Golden Age of Sculpting? Part 1: Digital Sculpting & Likeness

Over the past few years, we’ve laid witness to advancements in sculpting and paint apps that have brought our beloved 3.75” scale to life. Could we be witnessing a golden age for 3.75” right now? I think so.

Many of these advancement in sculpting are happening because of the transformation from hand sculpting to digital sculpting. If Michelangelo could see this form of sculpting, would he applaud it or detest it? I would bet he’d detest it at first and then realize the beauty of sculpting from the comfort of his air conditioned flat during a no pants day aka working from home.


Going from hand sculpting techniques with wax to using computer software with a stylus (EMR pen) is just wild but we wouldn’t have this golden age without it. The old process used universal parts across many figures. This helped speed the process by kit-bashing many figures much more easily by using common “buck bodies” for a lot of the parts (wrists, torsos, and necks were all one size). Digital sculpting allows a sculptor to treat each sculpt individually which allows for more screen accuracy.

I’m the type of collector that is always striving for definitive versions of each character and I replace a figure when a better version is released. If you’re one of those collectors that still believes we didn’t need an updated Lando, Bib or Lobot then you have no soul…


“We don’t need is another Luke…” Is one we’ve heard a lot from the community. Then we get The Jedi Destiny 3 Pack which gave us updates to two Luke’s and an all new Luke in X-Wing Pilot gear that all had amazing likenesses to Mark Hamill (spanning the Original Trilogy).


When that Luke in X-Wing Pilot gear was released on card in 2019 it was the 40th year anniversary of that same figure being released by Kenner back in 1979. Speaking of these figures, their likeness is amplified by the use of a separate hair sculpt/tool which gives additional depth and realism. As shown above, the advancement in a little over a decade is exponential.

To bring so much likeness to such a small form, to me, is just incredible. Below is a top 10 of the more recent figures that blew me away from a likeness perspective:



Bonus pick: New Tatooine Fett



Please note this Top 10 is based off the figures I have received in hand up until this point. There are also many helmeted figures that are outstanding but the noteworthy achievement is perfecting the likeness of a face/head, which is exponentially more difficult.

We would love to hear your thoughts. Are we in a golden age right now? In many ways it may seem relative as there were times in the past I was also blown away.

Could this advance any further? Any other likenesses you’re blown away by?

Part 2: Articulation coming soon…

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