Sosa not working with XM anymore?

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by Spidey976

I don't mean to sound rude, but when ones sculpting and basing your work of a preexisting "style" your "style" is not even really a consideration. For example if I have someone ask me to draw a Bruce Timm Batman I don't hand them work as I would draw Batman. I do a Bruce Timm inspired version. Erick often does work based off of the work of various comic book artists like Jm Lee or David Finch, and often by request, and in the end the commissioner is the one paying for a piece and that is the style you work in. I have seen Erick tackle so many styles it isn't funny, so Don't assume the above is HIS "style" persay..., though I can see his handy work for sure.

Yet you gave that style as a reference to what XM could of released. Also Sosa DC line and a lot of his Koto stuff is the crazy muscle sculpts so IMO that does seem to be his preferred thing, I have no doubt he could sculpt other stuff but I'm guessing he wanted XM to go his route of sculpting instead of keeping it more realistic... just a guess though...

[Sharkey]

Originally Posted by The Mule

[...]

Damn Mule! That piece is sick! Who did that?

[dino76m]

Originally Posted by darth

I'm a fan of Erick's in general but his musculature style is not for me. I don't like the super bumpy muscles everywhere. For me it looks over done even on a rampaging superhero.

same here, not a fan of the overdetailed and sharp musclature, they might be true to the 90s comics style

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by The Mule

Looks more like a Werewolf then Wolverine...

BTW, I'm curious about the legality of doing customs, how does someone go about sculpting a custom Spider-Man or Wolverine for money if he/she doesn't have a license from Marvel? Seems to me it would be illegal. Or does Marvel allow people to do one offs?

[The Mule]

Originally Posted by Spidey976

Maybe, butII thought it was 2 full sculpted pieces DeadPool and Thor to my knowledge. I still stand by what I said though. They have a Spiderman and Hulk license, and the lack of either character in 1/4 by Erick is just a shame.



The second pic I posted is very overblown I terms of the anatomy. Also, the piece was done for a client who made requests of Erick. Sometimes artists dt have a choice in style and pose because the client dictates it.

You're right, I thought about it later that it could be made so ripped on demand of the client. But as someone pointed out, that seems Sosa's style anyway, given his previous works. And same goes for that 1:4 Spidey, he's insanely ripped to the point his costume seems bodypainted on him. Pose is not working to me, either, and paint app will make or break that base.
And this is not to say his Wolverine and Spidey statues are "bad". Bad statues are a whole other thing entirely. It's just that none of them really shines to me.
As someone brought up, I personally am not interested in all this "accurate comics" style art direction. If XM did a Magneto with the generic muscular/bodybuilder physique that Jim Lee used on every single character, it would have been a much more boring statue. Same for the Jim Lee head, with the huge chin, it screams "boring" from miles away (to me, still). On the other hand, I find his XM Wolverine custom head to be pretty much perfect.
But the point here is... whatever Sosa sculpt you bring up, I can raise something done much better.
Spidey? The Canale new Spidey PF is simply superior. The pose, the way the muscles flow with the motion being depicted, it has a naturality and a grace that Sosa's Spidey is completely lacking (killed by the super-shredded style).
Magneto? The Koto version is nice, but the Bowen one is on another level. It's still a matter of how the whole figure flows with the rest of the sculpt. I'll give him props for making a better head sculpt than Bowen.
Hulk? Yet another super pumped sculpt, which is fine. But this is how you sculpt a raging Hulk:



And I think XM should take note, too.

Then again, what could have been is left to speculation. Sosa has a hell lot going on, he works with Koto, runs Prototypez, does many private commissions and was working for XM.
That's much more than what the average artist does, I hope this leaves him room for improving and focus, because it sounds like the kind of thing that could burn you out if you don't pay attention.
As someone pointed out, his DC Prototypez projects are fairly straightforward and simple, especially as far as art direction goes. If that was the direction intended for XM pieces too, I wouldn't have liked it.

