Book Art

When I wrote a novel some years ago I painted a cover for it. I was unsure about my painting abilities so I did things in an unorthodox way--I made sculptures of certain painting elements-photographed them-had them made into slides-and then painted over the projection onto cardboard. I think i could have just used photographs without needing to project them.
The painting ultimately was ok but kind of crude. I was looking to imitated 1970s movie posters but I didnt have the painting experience for it. However, with CGI I can come closer to that, or even make photorealistic elements. A case in point is this depiction shown-notice the claws matching the ones on the cover.. This was a self published book--it is now pretty much out of circulation and few copies exist. Trying to find a traditional publisher for it but Arabian Nights is a hard sell, at least among unagented channels.

I may eventually do a complete new cover with all cg elements.

Mutation Sign

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.