facts & figures

Man do I hate hands. At least it’s one of those things...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:03:53 -0700

Man do I hate hands.

At least it’s one of those things that’s hard for everyone, right? Don’t all artists hate hands? They’re brutal.

I’m still working through the Wendy Froud DVD, and she’s definitely improving my work a ton. But every once in a while she speeds through something insanely difficult like it’s a cakewalk and it kills me. Like, she’s all, “So then you just make some fingers, and ta-da! You’re done.” Not all of us worked on Labyrinth, Wendy. How do I make fingers? Because I’m pretty sure you don’t just shove five little worms on the end of a ball like I did.

The other challenge is working with such a relatively small amount of Sculpey, because it warms in my hands until it’s too soft to be sculpt-able. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

More fun with Wendy Froud! I basically just refined the face I...

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:52:33 -0700

More fun with Wendy Froud! I basically just refined the face I started last week, and after I smooth it out with acetone, it’ll be ready for baking and painting. We’re about to start sculpting hands now, which I’m a little nervous about. I predict that I will sculpt one excellent hand, not be able to duplicate it, and decide to give my figure a hook for a hand. Or maybe a tentacle!

Here’s a quick sketch of a head I did while watching...

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:59:00 -0700

Here’s a quick sketch of a head I did while watching Wendy’s DVD. It’s not perfect, but it was already so much easier to sculpt with someone helping me in the background. If you recall, the last time I tried to sculpt a head was an epic failure, even though I had an open textbook in front of me with a lot of helpful illustrations. It’s just not the same as watching someone move, hearing their voice, and getting a sense of the process in real time.

So here’s a rough draft of what may become my male figure sculpture. Hooray! I’m kind of digging on his bat ears.

The more eagle-eyed among you may notice that this is not a...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:39:10 -0700

The more eagle-eyed among you may notice that this is not a sculpture.

A few weeks ago, I received a small grant from Berkeley Repertory Theatre to teach my lazy self how to figure sculpt, which means no more worms and boxes for this girl! Human figures all the way! I tried signing up for a class where I could learn from a live model, but there weren’t any being offered locally during the time I needed them. So I did the next best thing: ordered three fantastic DVDs from the world-renowned Gnomon Workshop. I even had enough grant money left over for two wire armatures, eight pounds of Super Sculpey, and eight pounds of Sculpey Firm. Woo-hoo!

Step one: Creating a Fantasy Figure by Wendy Froud (who sculpted characters for Labyrinth and Dark Crystal). At the moment, I’m just watching and learning. But I’m going to post my progress as I follow along with her, so this little wire guy should have some meat on his bones in a day or two…I hope. Stay tuned!

It’s…a bookworm! Yes, yes, I know. I took a month...

Thu, 26 May 2011 22:44:27 -0700

It’s…a bookworm!

Yes, yes, I know. I took a month and a half off and then sculpted a worm. Toddlers can sculpt worms. I get it. But I got +5 xp for it, so…cool?

For those of you who just went “huh?”, my friends run a game company, and I’m playtesting their new ARG. Pretty neat, right? Anyway, one of my character’s classes is “bookwyrm” and I get experience points for designing an avatar, so…you already stopped reading, didn’t you? Ok, fair enough.

Anyway, worm! It’s better than nothing.

Super Sculpey

Look, it’s the TARDIS! If you couldn’t tell, this...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:26:14 -0700

Look, it’s the TARDIS!

If you couldn’t tell, this photo features my brand new light box. I’m still working out how to trick my camera into ignoring all the seams in the background, but that’s a problem for another day. Regardless, I definitely appreciate not having to worry about lighting anymore (notice how 90% of my photos appear to be taken in the one well-lit corner of my kitchen?).

Here’s the TARDIS again with an old friend:

~2.5 hours, Sculpey III

EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE This month’s (let just be honest)...

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:32:08 -0800

EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE

This month’s (let just be honest) figure comes to us from my beloved BBC total-nonsense series, Dr. Who. The Daleks are scarier than they look, man! I’m just saying.

Seen here, Dalek Sec is posing among his distant relatives: the attachments on my kitchen blender.

Here’s a better view of his eggbeater arm:

Sculpey III, ~2 hours

Remember the frog prince from this post? I decided to clean him...