Originally Posted by Sharkey

Damn Mule! That piece is sick! Who did that?

Troy McDevitt's "Ravaged Wolverine", 1:5 scale. Here painted by Darkspidey, who did an awesome job also on the base by adding some nice elements, like a blooded katana.

Originally Posted by built2shred

Looks more like a Werewolf then Wolverine...

That's the point. In the comics, Wolverine is often drawn like that. Since XM is offering multiple head sculpts, why keep the same style for each and every of them? If their Wolverine came with the XM unmasked screaming head, Sosa's screaming masked head and this McDevitt's style head, it would have really kicked every kind of ass. Three completely different interpretations of the same character, instead of three slightly different head sculpts.

[loricstone]

Originally Posted by The Mule

You're right, I thought about it later that it could be made so ripped on demand of the client. But as someone pointed out, that seems Sosa's style anyway, given his previous works. And same goes for that 1:4 Spidey, he's insanely ripped to the point his costume seems bodypainted on him. Pose is not working to me, either, and paint app will make or break that base.
And this is not to say his Wolverine and Spidey statues are "bad". Bad statues are a whole other thing entirely. It's just that none of them really shines to me.
As someone brought up, I personally am not interested in all this "accurate comics" style art direction. If XM did a Magneto with the generic muscular/bodybuilder physique that Jim Lee used on every single character, it would have been a much more boring statue. Same for the Jim Lee head, with the huge chin, it screams "boring" from miles away (to me, still). On the other hand, I find his XM Wolverine custom head to be pretty much perfect.
But the point here is... whatever Sosa sculpt you bring up, I can raise something done much better.
Spidey? The Canale new Spidey PF is simply superior. The pose, the way the muscles flow with the motion being depicted, it has a naturality and a grace that Sosa's Spidey is completely lacking (killed by the super-shredded style).
Magneto? The Koto version is nice, but the Bowen one is on another level. It's still a matter of how the whole figure flows with the rest of the sculpt. I'll give him props for making a better head sculpt than Bowen.
Hulk? Yet another super pumped sculpt, which is fine. But this is how you sculpt a raging Hulk:



And I think XM should take note, too.

Then again, what could have been is left to speculation. Sosa has a hell lot going on, he works with Koto, runs Prototypez, does many private commissions and was working for XM.
That's much more than what the average artist does, I hope this leaves him room for improving and focus, because it sounds like the kind of thing that could burn you out if you don't pay attention.
As someone pointed out, his DC Prototypez projects are fairly straightforward and simple, especially as far as art direction goes. If that was the direction intended for XM pieces too, I wouldn't have liked it.




Troy McDevitt's "Ravaged Wolverine", 1:5 scale. Here painted by Darkspidey, who did an awesome job also on the base by adding some nice elements, like a blooded katana.



That's the point. In the comics, Wolverine is often drawn like that. Since XM is offering multiple head sculpts, why keep the same style for each and every of them? If their Wolverine came with the XM unmasked screaming head, Sosa's screaming masked head and this McDevitt's style head, it would have really kicked every kind of ass. Three completely different interpretations of the same character, instead of three slightly different head sculpts.

I'm gonna disagree with this last part here because each of the heads have a totally unique style to it. What you fail to mention is that the rest of the body sculpt has its own unique style. So a McDevitt head would not have worked on the XM due to two different unique styles. Personally, I think the way XM does their headsculpts is perfect because even though some don't like their headsculpts, at least it has a similar style.

Likewise, an XM headsculpt would not work on the McDevitt Wolverine body sculpt. Too much difference and a major clash would have resulted.

I don't like mixing and matching of head sculpts personally. Whoever the artist is that does the sculpt of a certain character, they need to do everything because their style will be consistent throughout. For real life actors likenesses, then of course you want the best headsculptors in the business...provided they don't charge insance prices.

[theokan]

I always felt XM isn't very knowledgeable in American Comics, which could be a problem considering they make comicbook statues as a business.

