JND Studios 1/6 scale Heath Ledger Joker figure

[dominishin]

Eh has he done anything recent? Could easily be forgotten these days.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Eh has he done anything recent? Could easily be forgotten these days.

1/4 indy
1/4 zod, ursa and non
1/4 Reeve Ck and supes
1/6 indy
1/6 Reeve Ck and Supes

 

[Rogerbee]

Eh has he done anything recent? Could easily be forgotten these days.

The point I was making was that Arnie seemed to have been hired by HT for the marquee value his name would provide and that Kojun could have been hired by JND in the same way.

 

[Gipetto0812]

The point I was making was that Arnie seemed to have been hired by HT for the marquee value his name would provide and that Kojun could have been hired by JND in the same way.

Maybe, but Kojun wasn't just picked for the new 1/6 department, unlike Arnie Kim who came and went from HT after the Reeve, Bruce Lee and Indy sculpts. Kojun is the main art director for JND, including their statues and has been there since the company began if I'm not mistaken. From the interview posted in the the general JND thread, the CEO sought out Kojun to be part of the company b/c he felt they had similar visions for the future of scaled collectibles. So, it's a little different than HT hiring Arnie Kim for a few sculpts and then he's gone.

 

[Rogerbee]

That much is true, but, a lot of people are now saying that the likenesses are off. JND, Kojun or not, could have hired someone they absolutely knew could deliver the best Ledger sculpt possible. Having seen some good close-ups of an InArt that someone actually owns, I even think it's better in terms of the sculpt than JND's is.

 

[GaryPool]

From what I've seen, no one does hair better than Yuan, I think that's the gold standard. If I were a company I'd be hiring him to help with that in a heart beat.

To be honest, I think Kojun has a lot of clout, I've said it before, I think he's a great artist, but he does take a lot of artistic liberty. From JND the sculptors who did Pattinson, WW, Harley Quinn and Mera are the best. But you can't really argue with Kojuns force for shaking up the 1/6 world, if he wasn't doing this would it be moving in that direction? I understand a lot of people don't care for it, but a lot of people do also, and want that shake-up.

At least for the both of these those sculpts are a lot better than the 1/3. Although I do feel it's the hair that takes some of that likeness away. In parts of the reveal videos the bare bones sculpt you can definitely see Ledger in it.

 

[dominishin]

Still debating if I should keep pre-order or wait aftermarket.... so much 1/6 Jokers out there.

Seeing stuff like the JND Joker go well below retail and the newer TDK batman and duo set on sale hundreds below even JND direct prices doesn't help.

 

[Aybaig]

That’s way better than the JND B and C head.

Big fan of this one too, doesn’t get any better.

View attachment 679644

Can you please tell me buddy whose sculpt is this? Looks really good.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Can you please tell me buddy whose sculpt is this? Looks really good.

Also a Yixie sculpt.

 

[DiFabio]

Still debating if I should keep pre-order or wait aftermarket.... so much 1/6 Jokers out there.

Seeing stuff like the JND Joker go well below retail and the newer TDK batman and duo set on sale hundreds below even JND direct prices doesn't help.

Just wait it out. You’ve been in this game long enough to know there are going to be even more versions.

 

[TonTon]

Also a Yixie sculpt.

That one is just perfection.

 

[Aybaig]

Also a Yixie sculpt.

Thanks my friend. It's wonderful.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Bruce Lee sculptor.

Also did HT Reeve.

Who?

He also ****** Indiana Jones long before Disney...

 

[Gipetto0812]

That much is true, but, a lot of people are now saying that the likenesses are off. JND, Kojun or not, could have hired someone they absolutely knew could deliver the best Ledger sculpt possible. Having seen some good close-ups of an InArt that someone actually owns, I even think it's better in terms of the sculpt than JND's is.

I don't disagree with you that they could've hired someone else to do the sculpt. But, based on all their previous product reveal/promotional videos, they seem to be building out their in-house team rather hiring outside artists to come in to do one-off sculpts. Whether that's good or bad, idk HT and Sideshow are obviously ok with hiring outside custom sculptors like Yixie to do work for them who aren't part of their regular team, but that doesn't appear to be how JND are doing things...yet. Maybe they will in the future if ppl speak loud enough with their wallets.

EDIT: to your point though, someone else on the JND team probably could've been given a shot at sculpting TDK Joker over Kojun as well like So-Yung Lee or Gox (apologies if I've spelled their names wrong).

From what I've seen, no one does hair better than Yuan, I think that's the gold standard. If I were a company I'd be hiring him to help with that in a heart beat.

Yuan is great with doing the real hair, but I'd argue the real question is: Just b/c they are good with doing the glued on hair like what InArt is doing, does that mean they also know how to do real rooted/punched hair like what JND is doing? Maybe they've done it before but I haven't seen or maybe I just wasn't aware.

As an example, I'd say Jacob Rahmier is very talented at headsculpt painting and doing the glue rooted hair method; but, he did a silicone TDK Joker once with the punched rooted hair method and it didn't look anywhere as good or realistic as his glued-on rooted hair and resin paint work. I think there's a learning curve there and knowing how to do one really well doesn't necessarily translate to then knowing how to do the other just as well.

