It's quiet around here isn't it?

It's been a good 3 months since I've last posted anything here at the Dawg Pound. It seems every time someone promises to "post more often" something happens to squish that small glimmer of light shining through a pin hole at the end of the tunnel. I can honestly say however that in this case there are a couple of rather stellar reasons for the lack of new posts.

1. My wife and I had our first baby October 9th. We went on an absolute Hell ride to get him here too. I think he's my finest WIP yet . Born at 10lbs 3oz and 22 inches long, he's taken a good many hours worth of work in the past couple months, but I hope to have him completed by the time SDCC 2010 rolls around.


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2. Right around the time I last posted on this blog, I started to have dialogue with a fella by the name of Randy Bowen. I'm sure that you might have heard of him if you enjoy super hero collectibles. I enjoy the hell out of working with Randy Bowen. The guy is just as much of a fan of this stuff as we are and it's easy to lose something like that, when you think about the fact that his company has been doing this longer than anyone else. He asked me if I wanted to sculpt a 4-pack, more specifically the Wrecking Crew. Let me think about that for a second... 4 giant muscle head, thuggish, Thor villains.... yeah okay, I'm in.


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So the thing about #2 above is, when you are are working on a piece or pieces for a pro company, you can't really blog about them, or show progress photos to the masses... unless you never wanna work in this town again. I can say that the project is drawing to a close and there will be a time soon enough that Randy shows the pieces and I can post pics in a future blog.

What I've decided I can blog about and not give anything away is a little thought process as well as reference material as it relates to that thought process.

As I mentioned above, The Wrecking Crew are about as thuggish as a set of Marvel villains could be. All villains and heroes have physiques that make the rest of us feel pretty pathetic while sculpting them, so the anatomy of these pieces is a given... Huge muscles.

Where there is a chance however to shine on the Wrecking Crew, is their individual personalities. Half the fun is finding and translating their personas into a single moment in time captured with an expression or mood. There is no better way to do this than pick a person out there in the real world that comes close enough to base their look on. I had a lot of fun to say the least and I'll go one by one and what I was thinking here now.

Piledriver
He's the red neck, hillbilly, flat top, smug bastard of the group. Not a lot of depth or complexity to his character. He loves to break stuff with his hands. He's got one of those faces where you know that he's really enjoying the fact, he's about to pummel something.

To me, when I think of Piledriver's portrait, I see the body builder Jay Cutler. I'm not saying that Jay Cutler is a redneck hillbilly, I'm just saying that there is something in his look that feels like Piledriver to me. Massive guy, blond hair, blue eyes, a smile like he knows he's better, etc. I went with it and tried to capture a little bit of that expression and I feel it worked pretty well.


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Bulldozer
Dozer is the brute of the brutes. He's the big guy of the group. Most of his face is covered and so to me, the best way to get across his attitude was by using a great expression with his mouth to tell the story. I knew all along that I wanted to have Dozer with one side of his lip curled up into a snarl. Let's face it the guy uses his head as a weapon and a nice sneer before a headbutt seems perfect to me.


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Thunderball
Thunderball is pretty ruthless. He's turned on his own pals to get ahead and he's actually a genius, who hides behind a large wrecking ball. I pretty early on decided that I wanted to at least base his "look" on body builder Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie has that intense look like he could crush you if you got in his way, and that is what I wanted for Thunderball. The face was tweaked a bit to not be such a harsh look, but overall the intention is still there.


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Wrecker
The Wrecker is the most different in the group. He's not really the ripped up, super massive steroid looking villain. While still quite thick and brutish, he's more like the big burly bouncers and bruisers of early cinema. After quite a bit of research and thought, I settled on using Lenny Mclean as inspiration for the Wreckers portrait. That tough old boxer with gnarled appearance captured the spirit of what the Wrecker should look like 100%. The original head I sculpted, while decent, to me just didn't represent the most important aspects of the Wrecker's character... he's the dirtiest, toughest, meaniest SOB in the group.


