The early signs of age

The first stages of aging the character.

Damasque

An idea in progress. Attempting to sculpt a character almost as serene and attractive as she is dangerous... this is Damasque, the Demoness.

I haven't really made all my decisions about the character yet. Arm poses and details in clothing, etc. are still up in the air.

Dreams of Demons

An attempt to capture a recurring image from dreams, this is a 1/1 scale bust I started on last week. I'm assuming that sculpting him will get him out of mind... or more firmly seated. Regardless, it gets some Chavant out of a bag & useful for the first time in ages.

Currently on the table:

I've recently become addicted to an MMO zombie game called Dead Frontier & decided to sculpt my own impressions of the infected found in that game.

The first WIP is a "Leaper"... A bit of a misnomer in that it does not leap (in fact, it's pretty damned slow about everything it does), but lashes out with it's extremely long tongue. Why it's not a Licker... I don't know.

Reviving Chloe

Reviving an old WIP I started for the Shiflett Bros. sculpting challenge. She's in sad shape at the moment, but I think she can be fixed/finished. There are some elements in this that I still really like.

8 Glass Jars

The first shots on an idea that got stuck in my head this morning. Inspired by Charles Dexter Ward's "Essentiale Saltes", I've been wanting to find a use for 8 glass vials I've had kicking around for eons. As I worked on the Bonewrack demon this morning, this little story crept in. The quick WIP shot first ampule is the Weeping Hag, a blind elder witch.

After a bit more detailing with sculpey, I'll switch to epoxy for seals & bindings and other decoration. This picture, for those with interest, is after the first bake using the ink/pigment-coloured sculpey. It's the first bake test of the idea being tested on Bonewrack. I'm slowly starting to get the odd 'aged' patina I've been trying for with this.

One small update for now- the simple & slightly stylized flames blocked in.

A demon, Bonewrack (WIP)

Thought I'd post these pictures from last week. I'd hoped for my camera to be fixed in order to post better, but that's clearly not in the budget before Christmas. As always recently, apologies for the blurry images from my old phone.

The bust is a somewhat random idea... a mix of a few things I was thinking about as I test an idea for colouring polymer clay. The clay is unbaked pink/translucent Sculpey, with inks added during alcohol smoothing. The inks are then being worked into the subsequent sculpting. Will it work? I'm unsure, as I keep finding more to change just before it makes it to the oven.





Out of kindness, I'll avoid further updates until I get the clear pics of pre/post baking. It seems a bit like asking readers to smear Vaseline in the eyes before saying "Here. Look!" otherwise.

Happy Hallowe'en

With my internet down for all of October, I took the time to dig into several busts. The first one finished is my bunny-costumed zombie. At 14cm tall & sectioned in 4 parts for molding/casting (easy to spot while he's tacked together for pics), he's made of coloured Super Sculpey on a pewter base-form.

I'll post better pics once the camera comes home from the shop. The phone just doesn't really do the job!

Happy Hallowe'en to all!

Kells Bird, (small update)

Just a small update on the Kells bird. I'm still left with the eye, toenails, and cleanup. I've decided I'll do a press-mold of this for Sculpey, & detail any pulls from the mold separately. I might just have a few uses for these, I think.

Testing Flock & Sculpey (part 2)

So, after a day's testing of this flocking idea I was left with a small amount of the original flock/clay mixture, a reasonably ugly test head and an idea to make something of it all. Since I'd worked 'up' in lightness of material during the original test, I decided to see if I could bring the original base colour out with a final layer. What resulted is my little version of The Plague. The hood is just slapped into place for this shot, but I thought the darker material in it did reasonably well to frame the flock-tested face.In the end, the only coloured clay used is in this cloak. I'm not feeling too bad at all on a first try.

Testing Flock & Sculpey

Anyone having to put up with me on Twitter recently has had to hear me drone on about using flocking (coloured felt fiber) in Super Sculpey work. I thought I owed an explanation of the idea, and this is it.