 

[GaryPool]

I don't disagree with you that they could've hired someone else to do the sculpt. But, based on all their previous product reveal/promotional videos, they seem to be building out their in-house team rather hiring outside artists to come in to do one-off sculpts. Whether that's good or bad, idk HT and Sideshow are obviously ok with hiring outside custom sculptors like Yixie to do work for them who aren't part of their regular team, but that doesn't appear to be how JND are doing things...yet. Maybe they will in the future if ppl speak loud enough with their wallets.

Yuan is great with doing the real hair, but I'D argue the real question is: Just b/c they are good with doing the glued on hair like what InArt is doing, does that mean they also know how to do real rooted/punched hair like what JND is doing? Maybe they've done it before but I haven't seen or maybe I just wasn't aware.

As an example, I'd say Jacob Rahmier is very talented at headsculpt painting and doing the glue rooted hair method; but, he did a silicone TDK Joker once with the punched rooted hair method and it didn't look anywhere as good or realistic as his glued-on rooted hair and resin paint work. I think there's a learning curve there and knowing how to do one really well doesn't necessarily translate to then knowing how to do the other just as well.

Ah, didn't know that. Are there pictures online? I get the impression glue rooting gives you more of an easy time with adjusting. Looking closer at the 1/6 Joker you can see there is a sparseness to the hair, but it still doesn't look as good as Yuan's, maybe something to do with how the hair bends at the scalp, no idea.

 

[TheBatman]

Damn......those Yixie sculpts are good....

Doesn't even need the silicone gimmick JND is using. Youre paying for full-blown accuracy, no gimmicks.

Next step up from InArt is full blown custom, as mentioned many times before

 

[xXJ0kerXx1]

something i wish these companies incorporated or did with 1/6 stuff but it wouldn't be friendly to general or casual consumers. those sculpts are resin and are known to be more fragile. most 1/6 collectors handle their figures like **** and with little care because they're so accustomed to how durable hot toys are. there are many instances where they'd fall out the detolf because of poor posing or user error. these qualities just can be replicated on a mass-produced level with factory workers

it greatly differs from factory work but its not for everyone. people will have to go out of their way for this type of stuff and some of these artists are terribly booked full already

 

[Rogerbee]

From what I've seen, no one does hair better than Yuan, I think that's the gold standard. If I were a company I'd be hiring him to help with that in a heart beat.

To be honest, I think Kojun has a lot of clout, I've said it before, I think he's a great artist, but he does take a lot of artistic liberty. From JND the sculptors who did Pattinson, WW, Harley Quinn and Mera are the best. But you can't really argue with Kojuns force for shaking up the 1/6 world, if he wasn't doing this would it be moving in that direction? I understand a lot of people don't care for it, but a lot of people do also, and want that shake-up.

At least for the both of these those sculpts are a lot better than the 1/3. Although I do feel it's the hair that takes some of that likeness away. In parts of the reveal videos the bare bones sculpt you can definitely see Ledger in it.

Kojun is definitely talented, but, he's only good at certain people, not all of them. Same with Arnie Kim. The one sculptor I've seen in recent times that has nailed everyone I've seen him do is Trevor Grove. If you look at the masters of the stuff he's done for NECA they are phenomenal. Since they switched to digital printing they even to his work justice on production figures. If NECA did a 1/4 scale Ledger Joker with a Trevor Grove sculpt it could be amazing.

 

[Rogerbee]

I don't disagree with you that they could've hired someone else to do the sculpt. But, based on all their previous product reveal/promotional videos, they seem to be building out their in-house team rather hiring outside artists to come in to do one-off sculpts. Whether that's good or bad, idk HT and Sideshow are obviously ok with hiring outside custom sculptors like Yixie to do work for them who aren't part of their regular team, but that doesn't appear to be how JND are doing things...yet. Maybe they will in the future if ppl speak loud enough with their wallets.

EDIT: to your point though, someone else on the JND team probably could've been given a shot at sculpting TDK Joker over Kojun as well like So-Yung Lee or Gox (apologies if I've spelled their names wrong).

Yuan is great with doing the real hair, but I'd argue the real question is: Just b/c they are good with doing the glued on hair like what InArt is doing, does that mean they also know how to do real rooted/punched hair like what JND is doing? Maybe they've done it before but I haven't seen or maybe I just wasn't aware.

As an example, I'd say Jacob Rahmier is very talented at headsculpt painting and doing the glue rooted hair method; but, he did a silicone TDK Joker once with the punched rooted hair method and it didn't look anywhere as good or realistic as his glued-on rooted hair and resin paint work. I think there's a learning curve there and knowing how to do one really well doesn't necessarily translate to then knowing how to do the other just as well.

All very good points and I don't disagree either. I see Jacob's stuff regularly on FB and it is brilliant. That said though, he is only doing one of one head at a time. How good production line workers will be at all these innovations remains to be seen....

 

[Gipetto0812]

Kojun is definitely talented, but, he's only good at certain people, not all of them. Same with Arnie Kim. The one sculptor I've seen in recent times that has nailed everyone I've seen him do is Trevor Grove. If you look at the masters of the stuff he's done for NECA they are phenomenal. Since they switched to digital printing they even to his work justice on production figures. If NECA did a 1/4 scale Ledger Joker with a Trevor Grove sculpt it could be amazing.

Trevor Grove is definitely a master at capturing likenesses no doubt about it. I think where he often fails though, is capturing the realism along with the likeness. His sculpts tend to lack that extra bit of "HD" detailing that we see on more modern sculpts these days in my opinion. He still seems to be a couple years back in that respect of the medium.