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:28:08 -0800

Remember the frog prince from this post? I decided to clean him up and give him as a gift to the boy who inspired him, so I popped him in the oven a la Rhonda’s R2D2. Unfortunately, unlike Artoo, he came out a little burnt:

So I painted him. But rather than go to the store for some new acrylic paint, I used some hand-me-down tubes of paint from my grandmother, who bought them for an art class maybe 40 years ago. I can’t find a date on the box anywhere, but it looks like it’s from the 70s at the absolute latest. When I tried to twist the cap off the tube of white paint, the tube itself split down the side.

This is my way of explaining that the paint came out a little…funny.

But after the first, somewhat chunky coat, I started thinning the paint with water (I was also using those rainbow-colored dollar-store brushes with the black nylon bristles; classy) and the texture improved. Anyway, here he is in all his whitewashed glory. Enjoy!

This little droid is a Christmas present for my friend Rhonda,...

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 22:07:53 -0800

This little droid is a Christmas present for my friend Rhonda, AKA Rhonda2D2. Ever since Star Wars: Uncut, Artoo has made me think of her, so I hope she gets a kick out of it.

It’s funny how the different colors mold differently. The white clay was much softer and more pliable—to the point where it was impossible to get my fingerprints out of it—than, say, the black, which crumbled in my hands no matter how much I kneaded it first.

This is the first sculpture I’ve baked since the puppet heads from the film shoot, so I was a little worried it would crack, but it came out beautifully. Working in color is much more time consuming, but the finished product looks so much nicer, wouldn’t you say?

Sculpey III (white, black, and denim), ~3 hours

I admit, these posts are getting fewer and farther between. But...

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:14:50 -0800

I admit, these posts are getting fewer and farther between. But I haven’t abandoned you entirely!

Here’s a frog prince (~~or is he a baron?~~), modeled after this statue in Philadelphia. I’m quite a fan of his jaunty crown, personally.

Here is in in profile:

Super Sculpey, ~60 min.

Yikes, that was a long hiatus. Hopefully the fact that I forced...

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:48:56 -0800

Yikes, that was a long hiatus. Hopefully the fact that I forced myself back on track excuses today’s poor showing. This little flamingo wasn’t exactly inspired (or stable…hence the precarious angle), but he is color-appropriate. Maybe that counts for something?

Super Sculpey, ~30 min.

There were three things John Watson loved in this world: a good...

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:39:20 -0800

There were three things John Watson loved in this world: a good pipe, Sherlock Holmes, and their bull-pup Gladstone.

Super Sculpey, ~30 min.

And that’s a wrap! I can’t even believe it. I...

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:45:52 -0700

And that’s a wrap! I can’t even believe it. I mean…we’re done? Seriously?

It’s amazing how much better we got as we went along. By the time we were done, I was almost tempted to go back and reshoot the first scenes.

Almost.

The film has a completion deadline of December 1, which means the final product will be done in the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait to see it! I also can’t wait to finally get some sleep, which would be a nice change of pace at this point.

Here’s Mina, waiting in the clovers for her big scene.

Thanks for all the moral support, everyone. And thanks especially to Dayna and Sean, who actually got their hands dirty with me on a couple of occasions. It made a huge difference!

Super Sculpey, Laguna clay, GM foam latex, armature wire, PAX paint, and Hydrocal, ~100 hours

We started filming today. :) Eyeless Mina and about 5% of my...

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:02:00 -0700

We started filming today. :)

Eyeless Mina and about 5% of my tools.

Sara and Jim, setting up the shot.

Little Mina could use some friends.

World, meet Mina. Or some semblance of Mina, anyway. Those...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:42:58 -0700

World, meet Mina.

Or some semblance of Mina, anyway. Those aren’t her glasses (hers will have eyes on them). And she needs a haircut. But still—!

As of 3:03am, I am officially considering myself done with these puppets. Am I actually done? Technically, no. But the remaining work is all non-essential touch-ups and about ten minutes of construction that I couldn’t do tonight. So, for all intents and purposes, done.

Phew.

Zzzzzzzzz… It’s 2am and I’m still not done for...

