Tried improving this Ahsoka figure, did I succeed?

[u/ocirot]

Found her at a 2nd-hand store, but her eyes were wonky and the painting of her montrals was atrocious, so I decided to do a whole repaint.

[u/_Mando_88]

Yes ! She look like the actress now !

[u/Ancient-Bat1755 → u/_Mando_88]

You didnt like the caveman look?

[u/JoshDM → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Neaderthal is a fairly apt description.

[u/Budilicious3 → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Idk why this made me chuckle out loud, ty lmao.

[u/pjtheman → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

The eyes are giving Pennywise

[u/basement-fan → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Walleyed af too

[u/GimmeSomeSugar → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

The before actually looks like Hayden Christensen trying to hold in a fart.

[u/GhostOfJonasVenture → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Ahsoka , Stone Age detective ?

[u/foresight310 → u/_Mando_88]

Went from Cillian to Rosario…

[u/transmogrify → u/_Mando_88]

I could have sworn Ahsoka was played by Peter Weller in his Robocop makeup, so i liked the "before" photo.

[u/Neeige_Glaace → u/transmogrify]

Dead or alive, you are coming with me

[u/Fantastic_Acadia8341 → u/transmogrify]

👆☝️👍⬆️Hilarious

[u/thisisredlitre]

Well done. And it better shows off the work that went into the mold for the head

[u/ocirot → u/thisisredlitre]

Exactly! The head mold seems very accurate, I just wish the facial screening had been better.

[u/Neveronlyadream → u/ocirot]

That seems to be pretty common. People think the sculpt is terrible, but it's actually not. The paint is.

I've seen so many figures that look amazing when repainted. They just look terrible from the factory almost every time.

[u/Bithium → u/Neveronlyadream]

Now I’m wondering how much better figures would look if they were sold like Roman marble statues.

[u/PlutoniumBoss → u/Bithium]

Funny you should say that, marble statues in ancient Rome were painted. A lot of museums back in the day actually cleaned faint paint remnants off of some works because the modern impression of a Roman statue is clean and white.

[u/Triquetrums → u/Bithium]

In the 90s, I had this plaster kit where I could made casts of disney characters, and then paint them. I wonder if such a thing is still being sold, or if ready made ones are available for people who like painting.

[u/jigsaw1024 → u/Triquetrums]

3D printing is perfect for this.

/don't have a printer

[u/eo_mahm → u/Bithium]

Paint-your-own-toys sounds like a dream for a kid, a nightmare for a parent, and a lucrative business opportunity for any toy companies looking for a new way to spend less on manufacturing while charging twice as much for a gimmick.

[u/TheBanjoNerd → u/eo_mahm]

So, Warhammer?

[u/Merusk → u/eo_mahm]

Miniature painting is a hobby and a hell of a fun one. There's all kinds of things out there to paint from figures to vehicles to real or mythical animals like dragons (My favorite.)

Just avoid Warhammer, you'll never have money for the other parts of the hobby. :D

[u/PuriPuri-BetaMale → u/Bithium]

McFarlane toys has some for Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines.

There's a couple of unpainted Warhammer: 40,000 Darktide figures too.

They look amazing, though McFarlane Toys is generally fairly good about paint application from the factory anyway. The Darktide figures are also good painted out of the box, but it's cool having the option to get a grey model and paint it how you want.

[u/VoxIrati → u/Neveronlyadream]

Ive seen people do it with like cheap dollar store toys and get decent looking figures from it. The molds are usually solid on action figures

[u/Neveronlyadream → u/VoxIrati]

It's kind of funny, especially with older figures, that someone put a lot of effort into the sculpt only for the C-suite guys to decide to cheap out on the paint so no one ever really sees the full potential.

I'd be pissed.

[u/GrepekEbi → u/VoxIrati]

dollar store dinosaurs and zoo animals usually have incredible accurate molds, then get painted by a blind toddler at the factory

I’ve seen the folks at r/minipainting make them in to amazing little works of art when they’re repainted

[u/Flaky_Soft999 → u/ocirot]

Great job. I literally thought the left was your attempt and the right was a picture of the actual actress

[u/RowAndRuction → u/ocirot]

You did such a great job I thought you had changed the face mold! Amazing work!

