Chris Howes' Sculptural Creations

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

Man, thats gorgeous, Chris! Very nice!

Thank you sir! I appreciate that.

I'm thinking of a better T-Rex sometime in 2009..... Maybe 2 fighting......

 

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

This was a response to a question in another thread about neck joints. I thought I would post it as reference for those who are new to customizing....

Also, what's the deal with the small neck joint adapter? What figure/s would that be for?

Thanks.

Hey, welcome aboard!


A number of different bodies use a similar neck style like the Hot Toys Truetype. A small neck joint adapter is required to attach to the head to these bodies. The head will have a fully sculpted neck. You will need to attach a small neck joint adapter to the neck in order to install the head on the body. The neck will need to be drilled out in order to accept the mounting post on the small neck joint adapter. You can drill it out yourself if you have an appropriate high speed rotary tool like a Dremel, or I can do it for you for $5.00. If you do it yourself, be sure to wear a dust mask so you don't breathe in the fine powdery dust this generates! Your lungs will thank you.

Here is a loose Hot Toys small Neck joint with it's Truetype body I just received from Hong Kong yesterday along with a drilled Joker head casting. Ignore the mess!:

Here it is inserted into the drilled out neck:

And then mounted on the body:

I hope that helps to explain things.

 

[RichAlot]

Any chance you'll be making a Merry and Pippen since SSC has officially put the line on "hold?" There are a lot of people buying the Hobbit bodies in hopes of being able to complete the fellowship (myself included) and we could use some amazing sculpts on these guys

 

[die]

Good stuff, Chris! I can't wait to see some painted versions of the Steve Austin head. Some exposed bionics would be really cool too, I have made a few different versions of exposed bionic bodies over the years as well.

 

[samueljd]

Any chance you'll be making a Merry and Pippen since SSC has officially put the line on "hold?" There are a lot of people buying the Hobbit bodies in hopes of being able to complete the fellowship (myself included) and we could use some amazing sculpts on these guys

You could always start a commission thread and see if enough interest is generated. There are plenty of LOTR fans around here.

 

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

You could always start a commission thread and see if enough interest is generated. There are plenty of LOTR fans around here.

That would be cool, but let's hold off just a little bit while I clear out a few commission. Give it 2 or 3 weeks perhaps.

Funny thing is, I was originally hired by Toy Biz to sculpt all of the LOTR heads. At the last minute, after work had begun, some high up suit decided to unceremoniously dump me in favor another studio that was using the laser scanning gimmick. They thought it was a nice marketing move.

I'm biased, but I thought the result sucked and, frankly, that was the beginning of the end for Toy Biz as we knew it. They squandered that license.

So, I'd be happy to finally do a few more LOTR heads! Just remind me in a few weeks...

 

[RichAlot]

That would be cool, but let's hold off just a little bit while I clear out a few commission. Give it 2 or 3 weeks perhaps.

Funny thing is, I was originally hired by Toy Biz to sculpt all of the LOTR heads. At the last minute, after work had begun, some high up suit decided to unceremoniously dump me in favor another studio that was using the laser scanning gimmick. They thought it was a nice marketing move.

I'm biased, but I thought the result sucked and, frankly, that was the beginning of the end for Toy Biz as we knew it. They squandered that license.

So, I'd be happy to finally do a few more LOTR heads! Just remind me in a few weeks...

Awesome that you're interested! We all know how that laser scanning technology turned out. I think Hasbro used it with Star Wars in Episode I and were so excited about it, but when the figures were produced they didn't mention a word about it (mostly b/c the figures didn't really look any better than what they were putting out already). I remember reading a QnA with Hasbro that said they were less than pleased with the results so they just kept quiet.

I completely agree that Toy Biz really did squander the license. I think they tainted it so much so, that it ended up hurting Sideshow with the 1/6-scale. Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf were so amazing it's a shame the line stops there. I'm just glad that you're willing to take a few of these on in a couple weeks so I can try to complete the fellowship, at the very least.

 

[Anzik]

LOTR has one big ray of hope the other 'hiatus' lines don't have: Two more huge films to generate interest.
They will be back.

