Head and arms refined

I started to refine the likeness of the sculpt and develop the facial features. I have roughed in the folds in the arms of the jacket and began to add the muscle structure of the forearm. I have also added mass to the shoes. I need to develop my understanding of forearm, leg and hand muscle structure and mass to ensure the anatomy of this sculpt is believable.

Armature covered in clay.

I have now completely covered the armature in clay, which means I have a foundation on which I can add clay to as well as existing clay that I can manipulate to the form required.

Massing the head from foam!!!!

I was still experiencing the same issues as I always do with aluminium foil- ensuring that it was packed tightly enough and not allowing it to slide around the armature wire.

I opted to discard this method and block out the head from polyerethane foam which I could then apply the clay too. This method would ensure the integrity of the head would be solid rather than foil.






I have opted to use ball bearings which are the same diameter (32mm) as the glass eyes which I may buy from eyedentity should I not decide to paint them myself. This will ensure that whatever I sculpt with regards to the eye shape, eyelids and brow that the eyeball will not be distorted as it may be if it were sculpted from clay.

Yesssssssssssss, the plaster bandage is dry!!!!!!!!!!!

I left the armature in the airing cupboard at home for 4 days which has dried it out completely. The previous week whilst I was waiting was well spent making the weapons and accessories so I haven't lost any time on the overall process.










I began the sculpting process by massing out the armature with clay. My maquette was a good indicator for where the muscle mass was in relation to the pose so I use that as a basis to apply the clay.



One problem I found with applying the plaster bandage to the armature was that once it had dried I wouldn't have the opportunity to amend or change it as I would if the sculpt was solid clay. This made me very wary of the armature massing out process, I probably didn't mass it out enough, particularly the head. I applied clay to the head and it was becoming far too heavy. I removed the clay and decided to mass out more with the aluminium foil as I wasn't willing to take the risk with the plaster bandage drying out over the same timescale as before, especially as the head would require thicker layers.

Axe blade shaping

The armature is still drying out, I must of applied the plaster bandage too wet. So I have opted to continue with the weapons.

The blanks for the axe blade was cut at the beginning of the week whilst I was waiting for the expanding foam to cure. Today I shaped the blades and added some detailing. The axe has done quite a lot of work over the years by the look of the image with a few stress fractures beginning to apprear. I also had to taper the blade thicker where it joins to the shaft and thinner towards the blade end as a traditional axe. I then also had to chamfer it more for the actual cutting part of the blade. I did the main taper with the band saw, I then shaped the blade chamfer with a surform and a block with glass paper.

Bow case

I opted to shape the bow case from Polyurethane foam initially, this would allow me to approach it from a sculptural process. If I made the case from clay this would mean I had to mould and cast it. The change in material ensured an overall reduction in time for the production of the finished case by reducing the processes. Polyurethane foam doesn't melt when it comes into contact with Upol car body filler and spray paints, this allows me to shape the foam and then cover it in a hard coat of filler to cover over the foamy texture.






I will need to add some additional shaping to the bow case with milliput. The dragon patternation I intend to sculpt in Sculpey and bake with a heat gun whilst it is on the bow case, this will ensure that it keeps the curve required before it is finally glued down.

Bow Shaping

Rather than carving the bow out of a piece of chemiwood which would be expensive, I opted to turn the bow down on the lathe and heat bend it to the shape required. This proved to be tricky as the bow tapers down to a very thin section compared to its length. Whilst the chemiwood was on the lathe it kept flexing, this meant that I had to turn down the material very carefully removing small amounts on each pass.

Heat bending chemiwood was something that I had never done before but was aware that it is possible. Firstly I opted to heat it at 100°C but it was taking too long for the thicker section of the bow, I then opted to heat it at 110°C, (120°C and it has a tendancy to blister if left in for too long) whilst checking it frequently.

The tighter curve at the end of the bow was showing stress fracture as I was bending it when it wasn't hot enough, eventually it snapped so I opted to sculpt that part with milliput. The not so tight curves however were accurate to the artwork, I held it in place whilst it cooled.




The milliput would still require some shaping with abrasive paper to blend it into the rest of the chemiwood bow.

Plaster bandage drying out

I think I have applied the plaster bandage whilst it was too wet, so it is taking longer than normal to dry out. Apart from the waiting this doesn't really hold me up as it gives me the opportunity to continue making the weaponry that the Hobgoblin is carrying. I have already cut the material for the Axe, however there is the bow and case, quivver and arrows, bag and knife to make. I have also seen on previous character designs for the hobgoblin that he is carrying a horn. The artwork for the current hobgoblin shows all of his weaponry on his right hand side because of the image being two dimensional. By me making it three dimensional I have a concern that if I load the right hand side of the Hobgoblin with his weapons he will look unbalanced.

