Jazzinc Dioramas 1/6 Ultimate Catwoman (Batman Returns, 1992)

[vspectra]

One reason I prefer movable eyes is because I don't trust mass production painting of eyes that aren't straight on. It's much easier to adjust the eyes on your own. Perhaps painted eyes for a sculpt looking straight on and then movable eyes for other sculpts with expressions.

Yeah. All respect to Viola and she is very talented, but most of her work is the character staring straight ahead and to be honest her eyes still very much has the look of "a human painted this onto it", and then we also have to rely on the factory painters to replicate it. Now add in 4 to 6 headsculpts for the dual-pack preorders and making sure the eyes are properly painted into the correct position so they don't look cross or bug-eyed (especially any side eye glance). Pretty big workload there. People complain moveable eyes can look bad, but static eyes can also look terrible.

That Sideshow Premium Format Huntress 1/4 statue from a couple years ago was googly-eyed as heck, so disappointing compared to the prototype.

There could also be the issue with either the sculpt and how the eyes are painted sometimes where it just makes them look too protruded and bulging out and less like actual eyeballs sitting behind the eyelids. These are from Viola's more recent works.

The quality there isn't really up to the latest moveable eyes. There are pros and cons to both, but if both are done right, moveable eyes still come out on top since they provide massive freedom. Joost seemed pretty against it since the first interview and clearly had no plans for it; I'm wondering if he just doesn't ever plan on getting to them. Future figures like an unmasked Zoe Catwoman is just going to have the same static eyes?

 

[Chopper Face]

These damn lowest common denominator broke bums ruining the expressive potential of my dollys!!
Oh well.

So yeah, why can't that happen with hair?

The movable eye system is much easier to build into your digital sculpt once you’ve determined the ideal lid thickness. Looks like HT and InArt have now found the sweet spot there for maximum realism without it becoming too fragile.

Ultimately, all characters could use the same default eyeball and inner socket connection point, which could even be a digital template, and only the printed/painted iris differs for each figure. Even that process can be easily replicated en masse in a factory.

Hair on the other hand is always going to be far more varied and will require a lot more RnD, material selection, intricate application and styling work by a skilled human. Even if we develop advanced machinery to do this, the process would still be costly.

Good figure hairing will remain a luxury feature for quite a while.

 

[WolfBoy]

The damaged version only portions of loose hair tucked under tears in the cowl, so i can't imagine it will be too hard to do.

 

[Gipetto0812]

People in the Aragorn thread complaining about the moving eyes... and here we have people begging for it.

I agree, if Joost isn't completely confident about the process then leave it behind. Painted eyes have been working for decades.

Gotta go the Enterbay Batman route of multiple cowls with different eye positions that allow for each mouthpiece to be swapped between any of the cowls if folks (or Joost for that matter) don't want moveable eyes.

 

[Captain Clown]

I just don’t get why he’s so adamant about not doing movable eyes to save on cost. This is the company that’s charging $1,400+ for a 1966 Bat Cycle with a real working chain and diecast parts that aren’t even diecast on the real prop bike.

 

[skizzoid]

Well, I am watching this thread with less interest now... Or I would be, if my eyes could move.

I just want to make sure the eyes don't have that thousand yard dead-eye stare that every other company does for their female figures, so swap out eye expressions could work (not just swap out eye positions).

Still curious to see how the BD version looks since that has the most expressiveness in the renders, but the excitement level has dropped after seeing those paint samples. If the wisps of hair sticking out of the mask end up being sculpted though, I'm out.

 

[WolfBoy]

If the wisps of hair sticking out of the mask end up being sculpted though, I'm out.

Agreed, why they wouldn't do that rooted makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Agreed, why they wouldn't do that rooted makes no sense whatsoever.

Believe it or not, there are people who want uniformity above all else and "real hair" throws them off.

 

[Shoo]

Here is the progress by Viola Wittrocka. She has also given feedback on the sculpt as part of her normal process with Sean Dabbs Designs. He will now tweak the sculpt bsaed on her feedback.

 

[KingGrayskull]

I highly enjoy the process. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Scout Trooper]

It's looking good. I like it. But not on the highest end level I don't think. Not there yet.

 

[Scout Trooper]

There's a "bulbous" characteristic to her head that's not quite coming through. Something similar to Pattinson's Batman.

 

[Captain Clown]

Here’s a rough edit I made. What do we think about something closer to this?

 

[davejames]

Yeah that does capture the shape of her head better, although the eyes really are looking too big and far apart now.

 

[Captain Clown]

Yeah that does capture the shape of her head better, although the eyes really are looking too big and far apart now.

Maybe like this?

 

[Bleah]

I think this will end up as a case of too many chefs in the kitchen. With vehicles, it's easier because dimensions and details are measurable. While there will be a consensus, faces and likeness are interpreted differently and having too many input can mess this up.

 

[davejames]

Maybe like this?

View attachment 709010

Better, but I feel like the eyes might be sitting a smidge too low.

 

[DiFabio]

 

[WolfBoy]

View attachment 709012

Now there will be room in the sculpt for PERS.

 

[KingGrayskull]

View attachment 709012

Doesn’t look like Ledger at all.