4th Doctor cosplay

[redfern]

I love how you'll state"This will take a while," and the next post presents a nearly finished item.  Yes, in some situations such a follow-up could be days, weeks or even months later, but these were on the same day, merely hours.  To me, that's fast for what you planned to do.  And even before painting, it already captures the essence of the "monster".  Dang clever solution...twigs!

Oh, and forgive the lack of praise for your marvelous Movellan and "dastardly" Davros "standee".  I took a few day off from "work" (meaning I simply did not log onto the company network from the house) and for whatever reason, I tend to visit and post more when I'm linked that way.  The site just responds slower through my personal machine.

Sincerely,

Bill

[russellsuthern]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your interest & hope you are well.

The reason for the time discrepancy is that sometimes I do quite a bit of work, taking photos as I go, (probably because I want to see if it will work or not before I start sharing!)  then I'll post a few updates in quick succession.  So a job may take a few days, but the time gap between posts may only be hours. I always try to spread my posts out, but I do get excited about sharing my progress when things go well.

Glad you like how things are going so far.

Regards,

Russell

[russellsuthern]

Talking of which.....











 

Seems I just can't get away from the bright green look.   
Once it dries, I am going to add some browny yellow washes & see what happens...

Regards,

Russell

[redfern]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love the series of "WiP" shots!  I just find it pleasantly amusing to read a post stating, This will take some time,: and before the day is finished, you've reached that particular "goal".  Too bad service industries are usually not that swift.  Last week I had a termite inspection and it was supposedly scheduled for 8:30 AM.  They didn't arrive until 4 PM.  I had errands I wanted to handle before the rains arrived the next day that I had to delay as I was waiting for the inspector!  (Turned out the specific individual slated to examine the crawlspace did not work that day and didn't bother to inform the others of his crew he had my residence 'penciled in".)  You're just the opposite.  You'll caution it there will likely be a 'delay", but then pleasantly surprise us with results far sooner than we expected!

Sincerely,

Bill

[warmcanofcoke]

There is so much paint on top of that mask If you were to put it on that I think you might be talking to your other selves 12 different varieties split across time.

[russellsuthern]

Bill: Well, I aim to please!

Nate:  My motto is: If in doubt, slap on more paint! Although I'm not sure the Universe is ready for 12 versions of me!! 

I think one is quite enough....


Cheers!


Russ

[russellsuthern]

So this morning I added some brown & green to darken it down a bit & add more texture:











I'm thinking I might blob some varnish over the top once it's dry to make it look nice & slimy, but after that, I guess it's pretty much finished.

Can't wait to try it on!!

Thanks for looking in.

Cheers,

Russell

[redfern]

Shape and detail wise, it was already looking great.  Darkening the bright "lime" to a deeper "forest" or "olive" just gives it that extra "punch"!

I've occasionally wondered if, when first aired in Fall of '79, did viewers who remembered them from the 60s thought there was a connection with the Monoids, another notable cyclops type species?

Sincerely,

Bill

[russellsuthern]

Thanks!

I think it will look pretty good once I get the full costume together.

Regarding the Monoid connection, I doubt many people noticed any similarity.
TV was supposed to be an immediate, throwaway medium.
Programs were rarely watched twice & continuity or canon was paid scant attention, even in the 70's!

I wonder what the original creators of TV programs would have thought if someone had told them their work would be scrutinized in fine detail ad infinitum for years to come!?!

I still remember the excitement of getting "Revenge of the Cybermen", "Death to the Daleks" & "Pyramids of Mars" on VHS...

Kids today don't know they've been born!!!

Cheers,

Russell

[redfern]

I remember the first time I encountered "domestic playback" technology.  It was lately around 1976 as my father and I had moved from an apartment complex in Summer of '75 to the house where we stayed until his untimely passing in February 1977.  We lived close enough to a pair of indoor shopping malls as to be reasonable walking distance.  Living with just a single parent (my mother died in May 1966), I was classic example of a "latch door kid", pretty much on my own until my father returned from work around 6 PM.  Nowadays some people would accuse him of "reckless abandonment", but in that era, it was a reasonable norm.  So during the summer months during "school vacation", I'd walk my clumsy 13 year old feet about 2 miles to those shopping centers on my own.

Anyway, during one such visit to the lesser of the two malls, a single level structure (compared to the newer 2 level building bookended by a Sears Roebuck and a JC Penney), I stroke by an audio electronics store featuring high end stereo systems with catch phrases like "quadro-phonic sound" and the like.  But it also showcased some TV hardware including a an early  form of a projection box (looking a bit like an ottoman) and a highly parabolic reflective screen.  (If it possessed a mirrored surface and had been caught the sun's rays, I bet that thing could have roast a chicken!).  It was the noon hour, so I expected the local news to be playing upon that system, but instead, I saw a "documentary" (and I use that term laughingly) about the notion of "ancient astronauts", basically an even shoddier knock-off of a sensationalistic film of the time titled "Chariots of the Gods".  That confused me.  Why would the station be playing something like that when it would normally broadcast news?

