Leaderhead Preview: Lenin

[Drift]

I have nothing against women in power and I understand Firaxis' need to use them as leaders when it's possible, but I simply detest the looks of Catherine. Therefore I've started to work on an animated leaderhead of Lenin. (note: the animation will be similar to my earlier Kekkonen leaderhead - expressions changing with the head staying still)

I'm using a little molded head of Kekkonen as a base, so similar looks are not coincidental. What you see is the result of ~1,5 hours of work and I'm positively surprised about what I've achieved in that time. Beard, moustache, eyebrows and everything will be smoothed out and they are not meant to look finished - this is an early preview.

What I would like to know, is whether I'm on the right track? Is he recognizable? Suggestions for his looks and different era clothes are welcome.

Edit: Pictures of Lenin for reference

 

[Mr. Dictator]

good start, the only thing i can think of is maybe changing the background to that big palace in Moscow, do you know which one i mean?

 

[Kindred72]

Looks good!

 

[Drift]

Originally posted by Mr. Dictator
good start, the only thing i can think of is maybe changing the background to that big palace in Moscow, do you know which one i mean?

Background is cropped from one of the first hits with keywords "red square". It is in no way final (although I do like it).

 

[Mr. Dictator]

oh dont get me wrong you can tell its The Red Square (hey thats the name of my friends game) but i think that the Kremlin would be slightly better.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

maybe you should give him a hat like the pic from March 1919.

 

[Drift]

Originally posted by Mr. Dictator
oh dont get me wrong you can tell its The Red Square (hey thats the name of my friends game) but i think that the Kremlin would be slightly better.

Like I said, the background here is mainly a test. When I start choosing backgrounds, I'm going to dig a lot deeper than a minute of googling. Kremlin will definitely be on my list of pictures to check.

 

[Drift]

Originally posted by Mr. Dictator
maybe you should give him a hat like the pic from March 1919.

I was thinking more on the lines of this picture.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

that looks like it might be good too

how long would it take to do both you know so people can choose?

 

[Straczynski]

Sweet...

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Looking good, Drift. I really liked your Finnish leaderhead as well. What program do you use to model your leaderheads?

 

[Drift]

Thanks for the positive feedback. We'll see if I have enough time to work with him a bit more before christmas.

Originally posted by R8XFT
What program do you use to model your leaderheads?

Just Paint Shop Pro.

I use a Firaxis leaderhead as a base (Kekkonen was based on Alexander), resize it if needed, replace parts with my own drawing or features from other Firaxis leaderheads. Kekkonen's eyes were from William, his bald head and eyebrows from Bismarck and clothes from a number of sources. Naturally different parts don't fit in automatically, so they need to be recolored, lightened, darkened, resized and modified. Retouch tools like smudge, soften, lighten rgb, darken rgb and color to target are also in heavy use. Also, often things have to be done by simply pixel editing.

Lenin's voyage from starting point (bald Kekkonen without glasses) was basically molding his chin, stretching his face a little vertically, removing the creases at the sides of his mouth, redoing his eyebrows, using them as the basis for moustache and beard and darkening the sides of his head. Edit: longer nose too. Kekkonen had a potato nose.

Edit:

Originally posted by Mr. Dictator
that looks like it might be good too

how long would it take to do both you know so people can choose?

Well, if I give him either of the two hats, it'll be just for industrial era. I have a decent fur hat that I used with Kekkonen, but it feels a bit too much like retracing my steps, I'd like to do something new. Also, in my opinion the fur hat doesn't associate with Lenin as much as it does with later soviet leaders. For me, Lenin's hat has always been the other one.

But we'll see how it turns out.

 

[Drift]

Here's a progress shot. Left one is from yesterday and the right one from today. It's interesting how big a difference eyes make. There are other smaller touches, but more squinty eyes make him look a lot more like the real thing.

 

[aaglo]

Looks good. Just one thing: Give him a RED beard.

And for the record. Kremlin is along the red square, so wether you choose 'red square' or 'kremlin'... well Kremlin is a part of the red square landscape.

And I can see a piece of kremlin wall on the left side.

 

[Ekmek]

Drift

YOu've really gone on to pefecting the "firaxing" of leaderheads. As a hint for a red beard, perhaps if you take segments of Ragnars (vikings) beard it would help the beard and moustache. I'm looking to redo ceasar and possibly making another African leader.

For the frican leader I think I'm going t o take one of the Firaxian faces from the credits folder in PTW, I suggest you check it out for other facial parts!

Great job!

 

[Drift]

Never knew his beard was really red. Well, live and learn. I'm not going to make it distinctly red, but give it a brown-red tint.

Ekmek, thanks for the tip. I wasn't aware of those pics. They look useful.

And here's another progress shot. He has new spiffy clothes for industrial era, his eyes are now brown and his facial hair has a new color.

 

[CornMaster]

That looks cool. Maybe you should add ear flaps....poor guy might get frost bite...

 

[aaglo]

Naah, he's russian. He's used to cold - and developed sangre circulance extravaganza in his earlobes.

 

[Unexisted]

Goodjob
I was going to do a Lenin, but you commenced already

 

[Mr. Dictator]

looks class, how long till your satisfied?