Princess Mononoke was a favorite anime of my wife and I when we were dating so when I started making stuff for our game room, Sans mask was high on the list to print.

I found a model on thingiverse by RobGlacier that nearly fit the bill. I scaled it in the X and Y and constrained the Z to make it about double it’s diameter but the same depth, making it easier to mount on a wall.

The print starts off in 2 pieces and is held together with CA glue. After the glue dries I apply several coats of filling primer across the entire piece.

The seam is still very pronounced at this point, but I’m going to sand and work it down over subsequent coats of primer.  The mask is something that San has made herself to make her look and feel more like her wolf family, so when I was looking at colors I wanted to make sure I kept with very organic shades. After spending WAY too much time with painters tape and a razor blade, I put down a base coat of red across the entire mask.

Why did I mask the details? Because I’m not a smart man.  Everything but the parts I ended up painting white I could have left unmasked, but this was my first attempt at finishing a 3d print, ever.  So mistakes were made.

Once the paint had dried it was time to detail.  The only paints I have are for an airbrush, which as it turns out works pretty ok with a regular brush, so I started with this yellow base and slowly mixed in some orange, brown and black until I got the shade I wanted for the eyes and mouth. I only brushed from the holes outwards to give those parts what I would call a sunflower style texture to them. It really helps with the organic look. The red base I worked over with a wet rag that I would dip into watered down black paint and rub over the entire piece.  The white parts I actually mixed in a little black ash to help give it some texture, almost like a fur.  I then took a screw driver handle and beat the snot out of the entire mask to weather it and make it look worn and used.

I still have a bit of a seam at the top of the mask, but it actually blends in really well up close, so I’m not too stressed over it AND it was my first time finishing a 3d print, so we’ll call it good.