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 02:13:53 -0700

Zzzzzzzzz…

It’s 2am and I’m still not done for the night. But that’s ok, just a few more days and all this will be over. Shooting starts on Saturday morning, bright and early, which means it would be nice if…oh, I don’t know…my puppets actually had heads by then.

Because they don’t.

So I spent 6:30-1:30 at the studio, patching and painting the puppets. I finished three of the nine completely, two more just need heads (a minor detail), and the other four need one more coat of paint before they catch up to their headless brethren. Which means that now, I’m going to sit here and catch up on House while I sculpt a half-dozen heads as fast as my little hands can go.

Oh, and here’s Marion and Monster #1 for my mom, because I promised a picture days ago but didn’t finish until now:

Woo! Lots done yesterday. I made the very last of the puppets...

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:58:44 -0700

Woo! Lots done yesterday. I made the very last of the puppets (Monster #2, above) and started the epic trim/patch/paint process for the remaining eight puppets. I took the night off tonight to see my friend Colin who was visiting from out of town, but rest assured that I have no plans to see the sunlight tomorrow at all.

This weekend was ROUGH, you guys. Dayna (my new PA) and I were...

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:52:00 -0700

This weekend was ROUGH, you guys. Dayna (my new PA) and I were at the studio until one in the morning last night, so you have my apologies for not posting anything until today. I’m about to head over there again right now, but here are a few highlights from yesterday.

We managed to finish making all the latex bodies (yay!!!), so now it’s just a matter of trimming off all the excess, patching the holes, painting the bodies, and sculpting the heads. It’s a lot of work, but fortunately most of it can be done in my living room.

Thanks to Dayna for all these pictures!

The anatomy of a puppet.

Mixing the foam latex.

Pouring the latex into the mold.

Trimming the excess latex.

Lots o’ puppets, in various states of completion.

Another big day. This time, I recruited my good friend Sean to...

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 23:52:00 -0700

Another big day. This time, I recruited my good friend Sean to ~~perform slave labor~~ help me out around the studio and keep me from going stir-crazy. Thanks, Sean!

Today, we made latex casts of two boys and one girl, leaving just one boy, three girls, and a monster to do tomorrow. It sounds like a lot, but I’m getting exponentially faster every day. It took me two weeks to make my first mold, and now I can do one or two a day. So I still have high hopes that I can finish all the baking tomorrow.

I also finished sculpting Monster #2 and made the first side of the mold, so I’ll finish that up tomorrow, too. Sean measured out fourteen little balls of Sculpey for the heads I sculpt during the week, and I trimmed and patched the first little boy and Monster #1. I’m still terrified that something is going to crack, explode, deflate, dissolve, or otherwise break, but I think I’ll be able to put those fears to rest tomorrow when I completely finish the first puppet. If I can do it once, I’ll trust myself to do it eight more times, so fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the encouragement as I stumble through this. I know the final film is going to be just gorgeous.

Phew, what a day. I finished painting Marion (she’s fully...

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:31:00 -0700

Phew, what a day.

I finished painting Marion (she’s fully sighted now, thank you very much) and actually managed to make one latex puppet today. YES. I KNOW. I was thrilled, too. It’s far from finished—there’s all the patching and trimming and fur-gluing and skin-painting to do—but at least I’ve proven that my molds can actually create puppets. So there’s that.

To illustrate how time-consuming this process is (3.5 hours, just to do the part shown below), I’ve made a little photoseries:

After the figure is sculpted, the mold made and dusted with mold release, and the latex mixed (according to the particular warmth and humidity of your studio), you can finally pour the mix.

When both sides are full and the armature is in place, take a deep breath and squish the two sides together before it hardens/spills out the side.

Let it bake for 2.5 hours, then pry it apart with a crowbar or a screwdriver. Or, if you’re hardcore like me, your bare hands. Before waiting for it to cool. (Ouch.)

Gently peel the latex off the mold. Swatting your friend’s hands away when she tries to help is optional.

Trim off the excess latex with a pair of mustache scissors. Yes, that’s really what those are. Yes, the latex fumes made that a lot funnier than it should have been.

And then you’re done! Haha, just kidding. You’re never done. But you do have something resembling the photo up at the top. Voila!