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So there it is... maybe this doesn't make the most sense now, not being able to see the end result of these random thoughts. But this is how I do things. I have to almost get to know the character, before I can deliver a sculpt of them. I have to get inside and see what ticks as a fan before I can create... otherwise it's just sculpting something without anything special to it.... a blank soulless piece. The minute I start sculpting like that, is the best time to say goodbye to sculpting altogether.

More to come and thanks for looking,
Keith

A feather in the cap.

So here we are again. I've been away longer than I care to be. Being able to sculpt only part-time is both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because I can walk away and clear my head sometimes with a motorcycle cruise or a round of golf.

A curse because when I am out riding on that motorcycle, or playing golf... well, I'm not sculpting.

I figured today's blog has to be a little bit about what has been consuming all my time lately when it comes to sculpting... FEATHERS!

I FINALLY am feeling like my Hawkman sculpt is reaching a point, where I can share a bit of my process on the most dreaded part of the sculpt... the wings.

When I first started to sculpt the wings I was adamant about using clay to sculpt them. Quickly I changed my tune as nothing seemed to be working for me with the clay. If I had a feather I liked, I would look as I was on to the next one and the first had been ruined by a hand, a errant tool mark etc.

I had to rethink and go to a place I did not want to go... WAX. I thought to myself, I have just added double the amount of time that this was going to take. Luckily, I was wrong and I hit a grove. They have been tedious to work on, but it has gone much better than I had thought.

So the plan was in place. I printed off some reference of wings in a folded position to a size I liked. I cut out this shape in wire mesh.


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After that I proceeded to lay down a thin layer of Aves Apoxie Sculpt to both lock the mesh in place as well as give the wax something to bite on when dipped into the crock pot.

After the apoxie had set up, I had a sufficient armature for the wing. A nice rigid structure underneath to both help me keep the shape of the wing, but to now also help the wax from breaking every 5 seconds due to being brittle.

People Have asked me, how I am sculpting these feathers and I simple say "One at a time" (no sarcasm intended)

You can see from this pic below, the first layer of wax adhering to the armature and the first of the many feather to come.


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Right around the second row of feathers, I knew that this was going to work out pretty well and I hit my aforementioned stride. Lots of fine lines carved in to look like the little hairs that make up the feathers sometimes nice and uneven to prevent the wing from looking too symmetrical and static. If you do this enough times what eventually happens, is that it actually starts to pass for a wing and not just an ugly apoxie coated mesh.


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This sculpt in particular would either be made or broken by the wings. I am so glad I was able to learn on the fly and figure out a great way to sculpt these wings. I was more than a little bit petrified that I would have this sculpture with excellent details all the way down to facial stubble, but then have two lumps of poop where the wings should be. So far, I think I have managed to get over that fear by just diving in and doing it. Sitting there and overanalyzing has never been my style anyway...


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Until next time... thanks for stopping by.
--

Keith

Time flies when you are having fun

Well I looked at my last blog entry and I realize what a schmuck I am. Has it really been since February? It certainly hasn't been laziness that has kept me away. That much is for certain. So why haven't I updated my blog? Well for starters, I have been blessed with a pregnant wife who is carrying my unborn son. This has set off a chain of events in my household to say the least. I have been scrambling to get a nursery ready for Junior's arrival come September, and I have been remodeling other pieces/parts of my home as well. I think time will be a bit tight when the little guy gets here.

Does this mean I have been not sculpting in the mean time? Hell no... I have been toiling away dripping wax, pushing clay, and all things sculpture almost every day. I have updates to a now finished Sinestro bust as well as an exciting new piece I started working on a week or two ago now: Hawkman.

I think that Sinestro came out really well and I found myself learning a lot about torso anatomy by the time he was finished. The human body is an amazing piece of science, when you actually break it down with how everything all knits together. I am continually amazed with each piece, how much I see something new in the human body to appreciate and/or frustrate me as I sculpt it... *cough* forearms *cough*.

