.
"SENATOR RIYO CHUCHI"
created by Elias
"Work In Progress"
Pictures
SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED
