For a long time now, I have tossed around the idea of customizing characters from the Batman motion pictures, although none of the on-screen designs quite grabbed me enough to bump the project up to a priority. Recently, though, I found myself caught up in the excitement of the prospect of a great Batman film, just on the horizon. After having so much fun customizing the Christian Bale “Batman Begins” Batman, I decided to have a go at Batman’s on-screen nemesis, the Scarecrow.
As with my Will Eisner’s The Spirit custom, I decided to use a Yu Yu Hakusho Ghost Files Sakyo figure as a base. Though it’s a quirky anime figure, it works really well with the look and style of most DC Direct figures. The thigh and mid-torso joints were glued in place and sealed over with Magic Sculpt. Other than that, there really isn’t much surface work.
The headsculpt is where I had the most fun, obviously. At this point, it’s almost entirely an original sculpt, made from Kneadatite and plastic styrene (with little bits of thread here and there worked into the sculpt). Normally I avoid using Kneadatite for sculpting finer details, but in the case it actually worked to my advantage. I skipped wearing my usual latex gloves while sculpting, so my fingerprints transferred all about the sculpt. This helps to simulate the burlap texture of Dr. Jonathan Crane’s mask. The paint is what helps bring it all to life.
All in all, the custom really only took a few short hours of time. I had so much fun with the project, though, that I might go back and do an Arkham Asylum variant, complete with fire-breathing horse!
Created Summer 2005
Featured in CustomCon 13
