Gordon Freeman sculpture

[neveroddoreven]

Here's my second attempt at sculpting a Gordon Freeman Figure. Pics speak for themselves, although I'm not really happy with the photography.
Let me know what you think. I would ask for constructive criticism, but that tends to make people focus on all the negativities. I'll upload more pics once I have enough caffeine in me to take them.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0017-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0021.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0015.jpg

[hool10]

I thought that was sculpted by McFarlane toys or something. Send a pic and request actual sculptures made by Valve lol. *Oh snap! I just noticed the texture on his clothing. How did you create that effect? **In fact could you tell us how you made it?! So much detail in that figure.

[Emporius]

That's amazing! Call up robot chicken

[zombieturtle01]

Very nice work man, but when making figures sand down his arms a bit and then resculpt them so the armor fits better and it won't make him look so bulky. Also, shorten up his torso.

Keep up the good work though. I once attempted to make a very articulated Gordon fig, but it was too hard for me. Did you use Epoxy Sculpt?

[neveroddoreven]

I wish I knew of this site before I sold the last one on eBay! Free advertising and all that..

Alright here's the specs;

He's 7.5 inches tall, and articulated at neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, torso, and calves.

Base sculpture is Milliput (White variety), detail layer is the yellow/grey variety, with Kneadatite on high stress areas. Areas on the torso and arms are made of acrylic rubber to flex (white in photos).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0008.jpg

The glasses were made from thin, clear plastic on Kneadatite frames. The crowbar was mostly made from an allen key with the ends sculpted on. The cloth textures were made by pressing cotton onto the putty.

Speaking of McFarlane toys, I had the opportunity to apply for a sculptor position a few years ago. They liked my work, but I just couldn't afford to make the move to the US. Pity that.

[Acepilotf14]

He's a little thin. Few more burritos?

[soulslicer]

My god. You are amazing. The colouring work is awesome!

[SpectreBlofeld]

That is ****ing awesome, dude. The only 'constructive criticism' I could deliver is that his torso is a little too tall, but not enough to subtract from the badassery. Is your ebay auction still open? I just might throw in a bid. Seriously.

Edit: The shortness of the torso could be because the HEV's 'mantle' is a little short.

[zombieturtle01]

Speaking of McFarlane toys, I had the opportunity to apply for a sculptor position a few years ago. They liked my work, but I just couldn't afford to make the move to the US. Pity that.

Oh wow, nice. I heard living out where the company is, is pretty expensive considering the pay they give you. So it would have been tough anyways =

[Vegeta897]

Neveroddoreven, that's incredible. Hope you get good luck and land a sweet job!

[Naurgul]

It's very good, I like it. I don't know much about sculpting but I suppose it could potentially be even better.

[Shippi]

The sculpt is excellent, very accurate :D though like others have said, the torso looks a little long. I think the paint lets it down though. I can't quite place why it looks off, I think the colours are too flat and the paint a little thick.

It's still bloody amazing though <3 Makes me wish I'd finished my Alyx sculpture. They could have been friends :(

I find myself limited to super sculpey because I'm sensitive to milliput and any epoxy putty I'm guessing. If I'm careful and wear gloves I can get away with it, but I still don't like to use it. It's useful stuff though, because it's not brittle like sculpey

[hool10]

Make this as news post or something and get Valve notified lol. Yeah the torso is a little long and thin. I would gladly trade in my headcrab plushie that collects dust in front of me for that. I wonder if you can make busts and the G-man, aliens, etc? :cheese:

[neveroddoreven]

Now that I have some outside opinions, I can see how the torso is a bit on the skinny side. It would take only a few minutes to fix, so I might just do that sometime this week, even though I have about as much creative energy in me as beans on toast.

I still think it's miles better than my last attempt, which was only 5 inches tall;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0017.jpg

I also think I should make another headcrab as well;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0014.jpg

I did make Alyx as well, but I'm almost ashamed to show any photos. I do plan on making her again on the same scale as the latest one, with a Combine architecture display base. I'll have more pics soon, to show off the detail on the base, and the pulse rifle I spent ages making.