I've been keeping an eye on a few very good artists who recently have been using the coloured flock in OOAK pieces. The results are incredible in my opinion. Super Sculpey is a slightly transluscent material which, with added flock, can add a beautiful depth and texture to the work. For excellent examples of this technique in full effect visit Matt Levin's blog. I wasn't sure where the idea began, but just learned that this probably started in a class with creature designer/effects artist, Jordu Schell. I've been staring at the pieces I find posted in sculpting forums, thinking of what the process might be and developing a few guesses & ideas of my own. What I wanted to try, being maybe a touch different from the pictures I've seen.

I wondered if I could use the flock for even greater depth in one-off sculpts myself, so I picked up some red & blue flock and a few blocks of Super Sculpey. The thought here is that to a degree, faces can have a slightly blue hue to deeper areas (such as eyes, etc.), and a red hue to the fleshier areas. rather than create a consistent mix of flock & clay, I hoped to work in layers & use the clay's natural translusence to my benefit.

While baking a basic skull form in Sculpey firm (the harder, grey stuff), I mixed regular Sculpey with a fair amount of blue flock & a bit of red. I want the red to carry through as later layers will have greater red to blue proportions. I'm thinking of this somewhat like a topographical map. in my first test here, I'm working three to four layers on the basic skull. More than enough heavily flocked material is made & after applying a very simple layer of flesh on the skull I send it to the oven. The remaining material is remixed with plain Sculpey to lighten the blue tint, while a touch of red is added. This is used to build the next layer & blend to the last. After another bake, I repeat the entire process with lighter, more red-tinted mixes. layers are so thin that the blend carries well it seems. Once more, the process is repeated with a mix that is now not much more than flock-reddened Sculpey.




The third stage pictured here is applied only to the right side (in picture) to show comparison. The sculpt itself is 1/6 scale & intentionally exaggerated for effect and speed of the test.

Things I'm thinking during this test are; using regular Sculpey for the skull-base to lighten the effect as well as less flock in the initial mix, using combos like green/yellow & brown/red for aliens, demons, etc. I've enjoyed the education this is giving me & expect to be at this some more very soon. as I do, I'll post worthwhile results here. Feel free to comment.

A change of pace

Thanks to Twitter putting me onto the brilliant work of Jake Powning, I had a bit of a fire lit under my arse, so to speak. I haven't touched any Celtic Knotwork for years. Due to several issues with my last work in that area, (a 4' x 2' x 6" slab of limestone that lived in my kitchen for a year), I left it aside to learn new things. I forgot how relaxing & meditative it can be when you're not breaking toes en route to the bathroom at night.

I spent some time last night to see if I still have a hand for knotwork, and this is where it stands so far. This is a bird from the Book of Kells. (3" x 3", Chavant).



Chavant is a ridiculous material to use for this, but was at hand when I got all excited about the idea. I'll do some more here & transfer to wax for the finish. This might become part of a box when done. If all goes well, I plan to work straight from wax in smaller scale on future pieces for cloak-pins, etc. As always, feel free to comment & criticize.

Bas Relief (WIP)

Today was one of those days where I didn't feel like getting to the table full of half-completed works, yet I wanted to sculpt while watching movies with my son. Solution? Start a new project, of course!

I decided I hadn't really gotten into much bas relief sculpting for years (and even then, it was Celtic knotwork, not figurative sculpting). As for subject matter, I'd just been looking at Mirko Sevic's work the other day. I really like his style of illustration, but, being surreal, it's not an easy translation to 3d. It's a bit like trying to actually build Escher's architectural sketches, I'd say.

Well, I'm known to try new & foolish things every now & then, so this idea is a go! The pictures below are the original I chose & my progress over an hour & a half.




The clay used is my own bastard-concoction, an attempt to get the best qualities of wax & clay. To ensure I got the outlines right, I've sculpted on a glass plate over a print of the artwork. As for a WIP being framed... one glass cut was enough for the day.

Comments/criticisms are welcome as always.

