New Usagi Maquette (statues)

chickrockguitar · Post by **chickrockguitar** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 13:59 -0700

Wow! SO AWESOME!!! Put me done for some!!!
AWESOME Work Raol! Thanks to you and Stan for making this happen!!

What a way for the 25th anniversary to go!

Can I ask, can we get them as individuals or do they come in sets?

Colin Solan · Post by **Colin Solan** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 14:00 -0700

Here's one to get you started:

roel · Post by **roel** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 15:02 -0700

Colin Solan wrote:Here's one to get you started:

Thanks Colin,

I was actually talking about the little miniature but I think I figured it out. I think I'm happy with the changes that I've made.

roel · Post by **roel** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 16:38 -0700

chickrockguitar wrote:Wow! SO AWESOME!!! Put me done for some!!!
AWESOME Work Raol! Thanks to you and Stan for making this happen!!

What a way for the 25th anniversary to go!

Can I ask, can we get them as individuals or do they come in sets?

Hi Alex,

They will be individually packaged but I will have some incentives if you buy the whole set. I'll have more info on that later on.

Suumesh · Post by **Suumesh** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 21:36 -0700

Don't know if anyone's keeping track of interest, but my family definitely wants in on this too! Totally psyched...thought these were a still going to take a while based on the quality and detail that Roel does. Are there going to be any of the little miniatures at the Emerald City Comic-Con for a preview by any chance?

goandal · Post by **goandal** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 13:28 -0700

roel wrote: Wow, thank you for the nice compliment Stan. Yes, the statues will be out this fall in time for the 25th Anniversary of Usagi...I will post the "coming soon" card here though. Stan deserves all the credit for making this possible. Thanks Stan and here's wishing Usagi a "Happy 25th Anniversary".

You are very talented roel. Do you mind sharing from start to finish, how the statues are done?

I'm glad all that legal stuff has been taken care of.

Looking forward to the anniversary!

chickrockguitar · Post by **chickrockguitar** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 17:05 -0700

roel wrote:Hi Alex,

They will be individually packaged but I will have some incentives if you buy the whole set. I'll have more info on that later on.

Thanks roel! I'll keep checking back!

roel · Post by **roel** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 18:54 -0700

A little teaser of the next figure. The pictures never do it justice. The figure is starting to look really amazing. It's very hard to capture the 2D form in 3D since you can't cheat it. It either works or doesn't. This is starting to have a lot of possibilities.

roel · Post by **roel** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 22:02 -0700

goandal wrote:
You are very talented roel. Do you mind sharing from start to finish, how the statues are done?

I'm glad all that legal stuff has been taken care of.

Looking forward to the anniversary!

Hi Goandall,

In the first or second page of this thread I described the process on how one of these figures get made. I'm a Concept Designer in the movie industry and I have sculpted and do sculpt. For these Usagi figures though I hired Tony McVey to sculpt these. In the first pages of this thread you will see that he has the credit for it and a link to his site as well. I'm basically playing the role of Art Director. This was my vision to make these statues since I was not happy with the previous ones. I was going to sculpt it myself but got too busy. I hired Tony to do them and I was happy that he agreed since he is the best sculptor that I know. He's worked with Ray Harryhausen on the Sinbad movies and had sculpted for the original Star Wars movies. He's a great sculptor and a great friend. This is actually a big production. I have lots of people involved. I have a main sculptor and 2 others that help out with changes that I need. I also have someone that makes my molds and another person that helps with the casts. I also have someone else doing the paint. I will have more info on each of these individuals once my website is up and running. Basically what I do is to figure out what pose I want that best describes the characters. I then get artwork that best shows the figure in that form. The sculptor will do his first pass and then I will make revisions. Usually it will not looks like anything that I like and will have to spend a day figuring out how to make the changes. This always gives me a headache 'cause it's really difficult to figure out what needs to be changed. I'll do my corrections with Photoshop and will give it back to the sculptor. Once the revisions are done I will go their and physically look at it and make more necessary corrections and finalize it. I usually will do tweaks myself or get someone else to do it even after I finalize the sculpt since I am very anal and nitpicky. I've been a fan of Usagi since it came out in '84 and I definitely have my opinion on how they should look like. It's pretty complex and a tiring process but I love how they're turning out. Katsuichi, after being finalized went through many more weeks of revisions since I wasn't too happy with it. Tomoe right now is proving to be the most challenging because I want her to feel just right. I'm basically asking for changes on the whole figure. Be assured that their was a lot of love and care that went to creating these figures and know that I will keep tweaking the figure until I feel that it looks right. I will then present it to Stan to get his blessing. I hope this answered your question.

runnah4life808 · Post by **runnah4life808** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:53 -0700

Tomoe is looking great!

Krogu · Post by **Krogu** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:12 -0700

And how much will this cost

?

SHAMSKI · Post by **SHAMSKI** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:04 -0700

Roel, the one thing that struck me when I first saw these is how the essence of each character was captured. Its obvious only a true fan was behind these. I'm still amazed how a 2D character can be completely captured in 3 dimensions. I think I can safely say on behalf of myself and the entire Dojo, bravo and thanks so much for immortalizing these beloved characters.
I'm sure everyone is chomping at the bit to get these including myself but its obvious you will not release these until the production process is flawless. I'm sure your still finalizing the details of production, but do you have any idea how many will produced ? Will these be a limited run of 300 or more and will Stan have anything to do with process i.e.... signing and numbering the bases ? or they could come with a small print or tip in plate with a drawing of the statue. However the final production and packaging turns out I'm sure it will be awesome.
Once again thanks.

Fanfan · Post by **Fanfan** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:20 -0700

roel · Post by **roel** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:48 -0700

Hi Shamski,

These will definitely be released this Fall as a limited edition. I have set deadlines and I'm usually good at hitting all my deadlines. I am very happy with Usagi, Katsuichi and Jotaro and they are all finalized. I just need to administer the master paints on them. Tomoe is turning out really well too and I hope to have her finalized by next week. Gen will be started on in a couple of weeks and should be completed by the end of this month. The quantity is still yet to be determined but they will all be numbered . Stan is letting me run with it and as a courtesy I let Stan see the final product for his approval. I'm making it a point to not have the pricing be as expensive as the other high end maquettes that range from $150-$300 per figure. I want to make it affordable for the fans so they can buy the whole set but it needs to be enough so I can continue with the next series. All the information will be up in a couple of months and I hope to be taking pre orders by then. By Comic Con I should have the final product on Stan's table for your viewing pleasure.

roel · Post by **roel** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:16 -0700

Here is still yet another pic of Tomoe in progress. I wanted to show the scale in relation to Usagi. I'm really liking the pose especially if you think of Lord Noriyuki behind her.