Monday, February 16, 2009

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
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6 comments:

  1. ERICK SOSAFebruary 17, 2009 at 1:27 PM

    That ROCKS keith! one of your best yet!

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  2. Will PetteeFebruary 25, 2009 at 12:23 AM

    Keith,

    I've enjoyed all of your sculptures (DD is probably my all time fav.) and your growing stable of Green Lantern figures is remarkable.

    Arkillo, however, is my favorite of the series so far. You really nailed the character. I love the rage and power he exudes.

    Nice work on the walk-thru of how you've pieced him together.

    BTW -- GREAT blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. mirth181degreesJune 2, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Hi, the "great book" your wife found... what was the title? Thanks, love your blog! Jonathan

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  4. UnknownAugust 24, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    Didn't see any link to contact you directly, but I was wondering if it was possible to make casts of the head sculpt of this Arkillo? There are tons of customizers who are dying to make a good Arkillo action figure but don't have the skills to sculpt a head as awesome as you have. And there are several websites that make and sell head casts to customizers, so you could probably sell the sculpt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Ever GreatFebruary 25, 2010 at 12:57 AM

    Hey, Would you be able to make me a arkillo head cast and sell it to me? Let me know kainevenom@gmail.com
    and kilowog i would also buy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Buddy LoveOctober 25, 2010 at 8:35 PM

    Dude, have you thought about casting the head and selling it?

    ReplyDelete

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