They used the villain Moonstone as reference for Ms Marvel instead of Carol Danvers, then when they realized it's the wrong character they gave her an extra short hair headsculpt to sort of fix it, but the whole thing still feels out of place though considering that's really two different characters entirely...

Then they got literal with Daredevil and made him a thrill seeker, they gave him a toothy grin on the maskless head like he's some hothead "daredevil" seeking his next thrill, that couldn't be more out of character.

They also keep trying to force anime faces on some of the characters, like Phoenix. They had the realistic sculpt but prefer an anime face so they had it redone.

I can see how it could be annoying working in that situation, when they keep telling you to change your work to something you feel is worse, but you gotta do it anyway. I've been there before, it feels like you're just doing it for the money.


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[Spidey976]

Originally Posted by built2shred

Yet you gave that style as a reference to what XM could of released. Also Sosa DC line and a lot of his Koto stuff is the crazy muscle sculpts so IMO that does seem to be his preferred thing, I have no doubt he could sculpt other stuff but I'm guessing he wanted XM to go his route of sculpting instead of keeping it more realistic... just a guess though...

Actually, I didn't. Magnum put it up and I simply said I like it, and then pointed out that it meets the style of the original reference. Also, I don't think XM necessarily would have put out a statue that looked like that, but IMHO they had one of the best sculptors out there on staff and they just didn't use him enough. Maybe they couldn't and didn't have any projects for him, but to me that is kind of like benching Martin Canale or Andy B. I think I am just disappointed that this marriage didn't work out is all.

[risingstar]

Originally Posted by theokan

I always felt XM isn't very knowledgeable in American Comics, which could be a problem considering they make comicbook statues as a business.

They used the villain Moonstone as reference for Ms Marvel instead of Carol Danvers, then when they realized it's the wrong character they gave her an extra short hair headsculpt to sort of fix it, but the whole thing still feels out of place though considering that's really two different characters entirely...

Then they got literal with Daredevil and made him a thrill seeker, they gave him a toothy grin on the maskless head like he's some hothead "daredevil" seeking his next thrill, that couldn't be more out of character.

They also keep trying to force anime faces on some of the characters, like Phoenix. They had the realistic sculpt but prefer an anime face so they had it redone.

I can see how it could be annoying working in that situation, when they keep telling you to change your work to something you feel is worse, but you gotta do it anyway. I've been there before, it feels like you're just doing it for the money.


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I tend to look at these as growing pains. As more fans note these character-authenticity discrepancies (i.e., when they actually occur), I imagine XM will adjust or accommodate. However, there is also something to be said about how few voices there are out there noting these discrepancies. I can't tell if today's fans either simply don't care, don't notice, or have little knowledge of the character's history save for the "look" of the character.

It's a different time now. Ten years ago, more fans would have likely been up in arms. Nowadays, not so much (or at all). The Moonstone issue was barely a blip on the radar. While you and I may know that it's Karla Sofen in that costume (which only Karla wore) and not Carol Danvers, it didn't seem to be enough of an issue with the fanbase. I'm beginning to think that we (likely older, comic knowledgeable fans) are now the anomaly (i.e., the minority) and the ones who may not even know who Carol Danvers is (let alone know who Karla Sofen is) have now become the norm. That's fine. It's totally cool just to like how awesome a statue looks. Being aware of 50 years of comics history isn't the prerequisite it once was to be considered a "true fan"... lol.

All that aside, there's no denying at this point that XM is producing the best 1/4 scale statues in today's hobby marketplace.

[gomur]

Excellent points by Theokan and RisingStar. I hadn't considered the cultural disparity between American vs Asian/Anime influences. Although it's clear as day in the releases we've seen. Goes to show my level of observation, I guess.

XM's willingness to listen to fan feedback can alleviate some of these issues, but that same feedback (or lack thereof) can prove dangerous if not measured appropriately. A double edged sword.