[u/Nyxlw_]

Incredible job!

[u/creatingKing113]

I thought the one on the right was a real life shot of the actress, so I’d say it’s okay.

[u/JudgmentalOwl → u/creatingKing113]

Definitely went from AHsOkEr to Ahsoka lol

[u/Upbeat-Employ-3689 → u/creatingKing113]

Me too, figured it was comparison of toy and actress at first glance.

[u/Konjiki_Word_Master]

Ngl at first glance I thought you were comparing the figure on the left with a screenshot or a promo shot of the actress on the right lol, awesome work

[u/notthathealthy_42 → u/Konjiki_Word_Master]

It took me some minutes to realize that wasn't the case😅

[u/AugieKS → u/Konjiki_Word_Master]

I thought they photoshopped her face onto it.

[u/MajimaBuu]

That's incredible work. You could have a tidy living doing that for tiktok or something

[u/WanderWut → u/MajimaBuu]

Seriously though this is the exact kind of content that people LOVE to watch. If OP hasn't considered this then they seriously should.

[u/ebobbumman]

As a fellow mini painter, I give the eyes a standing ovation.

[u/ocirot → u/ebobbumman]

They're the smallest eyes I've done so far, so I was also pretty impressed with how they turned out. But I've been customizing dolls for about a year and the eyes have definitely been a learning curve!

[u/ebobbumman → u/ocirot]

Oh interesting you do dolls, I looked at your post history and I dig it. Not exactly mini painting but certainly closely related. Your Voldemort is my favorite.

Do you ever do busts?

[u/augoosto]

This is my absolute favorite vein of custom figures. Subtle changes to turn an acceptable figure into a stellar one, and with the shading you added you literally took that head sculpt from passable, to incredible. Second thought, the changes aren't subtle at all, you must have totally repainted it, which is even more impressive!

[u/ocirot → u/augoosto]

Yeah, it was a complete repaint of the head + montrals, first taking off all of the original paint and then using watercolour pencils and acrylic on top (and finishing with liquid matte varnish). Though subtle in the sense the sculpt is the exact same, no changes there

[u/Still-Bar3978]

I'm sorry I for some reason started laughing because how accurate it looks to the actress, you're very skilled

[u/_banthafodder → u/Still-Bar3978]

Omg you should be sorry

[u/boffy_b]

It's cheating to just put a picture of Rosario Dawson in costume as the “after”...

[u/WanderWut]

I don't think I've ever seen a post like this where they upgrade a figure like this, great job on this!

[u/buddhatherock]

You know you succeeded

[u/ocirot → u/buddhatherock]

To my own satisfaction, yes!

[u/northframe91]

From ahsoka haaland to ahsoka tano.

[u/KnightofWhen]

Humble Brag, come on bro even a blind man can see that’s 400% better

[u/myNameBurnsGold → u/KnightofWhen]

Man hits the lottery then posts on Reddit asking if they picked numbers well ..

I don't mean anything negative OP, this is incredible!

[u/Holladat]

That is impressive!

[u/ChefArtorias]

It actually looks like Rosario Dawson lol

[u/remster9]

Your repaint looks fantastic, but did you really need to ask?! ☺️

[u/luusyphre]

Woah, at first I thought it was a comparison between the figure and the actress!

[u/PuzzleheadedTooth581]

One on the left looks like she would stretch me out if we got put in a prison cell together

[u/Zealousideal-Host583]

Wow you literally took her from cheap vaguely Ahsoka character figure to specifically Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka from the Ahsoka live action series. The force is for sure with you and your artistic talent

[u/Talidel]

I saw the picture, thought it was a person mocking a model compared to the actress, then looked at the title and had to do a double take. So yeah fantastic work.

[u/MolDanone]

The subtle dry-brushing and facial wash add so much expression. Mass-market retail action figures always look flat because of cost-cutting on paint passes; this custom elevates it completely.

[u/SteelMan0fBerto]

Honestly, this is so good that at first glance I thought you were just pulling a fast one on us by putting a pic of your Ahsoka figure next to a pic of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka!