So I have some pictures to show of what's currently going on in the Dawg Pound. My hope is to blaze through the figure work on the Hawkman OOAKO, so that when I reach the inevitable brick wall that will be sculpting feathers on those wings of his, it will still be something that can be powered through and come out as a true portfolio piece.

First I give you a finished Sinestro, of which until I started the Hawkman, I believe was my best piece yet.


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Now the Hawkman, which is yet another commission piece. The head was sculpted in wax and then cast in resin, so I could in essence has a "save" for my work. On the resin head I sculpted the mask in wax far enough along to see the personality of the piece. I won't finish the mask now until the rest of the body is done.


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Next, it was time to start hammering out the anatomy of the body. Like I said, the human body is amazing and I'm picking up some nice knowledge as I go here.


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Well until next time... which will be soon I promise you... thanks for stopping by.
--

Keith

The comic book portrait I

Through the years I have really come to love sculpting faces. I think a great face sculpt can carry you a long way in this business. If the face looks incredible, then you are willing to accept certain things with the rest of the sculpt that you might not forgive if it were the other way around.

If a sculpt had 100% perfect anatomy and a terrible grill... the piece is more likely to get thumped by fans. I'm not saying that I don't try to bring my A game to the table when it comes to sculpting anatomy... in fact I love it... I'm just saying that if the heroes don't look regal and handsome, if the women don't look as gorgeous as Salma Hayek, and if the villains don't look like they could scare the holy hell out of you, then it might not have the success it is surely worth.

This is a business of blood sweat and tears and MANY HOURS worth of work can turn to a nightmare for an artist, the second that fans put on their art directing caps and say " MEH!". I've seen it happen to many sculptors whom I respect, admire and look up to, and I have felt the cold sting of it myself.

Does that mean the fans are evil? Hell no... The fans are dynamite and you as the artist have to weigh the comments and opinions, and always take them as they are.

Your best bet out of the gate to win everyone over, in my humble experience, is to give them a head sculpt that is a stand out. Some of the absolute finest sculptors in this business are able to blow you away with their portraits first and foremost. When the dust settles, I would love for people to look at my sculpture and see that I try to create something as visually stunning as I am able... starting with a kick-ass portrait.

I always pour a blank wax cast of a piece I have previously molded and start there. It is much easier to have a lump of wax and alter it, than it is to drip and build wax from scratch.


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Recently I have started a couple of new pieces. They are commission pieces, as well as portfolio pieces for DC Comics. I always start with the portrait. Many sculptors do not do it this way for fear of not getting the body properly in scale with the head. I think it is 6 of 1, and half a dozen of the other as it all has to match up eventually. By doing the portrait first, I can really begin to get inside the personality of the piece, and really find the mood and pose.

I am very excited about these new portraits, especially of the character called Sinestro. He is an old-time Green Lantern villain and he's got that great weathered, and arrogant look, like all good bad guys should have. You throw in those features, with a little Vincent Price vibe and you have a great project that people get excited about seeing.


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I did my usual, and poured a wax blank, of a head that was sculpted and previously molded. I let the wax cool and then I proceed to scrape, carve and drip hot wax where needed, to start fleshing out the new portrait. I get the piece close enough to send a picture or two of the WIP to the commissioner to get his reaction and we continue from there.


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I then go to town to bring a professional finish to the portrait, by putting in the fine details as well as polishing the wax to an incredible smooth state. At this point, I again fire off pics to the client to make sure he is as happy as I am with how the piece is progressing.


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Now the portrait is finished... I am very excited to tear into sculpting the anatomy. I can set the head on the workbench, and stare at it any time I need, to continue to get inside the personality and I want to convey into the final piece.


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It was a long one today... thanks for hanging in there and letting me ramble.

--

Keith

Arkillo

Now this is a piece that was a blast to work on. DC Comics has been tearing it up with their Green Lantern stories. They have opened the door to a wealth of new possibilities, stories, and more importantly for sculptors, a deep list of new characters. One of these cool characters is this ugly monster Arkillo. He's all teeth and muscle... Some of my favorite stuff to sculpt by the way.


