Still Plugging Away At The First Models For The Film Project. Here, You Can See Rough Versions Of The

Still plugging away at the first models for the film project. Here, you can see rough versions of the "young boy" body (to be used for some schoolkids in the background), a couple of heads (we'll see what works after we cast them in latex, starting tomorrow), and "sketches" of the monsters. The pear-shaped one on the right is really growing on me, but the cat/walrus/Reptar hybrid on the left has got to go. I'll keep fussing until something sticks. It's hard to know exactly what's going to work, since the bodies will be clothed (real fabric) and the monsters will have fur. It's like trying to sculpt the skinned version of something you can't quite picture in the first place.

Thanks for sticking with me while I do the boring parts. After tomorrow, there's going to be a lot of cool stuff to see. :)

I admit, these posts are getting fewer and farther between. But I haven't abandoned you entirely!

Here's a frog prince (or is he a baron?), modeled after this statue in Philadelphia. I'm quite a fan of his jaunty crown, personally.

Here is in in profile:

Super Sculpey, ~60 min.

World, meet Mina.

Or some semblance of Mina, anyway. Those aren't her glasses (hers will have eyes on them). And she needs a haircut. But still--!

As of 3:03am, I am officially considering myself done with these puppets. Am I actually done? Technically, no. But the remaining work is all non-essential touch-ups and about ten minutes of construction that I couldn't do tonight. So, for all intents and purposes, done.

Phew.

Tumblr, meet Mina. Or, what will eventually become Mina. Maybe.

I've been sculpting, sketching, plotting, and measuring, and today I made what will probably become the body shape for Mina (the main character) and probably some of her female classmates, too. She's headless because we're animating the faces by making a series of different heads which we'll pop on and off between shots. She's got a little baby fat to help make her look young, and slightly exaggerated hands so we can slip armature wire in there to animate her fingers once she's cast in latex. Here's the back view:

I actually sculpted her muscles first, and when she looked too old, I draped a layer of skin and fat over the top to make her less defined. Keep in mind that she's, uh, not going to be naked in the film; she'll be dressed in real fabric, so her body is just to give the fabric the right drape.

(Oh, and here's some explanation if you have no idea what all this is about.) More to follow!

Catastrophe! I came in this morning to pry apart the little boy mold, and it crumbled in my hands. Well, half of it crumbled. So I rebuilt that half, and while I was waiting for it to dry, I started on the Monster #1 mold. That's this little guy!

He's going to be covered in fur, remember, so he'll actually look really different than this. But this is what he'd look like if he was naked, shaved, and blanched. So helpful.

In other news, the second attempt at the boy mold was successful, so I built a wire armature for the puppet and tomorrow I'll pour and bake the latex on top of it. I'd show you a picture, but I'm frankly so sick of looking at the dude that I couldn't bear it. So just use your imaginations.

Merci started bringing in set pieces and monster fur today, and I'm starting to see the whole thing coming together in my head. It's really exciting. :)

Woo! Lots done yesterday. I made the very last of the puppets (Monster #2, above) and started the epic trim/patch/paint process for the remaining eight puppets. I took the night off tonight to see my friend Colin who was visiting from out of town, but rest assured that I have no plans to see the sunlight tomorrow at all.