Aesthetics Barbarian!

So I've grown ridiculously attached to my boy Iker, a tiefling barbarian (path of the zealot ftw) that I've been playing in dnd for like a year and a half. I decided to immortalize him in bjd form.

Spoiler: really old reference art

Spoiler: his mini

This is easier said than done, because of a few reasons:

1. Red

2. Hooves

3. Tail

4. Extra eyes

5. Beard!

6. Scarring


I settled on Resinsoul Mu as his shell, because while it's not 100% perfect (very much too lean and in need of some light modding), I can at least get him in the right color without dye and not spend a million dollars! I ordered him in red with hooves in black specifically.


To do list:


1. Order my son --> done! Home already!

2. Lop those ears down, snub his nose a touch -->done 9/24/19

3. Commission custom eyes --> done, arrived 9/26/19 --> replaced with stone cabochons to get the right look

4. Wig

5. (Possibly combined with 4) Beard!

6. Horns--> apoxie sculpt and school glue done with faceup

7. Faceup, adding extra eyes, scars, earrings -->done on Mu -->Done on Heng

8. Clothes -->working on cloak and accessories

9. Tail -->waiting on dye and courage

10. Axes -->one down, one to go before I make the back holster!

 

Ah, my son's arrival:


Not quite as red as I wanted but I love him completely. Smooth and seamless resin with barely any sanding marks. This first photo is more true to color than the second.

Resinsoul sent him with 16mm brown eyes but I switched them for some temporary ones in a more appropriate color.

 

@Bootspy Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing him looking, well, like himself. I'm going to break out them dremel on Monday since it's my day off work. It'll be my first time but I'm feeling confident!

@elfy016 I have and they're to die for! Those guys were basically my confirmation that actual beards can indeed be done!

@xRosary Thank you! I'm hoping he ends up even half as cool as he is in my head.

 

Okay first go at using a dremel. It went FAST. But the boy is now down to some still respectable but smaller ears.

Where the lopping would begin.


Lopped.


Sanded...for now. Might do some additional adjusting.

 

So I'm 20 million years late in updating, but at one point I had my guy customized...but his size just bugged me. Iker is supposed to be a big beefy guy. And in compared to other dolls in his "group" he was just too tiny.




Amathend is the lovely elven lady next to him, and he should be bigger than her. So now I've got myself Heng, and a second pair of Mu legs, and now we're going to be doing some modding!!

 

So just a straight across leg swap won't work. I can't stop laughing.


So I've settled on this configuration (original leg on left for reference): original leg down to the knee joint on to right with the lower Mu joints and hoof. He remains the right height, and the thinness of the lower leg doesn't seem too out of place. He won't stand unassisted, but it's not the end of the world.

 

So this calls for reshaping the lower leg parts. Yi body on left, Mu body on right
They're actually surprisingly similar, and I think I'll need to do less work han I thought. I appreciate any feedback or ideas! I'm planning on widening the channel and shaving down the locking nubs.

 

@Chraurelius I'll be much better about updating in the future! Hopefully.

@Ipledreamer I do love Impldoll, but the last time I contacted them they said they couldn't do the actual red resin. That was 2 years ago though, so it's worth another try. Soom legs are also quite pricey and are becoming rare, and would need a dye job. I'm thinking I'll be happy with my new Heng. But I wouldn't be too surprised if I did end up migrating to Impl sooner or later. We'll see!

 

Okay so it was actually shockingly easy to get the legs to fit!! All I had to do is barely (like a millimeter or two) widen the string channel on the lower leg! This allowed the lock in the knee joint to fit in and presto! He stands!! (Please ignore my sloppy kitchen) he's in a very odd pose but I think I can go more natural with some hot glue sueded and potentially wiring.

Spoiler

 

His head...things went wrong.

This side: beautiful, perfect, just what I wanted. The first side I did.


This side: oh no why is this taking so much longer to cut??? The reason: I'm cutting way too far!! I now know I should've started with the grinding bit, not the cutting wheel. I messed up big time. But the damage will be hidden by his hair and beard. Still sad about it.

 

So I've gotten to his faceup! And glued his horns. I'm also working on his wig then his beard will be added.

 

@Valdemagra I am so, so thrilled that he's found such a loving home with you! I loved having him, but Mu ended up just a little to small for my needs. I was very sorry to see him go, but he's in the best place possible now. I'm excited to see how you style him!!

 

So while I'm happy with my boy, my satisfaction is never truly a static thing. I decided that I was grumpy about how his legs were. He just couldn't hold that animal, digitigrade pose. So I removed that knee joint, making him single jointed, but then the legs wouldn't hold at all. By looking at the original joints of the Mu legs, I realized there were ledges in the thigh pieces.

So a little bit of dremeling (with the random bit I had) and I made some ledges.


And now his legs hold properly!!



Iker is slightly shorter, but worth it for the leg aesthetic. He can't quite stand now, irritatingly enough. His center of balance is weird, very top heavy. I'm thinking of wiring the legs with very strong wire, or very thick new elastic.

I'm working on accessories now: his arm guards (of the brown pleather ever comes back in stock), greaves, cloak and various jewelry. I am heavily considering shortening his arm length by about an inch, but that's a mod I need to work up courage for. I have a length of plastic art doll armature I'm going to use for his tail, and I'm hoping it can be dyed red with fabric dye since I can't figure out a way to cover it that will make me happy. Also going to snap up some jointed hands when I make a Resinsoul order late in the year!

 

Oh and here's a recenter picture of the boy! With some new jewelry.

 

So the man can stand! I had to wire the legs, and they could use thicker wire, but he can stand with his elbow propping him up against the door there. His center of balance is way off, so I doubt he could ever be truly free standing. I'll take able to support himself!

I am struggling a bit with the leather work for his gauntlets and greaves, but I picked up some beefier needles so I think that will help. I also need to figure out how to jazz them up a bit. I finally located some Rit dye for his tail, which should be showing up by this weekend so then I get to figure that out. And I got sick of repeatedly failing at wigs, so I hot glued a cheap fur one to his head and it's working well enough for now.

To do: belt, other guantlet, both greaves, cloak, dye tail and make its tip.