M_S_Statues

Hello friends and community!

This week, I finally shifted my focus to Cyclops himself. After spending so much time on preparation and the environment, it was exciting to start working on the main character and see the statue slowly come to life.

I started with the head by priming the skin areas using Monument Hobbies White Primer, applied with my Premium Series GHPM-Mobius TG 0.5mm Airbrush. From there, I built up the skin using several different Kaleido flesh tones until I was happy with the overall look. Once everything had dried, I sealed the paint with Kaleido Color Works Matte Clear Coat to protect it before continuing.

After carefully masking the finished skin, I primed the entire body using Kaleido Primer Matte Black. Since I want the overall atmosphere of this statue to remain dark and cinematic, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about which blue would best fit the scene.

In the end, I decided against using a traditional bright blue. Instead, I built the highlights with Kaleido Dark Space Gray directly over the black primer. I then glazed those highlights with Kaleido Translucent Clear Blue and Kaleido Translucent Clear Teal. This keeps the suit very dark while still giving it a rich blue tone when the light catches it, perfectly matching the mood I want for this project.

Next came one of the most iconic parts of Cyclops’ costume. Using AK Interactive Ochre, I carefully painted the suit stripes as well as the chest emblem. To give those elements more depth and prevent them from looking too flat, I switched to my Iwata Custom Micron Takumi and carefully shaded them with AK Interactive Ink – Wood Brown. This subtle shading makes the stripes feel much more integrated into the suit rather than simply painted on top.

One of the final tasks this week was defining every seam of the costume. Instead of using a panel liner, I took a very fine detail brush and painted every seam by hand using AK Interactive Intense Black (AK11029). Although this approach takes considerably more time, it provides much stronger coverage and allows me to achieve the deep, crisp contrast I was looking for. Since the entire piece will have a very dark atmosphere, those strong black panel lines help separate all the individual sections of the suit.

Overall, I’m really happy with how the project is progressing. There is still an incredible amount of work ahead, but now that Cyclops himself is finally starting to take shape, you can already get a good feeling for the direction this statue is heading. Watching the main character come to life after weeks of preparation is incredibly rewarding, and I’m excited to continue pushing the project even further.

That’s it for this week’s update!

I’ll see you all next week, and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Peace out!