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.