 

[Mr Barlow]

Yeah, I'm supposed to be working on those films starting this month . HURRY .......lol

Id love to see sculpts Chris.
The laser scanning thing is crap, as bad as toys scans turn out, imagine how bad scanned 1:1 lifecasts look, JUST AS CRAPPY !
And people like us have to re sculpt all the missing detail anyway...grrrr


Wouldn't it be nice if they just allowed artists to sculpt things ??
I miss the art , thats why this board is so much fun , so many creative people.

I know you care more than a machine.......oh wait, you ARE a machine !


Crank them Hobbitses out would ya ??

Russ

 

[Anzik]

Filthy stinkin' hobbitses!!

 

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

Yeah, I'm supposed to be working on those films starting this month . HURRY .......lol

Id love to see sculpts Chris.
The laser scanning thing is crap, as bad as toys scans turn out, imagine how bad scanned 1:1 lifecasts look, JUST AS CRAPPY !
And people like us have to re sculpt all the missing detail anyway...grrrr


Wouldn't it be nice if they just allowed artists to sculpt things ??
I miss the art , thats why this board is so much fun , so many creative people.

I know you care more than a machine.......oh wait, you ARE a machine !


Crank them Hobbitses out would ya ??

Russ

Preachin' to the choir, my friend! My motto has been, "You hired me presumably because I'm good at what I do..... so let me DO IT, already!!!". The scan tech has always yielded soulless results. And they usually hire the least experienced kid to clean up the crappy output because they've already sunk too much money into the project.

The problem is always some talentless product manager in constant fear of becoming redundant covering his ass by trying to look like his job is justified by making pointless changes or using a gimmick like scanning that make a figure WORSE not better. And the suits higher up go along with it because they have NO idea what they are doing either. Leave the art to the artists who actually care about the damn thing, you'll end up selling more product!! I would never presume to know about the logistics of distribution, I would hire an expert and let them handle it, after all.....

OK, so, I'm never working in this business again if the wrong people decide to read this! I'm getting too old to let it worry me..... I still have the option of retiring to Belize to sell those googly-eyed seashell frogs!

Well, we know you'll do a bang up job on the films, Russ. Clearly, they are going for quality if you're in on it! Good luck, don't let "the man" get you down. Can't wait to see the results and crossing fingers hoping the magic gets repeated!

In the mean time, when we get to it shortly, you all know I'll put my heart and soul into our furry footed friends!

 

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

Hey guys,

Apparently I had a miscommunication with the fellow I did the Lee Majors head for. I was under the impression he did not require a period of exclusivity for this head, thats why I was offering a few copies here. This turns out not to be what his understanding was. He thought he had sole rights to sell the head in any form, in perpetuity. Although I thought I had made things clear, I will accept responsibility for the miscommunication. As most of you know, I'm pretty darn easy to work with, and I only want what's best for my clients, so this is the direction I must take in order to rectify the situation.

What I charge for a private commission is artificially low. I do this to make the kind of quality I offer affordable to the average collector who wants to privately commission a head. As you know, it takes many many hours of very hard work to sculpt one of these 1/6 heads with any sort of quality. Time is money. When I do a head for a Toy company, the customary charge can be from $1000.00 to $1800.00. Heck, I was charging $1800.00 per head to Toy Biz 10 years ago.

This is what I do for a living. It's how I feed my family. So how can I work for $3.00 or $4.00 an hour? Impossible. I wouldn't ask any one else to do so, either.

So, eventually I have to try to make up the difference between what I charged for the commission and what the true cost of it is. I do this by, at some point, selling copies of my work. And it can take a long time to make up the difference, believe me. But I do it this way because, otherwise, you won't be able to find this quality anywhere in a private commission at an affordable price for an individual. The alternative is to charge full price or not offer private commissions at all. I may have to go this route.

Usually, I grant a period of exclusivity where the client has sole rights to sell the head while I bide my time until I can start selling it, too. This is where our communication broke down. He intends on selling full figures on eBay. To the best of my recollection I said I would then only offer a few here as loose heads (and I offered to share the profits which he declined). I didn't want to compete. Apparently I didn't make clear that this is what I was doing. I thought I had his agreement to this arrangement. He made it very VERY clear today that this was not his understanding.

