I wanted to sculpt some anatomy again and was inspired by a dance performance of the Phantom of the Opera to create a dancer necklace. As a boy growing up in Pakistan I never thought I’d be making jewelry but 20 years later had a blast on this project to the point where I might start my own jewelry line in 2016. This print was contracted out to a jewelry startup called Matter.io
I’ve always enjoyed translating expressive characters from 2D to 3D while trying my utmost to maintain the original appeal. Also recently got a new Corgi puppy, so decided to take this drawing by Meg Park and use it as an opportunity to learn about Stereolithography. Took some classes with Mold 3D and crowdfunded my first printer, the Form 1+ because the quality and workflow was just unbeatable at the price.
I decided to take a step back from creating goofy things and look at something that mattered. Got involved with a project by Michael Repajic to build 3d printed prosthetic hands for the homeless population in LA. This was an open source 3d model called the Cyborg Beast, created by Jorge Zuniga and available on enablingthefuture.org. Print by Lyle Thompson at lylelabs.net. Photos by Michael Garber.
So for a while now I had been enamored by fashion that could only be created through 3d printing. Also wanted to take on a really complex and impressive print project and this one is absolutely the climax of 2015. A total of 3 months to complete, this project started with a digital scan of my model Jessica Dru Johnson at Cokreeate 3D Creations, then a whole lot of mesh extraction, sculpting, concept work and figuring out how to put all the pieces together. On top of trying to achieve a futuristic sci-fi/high fashion runway aesthetic, I also decided to incorporate Led lights throughout the piece. Large pieces printed through Shapeways, backpack through a local FDM hub XYZ Limitless and the straps and breastplates on my Form1 +. Additional Jewelry by Igor Knezevic, Makeup - Sonia Cabrera, Hair - Ruby Mc Neil and photography by absurdly talented Greg De Stefano. More info on this project here - http://3dprint.com/101947/3d-printed-halloween-costume/
Well nothing was going to top the dress for a while so in the latest issue of the magazine I went back to the basics, sculpting and 3D printing a skull model for desktop anatomy reference. Printed on my Form 1+.
I’ve taken on a new 3D printed project every month for the last year now, each surpassing its predecessor in complexity with all sorts of applications, product, toys, jewelry, wearables, even a full 3d printed costume as the climax of that journey! If I have to make one point, it would be that I never saw these kinds of projects as a possibility for me until I decided to start down the path of 3D printing, and the same can be true for any of you a year from now. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire was once asked the secret to his success to which he replied, “I start things before I’m ready to.” So just start, you’ll learn along the way.
Shout out to the creators of ZBrush for making this excellent software which I use everyday!
Thanks for reading.
Cool and inspiring. From the protetic hand gets better and better.
This is super cool! I just ordered a Form 2 and it’s going to be SO LONG before I can start playing with it (February!). But I cannot wait.
Awesome work. Have you noticed any brittleness with your form prints? Some internet person warned me about that, but upon asking for more info they didn’t even have a Form printer. What I saw at CES was amazing, so I didn’t believe them, but I thought I’d ask anyway.
Thanks guys.
@nuzzletops, I’m debating whether to get a Form 2 myself. The form 1 + has excellent quality prints. Resin keeps curing as long as its exposed to UV light so eventually after a year of being in the sun your prints will become brittle for sure, regardless of what printer.
If you prime your prints with a thin coat of Tamiya Fine Spray primer or something similar then you wont have any issues with brittleness.
thank you for sharing. Really great stuff.
Wow, very interesting topic and great work, keep it up!
Cool stuff!! definitely you need a better resolution printer 
Hey all, thought it about time to update you on my 3D printing Odyssey.
While writing the monthly column for 3D World magazine I started my own character development/3D print company 3D Smiths LLC, www.3dsmiths.com
End of 2015 I developed a bunch of collectibles in partnership with several awesome 2D artists and got my own table at the CTN animation expo to try and sell them as unpainted resin kits.
I’ll share the sculpts here, all made in ZBrush start to finish. All printed on a Form 1 + at 50 micron resolution about 5" tall.
First one’s a collaboration with Stephen Silver, The Boxer
Next up is a collaboration with Chris Ayers, The Crimson Trumpet
This one was challenging to translate from 2D to 3D but a good opportunity to learn about creating inset keys to hide the seams and hold the piece together.
Next I worked with Brian Ajhar on the Crusader.
Loved this design and was a lot of fun to create all the various surface detail.
Daniel Arriaga and I collaborated on this sculpt based on his illustration, Early Morning
This one was all printed in one go.
Last one I was able to get done in time for CTN expo and one of my favorites was the Wolfman, a collaboration with Randy Bishop
In addition to the character development sculpts for Pre-Order, I wanted to have a bunch of sculpts ready to sell at the expo and hopefully recuperate some of my investment. So I made these stylized detailed and simplified ecorche prints. Got a lot of feedback before printing these but there’s still inaccuracies which need to be addressed in V2.0 of these sculpts, Anatomy is hard…
Since the Boxer and Crimson Trumpet were making the rounds at an earlier expo, SDCC, I was commissioned for a sculpt by the team over at 6Point2, for the producers of the Nick Jr show Fresh Beat Band of Spies.
I worked with Ernie Gilbert on this one, which despite his excellent feedback, was quite challenging to pull off within the deadline of one month. Multiple stylized characters all posed and supposed to fit into one trophy. It took some creative thinking to figure out how to yin yang and fit them onto my Form 1 +'s build area. Pretty pleased with how it all came together.
so cool man. Love them all