[Acepilotf14]

I love that headcrab. Make a poison one!

[Azner]

Alyx pictures now.

Loving your models and lol at "Constructive Critism" by SpectreBlofeld

[zombieturtle01]

The sculpt is excellent, very accurate :D though like others have said, the torso looks a little long. I think the paint lets it down though. I can't quite place why it looks off, I think the colours are too flat and the paint a little thick.

It's still bloody amazing though <3 Makes me wish I'd finished my Alyx sculpture. They could have been friends :(

I find myself limited to super sculpey because I'm sensitive to milliput and any epoxy putty I'm guessing. If I'm careful and wear gloves I can get away with it, but I still don't like to use it. It's useful stuff though, because it's not brittle like sculpey

Why not use epoxy sculpt for all of it? Hardens in 3 hours, super strong, and all you need to do is sand it a bit.

Make this as news post or something and get Valve notified lol


I second that. If you could get Valve to work with you, make another sculpt, mold it, and people would love your mass produced Gordons.

I know how much work it is though to make these things, I really do :/

But, I think above all, I desire a G-Man sculpture. I am not that great with human faces, but if I was, I would invest time to make one. Would be great to have on a desk top.


oh, and P.S.- Has inkheart been wiped off the face of HL2.net? :O

[SamuraiKenji]

no he hasent......



why are you wishing i was?


no wait dont answer that i know the answer is yes

[zombieturtle01]

I wish nothing of no one. I was asking because your responses in this thread were gone. Probably because they were rather rude. Respect the man's time and work effort.

[neveroddoreven]

I did start making preparation sketches for a Gman figure, but lost interest after a while. I don't really want to make more than 2 characters from each game, as I always have several projects on the go at once, and none of them would get finished. I also started (then abandoned) a Combine gunship, and started planning out a Strider too.
Emailing Valve sounds like a good idea, I might just do that. I emailed 3DRealms with pics of my Max Payne projects, and they loved them. It was quite an ego boost for a pessimistic misanthrope like myself.
As for Inkheart449's responses... do I want to know?

[Acepilotf14]

I wish ink would go away.

[ktimekiller]

looks fantastic, except it hunches a little

[SamuraiKenji]

hmm.......you should make a giant headcrab....that would be cool

[hool10]

I bet Valve would hire to make the models in house. Then Gabe and the rest would check out the work and see how they like it. If they liked it, I'm willing to bet they would mass produce them under a seperate department of Valve led by you. I'm really confident that would happen. Just like the third party companies making their plushies, etc. Working for Valve, making a business out your art, getting paid big $$$. ;) I like the first model color set though. It's more bolder and more true to the game.

[zombieturtle01]

Can you really e-mail valve/gabe? And do they actually read what you have to say?

This is news to me.

[Raziaar]

Man... that's some amazing work there! It's always been a dream of mine to be able to craft my own figures... too bad I always sucked at it as well as never attempted really.

[Wanted Bob]

That's amazing! Call up robot chicken

Heh, a robot chicken episode with the Freeman would be awesome!

[Vegeta897]

Not if they ruin halflife for me.

And if I hear one ****ing word uttered from Gordon's mouth, you'll all pay dearly.

[ShadowX]

Wow, those are fantastic!

[Shippi]

Why not use epoxy sculpt for all of it? Hardens in 3 hours, super strong, and all you need to do is sand it a bit.


I can't touch epoxy, otherwise I would :P Unless epoxy sculpt is different to putty, I don't know..

neveroddoreven: I'd like to see your Alyx :) Mine was fairly large, and I made a detailed head and shoulders, but I never got round to detailing the rest before I lost interest. I think I have a photo of the head somewhere

edit: found it (http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1904/picture003gr4.jpg).. I did this a year ago, and it looks awful now. It's all disproportionate, bleh.

