Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Return of the Dawg Blog

I honestly don't know where the hell to begin, so I'll just dive right in and tell y'all some of the pieces I've been working on since the last time I've barfed my thoughts out in to cyberspace for all to see.

It's been a busy 2010. It had not been full of as much output as I would have liked, but I have been pushing clay, dripping wax, and all of the usual goodness that comes with sculpting characters from the funny books. Since I last blogged there have some cool projects I have worked on that I haven't been able to share. These projects are all wrapped now and in truth one is going out to Oregon today to that Randy Bowen guy!

I've completed two pieces for Randy this year and as always, it's been a pleasure working for and with him. The first of these pieces was a little outside of what most people are used to seeing from me. The character is Avalanche and he is a classic X-Men villain from way back. Normally I tend to gravitate to projects that have expressive faces and a lot of anatomical work, but Avalanche has a mask that only shows his mouth, and armor that covers 3/4 of any anatomy that was sculpted. I rather enjoyed the challenge of making this character look bad ass without all of the usual weapons I use to make a character look bad ass. To do this, I had to make what little face that was exposed full of pissed off attitude. Not only that, but the body language and the hands became super important as well, given that his torso wouldn't really show any tension from his muscles. Overall I am very pleased with the way it turned out and I can't wait to see it all painted up and ready to order.


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The second character that I sculpted for Randy this year was Surtur from the pages of the Thor comic. This gigantic fire demon, hellbent on the end of all things. Now this piece was more in keeping with what people have come to expect from my desk at this point. Randy shipped me the base and sword for this piece that already existed and were sculpted by another super talented guy named Helder Moreira. At the end I had to add more flames to Helder's existing base to match the fire on Surtur's head, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how awesome Helder's stuff is here. There is a certain amount of freedom to sculpting a musclebound fire demon and I think this piece will surprise some people after it's been cast/painted and looks all fiery. This is one piece that will benefit from how it looks post production considering how much the special effects/element of fire comes into play. Sculpting fire is about the most liberating thing there is to sculpt. Swooshing around pink, mushy, soft super sculpey is about as fun as it gets.


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Aside from these Bowen Designs pieces, the line of Green Lanterns continues as well. I only managed to work on two this year, but given everything else, I'll take it. I love sculpting these characters. There's a lot to be said for sculpting stuff you are in to. It's a lot harder to motivate when you don't care as much, or don't know that much about the character you are sculpting. I know it can't always align this way, but when it does, it makes for some incredible inspiration.

A fan favorite Lantern was a lot of fun for me to sculpt. Not as fun as sculpting Hal Jordan himself maybe, but Kyle Rayner was a great example of where my sculpting techniques are headed. I've started to use clay a lot more on parts I have sculpted painfully slow in wax for years now. I've started to stage bake a bit more, and I've also started to cast and sculpt over small resin pieces more as well. With Kyle I did exactly that. I sculpted his face in wax, cast it, and then sculpted the mask and hair over the top of the resin, which made for quicker, more believable structures. Kyle's also a "skinny buff" guy that has more of that swimmer build than the overly muscled hero has.


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Next up is Soranik Natu... a return to the Lanterns, and another deviation from the norm for me. I haven't sculpted a female in about 6 years and I have to say it's a shame. Sculpting a female is forcing the muscles of my brain to work differently and observe things in new ways. I think that is very important for a sculptor to do. If you are content to not push yourself and aren't moving forward, you aren't improving as an artist. I never say I can't do something, I instead ask myself, "how can I figure this out". Successfully sculpting a female piece will always get more attention than anything male and that is the way of the business. Now that I have the Bowen pieces off my desk, this is the one I am most looking forward to completing.


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Last up for now is my pet project. A character that I have been wanting to sculpt from day one... The God of Thunder himself: Thor. I was actually able to start this piece this year, but have had to shelf it for months. That is about to change. This piece is a departure from the many busts that I have worked on recently and it is a treat to be working on a full bodied piece. I have a specific look I am going for with this piece too while somehow trying to retain his classic look. Thor is a warrior. Warriors don't look like body builders. Most of their thickness is in their torso. Their arms and legs are proportionate, but not overly bulky like they have been training with the iron pile. So my feeling for this piece, is a thick and burly chest, middle, with leaner, toned appendages. I've gotten pretty far along, and I am really hoping to take it to the next level very soon. I have taken it off the shelf, conditioned the clay a bit, and am ready to rock.


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I have a lot more in store in 2011 and while I may not get to them all, there WILL be a lot more output, and a lot more blogging insight into the mad stylings of my own process which has evolved this year. After I get ahead of some of the pieces that are in the queue, I am going to go for it and have some pieces in the portfolio that people can't help but take notice of. I feel like the best is yet to come and I'm just warming up.

As always, thanks for looking,
K