Plaster Bandage Armature Massing Out

As I wasn't comfortable with the aluminium foil for the sculpture massing out I opted to use plaster bandage. I felt that this would give me more control over where I was massing out rather than the foil which becomes very peacemeal and I find difficult to bind together into one uniform mass using wire. It can also be very unstable whilst I am sculpting onto it and tends to twist around the armature. Plaster bandage is the opposite as long as it is worked into the wire wrap that I have wound around the square aluminium armature wire. It will also bond well to itself allowing me to build it up in layers, and be hard and solid whilst sculpting onto it. The only drawback to this process is waiting for it to thoroughly dry out.

Axe

Whilst the expanding foam was curing on my armature this allowed me the time to spend making the Hobgoblins Axe. I already had some wooden dowel that was the correct diameter for the handle. I opted to use chemiwood for the axehead instead of sculpting it from clay. This means that it could be used for the statue and I wouldn't have to mould and cast it.

Expanding Foam- Fail

The expanding foam to mass out the armature didn't work. It kept sliding off the armature whilst I was spraying it on, because the foam was sprayed out of a long tube it was hard to create a unified mass for the body which could potentially cause me problems further down the line whilst I am applying clay to the armature. I have now opted to use plaster bandage which will allow me to build up the armature in specific places to allow the massing out of the anatomy. When the bandage is dry is will be solid and allow me to work on it with clay. The steel wire that I have wrapped around will allow the plaster bandage to bind to the armature better.

Aluminium Foil Bulking Out

I opted to apply chavant clay directly to the armature, however both in terms of resources and weight this was taking up vast quantities of clay. Through my research and through prior knowledge I know of massing out armatures with aluminium foil and binding wire so I opted to use this technique on my sculpt. I was finding that the foil was sliding around the armature, I couldnt get it compact enough and I was also having problems massing out in a way that would remain true to the anatomy. All these factors combined had the potential to cause me problems further on in the process when I was applying clay which was too big a risk to take. I have decided to use expanding foam to mass out and apply the clay directly to that. This will keep the sculpt relatively light weight whilst also ensuring the mass is well packed. I can also carve and shape the foam should there be any mass that I am unhappy with.

Final Armature

Through discussions with David Goode (www.david-goode.com) and researching the John Brown dvd (Sculpture 1: The character armature) I have opted to make a telescopic armature. This will help me both in the sculpting process where I can remove the arms to access the sides of the torso or to work on them individually, I also intend to make the head removable for the same reason- it will allow me to work on the head more comfortably. The telescopic armature will also help in the moulding process where it will be much easier to mould the parts of the sculpt.




The armature is made from square profile 6.35mm (1/4") aluminium armature wire. I chose again through discussions with David to use this for the strength and resistance to sag.

Adding the hair

I decided to add hair to the maquette to give more of a likeness to the artwork, I felt that the addition of hair would really make the character of the sculpt.

Maquette Detailing

I have worked into the face of the Hobgoblin much more for the first couple of days this week. As I haven't sculpted for a long time I thought it would give me a confidence boost to get a good likeness to the artwork.

Maquette Refinement

After the bulking out process was completed I then began to refine the maquette forming the parts of the Hobgoblins anatomy that were visible and unclothed. As I hadn't done any sculpting for a long time I was conscious of being able to sculpt the Hobgoblins likeness. I roughed in the face as a confidence builder and to transfer the 2 dimensional imagery into 3 dimensions.

Maquette roughing out

I have built the armature at a scale (1:3) relative to the final sculpt size out of twisted armature wire and attached it to a lazy susan using M6 threaded rod and associated fittings as a back iron. I have started to block out the sculpt roughing in the forms and positioning the arms, head and legs. It was proving difficult to acquire the pose as I was focussing too much attention on the anatomy. Through a conversation with Jack I decided to bulk out the mass quickly which I could then work into refining the details later on in the process. Due to lack of reference the intention is for the maquette to act as a reference for the final armature and sculpt.

Deciding to make a maquette

At the moment, because of the lack of reference, it is even more important that I sculpt a rough maquette to resolve any issues I may have making sure the pose, weight, anatomy and proportions look correct before I start to sculpt the final figure. My understanding what happens with the Hobgoblins pose from the angles that I can't see with the artwork is an important to make sure the sculpt is accurate to the character.

The maquette will also act as a 'test piece' to bottom out any issues that I may have whilst sculpting the final figure. Issues will take much less time to resolve on a 1/3 scale maquette than a full size sculpt.

Whilst looking at the artwork I have decided that because of the eyeball position (looking at you sideways on) and that the legs are bent that he is on his tip toes sneaking. His eyes have a 'shifty' look about them and he has a sly grin which suggests he is up to no good.

Reference

The artwork that I am going to be using as my main reference for the pose of the sculpt will be the main image that is used on the beer bottles.




I will also be using the artwork used in the 'British Beer Needs You' advertisements as this shows the hobgoblins face from the front. This is also the most accurate front on represention of the character that I have found that corresponds with the beer label artwork.

Project Outline

For my external brief am going to sculpt the 'Hobgoblin' for Wychwood Brewery. The 'Hobgoblin' character is synonymous with the Wychwood Brewery as its flagship character. I intend to sculpt a 3-dimensional version of the artwork as a promotional/point-of-sale figure to be sited in the shop or taken to beer festivals.