Please support - Super-articulated pose ref manikin.

[The7Artist7]

Hey thanks guys!

RaoulD - Thank you ... exactly

Blighty - not a huge amount of design/production progress ... but I have finally managed to purchase some male and female Micromen material force figures. They are 4" high and boast a impressive 30 points of articulation - I am particularly impressed with the shoulder joints on the female microman - detailed photos of this to follow later.




Basically I've decided to do some more research into what is most usable on a day to day basis. I don't use my 18" Spiderman as ref (even though I want to) due to it's size and ratcheted joints so thought I'd try the other end of the scale - lol at the size difference!



Within a few days I had already had a moment where a quick pose ref was useful and found it quite natural to reach out and use the micromen (I actually ended out using both micromen and the stikfa as it was a fight scene - the stands were very useful) My main crit would be too fiddly due to easily detachable parts and tiny size.

So... too big and most people probably won't use it and too small and it is too tricky to make full use of... time to save up and find a good 6"/8" figure to test along side the others.

Also so far I'm yet to find (even on 18" spidey with 67 points of articulation) a range of movement that answers my pose ref needs as fully as they could/should.

[crossmirage]

Ah, I read about the Micromen not too long ago, they're awesome little figures. I need to get myself one sometime.

Somewhat related: S.F.B.T-1 [ Special Full-action Body Type 1 ]. It's got all the musculature o a skeleton, but the androidy look is pretty neat. The eyelids can be opened/closed too.

[yinteck]

I remember there's a japan company that do something like this but i forgot which one. Here is a closest sample that i can get. It provide a stage and a support that hold the figure and that stage itself can support couple of figures. So you can put 2 figure in action and get a rough composition in different angle. The most important thing for me is the thing that can hold the figure without it standing itself because most of the time it will be in extreme pose like jumping or stuff and i dont need to always take a photo of it or hold it while drawing.

[theechoinside]

This is a very cool idea. I was looking for various things earlier today actually... including the asaro head and busts, but it all just seemed expensive and not as adaptable as I'd like.

I have one of those small wooden mannequins right now, but it's joint certainly don't act normally... and it is rather too small at times. And it cost about 40 dollars. I barely ever use it. =P

If this works out, I'd definitely snag one.

[crossmirage]

Yinteck, I believe you're referring to the Figma line produced by Max Factory.

[The7Artist7]

Crossmirage - Wow! That is quite simply amazing - without the anime styling and oversized nature of a certain aspect :ahem: that would be getting close to ultimate pose ref! Also at what I think is 29cm height - getting closer to the realm of usable size

Details like these make it very cool:



But alas - it also seems to come with a price tag of $200+ so again not really in reach of a lot of us (especially if you want to purchase 2 or 3) ... still awesome though!

Yinteck - Yes I have already seen those and they make a male and female plain body with stand but in a clear plastic? which makes it look difficult to use as ref unless painted...

The stand looks great though! Something like that is pretty much an essential I think




theecoinside - Thanks for the support! As I have said before I'm proposing this manikin to be a replacement for the old and pretty much useless wooden manikins - I'm still confused and amazed why no company has already made an artist's specific pose ref manikin that actually poses fully and accurately!

[crossmirage]

Crossmirage - Wow! That is quite simply amazing - without the anime styling and oversized nature of a certain aspect :ahem: that would be getting close to ultimate pose ref! Also at what I think is 29cm height - getting closer to the realm of usable size

Details like these make it very cool:



But alas - it also seems to come with a price tag of $200+ so again not really in reach of a lot of us (especially if you want to purchase 2 or 3) ... still awesome though!

It seems the site you linked from doesn't allow hotlinking, I think you're referring to the arm? Yes, it's really awesome for a heavily stylized
figure I just skimmed through the site again and found out that it has 80 (!!) points of articulation!

[The7Artist7]

It seems the site you linked from doesn't allow hotlinking,

Strange - I can see all images I linked to fine??? hmm sorry about that - for anyone else interested you can find detailed pics at http://parilla2366.web.fc2.com/sfbt1/index.html

The pic I was referring to was the one showing how the forearm articulates realistically - very cool!

And 80 points of articulation - impressive!

[Pilgrim1099]

That model style looks familiar and remember seeing it somewhere. I recall that it may have been seen on animenation.com but your best bet would probably be on Hobby Japan magazine which is hard to find.

