Can I say that despite all the work (and some of the flaws in this attempt, I like how it came out?)
Just a quick re-cap of before and during:
I had some reservations about how well I’d be able to tweak this head. It is IMO a fairly masculine (or handsome) sculpt. I wanted to make something a little softer out of it. (ok I also wanted my husband to stop calling her “A bloke in a dress”!)
And after she’s had considerable cutting and sanding done…
- Shaved down the sides of her forehead.
- She had her seriously overhanging eyeridges sliced off.
- Chopped off the end of her nose– rounded it off to make it less beak-like.
- Shaved the chin and did serious shaving on the jawline. (as I mentioned though, I went a bit bonkers on the sides :/ )
- (unlisted) general sanding down of some of the more defined lines/furrows in her face mold.
After all that…. I rooted in some low and highlights (not very noticeable) and gave her a boil perm (which didn’t take super well but since I hadn’t used her hair before I chose to err on the side of caution instead of fried hair. )
I think I’m going to have to try some other action figure heads this year. It was strangely satisfying!! 
Woo! 
8 Responses to “Vanessa… Soldier Story Twin’s finished!”
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That’s a good demonstration of how to turn a female masculine head in a femme fatale! Excellent work imho!
Great mature (older) character! The colours fit her extraordinary well – I love the blue eyes, they are really standing out.
She’s very beautiful, but not in a typical way. This is a fascinating process. Your dolls are very intriguing.
Thanks folks, Vanessa was definitely stepping outside my comfort zone. I have to agree that she does have an older look to her, but I think thats a nice change when almost all of my collection seems to consist of 15-20somethings…
Her eyes were a real challenge–I am so used to painting on the flat vinyl or volks and obitsu heads that the soldier story’s rounded and molded eyewells gave me a bit f trouble. (I actually had to fill in part of the fold of the eyelid to be able to paint the eyelashes in. I was afraid her eyes might be too bright….but what the hell, right?
I’m still not certain I would call her beautiful but I would certainly say that there is a striking quality to her.
Anyway, on to more updates…
Great Work Erica,
She looks fantastic, I really love the more mature look of her… definitely a “Cougar” on the prowl… and many other things:)
she looks great Erica.
Nice work!
Will & Shaun– thanks guys!
[...] he’s Gil, he’d either work as an editor at Bishop Publications (the same company that Vanessa Lennox & Cass Okuda work at) or as a [...]