Toro Head re-do

[Temperance]

I'm re-making my minotaur head.  I've made a few heads now and learned some new tricks, so I wanted to give toro another go.

1) I've sculpted the head base out of paperclay. 


2) Using my sculpt as a base, I use plaster cloth to form a lighter, but still hard and rigid head base. This is my third try with casting this base... I tried resin and expanding foam before, and they both ended in failure.


3) After the plaster cloth has dried completely and removed from the base, I use a permanant maker to mark the position of the eyes and cutout my eye holes.  The nose has been sculpted with my favorite lightweight air-dry clay, called "delight".  It's like sculpting with a marshmellow, dries super light, and doesn't leave fingerprints.  I've also poked holes to mark the position of the nose ring.


4) I made a jaw out of foam and plaster wrapped it as well to add rigidity.


I need some specific materials before I can do any more work on Toro... but I'll post the steps as I do them.

[Deoge]

oooooooooooo....Keep posting pictures of the progress!

[DogboyShugo]

Lookin good so far!

[LucifurFox]

oooo cool

[Temperance]

Okay! I finally got the materials I needed, so I can do more steps:

5) I sprayed down Toro's nose with plasti-dip, a dip or spray that coats whatever you spray it with to a nice rubber coating.  Once dry, this stuff is pretty much bulletproof... however it's very caustic to use.  Once dried I attached the nose ring to the minotaur's nose.
I also made a balaclava from some nice stretchy breathable cotton.


6) Three steps in one ^_^;
First I add the eye-screens.  I am using a pairof old nylons and painting the screens black.. however you can also use a basic inlay stiffiner like Beetlecat, or Buckram like Mixed Candy.  The idea is to be see-through, yet not so see-through the wearer can be seen through the eye holes.
Once the eye screens are in place I add the eyes. These eyes were cast from resin and the backs painted.
I add eyelids to the head with scrapsof black cloth.  You don't have to be too exact, as most of this will be covered with fur.  But eyelids often allow more expression in the eyes and give you a nice finished look.  Don't worry about the glue showing, you can fix and touch up that stuff with some black paint in the final stages.


7) After my wolf mask, I found rigid jaws are not as great as foam ones, so I sculpted a new jaw out of upholstery foam.  The teeth were carved some sculptey and the lips are a strip of vynil stretched over the mouth.


8 ) I attached the jaw to the mask with a large piece of elastic.  Positioned correctly, this makes a moving jaw.  The elastic must sit right under your jaw to stretch properly.  It's a finicky process and often requires ripping off and re-gluing the elastic a few times.


9) I have now attached the balaclava to my head.  I glue the balaclava in place at the forehead, jaw and back of the head.  Once attached, I can fit the head on my dummy to work from.  Padding is added as required to make the rigid headfit smoothly over the skull of my dummy.

[Lady Serpent]

Question:  Can you re-use paperclay, or is it basically toast once it's dry?

Thanks for posting such detailed steps; it's certainly interesting to watch the progression.  I do like your strategy for a moving jaw.  I've seen similar ones employed, but not quite like that.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.  You didn't make those eyes yourself, did you?

Cheers,
-Lady Serpent

[Dragyn]

The heads coming along nicely, make sure to post as you make progress =3

[Temperance]

nope.  Paperclay is toast when you use it... however this method with the plaster cloth allows me to re-use the sculpted paperclay base over and over for other heads (as long as you properly let the paperclay dry completely, then add a releasing agent like petroleum jelly).
My moving jaw is the same method beetlecat uses. You don't get a huge range of motion with this method compared to a wire hinge jaw, but it offers an easier alternative for Balaclava suiters who want a rigid shaped face versus an entirely upholstery foam head.
I did make these eyes myself.  I pour them from resin, and insert a concave button into the middle for a pupil while the resin is curing.  Once cured, I paint the backs of the eyes for the irises.

[Pashnekwa]

It's looking really good! Your quite good at making realistic looking heads, while me, I'm better at tooney.
I can't wait to see the finished product.

[Temperance]

I should have some updates soon. The horns have become a bit of an issue

[Temperance]

10)  Ears have been added to the head.  I made these using Beetlecat's tutorial, so I won't go into detail.  You can view her full instructions on her website: http://www.beetlecatoriginals.com/



11) The back of the head has been attached using hot glue around the edges of the minotaur face.  I use a basic template for the backs of my heads.  I made a copy of my template on mylar and keep it on hand when I am doing heads, so I don't have to measure very time.



12) Now the horns.  I chose to use some pre-made horns instead of sculpting them myself for time constraint reasons. The horns were from one of those novelty Viking helmets.  They were a little long so I had to cut them down.  I filled them with expanding foam to increase rigidity, then sprayed them with plasti-dip (same as was used on the nose) for a nice protective coating.



13) Time to fur this melon!  To make a pattern, I duct-tape the entire head, then use a permanant marker to indicade markings, and use arrows to indicate which way the fur is supposed to go (this is VERY essential, you don't want to waste a bunch of fur because you cut the fur in the wrong direction.)



14) Here are all the individual cut-out pieces from the minotaur head.  I stick them on the carpet so the duct tape looses some stick (nothing is more annoying than cutting out your pattern and having the duct tape stick to your arm when you move).



15) Using hot-glue, I have attached the fur to the head.  It is a slow-going process,you have to trim edges as you work to make sure everything lines up smooth and properly.  Hereis my fully furred head.  He looks a little shaggy doesn't he?



16) Let's give this bull a shave, then!  I use regular hair clippers to shave down the fur so it smooths out properly and evenly.  You have to oil your clippers and treat them well, faux fur is pretty hard on them. 



17) Now to add the finishing touches.  I use black paint for touch-ups to cover up any white showing, and blend the paint into the fur to add texture and shading.  You can use an airbrush for this too, but since it is such a small area, I prefer a brush, I find I have more control with it.
I have also added some brown color to the horns to give them some texture, and added Toro's earrings and decoration. 
Using some pink fleece, I sewed Toro a tongue, and glued it into his mouth.

And he's done!  Yay!

[Dragyn]

Very nice Temp

[Pashnekwa]

The redo looks awesome!
He looks nicer in the redo.
The original kinda creeped me out, cause it kinda looked like he had cataracts or something  ....
But the redo looks awesome. Looks very realistic.

[Temperance]

I took some photos in full costume... they're pretty bad, it's hard to set your camera timer and hit the button with hoof-paw gloves.

[Dragyn]

They're not that bad

[happy.knot]

That is amazing
I love the legs - but the whole thing together looks fantastic!