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

The making of The Wrecking Crew Part I: Piledriver and Dozer

Well I finally have some stuff I can show. My newest works have been sneaked from Bowen Designs and Randy was kind enough to let me post work in progress art for this 4 pack of busts. The minute I saw these busts painted I was extremely excited. I put my heart and soul into them during a time in my life that played out like the opening line from Tale of Two Cities – "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... ”

The best of times = Our first son was born and he was magnificent
The worst of times = A month after he was born he had to have stomach surgery to correct an overdeveloped Pylorus muscle that wasn't letting him digest any food.

Despite a little bit of turmoil, I never missed a beat nor my deadline and I completed 4 works that I am extremely proud of. The Wrecking Crew for Bowen Designs was a dream gig... No BS. We had actually talked about me working on them for him back in 2008 after I finished the Super Skrull, but he had contract renewal delays with Marvel and they were taken off the table as an option.

Cut to 1.5 years later and the opportunity came up to work with Randy again and of course I took it. It was just a bonus that he asked if I wanted to work on the Crew.

Hey Keith, would you like to sculpt 4 of the most expressive, massively muscled, coolest looking d*ckwads, to ever be Thor villains?

WHERE IS THE ARMATURE WIRE!?!

So I took the gig and I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I was sculpting these guys.

I thought I would break this blog down in to 2 parts. The first being about my work on Piledriver and Bulldozer. For some reason most people who like the Wrecking Crew only care about the Wrecker. It was my intention going in that I would do my best to make the other guys in the group just as appealing visually as Wrecker. The best way to do that was to really have expressive faces and personality to each of the pieces.

Piledriver was my hillbilly redneck a$$hole that I knew had to have a grin on his face as if someone told him that he was allowed to break stuff. He loves to pound sh*t to dust... He doesn't care who gets caught in the crossfire and he does it with a smile.


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I surmised that because Piledriver had the least going on visually that he might be the hardest sculpt to get motivated on. My best solution for that foresight was to work on him first. I wanted to use some of that energy and excitement you get on any fresh assignment to propel me through what could have been considered the most visually boring character of the group. I was determined to not let that happen. Piledriver doesn't need weapons to be intimidating. He just wails away with his meat hooks and that is all he's ever needed. I don't think you need accessories to look cool either, as a sculptor it is your JOB to find a way for a character to look cool regardless.


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He ended up being a lot of fun to sculpt and I had a great time working on his anatomy. In fact his anatomy really set the tone for the others in the group. He was a bit more tapered in the waist, with massive shoulders, traps, and arms. These are his weapons, they should look the part.


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Dozer was and is still probably my favorite of the bunch. His mask hides his entire face except his mouth and throwing a snarled, curled lip was something that I thought would look really bad ass if I could pull it off. I almost abandoned that notion and went with more of a scowl, but when all four of these guys pretty much just scowl, there had to be something to set Dozer apart. Luckily I stayed true to the vision I wanted, gave the sneer one more try, and thereby achieved what I wanted and a look that Randy luckily really liked.


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Dozer was the character that I "kind of" roughed in after Piledriver. I say "kind of", because I really worked all four of these at the same time. This is a technique/method that I use all the time now. I find it really helps break through any stress and/or barriers that you sometimes hit with a sculpt. If you spend all of your time stressing about the deadline and why you can't seem to get something right, things will not go well. Better to set one aside and work on something else and usually the answers present themselves naturally while working on a different piece... enable your focus to step outside of itself and come back fresh, to see things clearer, if you will.


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Anyway... Dozer... Yeah, I knew he had to be quite a bit thicker than Piledriver body-wise. Bulldozer is the bruiser of the bruisers. You can't please everyone all the time, but I think people will be really happy with Dozer. He looks like he is about to plow through a bank vault wall or take a shot at Thor himself. On top of that he looks as if he could do it with ease and only mild annoyance at getting dirty.


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I also had a lot of fun with Dozer's costume. All of the studs are glass beads of various sizes and the ear pieces to his helmet are nothing more than chopped up thumb tack/push pins. Using found items to help a sculpt is far quicker, easier, and way more mechanical than my wax pen could do. :)


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The Crew are in the same scale as the Buzzsaw Gladiator bust that Randy put out, and they are about 7 1/4 inches tall. That's no slouch in the mini bust world.


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I gotta say... that working for and with Randy Bowen is top notch. I'm not sure how it works, but it's easy to get geeked and fired up working on a project for him. The guy seriously has seen it all when it comes to sculpting and it's almost as if you learn from him by just having your name attached to a Bowen project. I could not have had more fun working on a project than I did here... despite all of the stress and uncertainty of expecting a baby, trips to the ER, the doctor, sleepless nights etc... The Crew was just one of those things that was never a concern, and that makes for a successful endeavor... if it hurts... don't do it... and all that stuff:)

More to come (part 2 and the part that everyone WANTS to see... the Wrecker) and thanks for looking,
Keith

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