I remember there's a japan company that do something like this but i forgot which one. Here is a closest sample that i can get. It provide a stage and a support that hold the figure and that stage itself can support couple of figures. So you can put 2 figure in action and get a rough composition in different angle. The most important thing for me is the thing that can hold the figure without it standing itself because most of the time it will be in extreme pose like jumping or stuff and i dont need to always take a photo of it or hold it while drawing.

[Pigeonkill]

Nice find crossmirage. I been digging around and found another link with more images:
http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25323/Doll+Body.html

It also has other interesting figures too on that site. That figure you posted is around 18,000 yen? ($200 usd)

[shintenzu]

I ABSOLUTELY Support this idea and signed up specifically for this thread... even though I may be a few months late.

I had bought my 18 inch spiderman about 2 years ago, however the frustrating part is that initially the joints are hard as hell just to bend, then when you finally get the joints loosened they become too loose to stand on its own. I recently just had the right arm join crack so now it no longer holds a pose and am looking for a replacement.

I have looked in countless places for an affordable model $10-$75 that is as or at least almost as articulated as Spiderman. I want the model to be highly flexible and to hold nearly-impossible heroic or action poses. Male and Female models would be perfect.

The best example of what I was looking for in this thread was the eddiewong link:. Now I know this has been 6 months in the making and I am guessing that things might be getting off a bit slow, so could anyone here link me to an affordable male model that has similar pose dynamics as the link I posed above?

[The7Artist7]

Hey shintenzu - Firstly thanks for the support! I'm basically yet another like you who is frustrated and amazed at the lack of a good artist's pose-ref manikin that's been designed well! You can look high, low and everywhere in-between it seems and not find a good artist's pose-ref manikin that actually poses fully+accurately! So far anything close I've found is super hard to get hold of, massively expensive or is constantly sold out!

So! Why not get it done ourselves! After all artist's are the ones who best understand what we need - so having Jason Manley offer conceptart.org's help in making this happen is awesome!

It'll take time but we'll get there!

Meanwhile...

I can only really repeat the links that have been posted in this thread already. Probably the closest available to buy (if not sold out) are:

Truetype figures by Hot Toys

Art S Buck figures by Sideshow collectibles

As for the figure in the eddiewong link - the most I can find out for now is it's made by Takara and based on the Cool Girl figure but renamed the Genx Core in it's male form. Also it seems they do not sell it on it's own so you would have to purchase a figure that was using it as a base.

Also just found this! not sure if it offers any more in usability / pose accuracy... but there is a version that has an MP3 player built in!! Hahahahaha aww dude seriously :facepalm:

http://www.gohero.com/atomedia/

[Farvus]

By the way. In Jose M. Parramon book about figure drawing there's template for making posable paper mannikin (with wire inside). Of course it's not as great as those shown here but good thing is you can make it yourself. I scanned those few pages in case someone might be interested. The text instructions are written in polish but I think it won't be hard to guess how to construct it. Elements marked with letters A, B, C should be cutted out separately and element D (arm) copied twice.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3363/37520499.jpg
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6949/28607254.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4199/10093915.jpg

[spaztastic]

Soooo is this ready yet??? Cause I want one!

[The7Artist7]

Wow thanks Farvus -that's some innovative stuff right there ... could probably get more accurate poses than most of the current options - shame about durability though! Get a little excited with a pose and *rrrip* new manikin needed.

Sorry Spaz! (and everyone else) I've been so busy and what with Jason being so busy with the new site stuff this has had to go on the back burner for now - but! having said that I should get in contact with him again and see if we can push this to the next step!

Please note I'm just a freelance artist like most of the rest of us who wants an intelligently designed pose ref manikin to be available to the artistic community at an affordable price - I have taken this on in my spare time so I have no idea how long it may take to be realised. I'm hoping with the help of Jason for this to become a reality!

Thanks for the support!

[Eclypse]

cool stuff, I definetly want one if its made

[spaztastic]

so what kinda help do you need?

[Ardescoere]

Yeah what help do you need? Anything those of us here who want to help out can do?

[The7Artist7]

D.aligh - thanks buddy - me too!

Spaz and Ardes - thanks! I'll need to ask Jason if there's anything people can help with but more than anything right now just the continued support is great.

I'll post back with an updates as soon as anything happens :salute:

Oh and if a great product becomes available thats like what I'm trying to get made - let me know!