[Darkside55]

If you make any more articulated Gordons you want to sell on eBay, let us know. I'll certainly take a look.

[zombieturtle01]

I can't touch epoxy, otherwise I would :P Unless epoxy sculpt is different to putty, I don't know.

Why? Does it have some reaction to your skin or something?

It's this stuff-

http://www.clayalley.com/apoxie.jpg Mix two and two together, you can sculpt with it for about 2-3 hours, no baking. Overnight it hardens like a rock. Much, much stronger than any sculpty product.

[Shippi]

Why? Does it have some reaction to your skin or something?

It's this stuff-

http://www.clayalley.com/apoxie.jpg Mix two and two together, you can sculpt with it for about 2-3 hours, no baking. Overnight it hardens like a rock. Much, much stronger than any sculpty product.

Yeah, my skin reacts to it. I once had milliput on my hands after mixing it, and I didn't wash it off before sculpting with sculpey. I worked for a few hours and I must have touched my face because when I woke up my face was swollen, and my skin was red, dry, supersensitive and flaking. Nice, huh? Some people just react to it I think. I'm alright if I wear gloves and be super careful not to get it on my skin.

[nurizeko]

Nice sculpture, and better then any of the other monkeys who crawl on their knuckles around these forums could achieve, me included. :laugh:


No point pointing out any problems, theres enough folk to do that and there not so bad a bit of practice wont fix, your already fairly pretty darn good with sculpting.

Hope you enjoyed making it because it shows in the work.

Top stuff.

[Acepilotf14]

Not if they ruin halflife for me.

And if I hear one ****ing word uttered from Gordon's mouth, you'll all pay dearly.

If the know their HL2, It'll go like this:
"HI IM GORDON! I DONT TALK!"
"Hi I'm Alyx, I'm really annoying! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"HEADCRAB"
"D:"
"SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!"
"OH NOES!"

[Raziaar]

I hate epoxy. That feeling when you get it all over your fingers and it dries is terrible... it's like insta-callous!

[Tyguy]

looks good. my only advice is change the mouth, looks like he just saw 2 girls 1 cup

[zombieturtle01]

Yeah, my skin reacts to it. I once had milliput on my hands after mixing it, and I didn't wash it off before sculpting with sculpey. I worked for a few hours and I must have touched my face because when I woke up my face was swollen, and my skin was red, dry, supersensitive and flaking. Nice, huh? Some people just react to it I think. I'm alright if I wear gloves and be super careful not to get it on my skin.

Ouch, that sucks big time. Wearing latex gloves while using sculpting material can be rather difficult, I can see why you stray away from it.

[hool10]

Can you really e-mail valve/gabe? And do they actually read what you have to say?

This is news to me.
Yes you can really. I have sent him 2 e-mails in my life so far. The first was asking about the contents of the special edition of HL2 back in the day. He never got back to that one. But I sent him an e-mail asking if the Steam Community would support 3rd party games and he just responded with "yes". Sometimes he won't respond because he's getting a bunch of those Q's and they will all be answered in a press release. He does read all the e-mails though. It's been like this since day 1 lol. Watch any of the dev commentaries. He says if you got any q's/comments you can e-mail him.

[zombieturtle01]

Yes you can really. I have sent him 2 e-mails in my life so far. The first was asking about the contents of the special edition of HL2 back in the day. He never got back to that one. But I sent him an e-mail asking if the Steam Community would support 3rd party games and he just responded with "yes". Sometimes he won't respond because he's getting a bunch of those Q's and they will all be answered in a press release. He does read all the e-mails though. It's been like this since day 1 lol. Watch any of the dev commentaries. He says if you got any q's/comments you can e-mail him.

oh neat, so we can show him our work and he'll actually look at it?

[Shippi]

oh neat, so we can show him our work and he'll actually look at it?

Yeah he looks at it. Gabe is awesome. Back when Hl2 went gold, I sent him some crappy fanart and they sent me a bunch of posters :D I emailed him a Freeman painting recently and he said it was "very good", hehe. I'm always amazed he replies considering how much mail he must get.

