Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

Demogorgon


Almost 20 years ago I was experimenting with stop motion animation, and planned a film project inspired by 1920s German cinema. The story featured an inventor who creates a large robot named Demogorgon (pictured). Never did much with it, but did animate a short walking sequence of the robot--which was made from cardboard and illuminated with a couple of grains of wheat light bulbs.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Perseus sculpture revisited





Been a long time since I took photos of my Perseus sculpture. I did this in polymer clay in 1997.
If I had known how brittle polymer clay was-I probably wouldnt have made it.
I have to keep it under glass because it is so delicate-and I cannot transport it easily.

It was my attempt to do a classical-style work--with influences from Michaelangelo and Cellini.

Perseus is holding a curved sword and the blood has transformed into serpents as found in the mythological stories.
He is also running across ground that is comprised of the broken shattered remains of precious Gorgon victims.
Although Medusa cannot be seen as the head is inside a bag, the idea was to be closer to traditional interpretations-which suggested a large bulky creature with tusks. I made the snakes much larger and varied-an eel is depicted among them--and they are eyeless.

Might revisit mythology again one day but for now its back to "normal" figures.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Digital sculpting




I have done some digital sculpting as it pertains to computer graphics work. In the early days one had to do box modelling which was like picking at hexagonal mesh or wire--very different from real life sculpting.

But programs advanced so one could use a pen or mouse as if it were pushing a soft surface on the screen.
It isnt like real sculpting either but has some advantages over box modelling.

I have mostly used it for creating texture maps(the surface detail for cg characters) and for experimenting with extreme facial expressions. But I would prefer transferring that to real life sculpting rather than trying to get prints made (taking the digital sculpture and having it printed out as a real object).

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Painting odds and ends







I have done a few paintings over the years. I never had formal training and practiced much less with it than sculpting. I find it relaxing and would like to do more,
but never find the time.
I worked with acrylics mainly, but started with oil but only did one painting which I didnt care for so I may try recycling the canvas for something else.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Of Sculptures, Swords and Sorcery



I did not become interested in sculpture from a fine art background. I was fascinated by miniatures and special effects that employed puppets and scale models designed for tricking the viewer through photography. This interest developed my sculpting ability until I was able to experiment with ways of making miniature figures that looked realistic when photographed under certain conditions. Frankenstein sculpture done for a photography contest. Got an honorable mention.





The angel sculpture was done for a special effects photography experiment. I was frequently asked if the sculpture still existed-and after hearing disappointment when i explained that the sculpture was recycled after it was photographed I started to look at ways to preserve it.










I did some fine art style decorative sculptures as experiments and as freelance work. Mostly hated it. Non-narrative art is very boring to me.












Classical statues, birdbath designs etc.





































For my own personal work, the subjects were often based upon sword and sorcery--either Arabian Nights, or Conan inspired, or historical figures like Robin Hood. And a little bit of futuristic/outer space fantasy.
Usually because costume was tedious to sculpt and I was interested in improving the sculpting of bodies-so the more naked the better.



I started by using hydrostone as a casting material--but as I found molds difficult to make-I eventually turned to polymer clay-and made a few pieces with it. But this was not a satisfactory material for a few reasons so I looked into epoxy clay-which was much stronger but harder to work with. I spend a lot of time making the figure faces realistic by adding a transparent eye effect and also miniature eyelashes. A small detail and difficult to add but I like doing it.

Perseus Fleeing the Gorgons' Lair. Ray Harryhausen liked it.

































Eventually I used a combination of hydrostone(for heads) and polymer clay or epoxy clay for bodies.
I did some costume sewing but doubt I will try it again.


































Now I am experimenting with using all epoxy clay--pressing it into molds made from clay originals.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Blemmyes are a head below the rest






Blemmyes were a race of headless creatures said to live somewhere around Ethiopia or other parts of North Africa in Ancient times. They had no heads, but had faces in the middle of their chest. They are fairly obscure mythological figures. In the late 90s I included them in an Arabian Nights themed novel as guardians of a mysterious treasure located in Northeast Africa. I did a small clay version of them and used the design in a cover painting for the book. In 2007 I did a computer generated version as a learning project. I altered the design when I realized the face couldnt be too big if it were to be even remotely possible, anatomically speaking (the mouth in the previous version would run right into the spine).
The photo with the fiery skeleton illustrates a scene from the novel.