WIP: Kit-bash conversion Asuka --> Nana Osaki

Recently I got hooked up with "Nana" by Ai Yazawa. I had never liked much her style, but Nana is such an incredible story and the characters are so likable that in a little while I got the manga, the anime and even the 2 movies.

One night I couldn't sleep (nothing unusual here) and, tossing in my bed, I started thinking about random stuff. And BAM! I got hit: I needed to convert this Asuka into Nana Osaki!






I have 2 versions of this Asuka: I got the first one when it came out, but when the second version, complete with decals and more clothing accessories, came out I had to get it again. And I'm glad I did, because the leather jacket will be perfect for Ms. Osaki! \(^o^)/ With all the spare parts I'll still be able to build Asuka, if I ever feel like.

The clothes were already pretty fitting for the purpose, the most obvious correction to be made was, of course, the hair.
At first I thought about using this Rei's hair, since I'm going to use her stockings and her microphone anyway:




But it turned out to be not the best idea: somehow Rei's hair, all nicely butchered up, seemed to be out of scale here, definitely too bulky:

So I decided to start from scratch!
First attempts:

But something still was not working right. After hours and hours of sanding, remodeling, sanding more, remodeling (you get the idea!) I got at this point:






Much better, no?





While I was on a 2 weeks vacation in Austria, I kept thinking about mods I could make. I decided that Nana doesn't need to hold the guitar. First thing, in the story she never actually play it on stage (at least up to the point of the story I reached) and by removing it, I'd also sort out the problem/mystery that has been tormenting me since the beginning: the guitar is too short and doesn't reach her hand!

So I chopped off the hand at the wrist:

I reattached it at a different angle and made her hold the microphone and the cigarette instead of the guitar (which will go on a stand next to the ampli... yes, this is a very ambitious project, ahah!):





Next, stockings and garter belts. I also started priming in black hair and leather jacket, to check the general effect:





Rummaging through my brother's left over crap, I also found something that I can mod into an ampli, saving me at least a little time and effort.. lucky day! (^_^)/
Front hair part, my worst nightmare!! But even this is getting done, slowly but surely! Well, not so surely, but slowly, yes! (^_^)'








More work is required on the bangs, but as I said, I'm getting there I think!
So this is where I stand right now:







This is it till the next update! (^_^)

1/6 Morte

I'm really bad at photography.. plus my camera's batteries died on me and they won't be available again till tomorrow, when I leave for Austria. Maybe when I come back I can take better ones... I really should as she's not glued yet to the seat and a pin is visible under her butt. Once glued you won't see it anymore.

I also included some old WIP photos: the sculpting of the bodice, the sculpting of the waist and one in which you can see her face a little better, since I wasn't able to take a close up of her face.

Morte is finally completed! ^_^ Again!

Again because as soon as I completed her the first time around, she took a dive and got smashed into pieces. I had to do a lot of resculpting and repainting. As a result, she's far from perfect. But at least she's done... about time!
Photos will follow, because the weather is always overcast lately and I suck at taking pics under the best conditions, let alone under the worst! But tomorrow I will take some, at least as preliminary ones, because on Sat I'll leave for a 2 weeks holiday and I want to post her before going! ^^
Later, and thanks for following this poor blog even when I don't update it that often!
*waves her hand at everybody*

Elf Princess Wip: The scepter?

As you know, I'm trying to find a design for a new scepter for my Elf Princess... today I was playing with some sketches, and this is roughly what came out... suitable? Mmm, opinions would be appreciated! ^_^

Happy Easter

...Bur my thoughts fly to the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo and their relatives and friends...

WIP: Elf Princess - Gold Version

Gold version as I'm planning to also paint a pearl white/silver one. I don't have much of a WIP to show, I can just post the photos of where I am at the moment. Not too much left to do really, but I really want to try to finish Morte before going on with this.



Unfortunately the fit is not that satisfiying, and the worst is her hair: I will have to fill up a huge gap between the top/front and the back of her hair, and then repaint over it... I hate that!
I decided to give her real Swarovski crystals to make her more precious, however I really don't like the Sailor Moon-ish staff that was provided, so I'll try to come up with something of my own... easier to say than to be done.

WIP: Morte by Vispo - Part IV

When I decided to give Morte new dignity and cover up some of her.. ehm.. "charms", I hadn't realized what this would mean about the fit of the parts. So here I am, with her almost done, and her right leg doesn't fit with the rest of her bust since the hollow that was supposed to accommodate the knee doesn't exist anymore. How amateurish of me! The only thing I could come up with to fix this mess was to give her a few extra mm of waist, which meant I had to resculpt some of the frills too. I also had to remade some of the buckles on her boots as they were very fragile and some just broke. Here is the first rough version of it:



You might also be able to spot her new earrings. I also gave her a new hair color since the time of my last wip update. Anyway... when I thought she looked good enough:


...one of my usual disaster happened, so she's now in many pieces waiting for me to fix her. I wonder why these kind of things always happen to me, but in truth I know that the reason is that I'm too messy when I work and this really calls for accidents. Will have to try to do something about it I guess...

2008 is finally over and I won't miss it!

Not-so-Asuka, Angel version #2

And here she finally is!
Overall I could have done better, but I was so sick and tired of this model (so much trouble, stripped her twice, puttied her I don't know how many times to hide the part break-up) I just had to finish it in the most gracious way possible.
I wish the photos were better as her hair color looks quite different: it's a lot less blueish than this and is made of 3 different shades of violet, with just a hint of pearl..
Anyway, about time she was done!

Merry Christmas to all!

Hope you all have a wonderful time with your families and your loved ones!