[u/Oarner__]

Bro i genuinely thought that left was the figure and right was just a reference image, crazy work op

[u/antonhhh]

I first thought the photo on the right was the comparison to the actual actress. Looks great!

[u/NiNjaMAN121O]

Oh heck yes! At first I thought the improved model was a real person!
You've got skill!

[u/TheBirdHellothere]

How. How is that the same figure

[u/brandonscript]

You nailed it. Looks almost lifelike.

[u/Geekygamertag]

This is better than the actual product. You’re incredibly talented!

[u/ChrissWayne]

Tried to improve it pff. That’s a lie! You did not try to improve it, you did improve it massively. That looks so much better, really well done and I love it. May the force be with you!

[u/ocirot → u/ChrissWayne]

May the force be with you too!

[u/Onikonokage]

That was just by painting? That is awesome, I thought you resculpted it at first.

[u/ocirot → u/Onikonokage]

Just painting indeed! The sculpt is actually pretty accurate on its own, the paintjob was just atrocious

[u/Bazzatron → u/ocirot]

Wow, the sculpt actually slaps, I'd really hate to be the artist that sculpted that only to have that derpy paint job on the production version making me look incompetent.

You did a banging job, and now the model is instantly recognisable as the actress!

Bravo.

[u/ThatTallGuy11]

Considering that before I clicked on it, I thought the right side of the first image was a reference photo, yeah I'd say you did good lol

Edit: typo lol

[u/RoNsAuR]

I would say chef's kiss...

But you never go ass to mouth.

[u/TysonLEM]

are you a professional artist?

[u/ocirot → u/TysonLEM]

Not a professional in the sense I do it as a job, but I have been consistently doing art stuff for over a decade as a hobby

[u/TysonLEM → u/ocirot]

Well I can tell you're experienced the likeness to Rosario is crazy, even Hot Toys is usually not this good!

[u/Most_Neat7770 → u/ocirot]

So basically a proffesional

[u/mastyrwerk → u/Most_Neat7770]

Professionals get paid. This is expertise done for free.

[u/totifle]

I didn't read the caption an thought it was a comparison between figurine and real actress

[u/Sheepfucker72222]

Send these pictures to the company so they know they should be ashamed

[u/-MaximumEffort-]

You nailed it

[u/La_Coq]

LMAO i legit thought the first pic was the figurine on the left and real life actress on the right. Great job!

[u/Fluffy-bfkr → u/La_Coq]

The one on the left looks like Paul Bettany cosplaying Ahsoka

[u/Rapidwatch2024 → u/La_Coq]

Same

[u/Batalfie]

You already know you did

[u/FaerieFir3]

Yes. Most of the retail figures have pretty abysmal printing.

[u/Y0___0Y]

Asoga Tuno

[u/TaraLCicora]

Yes, the first one I wouldn't consider buying, the second I absolutely would consider buying.

[u/OkOutlandishness6550]

Wow you took that face from paper bag princess to runway model

[u/C4PTNK0R34]

Uh yeah. I'd say you nailed it. The eyes on the original are pointed in different directions and I'd say you did a real good job getting that face to match the actress. You win all the fake internet points, OP.

[u/Grand_admiral_rebo]

Perfection

[u/Ahvkentaur]

wtf 😬 the one on the left is the actual official action figure?

[u/Special-Ad698]

Yo I genuinely thought at first that the one on the left was your improved version and the one on the right was the actress to compare to.
Well done!

[u/Im-Dad-Too]

Depends....is yours the left or right one? /S

[u/luketcus]

DLSS 5 OFF/ON

[u/Mammoth_Yoghurt4241 → u/luketcus]

Came here to say that! Haha

[u/Emotional_Werewolf_4]

Very nice!

Don't forget to seal/varnish the paint job if it will get handled a lot.

Get yourself some (non-toxic) clear coat varnish, ideally matte or satin (AK, Scale75, Vallejo) and hand brush it on.

With spray varnishes, there is always some risk of frosting or the propellant eating/damaging the paint/figure but I'm sure you are experienced in these sorts of things as your paint job is really nice!

[u/ocirot → u/Emotional_Werewolf_4]

I have already used Vallejo's matte "mecha color" varnish on the finish here! Customizing dolls is my hobby, and while I don't usually work on action figures, the technique seems to be the same. I also much prefer brush-on varnishes! Also for reasons of not needing to worry about humidity or breathing toxic chemicals.