Updates for the week

Just a little update on the Punkinheed here. He's been going a bit slower while I find more materials to finish the job. Poor Punkin's had a few overhauls while I decide exactly how I want him to look, in the end.



Sweetie, have you seen your Father? (Abbie, WIP)

I started this terrible tot last night, along with a few of her 'friends'. I admit, I don't do 'cuteness' very well, but I think this project line-up will turn that around for me, won't it? Here are a few progress shots.





Abbie's other irresistable companions will soon include a teddy bear with hedge clippers, the sibling rivalry of conjoined twins, and babies devoured by animal-skin rugs. See? Cuteness... Just like I promised!

A little body work.

Just a quick, early-week look at Punkinheed. I'm on to the body & testing ideas. I've decided that he's a golem, though he has elements of a demon too, I think. As a golem, he'd be composed of pumpkin head & vines, sagging flesh & bone... And maybe a handful of nails.

Here, I've been trying an idea I had to weave the vines in & out of his skin. The legs are almost completely vine-like, reaching into the ground like roots.

Punkinheed, (update)

Here's a bit of an update on Punkinheed. I've had to rework the bridge of the nose a bit & now playing with some of the major folds and wrinkle placement.



This shot shows the second 'wave' of refinement working from left to right. Teeth are placed in rough, to be replaced later with polymer teeth. On the next detail pass, I turn the head upside down & work left to right again so that I won't overpower one side.



One more angle on the big noggin. More pics in the next day or two.

Punkinheed

Finally got back to a bit of sculpting yesterday. I feel like I'm late getting onto the Halloween work for this year already... crazy, I know. I've finished the basic massing on the pumkin-headed prop for this year & started a bit of basic detailing in the eyes, etc. The eyes are always important for me. I can't get the rest of the sculpt in mind unless I can look it in the eyes.

This head is about 3/4 human scale I'd say, but it's a huge noggin for a body that's only about 2' tall from shoulder to foot. I'm working in Chavant NSP medium for this & loving it as a material. I'd always used Plastilene in old prosthetics sculpts, but Chavant seems to have a much more 'waxy' feel to it which works well for me.

A couple of quick progress shots from yesterday. Today's task is balancing, detail, and getting some flesh on that body armature.

catdemonthing

I seem to have promised myself I'd try a sketch each week so I've just started this one, continuing the ideas from my last post. Same idea as before, I've only replaced the fluffy clouds with flames for the inspiration.

All those teeth in the clouds!

After a small accident where I managed to bruise & sprain both wrists recently, I had a bit of a forced vacation from sculpting. I decided to have a look at learning some digital drawing to keep me from going any more nutty than usual.

It needs to be said that I'm even less of a 2D artist than I am a 3D one. I admire those who can work up a good creature concept on paper before they ever dive into clay and took this as an opportunity to at least learn a few techniques.

The first idea I'm trying comes from Aaron Sims' Gnomon Workshop video, 'Creature Design in Adobe Photoshop'. I managed to borrow this one from a friend & it's filled my skull with more than a few ideas! Now I'll be buying it to remember all the bits I've already forgotten, but one idea really sticks with me... finding inspiration in clouds. Just like we all did as kids, he shows a technique for the imaginatively-stumped (That's me) to look for designs in photos of clouds, smoke, flames, etc.

I'm using the cloud example from his dvd. Having spotted something interesting in there, I fired up my trusty but ancient Photoshop to mirror the picture as a starting point for the drawing. I won't even attempt to try to provide a tutorial, but I'll show you both my cloud 'base' & the work in progress so far. I'm having a lot of fun with this idea & I'll keep trying these as a weekly excercise I think.

Oh... You're all still here?

Quite the sabbatical for this monk, wasn't it? Thanks for the faith... or absent mindedness, that kept you following.

Even though I'd been too busy with other life to post any wips and half finished projects for a while, there are a few pics. There are always half finished projects!

I'll add them in the next couple of days along with Halloween material, just started for this year. It's not too late to start on Halloween, right?