So I entered the store and asked that question.  Obviously, being a kid with just a couple of bucks for lunch, the salesman knew I could not personally afford any of his wares, but kindly obliged my curiosity, probably reasoning I'd tell my parents who might have the money to indulge.  He asked me if I knew what was a tape recorder and how it worked.  Well, of course as I owned one, a birthday gift for my 13th.  He continued, "Well, this hardware records and plays back not only sound, but TV signals.  You can 'record' a show and play it again later."  I was suitably impressed.  "Gee, Mister.  How long can it record?" as my audio recorder could handle cassettes a cumulative hour, 30 minutes for each of two sides.  "Oh, an hour," the clerk replied.  "Aw, too bad.  If it could run 2 hours, one could watch an entire movie."

Little did I realize how prophetic was my speculation/wish.  Or how fundamentally it would affect the media entertainment industry.  An entire commerce evolving from the ability to watch movies and TV broadcast at the time of one's choosing and convenience, rather than being shackled to the whims of theater releases and network television schedules.  It's strange, I still perceive that as a relatively recent development, but I have to remind myself that "revolution" started around 40 years ago!  40 years prior to my chance encounter, television was just testing its first experimental transmissions, the technology  stymied by the outbreak of World War II.  So viable "domestic playback" technologies have now been around for more than half the history of broadcast television itself.  I guess it comes from this skewed perception than anything from one's childhood or before birth as being "older" and anything from one's 'adult" years as being "recent" however long ago one became an adult.

But, yeah, I suspect few people creating this shows in the 60s or earlier "seriously" considered the idea audiences could one day watch those broadcasts again and again at their leisure, analyzing every camera cut, zoom and scene change.

Sincerely,

Bill

[Volpone]

Dang.  Talk about necessity being the mother of invention.  Boy we shall have some stories, from the Great Global Pandemic of 2020, won't we?  "All the stores were closed, so I couldn't get any silicone caulk or 'Silly String'--not even canned aerosol cheese.  So I had to use *sticks* to make my 1980s Dr. Who monster mask."  I mean, not as rough as, say, Pa Ingalls having to fight a bear for honey so his family wouldn't starve to death over the winter in the "Little House" books, but certainly a change from our recent life of convenience. 

Say...remember the mop I wanted for the Movellan wig?  It seems a mop, saturated with Elmer's glue (or whatever the Anglo equivalent of Elmer's glue is) could get nice squiggly lines.  Even a ball of string or yarn.  And maybe the paint would stiffen it enough if glue isn't available. 

[russellsuthern]

Volpone:
String stiffened with glue was one of my early options, actually, before I decided sticks would give more variety of shape & thickness... 

Bill:
Life was so much easier for production teams, back in the day.
If a show got good ratings it was recommissioned. If it got poor numbers it was canned. End of.

Now every episode is critiqued to the nth degree. Firstly the program itself (plot, acting etc) then the props & effects are pulled apart & every tiny detail exposed to the world... I wonder if it keeps the makers of these programs awake at night..?

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but sometimes I wish that I could return to the simple days when I just watched a program because I liked it... 


Thanks for your interest, guys. 

Regards,

Russell

[redfern]

In theory, one can still watch a program simply because one likes it.  The trick is to try "avoiding" or "ignoring" the biblical flood of "armchair critics" that comes with "social media".  (Normally one thinks specifically of Twitter and FaceBook, but I'm including outlets like video platforms such as YouTube and tools like forums).  Yes, it's a tall order when one can barely turn without encountering these technologies, but it can be done.  And, yes, it was far easier when the only entertainment critics one encountered were in the newspaper, the TV (like the late Siskel & Ebert) and possibly one's friends at the office or in the school yard.  But now, oy vey, yes, it IS a lot harder to avoid "critiques" (and I use that word laughingly).

Sincerely,

Bill

[russellsuthern]

Absolutely...& you are right, it is possible to watch a program while keeping away from social media etc.
(For example, I'm not going to watch any reviews of the new Dr Who episode...I enjoyed it & that's enough for me.)

What is more difficult, is to watch a program while switching off the "prop builder" part of my brain which constantly analyses every prop, costume & special effect!

Oh well... to be a kid again!!   


Cheers,

Russ

[davidnagel]

Thank goodness its not just me. I now can't watch any show without liking a prop or costume and wondering how to build or cosplay it.

Loving Scaroth! He'll look good at the end of the garden. Do you have a 70s suit to go with him? Or will you be painting your dressing gown as such?