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I really wanted to play up the muscles this time around. Every time I sculpt a piece, I learn something new about anatomy. My wife happened on this great book awhile back. (She works for the home office of Borders and gets occasional freebies). This book was tricked out with pictures of men who clearly have a lot of time and performance enhancing drugs at their disposal. Having all of the reference a guy could want, I was ready to dig in.

My buddy Troy told me something that I constantly reminded myself of while sculpting this piece. "Everything has a peak." I really tried to pay attention to that mantra because it made me pay attention to the shadows and topography of the photo reference I was using. I am pretty happy with the way that stuff came together and like I said... I learned something new, yet again. (Thanks to Troy and a shameless plug for his web site. )


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Another set of challenges that I knew I had to keep in mind this time was possible molding of the head. Let's be real... the head alone is a nightmare for anyone looking to mold and cast this piece. Teeth are everywhere as are the undercuts. I had to separate the jaw and cranium from each other as well as the body in order to make it a bit easier to mold. The neck of the piece becomes a shelf in which the cranium tucks into, and the lower jaw rests on the shelf and under the cranium. A little bit of apoxie and you'd never know it was in pieces.


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Like I said... I am fairly happy with how it went and I cannot wait to wrap this guy up and see Jesse (the guy I am sculpting it for) slap some paint down on it and bring it to life...

Thanks for looking,
Keith

Getting a leg up on things

One of the wonderful things about being a sculptor is that while you are waiting for one piece to bake, set, dry, whatever, you can noodle around on another piece. Well I haven't done much with Batman recently, because I have been busting ass finishing a Green Lantern villain "Arkillo" piece for a bud. I had to create some keys for that piece and needed to leave the piece alone while the apoxie putty was setting up.

With that, out came the wax pen and alcohol torch. I took to the task of welding legs on Batman. When I originally sculpted this piece it was decent enough I guess, but looking back now that it is in wax, I have a bunch of things I want to fix. The legs are chief among the wish list of tweaks yet to come. I find that with every piece you get better and you learn something about anatomy that you wish you had figured out earlier. I almost cringe when I realize what I need to do to correct my mistakes. You can see from the full body shot of the piece, that I am raising the calf up, as well as the knee, and fixing the proportions to be better than they were before. (right leg of piece)


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I've already done a lot to fix other things on this piece... the ribs and the abs were a "mess", as were his deltoids. But I am quite please with these now. I am even going to fix the brow line a bit to create some cleaner furrows. By the end, my intention is to have a piece that I am happy enough to use as a portfolio piece and show to art directors.


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There's a lot of work left to do... it seems there always is, but who cares? It keeps me from spending money at the bars :)


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Next time, I'll probably show show the Arkillo piece I mentioned and that is nearing the point of completion.

Batman: Year Two in Year Two...

What was old is new again in 2009...



Back in early 2007, I started a Batman:Year 2 piece inspired by the great art of perennial comic book giant Alan Davis.  This is actually the 2nd attempt at a Batman sculpture, but we'll say the first doesn't count as I was about 4 months into sculpting and I didn't know my elbow from my ass back then. 


I originally did the piece in my usual mixed media approach (wax head and hands, and clay body). I shelved the piece for bit as I was sick of looking at it.  After a while I started to get the itch again to work on it and decided to transfer the entire piece to wax. My interest in the piece was renewed and I molded and wax-casted the piece for re-work. Literally a day later I got a note from industry goliath Randy Bowen asking if I wanted to do a piece for his company, Bowen Designs, and Batman was shelved again. The choice is simple... when Randy Bowen asks, you answer.


I finished up my Super Skrull assignment for Bowen Designs, and moved on to a couple other sculpts. Ultimately however, Batman called out to me again and I am beginning to noodle away on the piece once more.  


It's a pet project of mine at the moment, and I am only working on it while the paying work sits drying out from being brushed down with lighter fluid. I have a long way to go, but I figure it will be a fun piece to post here and share as it moves forward.  I hope to have the piece done by SDCC this year as a portfolio piece. You can see the new wax "rough" as well as the original mixed media work in progress.