In fact, he suggested that I was deliberately being underhanded and was trying to pull a fast one on him. Those of you who have dealt with me know that this is simply not the case. In fact, I do offer the exclusive period and I promote my clients in an effort to help them make back their investment and then profit. And it's not as if I was sneaking around selling heads from the inside of my coat. It was open, above board, in a public forum. Not exactly trying to hide my tracks. I had no idea it would elicit the response I got.

Part of the reason I'm here at all is in response to another sculptor, who shall remain nameless, who does engage in this sort of behavior, turning around and under cutting the client on eBay behind their back.

Anyway, I just wanted to clear the air and let everyone know what was going on and to say I will not be offering any more Lee Majors heads for the time being.

Frankly, this kind of experience and some other unpleasantries I've been subjected to make me question whether or not I should just finish up my current crop of commissions and go back to working for the corporations. Sorry to be depressing, but it can be very upsetting. I certainly don't want to have to do that, but sometimes I wonder if I should. What's the point if it's not fun, anymore? I can make more money at not having fun working for the corporations.

Thanks for your attention.

 

[lobox42]

Hey guys,

Apparently I had a miscommunication with the fellow I did the Lee Majors head for. I was under the impression he did not require a period of exclusivity for this head, thats why I was offering a few copies here. This turns out not to be what his understanding was. He thought he had sole rights to sell the head in any form, in perpetuity. Although I thought I had made things clear, I will accept responsibility for the miscommunication. As most of you know, I'm pretty darn easy to work with, and I only want what's best for my clients, so this is the direction I must take in order to rectify the situation.

What I charge for a private commission is artificially low. I do this to make the kind of quality I offer affordable to the average collector who wants to privately commission a head. As you know, it takes many many hours of very hard work to sculpt one of these 1/6 heads with any sort of quality. Time is money. When I do a head for a Toy company, the customary charge can be from $1000.00 to $1800.00. Heck, I was charging $1800.00 per head to Toy Biz 10 years ago.

This is what I do for a living. It's how I feed my family. So how can I work for $3.00 or $4.00 an hour? Impossible. I wouldn't ask any one else to do so, either.

So, eventually I have to try to make up the difference between what I charged for the commission and what the true cost of it is. I do this by, at some point, selling copies of my work. And it can take a long time to make up the difference, believe me. But I do it this way because, otherwise, you won't be able to find this quality anywhere in a private commission at an affordable price for an individual. The alternative is to charge full price or not offer private commissions at all. I may have to go this route.

Usually, I grant a period of exclusivity where the client has sole rights to sell the head while I bide my time until I can start selling it, too. This is where our communication broke down. He intends on selling full figures on eBay. To the best of my recollection I said I would then only offer a few here as loose heads (and I offered to share the profits which he declined). I didn't want to compete. Apparently I didn't make clear that this is what I was doing. I thought I had his agreement to this arrangement. He made it very VERY clear today that this was not his understanding.

In fact, he suggested that I was deliberately being underhanded and was trying to pull a fast one on him. Those of you who have dealt with me know that this is simply not the case. In fact, I do offer the exclusive period and I promote my clients in an effort to help them make back their investment and then profit. And it's not as if I was sneaking around selling heads from the inside of my coat. It was open, above board, in a public forum. Not exactly trying to hide my tracks. I had no idea it would elicit the response I got.

Part of the reason I'm here at all is in response to another sculptor, who shall remain nameless, who does engage in this sort of behavior, turning around and under cutting the client on eBay behind their back.

Anyway, I just wanted to clear the air and let everyone know what was going on and to say I will not be offering any more Lee Majors heads for the time being.

Frankly, this kind of experience and some other unpleasantries I've been subjected to make me question whether or not I should just finish up my current crop of commissions and go back to working for the corporations. Sorry to be depressing, but it can be very upsetting. I certainly don't want to have to do that, but sometimes I wonder if I should. What's the point if it's not fun, anymore? I can make more money at not having fun working for the corporations.

Thanks for your attention.

MY FRIEND WE NEED YOU!!

