Making a Life-Size Dragon from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate!

How do you sculpt a realistic dragon, let alone one that has to be life size? That’s what effects artist Frank Ippolito did for Capcom’s booth at this year’s E3 gaming conference. We visit Frank’s shop before the event to see the in-progress dragon–the Gore Magala from the game Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate–before it’s brought to life and then behold the impressive finished piece on the E3 show floor.

Comments (12)

12 thoughts on “Making a Life-Size Dragon from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate!

  1. I am once again in awe of the work that Frank does at his shop..

    Great job, Frank (and Crew)! 👍

  2. amazing as usual, I must say though I really like the look of it unpainted and unprimed. The the drips and runs of the mixing powder really gave it this rough and weathered look. Like it had been through a bunch of battles.

  3. i totally agree on the paint job, i would have loved to add weathering to the final version, but they wanted a clean paint job.

  4. why the hell isn’t there a series of this from start to finish?! THIS is the kind of thing you can market for premium, for crying out loud! Where’s the premium content?

  5. Amazing work once again. I really wish I could have been at E3 or go to SDCC to see it in person but the making of is awesome. I have to agree with the others, the unpainted, rough look for the skin is really nice.A coat of matte clear coat would do the job for me. 🙂

  6. Agreement from me about the paint job – the matt grey on the unfinished version looks soo much better.

  7. Epoxy clay is awesome! I find reductive sculpting easier to wrap my mind around, so I’ll very roughly shape a piece out and then use files and wet sanding to do the majority of the work. You can also use the epoxy based wood fillers for sculpting as well, Elmer’s makes on that you can get at Home Depo or Lowes.

  8. Absolutely phenomenal!

    You mentioned filling in gaps with expanding or 2 part foams- did this cause any problems like with difference in density once you started carving away for details? About how thick was the Habitat laid on- could you use it to build up areas that you had shaved away too much?

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