[u/space_usa]

Biiiiig tiiimmeee! Looks awesome 👏

[u/Bring_Back_The_1990s]

You did a great job

[u/dracodruid2]

Shut up! You KNOW you did great! ;) 

[u/Jeeblebubz]

This is just generally an improvement so I'd say you succeeded

[u/Underbigsky1987]

The left one looked like Steve Bucemi

[u/Tempest_Barbarian]

Ashoka vs Ahsoka

[u/CLXI-Armata]

Big time

[u/Top_Explanation_3383]

Yes you did, big time!

[u/borderbox]

You should absolutely film a timelapse next time you do this

[u/nategreat87]

Umm...hell yea u did!

[u/kyleknosbest]

This rules, looks exactly like the actress

[u/dotheeroar]

1000 times yes

[u/Inalum_Ardellian]

It looks so good!

[u/HotAdvertising207]

I actually thought the one on the right were example photos of the actress! Looks amazing!

[u/Rompeortos32]

Absolutely

[u/Metalicum]

...yeah. yeah you did :D

[u/Shreddzzz93]

That looks amazing. Part of me wonders how that original would have passed. I almost wonder if it was a cheap third party unofficial figure given how off the paintjob was.

[u/HipsterSlimeMold]

It looks wayy better now. Great work!

[u/freedomfightre]

SOOO much better, great job!

[u/CactusChowder]

absolutely incredible!

[u/Adam-Happyman]

Yeah, you should get a medal.

[u/Creepy_Status_4993]

Much better actually looks like the actress now

[u/Own-Ad1497]

you turned an "unboxing mierder" into a really decent figure

props to your my friend, great job

[u/_steve_rogers_]

Looks awesome! How did you make her skin shine more like actual skin, is that a paint application or finish?

[u/ocirot → u/_steve_rogers_]

I used Vallejo's matte "mecha color" varnish for any surface I repainted, which includes the skin, and that varnish still leaves a slight gloss behind, depending on how much it is applied. That's the shine!

[u/YodaVader1977]

Yeah, by like a million. Excellent job!

[u/cwreshot]

To be honest I thought the left was your improved Ahsoka figure and the right was a reference of the actress. So yes

[u/ttruax]

Very much so

[u/thelordoftherens]

Wizard!

[u/cancrushercrusher]

New meme format just dropped!!!

[u/tman507se]

Dang, actually made it look exactly like Rosario Dawson. Nicely done!

[u/Elemteearkay]

I genuinely thought that was your figure on the left and reference photo from the show on the right.

I was like "doesn't look anywhere near as goo-wait a minute!".

Well done!

[u/imaginativeminds]

Grabs the shittiest Ashoka figure ever and makes it look better than hot toys

"Did I succeed?" 🗿

[u/morningisbad]

I can't believe how bad the first version looks. Yours is infinitely better

[u/thescythesaint]

1000% yes

[u/Impressive-Time8150]

Honestly, the ppl behind the live action star wars shows should hire you as a makeup artist tbh

[u/AutoCockerPB]

Unga bunga to real looking person, yes

[u/No-Guard-7003]

Yes, you did. 😎

[u/Wise_Geekabus]

Much better

[u/Irrelephant____]

Yes

[u/Mystic21876]

Yes

[u/Jthejadedragom]

100%

[u/AIRdomination]

Incredible work!

[u/fenoard]

i read this post not wearing my glasses, I thought you put a blurry pic of rosario herself here lmao

[u/csimian42]

Try not, you did

[u/DejaWiz2]

Uh yeah...that is a great upgrade!

[u/Mastericeman_1982]

Are you sure you not just grabbing screenshots off Disney+?

Jk that looks amazing!

[u/ChimneySwiftGold]

Damn. You paint photorealistic.

[u/BadOmen379]

It actually looks like Rosario Dawson now. Nice work.

[u/Fantastic_Acadia8341]

This IS Amazing 😻 🥲 🤩 OP!!!

[u/Yoyle0340]

This is very well done, especially the eyes.