 

[galactiboy]

Bummer... sucks that people can get all twisted up like that over a missunderstanding. Sorry to hear the troubles, hopefully we'll be a nicer crowd to work with

 

[metaphorge]

Hey guys,

Apparently I had a miscommunication with the fellow I did the Lee Majors head for. I was under the impression he did not require a period of exclusivity for this head, thats why I was offering a few copies here. This turns out not to be what his understanding was. He thought he had sole rights to sell the head in any form, in perpetuity. Although I thought I had made things clear, I will accept responsibility for the miscommunication. As most of you know, I'm pretty darn easy to work with, and I only want what's best for my clients, so this is the direction I must take in order to rectify the situation.

What I charge for a private commission is artificially low. I do this to make the kind of quality I offer affordable to the average collector who wants to privately commission a head. As you know, it takes many many hours of very hard work to sculpt one of these 1/6 heads with any sort of quality. Time is money. When I do a head for a Toy company, the customary charge can be from $1000.00 to $1800.00. Heck, I was charging $1800.00 per head to Toy Biz 10 years ago.

This is what I do for a living. It's how I feed my family. So how can I work for $3.00 or $4.00 an hour? Impossible. I wouldn't ask any one else to do so, either.

So, eventually I have to try to make up the difference between what I charged for the commission and what the true cost of it is. I do this by, at some point, selling copies of my work. And it can take a long time to make up the difference, believe me. But I do it this way because, otherwise, you won't be able to find this quality anywhere in a private commission at an affordable price for an individual. The alternative is to charge full price or not offer private commissions at all. I may have to go this route.

Usually, I grant a period of exclusivity where the client has sole rights to sell the head while I bide my time until I can start selling it, too. This is where our communication broke down. He intends on selling full figures on eBay. To the best of my recollection I said I would then only offer a few here as loose heads (and I offered to share the profits which he declined). I didn't want to compete. Apparently I didn't make clear that this is what I was doing. I thought I had his agreement to this arrangement. He made it very VERY clear today that this was not his understanding.

In fact, he suggested that I was deliberately being underhanded and was trying to pull a fast one on him. Those of you who have dealt with me know that this is simply not the case. In fact, I do offer the exclusive period and I promote my clients in an effort to help them make back their investment and then profit. And it's not as if I was sneaking around selling heads from the inside of my coat. It was open, above board, in a public forum. Not exactly trying to hide my tracks. I had no idea it would elicit the response I got.

Part of the reason I'm here at all is in response to another sculptor, who shall remain nameless, who does engage in this sort of behavior, turning around and under cutting the client on eBay behind their back.

Anyway, I just wanted to clear the air and let everyone know what was going on and to say I will not be offering any more Lee Majors heads for the time being.

Frankly, this kind of experience and some other unpleasantries I've been subjected to make me question whether or not I should just finish up my current crop of commissions and go back to working for the corporations. Sorry to be depressing, but it can be very upsetting. I certainly don't want to have to do that, but sometimes I wonder if I should. What's the point if it's not fun, anymore? I can make more money at not having fun working for the corporations.

Thanks for your attention.

Don't let a few bad apples spoil the bunch. I certainly appreciate the work you've been doing here, and I think that the majority of folks here are equally appreciative of the work you've been doing.

 

[Voorhees27]

I agree with metaphorge, to hell with the bad apples, everything is an experience, take it and learn from it. Then the next time it happens its handled.

Best of luck to you Chris.

 

[eighthsamurai]

i can't believe there are people out there who are like this. i would be damn skippy stoked if i could get a professionally sculpted head made by someone willing to share the profits etc. seems to me that it was this guy who was out to make money.

i would be as pissed as you right now and would totally understand if you decided to stop doing these forum commissions. it would make me do the same probably (but them i'm an emotional guy). it seems more and more customizers on the site are being subjected to some kind of abuse rather than the appreciation they deserve.

i can repeat what others have said though - some of us (probably most of us) really REALLY appreciate what you're doing for everyone and are grateful. and we'd love to see more greatness from you. and from my dealings with you personally, i can tell you're a complete butth.... haha only joking ... that you're a standup dude and a pleasure to deal with and even just shoot the breeze with. so it'd be a shame if you were feeling bad and considering stopping the commissions, not just coz we'd stop seeing great characters come to life, but also because it's nice to deal with someone who's so friendly and passionate about their work. i've never had an unanswered pm, and you've always responded to every post i've left in your threads. which is nice.