[neveroddoreven]

I used to to be allergic to Milliput too, always had to wear gloves. But I couldn't let that get in my way because it was too expensive (to buy loads of rubber gloves). Eventually I just built a tolerance to the stuff, and now I use it almost every day.

I still don't want to show my Alyx pics, but your'e welcome to see anything else. Also I'll see if I can get some more decent pictures by the end of the night, but pizza comes first.

[Beerdude26]

Yeah he looks at it. Gabe is awesome. Back when Hl2 went gold, I sent him some crappy fanart and they sent me a bunch of posters :D I emailed him a Freeman painting recently and he said it was "very good", hehe. I'm always amazed he replies considering how much mail he must get.Wasn't there something about this in an interview with Gabe? He spends like 2 hours each day reading fan e-mail

[zombieturtle01]

Yeah he looks at it. Gabe is awesome. Back when Hl2 went gold, I sent him some crappy fanart and they sent me a bunch of posters :D I emailed him a Freeman painting recently and he said it was "very good", hehe. I'm always amazed he replies considering how much mail he must get.

Oh that is splended :) Is his email on one of the HL games or on the steam website or what?

[neveroddoreven]

Now that was a reliably disappointing photo session. I hate this new camera. Here's the best ones that didn't come out blurred or over bright;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/HL214.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/HL26.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/HL28.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/HL25.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/HL24.jpg

I also tried putting Gordon on my Splinter Cell base for some variety, but they all came out blurry;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/pankee/DSCF0022.jpg

[hool10]

I still don't want to show my Alyx pics, but your'e welcome to see anything else. Also I'll see if I can get some more decent pictures by the end of the night, but pizza comes first.
Bah I bet it's better than Shippis by a long shot. :O ohhhhhhh! :P Yes please show moar. *Holy hell!! Sweet model's!
Wasn't there something about this in an interview with Gabe? He spends like 2 hours each day reading fan e-mail
Yeah he did say that in an interview. I really cringe at the thought of some kid sending him an e-mail saying what he didn't like/like. While Gabe and the rest might appreciate it, I feel that the e-mail must be worth his time. The best example I can think of any person getting stuff for free is this: http://www.hl2world.com/bbs/valve-and-gabe-amazing-vt40789.html?highlight= Gabe actually signed a Pop-Tart!
Oh that is splended :) Is his email on one of the HL games or on the steam website or what?All the info you want and tons more is here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Gabe_Newell's_FAQ *Needs updating lol.

[zombieturtle01]

thank you hool

[Druckles]

Omg! That's so cool! :cool:

[zombieturtle01]

neveroddoreven, your AR2 put's mine to shameeee. Amazing detail.

Amazing base setup too, amazing everything.

[neveroddoreven]

I'm quite happy with the base. I set it in the section of the game when you emerge from Ravenholme into the daylight. I really thought that part had a subtle atmosphere to it. I was originally going to set it in the canal areas of the game, and base it off of Jean-Marie Poumeyrol paintings, but instead I took a lot of photos from a rail track I pass everyday on the way to work, and it seemed to fit.
There were going to be 4 crows scattering at first, but that was too cluttered. I made 3, then decided on just 2 instead.

[zombieturtle01]

I set it in the section of the game when you emerge from Ravenholme into the daylight. I really thought that part had a subtle atmosphere to it. .

Indeed, I definately agree. For some reason that section of the game makes me feel kind of depressed. Not sure why, has a very interesting atmosphere too it. Especially when the music begins to play.

[hool10]

I'd really like to see your adaptation of the G-man:
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/images/7/78/Gman.jpg

[Druckles]

Hopefully with less of a smile. And looking slightly more creepy.

[freakyflor]

Cool!

[Kaptain H]

Wow, that looks great! I admire anyone who can work in sculpture. For such a small figure, you got an incredible amount of detail, and his likeness is really on. I just wish the lighting wasn't so strong in the photo, since it washes out some of the detail.