Jyn Erso - My first real attempt at custom figure painting

After watching a few too many Cosplay Chris videos about his custom figures and props, I finally managed to push myself into actually getting a custom piece done. I found a 12 inch Jyn Erso "not Titan Hero" version on clearance at a local Target and decided she was a worthy experiment.

For those that don't know, the major companies that make toys of actual movie stars have been using laser 3D scanning on their faces for a good while now, but they NEVER look like them on the final product. The primary reason being the paint budget. So even though they're physically accurate, they rarely look like the person they're based off of. I could tell right away this Jyn was victim of this tragedy. Only recently did Hasbro and Mattel finally get a decent format that worked out an okay looking paint-to-accuracy balance.

STEP 1:

Unfortunately I already had done things by the time I remembered to start taking pictures of the process. As you can see the base figure is pretty detailed but missing a metric butt-ton of color. They didn't even bother base coloring the outer vest and boots.

 I already popped the head off and wiped the face and hair out with acetone. Fortunately her whole head and shemagh are a softer plastic (polypropylene I believe) and cleaned up nicely.

 I sanded down the back and boots with a very fine grit. I didn't bother trying to prime these parts as I didn't really expect this figure to see 'action' when I was done. Since this was purely experimental I didn't particularly care about the wear resistance of the paint.

STEP 2:

 I've been collecting a pretty big library of hobby acrylics originally for Gunpla use since they come in tons of shades. Just about everybody knocks on these budget paints but I'm big on priming and finishing anyway, so I feel like shelling out for quality (ie: expensive) acrylics don't really make for a significant difference in my process.The gain isn't terribly much for the amount I would pay for.

I put down the base colors for the vest and boots, about 4 coats each. You can see I made some overbrushing errors but I fixed that easily with Rubbing Alcohol. After the base brown I added the base colors for the little details; silver on the buckles and pocket grenade thing, and black straps. It already looks better without any shading effects.

STEP 3:

 

So straight up taking Cosplay Chris' shoe polish technique, I used some Kiwi Scuff Cover in Black and went to town on the head. Already you can see the sculpt details that had been there the whole time but impossible to see because of the plastic texture.

I used the same shoe polish on the pants and shirt, but the effect is much more subdued.

This is the Blaster after shoe polish on top of a black base. It looked pretty good at this step, but regrettably I should've definitely primed this before I worked on it at all (explained at the end)

STEP 4:

 

I then used Kiwi Scuff Cover, in Brown this time, for the jacket, vest, gloves, and boots. Didn't quite sink into the crevasses as much as I expected, but it had this wonderful effect on the brown paint, making it look much more like tattered leather/suede.

 I then did a dry brushing of the brown-yellow Jedha sand just about all over, with a lot of emphasis on the knees, elbows, and shemagh ends.

Close ups of the dry brushing on the boots and pants. I went overboard with the boots since they have been walking the Jedha desert, and also on the edges of the blaster holster, giving them a nice, worn leather touch.

STEP 5:

Unfortunately it's hard to tell in this shot but there is a very subtle "blush" wash that I did on the face; I used a lot of watered down brushing then immediately wiped it with paper towel.. The idea is to get this dark pink shade into the imperfections of the flesh base, so it looks like there's actual blood flow getting into her face. The wash also seeps into the nostrils and eyelids and it makes a HUGE difference.

After the blush wash I went on to the base colors. The white I used for the eyeballs are specifically Gloss finish, so their sheen is completely different form the rest of the Satin finish face. Her irises are Folk Art brand Metallic Emerald. I accidentally nicked some parts with the paper towel so my corrections are rather obvious. Again, primers, very important thing to add people.

I did another wash, this time using a brown-red mix, focusing on where creases appear on the face: below the eyebrows, behind the nostrils, etc. Again, same technique: water heavy strokes, then dabbed clean with paper towel.

Lastly was the eyelashes. In all of my references Felicity Jones goes for a very heavy lower lid shadowing, so I tried to go for a 'heavy but not too heavy' look for the lower lashes. It didn't quite work exactly as I expected, but I'm happy with it. For the finishing touches, I did a very light coat of the Folk Art Metallic Antique Gold to give it the silky shine real hair has. I also did a thinned out dark red stroke on the lip gap to make the lips really pop. 

STEP 8:

 For the finishing coat I used an old can of Krylon Matte I had from a project years ago. Now here's where I royally screwed up; instead of testing the spray can on say, a random object that WASN'T my project, I sprayed directly on to the back of the figure. It came down way too heavy and ended up erasing some of the dry brushing I put on the vest. Fortunately, it's on the spots where the shebagh was covering anyway, so unless I pointed it out to you, you'd never guess it was messed up. But remember people, test your spray cans on non-important items/areas.

Weirdly her sleeves became way shinier after using the MATTE finish; no solid explanation but I think it has to do with the way the PVC (PP?) reacted to the finish medium.

FINAL PRODUCT

 This is the now completed Jyn Erso. Apologies for the unflattering lighting as I don't have a white photo booth set up at all. Overall very happy with the turnout, considering I had no practice at all in any of the 'new' techniques I was using. My biggest regret though was not adding primer to the blaster. A lot of the handle black peeled off immediately after testing how the figure held it. Lesson learned.

Here are a couple of before and after shots to really show how much you can improve a figure with just the right paint touches. Again, I made absolutely no modifications to figure at all; no carving, puttying, nothing:

I will say the end product looks way more like Elizabeth Olsen than Felicity Jones.

CLOSING

I really hope this little walkthrough demonstrates how much work actually gets put into these darned figures but just gets lost because of paint restrictions. If anything I pointed out helps out someone out there I'm glad. Until the next project!
-A.K.