 

[C.Howes_Sculptor]

Hey Guys,

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining about people here, I'm not. In fact, everyone here has been fantastic. Friendliest bunch of freaks I know! And I truly appreciate your kind words of support, it means a lot to me. Don't know what I'd do without you guys....

It's outside experiences that are getting me down and taking the fun out of it. I've really tried to help folks by keeping prices ridiculously low for private commissions with the understanding that I would have to make up the difference in cost later. I've eaten my cost on a lot of projects I can't make more money on because they are of regular folk like you and me that noone else will want to buy. It's actually hurt me financially. And here is the kind of thing I've gotten in response.... this lovely little snippet of incoherency was from 6 or 7 months ago when I was still selling on eBay. I copied it verbatim:

You took th etrouble to put it on ebay. you can still sell a lot on ebay but its the wrong price, me and many hundrewds of others wont pay 250 for a luxury item when gasoline is needed but some might for less that 250 thats a lot of money to 80% of the world even though people like you cant understand normal people. you think they are all rich this is a no comment needed statement for you to do whatever you want my views on prices are like most everyones ...THINK GASOLINE WHEN ITS 40 MILES TO WORK AND BACK EVERY DAY AT 4.05 A GALLON

I've had this kind of weird unsolicited email on a number of occasions, though usually a little more coherent and in varying degrees of obscenity. For some reason they want to vent their pent up anger on me, a complete stranger who has done them no wrong.

Some people just have no concept of the kind of lifelong dedication and the sheer amount of time and effort that go into these things. I've had more than a few people try to get me to do it for half of my already low cost or even sculpt what they want completely to the finish at which time they will decide whether they want to pay me or not. They don't seem to understand that it would be like me asking them to do a week's worth of their work for nothing deciding only after it's done whether or not I want to pay them a fraction of what it's really worth. Incredible.

I really try hard not to complain about this aspect of the custom world choosing rather to mostly ignore it, but today was a breaking point. The client who misunderstood said things that I will not repeat that really were uncalled for and questioned my integrity. And after I had offered to try and help him sell them so he could profit. He even suggested in his anger that not only was I a cheat, but people are telling him it really doesn't look like Lee Majors after all. So my integrity and ability have both been called into question, again, even though I put my heart into it and in my mind kept everything above board and transparent.

Yet clearly I failed, somehow, in this fellows eyes. It pains me, my fiends, it pains me.

So, it leaves me with some tough decisions. I may have to limit my activities to group commissions only in order to protect myself and my customers from any such misunderstandings. That just might be the best route to travel once I've finished the couple of private commissions I still have outstanding.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

I hate to hear that you've had those types of experiences but I know exactly where your coming from.

For what it's worth Chris, you're an invaluable asset here at the Freaks board and I'd hate to see you lessen your work and presence because of people like you've mentioned. Besides the fact that I'm going to be contacting you about a custom sculpt in the near future.

But really, hopefully you can reflect on some of the more appreciative responses from folks who actually know talent when they see it and maybe start finding that joy again.

 

[eighthsamurai]

as my grandmother used to say, chris - "two tears in a bucket, mother^^^^ it."
the guy you're dealing with offsite is clearly a buttmunch of the highest order. tell him to go fudge himself and be done with it. while no one should be able to get away with insulting you the way he did, might just be better to cut loose. then tell us his name so we can avoid him like the plague. it actually makes me feel bad - seems like you're getting shafted on some of your work and that's hard. i did a lot of graphic design work in japan and when you don't have legal contracts, some people will always try and squeeze every last drop they can out of you. i know how you feel, but to a much lesser extent.

group commissions seem to be the way forward. and i wouldn't mind paying a bit more for each head. the thought that you might be making a loss on these heads is just sad. i don't think i could enjoy them as much knowing that. i would have to occassionally wipe my tears while laughing all the way to the bank.