1 - truly accurate pose ref intelligently designed to be most useful
2 - affordable: $30-$100 (£20-£65)

[ThisIsImpossible]

I support such a manikin!
the hands looks super posable, it would be a great tool for beginners.

[The7Artist7]

I support such a manikin!
the hands looks super posable, it would be a great tool for beginners.

I agree! As I'm hoping for a 10"-12" figure (most widely useful I feel - if anyone has feedback on the most useful size for them and why that would be great) I'm unsure of exactly how feasible having the super-posable hands will be (due to size/cost increase needed to add them) but is something I hope can be added.

[whatpants]

Sign me up for support! This thread got me very excited-I really want one of those animu ones for $200, but there's no way I can fork that much out, especially since I'm in England. Who knows how much that would cost tro ship etc!

[Farvus]

Just a thought:

Maybe instead of making photorealistic figure (that won't have realistically working joints anyway) much more educational would be making something that resembles human skeleton or Loomis mannikin frame? Basically head plus ribcage plus pelvis connected with some wire that emulates spine. You still need to figure out the shapes of muscles for certain poses but placement of main volumes in space is already there. Such construction would also give the mannikin almost unlimited flexibility. Maybe by giving up realistically shaped limbs there would be more options for attaching shoulders (so that they can be separately positioned).

[The7Artist7]

Thanks Whatpants!

Farvus - I agree about not making it photo-realistic from the point of view that it's a pose-ref manikin. But I wouldn't want to go too far the other way either - basic realistic form and using joints as per a real skeleton is something I'd like to maintain - realistic limits to movement is a challenge but has an important part in pose-ref I feel. Having said that your suggestions are certainly good for a slightly different type of figure - any idea if that sort of thing is available already?

[Farvus]

I didn't really mean realistic limits to a movement but using flexible spine for a torso instead of that single joint in the waist (it doesn't really give full range of motion). If you go further with that skeleton path for mannikin you can for example make shoulder blades as separate elements attached on some wire to a ribcage. You would still need to position them correctly according to human limits but it gives much more realistic framework than just moving the arm... Maybe drawing could explain it better than my poor english
I'm mentioning this beacause I haven't seen any examples. Maybe there's chance to create something completely different than the popularly known mannikin. The closest thing would be probably crash test dummy which is ultra expensive .

[The7Artist7]

Farvus - Ah I see - Thanks for the explanation! Some really interesting suggestions there! And I completely agree this is a chance to create something different... pose-ref intelligently designed by artists for artists of all skill levels - a really useful, useable tool.

[PurplePlatypus]

You have my support. That female anime one is pretty damn amazing but on the expensive side.

I don’t know what the wooden artists manikins exist, they’re the most useless piece of tat anyone can own. It’s just one of them things that won’t go away or even change for better or worse. The one thing that annoys me the most about them is how they are attached to the base. A base could be a good idea, but it to would have to be fairly adjustable and not just the one damn ridged wire going up into the poor manikins arse.

[tobbA]

Here's another alternative....

http://www.geekologie.com/2010/04/an...reor_somet.php

[Farvus]

I decided to try making some simple manikin for personal use. It's only torso beacause that's where I got the most problems. I used Bammes book as proportion reference. Every part is able to bend and twist in any direction. The whole torso can be also positioned almost horizontally.

I used three thin wires twisted together for a spine. For head, ribcage, pelvis I use regular sculpting clay and it was all covered with two rolls of 4m bandages. (overall really cheap). There only problem was finding/making the right base but luckily I found some super heavy one from broken Ikea desk lamp.
I don't know how long it will last but I got enough material to make new better model .

[wiggum]

I decided to try making some simple manikin for personal use. It's only torso beacause that's where I got the most problems. I used Bammes book as proportion reference. Every part is able to bend and twist in any direction. The whole torso can be also positioned almost horizontally.

I used three thin wires twisted together for a spine. For head, ribcage, pelvis I use regular sculpting clay and it was all covered with two rolls of 4m bandages. (overall really cheap). There only problem was finding/making the right base but luckily I found some super heavy one from broken Ikea desk lamp.
I don't know how long it will last but I got enough material to make new better model .

I think you are on to something with the flexible spine idea. I was thinking about it and I have an idea for a a way to do this with a plastic model. Unfortunatly I'm stuck at work right now. If I have time, I'll draw something up once I get home.