InArt: The Lord of the Rings - Aragorn 1:6

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As I'm sure others are wondering, what exactly (or as exact as you're willing to share) did you do to the hair? Unsurprisingly, it looks great @Raymond F.

Other than lightly dampening the hair on mine, I haven't done anything to it. He actually made it into one of my Detolf's, which is surprising these days. Most everything stays boxed up now.
 
Looks like the stock eyebrows really hurt his likeness. Raymond's version is amazing, but gives me pause about this figure, because now I know the lack of likeness in other pics isn't just attributable to lighting and angles.
 
Looks like the stock eyebrows really hurt his likeness. Raymond's version is amazing, but gives me pause about this figure, because now I know the lack of likeness in other pics isn't just attributable to lighting and angles.
The stock figure is still amazing. I’m looking at mine right now in my normal room lighting and I absolutely see Viggo.

Yeah Raymond’s is an improvement for sure but a talented custom artist is always going to be able to elevate a mass produced figure out of a factory.
 
As promised here is my rework.

More images will be on IG @rfcustomfigures

Full rework of the beard and eyebrows and eye accentuation. Hair fully reshaped, bangs cut and overall style finesse.

Cape:ACI Collectibles
Body Replacement : WorldboxAT011








Wow, looks exactly like the prototype there. You solved it for me, it's the factory paint that was letting it down. Do you take commissions?
 
That repaint by @Raymond F. is incredible. Fixes everything that’s throwing off the likeness. The work around the eyes is especially what’s lacking. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong there but Raymond definitely figured it out.
 
I've admired Raymond's work for many years, and long ago learned to simply enjoy seeing what is possible, and accept that nothing stock I have will be on that level. No shame in having something that is very good and not borderline perfection. But this one is really striking in how it looks like a completely different sculpt.
 
Gonna keep these accessories. Boxed everything else up.

IMG_5609.JPG

IMG_5671.JPG


IMG_5684.JPG


IMG_5703.JPG

IMG_5721.JPG
 
As promised here is my rework.

More images will be on IG @rfcustomfigures

Full rework of the beard and eyebrows and eye accentuation. Hair fully reshaped, bangs cut and overall style finesse.

Cape:ACI Collectibles
Body Replacement : WorldboxAT011








If only you took commissions I would send mine to you before I even opened it. Excellent work. Please explain how you redid the hair if possible
 
Looks like I picked a terrible time to post my lame-ass photos of Aragorn without his coat just before @Raymond F. posted his INSANE repaint with the same outfit option. I'll just bow my head in shame 😇

Nah, I believe ALL pictures are valuable. Like I'm never gonna match Pizza's pics or Raymond's work. Doesn't change the base figure or the good/bad.

I get ideas from pics all the time. :monkey3 This one made me feel a whole lot better about MY Aragorn and his curly pouf hair. Ebay seller, sure hope this wasn't shipped like this. Wonder if someone like Raymond can fix this.

baragorn.jpg
 
Nah, I believe ALL pictures are valuable. Like I'm never gonna match Pizza's pics or Raymond's work. Doesn't change the base figure or the good/bad.

I get ideas from pics all the time. :monkey3 This one made me feel a whole lot better about MY Aragorn and his curly pouf hair. Ebay seller, sure hope this wasn't shipped like this. Wonder if someone like Raymond can fix this.

View attachment 730099

What in Team America the hell is that?
 
Nah, I believe ALL pictures are valuable. Like I'm never gonna match Pizza's pics or Raymond's work. Doesn't change the base figure or the good/bad.

I get ideas from pics all the time. :monkey3 This one made me feel a whole lot better about MY Aragorn and his curly pouf hair. Ebay seller, sure hope this wasn't shipped like this. Wonder if someone like Raymond can fix this.

View attachment 730099
That's obviously a screen capture from the film.
 
Looks like I picked a terrible time to post my lame-ass photos of Aragorn without his coat just before @Raymond F. posted his INSANE repaint with the same outfit option. I'll just bow my head in shame 😇
I loved your pics bud! Thanks for sharing, and share more! I had forgotten about that outfit variation too before someone a fee pages back posted the capture from the film, which I also used as a reference for the pose!
 
