9ART Custom Action Figure: BATGIRL !

[Vinny0026]

Custom Window Box Packaging (digital mock up):






Character File Card:

The Box, Cert and file card are really a nice touch! I know a few of the old school mm members used to also include custom cards -It relly completes the figure well.

[darklord1967]

Answering some of the many questions I’ve received in PM about 9ART Custom BATGIRL:

OUTFIT:

This Batgirl outfit is entirely custom fabricated... from scratch... by me.

The grey bodysuit is fabricated out of dull charcoal grey Milliskin spandex from a pattern of my own creation. I re-used the same bodysuit pattern when I created the body suits for custom 9ART CATWOMAN and HARLEY QUINN figures.

BOOTS AND GAUNTLETS:

My 9ART custom figures always sport "poseable" boots and gauntlets using a technique that I developed a long time ago.

Basically, I begin with an existing doll boot (in Batgirl's case a Breyer Equestrian female's boots). I slice off the rigid boot shaft, leaving only the foot portion (up to the ankles). Then I create my OWN boot shaft portion of the boot in stretch pleather from my own pattern. This allows the ankle articulation of the figure to remain uncompromiosed (better posing). The challenge with BATGIRL's boots was that I wanted them to be a "scrunch" female boot style. Also, the top edges of her boots feature a very complex "Bat" motif that is pretty tricky to pull off cleanly and symmetrically. These boots took about 4 days to make... much tougher than other "poseable" boots Ive made for other characters (The thigh-high "poseable" boots I made for custom CATWOMAN were a pretty big nightmare too).

The same "poseable" garment philosophy applied to the creation of gauntlets as well: I basically do the same as most customizers and create the extrended cuff of the gauntlet as a fabric extension. When the gauntlet is supposedly made of leather (like Batman, Catwoman, or Batgirl's), for those situations, I tend to create the cuff extension out of stretch pleather fabric...

BUT

... I take things one step further: I figured out a way to make a smooth seamless transition between solid plastic hand and pleather sleeve cuff. This allows me to avoid the typical bulky wrist seam that is usually created by a fabric cuff. With my gauntlet technique, I attach my fabric gauntlet cuffs to action figure hands that also possess the posing wrist pin . This allows me to create "posable" gauntlets with the hands in various positions (Re: Fist hands and grappling hands as I did with Batgirl).

CAPE

All original pattern (with shoulder seams for a proper drape upon the figure.) Cape is fabricated out of black stretch pleather with a Gold Yellow inner lining made from silk charmeuse.

REMOVABLE BAT COWL:

Is my own original sculpt (designed to fit on ZICA "Gracie" who serves as my official custom Barbara Gordon). I molded and cast my sculpt in black stretch urethane, and then drilled out the castings (slowly and carefully) into wearable headgear for the figure.

[darklord1967]

This is an AWESOME figure. I'm glad that you finally got it finished. Great Job!

Thanks so kindly, Battmasterson!

Yes, as fortune would have it, it seemed that LIFE over the last two years had a tendency of getting in the way on the progress of my creative works:

COVID… Brother’s passing… mom’s passing 12 days later… my stroke one year ago… I certainly took a few knockout blows during that bad time.

Fortunately, I had action figure customizing to help pull me out of my funk.

It’s like my message board signature says: Good or bad... Ups or downs…

I… am an action figure customizer!

[battmasterson]

This is an AWESOME figure. I'm glad that you finally got it finished. Great Job!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Stunning, as always!

[darklord1967]

Custom Window Box Packaging (digital mock up):






Character File Card:

[RonnyG]

She looks amazing, and better looking than some of the "legit" retail figures out there!

[darklord1967]

Absolutely Amazing work - the figure looks great - and I really love how the pictures turned out - very professional - I wish I could take pictures that good!
figures take skill, but also the photos do as well
well done

Thank you so kindly Vinny! I really DO try to present my work with clean photography. In the case of BATGIRL, here, that was a bit of a challenge since I did not have access to my usual camera and shot these images with my phone! And these dark, shadowy hero types are really tough to light and make visually appealing!

Sometimes simple techniques work the best. That ominous cloudy night sky behind BATGIRL (in the fire escape shot) is just a paused YouTube image on my big screen TV.

[Vinny0026]

Absolutely Amazing work - the figure looks great - and I really love how the pictures turned out - very professional - I wish I could take pictures that good!
figures take skill, but also the photos do as well
well done

[PNGwynne]

Terrific, meticulous detail--as usual!

[thunderbolt]

cool, really like the choices made for her costume design.

[TrekStar]

You did an amazing job on her, beautifully done.

[powersthatbe]

That is absolutely top notch!

[darklord1967]

She looks absolutely wonderful. Outstanding figure. The photography is top shelf as well.

I am so impressed that the cowl is removable (without looking like she is wearing a helmet).

Thank you so kindly, Sprytel

Yes, I always tried very hard among the custom figures of THE LEGENDS OF GOTHAM CITY to make removable disguises for ALL the mask-wearing characters. A very, very difficult challenge to pull off correctly. Avoiding "football helmet" syndrome for cowl-wearing characters (especially with rooted hair underneath) was chief among my concerns, and it is one of the primary reasons why BATGIRL took so long to complete. Indeed, I can tell you that there was even one character in my series (CATWOMAN) whom I ultimately did NOT succeed in crafting a believable cowl for. For her, I ended up sculpting her head with the Cat Cowl in place and avoiding the flowing hair out of the back altogether. For BATGIRL, this was not really an option.

I would love to see her with the cowl removed, if you have a shot of it.

After a lot of experimentation during my development of THE LEGENDS OF GOTHAM CITY project, I cast Zica's GRACIE figure (a real favorite in the 1:9 scale dolls Equestrian community) as my official BARBARA GORDON (Librarian). Here she is as I developed the Barbara figure (back when I was still considering adding the "mousy librarian" eye glasses". Glasses concept was ultimately dropped)



To my eyes, I always thought "Gracie" was the prettiest of all the female faces they produced. She was slightly tomboyish, but still very feminine and pretty. And I always LOVED how Barbara's famous rye sense of humor was so nicely (coincidentally) implied by her one quizzical / suspicious raised eye-brow.


It only follows, then, that while developing custom BATGIRL, that I would use the same Zica GRACIE head sculpt as the basis for Gotham's "Domino- Daredoll Crime-fighter" (seen here during development of her leathery Bat-Cape, prior to establishment of her 9ART "Athletic Female" body).

The ONLY aesthetic change I made to Zica Gracie as BATGIRL was to give her lips a nice subtle coat of glossy red lip stick.

[SeattleEd]

Hubba Hubba....YES! You never cease to amaze, Roberto!