Clarke Payne

Darth Zeiren...
I knew from the moment I got him out of the box that the axe would have to go. Partly because of the horror stories others had shared and partly from my personal dislike of how it looked. So then I had two hands with little sticks in them and no idea what to do. Thanks to Jason Moses I was convinced to give him some dreadlocks, although they didn't turn out as good as I hoped. Alao at this time I was doing a few Jedi-like conversions and decided that a lightsaber would be as good as anything else I could think of- and since I couldn't think of anyhting else I went with it. For his left hand I decided to leave it alone except for trying to clean up the underside as best I could- without the axehandle it looked like he was doing some sort of evil Sith magic. Then came the long struggle for colors. I wanted him to not look wolf-like, so I decided to go with a burgundy-pinkish skin. Since he was to be an evil Sith lord, dark colors for his armor and clothes were a must. Then, about halfway through painting I grew more and more frustrated with that snout- more specifically the big chin-spike thing. It took a few days to find the right bit to use as a gas mask/breather unit/whatever and several hours with the dremel to make it all fit together nicely. From there everything pretty much fell into place...

Clarke Payne

Comments submitted on the original site:

AutumnMoon writes...

Darth Zeiren - cool!

Strengths: His skin is very consistant and smooth - and I don't
know if it is the shine off the camera or not but the light saber
effect worked very well.
Weaknesses: The armour is very much the same all over and I
think the problem you had with the dreads is that they are not
small enough - looks more like guy on Farscape.
Overall - Very original!

Rachel writes...

neatie! He kinda looks like he might be a relative of the dancing
girl that Jabba the Hutt had on a leash - the pink, and the long
head-protuberence-bits (fraid they don't really look like
dreadlocks, but they do really look like that Star Wars chick).
I do however think that for a Jedi some kind of urban or desert
base might've suited more than the fuzzy green :-).

Bethany writes...

Very interesting idea. Nice conversion work.
Although every time I look at this I see Jar Jar...
I know, wrong species, but still. Nice work. Maybe a more
neutral base would show him up better, but still great paint
work.

Sandi writes...

Here's an interesting conversion. I don't really care for the
gas mask, but the staff/light saber is kewl. The dredlocks don't
work for me. The tan greaves on the arms are pretty light and
don't have a lot of differentiation between the buckle portions
and the undercoat. The claws on the feet and hands don't match,
the feet are a bit "in your face" for color. What the heck,
a Sith - a different take on it :-)

Sue writes...

Before I read your comments, I almost had him pegged as an asian
demon with a katana...but now I see the lightsaber. <g> I
don't think the dreadlocks worked, as his tail would be the same?
Hard to tell from the pictures, but is he meant to have just a
grayish brown tone to the leathers and stuff (beautiful colors
and shading!), or did the camara wash out more of a black tone?
I think some darker black added to that would help me see the
vader theme, but still, I love it the way it is...alien looking
and very cool! Great job!

Kat writes...

Whoah! Interesting idea- I like the light sabre and the
"dreads". I think this model would have really benefitted
from some sort of black patternation on the skin though. At the
moment the red is a little overpowering and a pattern or markings
would give the model a bit more character. Also the straps blend
into his sleeves and I think a little more contrast in these
areas would have made this mini even better.
Regards

Kat

(Jo Dale)

Kamui K writes...

That's a challenging conversion; trying to make a fantasy mini
into a sci-fi one. The pink skin makes it look more alien.
Though if you wanted it to look more sci-fi, I'd sculpt something
into his other hand; a canteen or modern/mechanical equipment.
He also needs a more sci-fi looking base. But other than that,
great vision.

Dave Kelly writes...

Just finished watching Episode 2 (again) and am convinced he'd
fit right in to the big battle scene with no problems. The skin
is wickedly bright but you've handled it well and it's smooth,
and surprisingly it looks good against the greys. Surprised you
chose to go with the same colour for his tail though.

Probably would say that another colour to break up the large
expanses across his grey clothing would be nice. Either that, or
a bit more depth with blacklining to make the eye read the detail
that's obviously there.

Not quite sure about the gas mask thingie but the rest of the
conversion is sweet. I'll be chuckling about the 'flesh
dreadlocks' for a while, it's inspired.

Dominic writes...

Yes. Simply a great fun version of this guy :-)

Jack writes...

Jedi Jar Jar ;)

The dreads are way too big and remind of Jar Jar Binks ears.

But the concept is way cool. Star Wars is still one of my
favorite Sci Fi movie series.

Geert Horvers writes...

A pink Jedi. I just love the originality that comes out from all
kinds of unexpected cornes with every VIC. Glad there's no
poodle, though. Seriously, an excellent conversion and very nice
piece.
Cheers,
Geert

Wheels ( Chris Wheeler ) writes...

Clarke,

Ambitious and creative. Most of what I would say has, I think,
been said. I think an earth-tone or desert base would have shown
this guy off to better advantage. I like the use of the pose,
the weapon swap and the overall color scheme.

Favorite detail: the light saber

An anonymous coward writes...

Hi Clarke,

Great Conversion. Have to agree with you that the dreads, don't
look like dreads. I think this is largely because the color too
closely matches the skin tones so they feel more like an
extension of his skin. On the plus side they do work as some
sort of protuberence from an alien head.
The lightsaber blade is really working for me, can you please
describe how you painted it, and post it to the list?
My minor quibbles are like to see some definition around the bits
on his back, maybe with just a touch of some dark lining; and the
green rock isn't working for me, but that's probably just me....
Dallas