After struggling for YEARS to get the Spymaster right and eventually turning my Spymaster likeness doll into Ethan, I thought I was done with dolls of that guy.
Spoiler: I was not, in fact, done with dolls of that guy. I saw a custom Prince Fuckwit Naveen that @dolljunk had done with a Disney Store Classic Prince Fuckwit doll and said to myself, Hey, that looks like the Spymaster! I purchased him in mid-February and promptly lacked the motivation to complete him.
I regained motivation this month. Deciding to do some additive sculpting, I reshaped the eyewells, making the eyes themselves extremely large [because Sacha Dhawan has objectively HUGE eyes]. I also filled in the chin dimple, adding more bulk and a slight beaky shape to the nasal bridge, reshaped the nasal tip, and lowered and straightened the brows, while also making them more prominent. Oh yeah, and I added a bit of bulk to the rear corners of the jaw. Then I painted him.
After Spymaster 8.0, I have a few observations. My first toony Spymasters focused on the shadows beneath his eyes, his tiredness, and his SIGNIFICANT eyebrows, but that’s only part of the likeness. Despite his exhaustion and the huge eyebags, he’s also frenetic. I wanted to capture his high energy in the latest version with big, excited eyes and an expectant smile. Also the shape of his brow doesn’t overwhelm his eyes or make them especially deep in his head. He just has generally very big facial features that are ALL prominent. This time I decided to focus the exaggeration on the eyeballs and eyebrows and let the rest take care of itself. It seems to have worked!
I know that I could have sculpted and painted more smoothly, but the unevenness doesn’t really show up when I look at my dolls in hand. I paint for my eye’s vision, not for the camera’s.
Spymaster 8.0’s outfit, not intended to be screen accurate, is meant to capture some of his idiosyncrasies: collared button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves, dark blue checked vest, watch chain, rolled up pants, mismatched socks [tee hee hee!], and loafer-like shoes. The hands are from a Hot Toys Jack Sparrow, so they contain rings ‘n’ things that the Spymaster doesn’t wear, but they’re so expressive — good for brainfingers and lapel holding! — that I couldn’t resist.