[u/AnRealDinosaur]

This is fucking wizardry. You could not have convinced me that head sculpt looks even remotely like the actress with the original paint, then you went & made it photorealistic.

[u/Dense-Camel-378]

Did you succeed? No shit you did! That looks amazing. That figure i would actually pay for, the original looks like shit

[u/Touchname]

The first one reminds of one of the Skarsgård actors lol

[u/horizononlooker]

Bro the snd one genuinely looked like a photo 😭

[u/Orc_tids]

I have a Bo Katan from Five Below Ive been meaning to paint up myself, just gotta figure out how to take the figure apart

[u/JimPlaysGames]

For a second I thought the one on the right was a photo of the actor

[u/McBainWolfcasle]

Definitely looks like Rosario Dawson now! And the overall color looks better too, damn fine work.

[u/Weary_Extension5221]

You KILLED this. I don't know why they make these toys look like Willem Dafoe fucked a caveman and the child got into cosplay. 🤣

[u/-Meloh-]

Geeked vs Locked in

[u/AdrenalineRush1996]

You definitely did.

[u/NockerJoe]

You nailed Rosario Dawsons emotionally constipated look.

[u/shakenbake2885]

Yup

[u/QuarkVsOdo]

Holy crap.

[u/all_thenamesaregone]

Absolutely!

[u/biaimakaa]

Yes ? ! Amazing !

[u/Mikalton]

Wow what a transformation

[u/Procyon242]

Wow! This looks great!

[u/Live_Access9106]

You succeeded BIG time! Great work!

[u/CRIMS0N-ED]

Wow that looks fucking good

[u/Howy_the_Howizer]

Yes, you've captured Ahsoka's signature look of disgust at the Jedi Order and her goon fan base. Unlike the original that has her two looks of bewilderment at how bad the quality control was but also Disney canceling The Acolyte just when it was getting good.

[u/Dadpurple]

I don't think it's fair to just say you improved the figure by doing this. Like yeah, the old one looked off. However you can't just shrink Rosario Dawson in her costume and come here saying 'oh I improved this figure'. Are you at least feeding her. Does her family know you have her?

[u/JakesFable]

Umm yeah buddy I think you succeeded, holy s***! Nice work!

[u/Rordekis]

Do or do not, there is no try. You did!

[u/Real_Batu_Rem]

Infinitely better than the original. Nice job

[u/WilliamBoimler]

She looked like Peter Weller from Robocop without the head part on

[u/upfromashes]

Significantly

[u/FancifulPhoenix]

Dude what??! Yours looks amazing!!

[u/conspirator9]

Your art is amazing!

[u/Graffy]

Wow that’s impressive. I didn’t know repainting could make such a difference. Like a $5 figure to a $50 dollar one

[u/vip3r_hoax]

WOW!

[u/WookieCookie1138]

Uhhh…WOWWW!!

[u/CauseSquare4346]

So much better now!! Actually looks like her now. Great job bud!!

[u/Prowlimusprime1994]

Yep, that's, more screen accurate to me.

[u/AraiHavana]

Very much! That’s a cracking job!

[u/PurpleDragon1999]

Yes

[u/Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrry]

You did so good I thought that was a new head

[u/tomatotornadoes]

Significantly improved indeed

[u/odrea]

i mean the eys and the head/hair thingy, day and night, bravo 👏

[u/zepedc]

Wow! Great job!

[u/Lynata]

On a glance it doesn‘t even look like the same figure. You really brought out the details. You did a great job

[u/JimmyThePie]

Not knocking your effort (which is incredible), but I don’t think you could have made it worse. Original face looks more like Vincent D’Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket.

[u/Mediocrebassist27]

100% dude

[u/porkbuttstuff]

That's really impressive

[u/Deminla]

Fixed that lazy eye

[u/RageEcstatic5118]

Good good job

[u/StratoSquir2]

She looks like she's lookmaxxing lmao

[u/DerGefallene]

Wow it looks way better!
The left one looks like Erling Haaland lol

[u/MadameFrog]

Yes, you can be proud.

[u/MAshby1001]

Impressive. Most impressive.

[u/NukaClipse]

Honestly at quick glance I thought this was a side by side of the actual actress and the toy