Nah, I believe ALL pictures are valuable. Like I'm never gonna match Pizza's pics or Raymond's work. Doesn't change the base figure or the good/bad.

I get ideas from pics all the time. :monkey3 This one made me feel a whole lot better about MY Aragorn and his curly pouf hair. Ebay seller, sure hope this wasn't shipped like this. Wonder if someone like Raymond can fix this.

View attachment 730099
I’m having a hard time believing that is the real figure. A knockoff maybe?
 
As promised here is my rework.

More images will be on IG @rfcustomfigures

Full rework of the beard and eyebrows and eye accentuation. Hair fully reshaped, bangs cut and overall style finesse.

Cape:ACI Collectibles
Body Replacement : WorldboxAT011








Your work is fantastic! I said that they changed the eyebrows as Viggo has a very specific eyebrows and ppl said I’m too picky. Prototype had more or less accurate eyebrows. Your work proves I’m right! It gives a huge difference! Just perfect!
 
Thanks guys!

Those were from my XT5 Fuji... I took one with my iPhone 16 pro max for good measure... this is the first iPhone in history where I think the camera doesn't suck..



Wow, Ray... your work literally took my breath away.

I really love your phone camera too, the picture above is outstanding. Movie still level.

I can't imagine your display with all these truly lifelike 'people' staring back at you. I'd feel intimidated.


I'm so eager to get to my own Aragorn. It's quite nerve-racking to see what's possible, and then try a middling attempt. I think Aragorn will be a big learning curve for me. At least, I hope so.
 
I’m having a hard time believing that is the real figure. A knockoff maybe?
It's a current auction with mostly stock photos....dunno.

InArt's own replacement page language seems to be saying fakes/frauds are happening and KO sculpts are out there. Or it could be real. Outside of my own, I haven't seen any photos of bad hair, out of the box. But I've read comments here and there.

Can't blame folks for not wanting to photograph a fig that looks bad. It's depressing. :monkey2 I think about my own and that careful packaging in that shiny cylinder with the *&^% hair. :rolleyes:

And then I didn't even get the Ranger cloak to cover it up, which is a perfectly legitimate look. 😁
 
Thanks everyone for the kind words. I think now that I reworked it and shared pics it better illustrates what I mentioned a few pages back, which I know a few people may have thought was blowing things out of proportion. I do want to clarify that I think this is more than an admirable effort, and that indeed Inart is doing stellar work. I also think what @karamazov80 said is spot on, there will always be a drop off in quality for the factory version. I've seen almost every single Hot Toy figure can be improved even ever so slightly with a paint tweak here or there to bring out likeness. Many I've done I don't post on @RFCustomFigures because they are noticeable more in person than through photos.

But for something like this I knew it would be a radical transformation. @JorjeCroft not only are you right but eyebrows may be the most overlooked and obvious make or break likeness thing on must characters in general. And I believe that and the beard could have been avoided with better QC. I think they could have done better here with full empathy on how hard it is to get something right in the factory level.

I feel for them as their ambition and at this price point I always knew the rooted hair would be hard to pull off on a mass level. Having worked with this type of hair for years I know that it all depends on the specific hide you get. And how it’s applied. Literally impossible to be consistent, as a casual collector there’s no way you should have to sit back and pray you get a good one.

For the hair specifically, I maintain what I said earlier (which was also controversial) that the sculpted hair holds better likeness (not realism but likeness) so that's exactly what I referenced when trying to shape it.

Luckily I did not have to do much to the bottom, but to get the volume in the top I wet it and messed / teased with it with a toothpick and metal prod to break up some of the product a bit. The big thing was trimming the bangs a touch in the very front and yanking those bangs closer together to close the massive forehead. 90% of the ones I've seen have that issue, that's the main difference with the prototype. Think of the hair shape in the front as a triangle: the bottom of his cheeks being the widest and the widow's peak the narrowest. they did attempt the bangs, I believe all would need to be trimmed to get the same effect.

The eyebrows were reshaped with lighter brown /flesh paint and darker brown to get the shape right.

The whole orbit was accentuated. Viggo has very distinct orbits. So this includes thickening the bottom eyelashes and accentuating the bags and crevice on the inside of the nose bridge.

The beard lightened the sides of the mustache and chin and darkened the lip divot and sides of the chin
 
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