A New Clay!

At the Senic Shop, I've finally gotten a chance to use "Plastilina" clay. It's an oil-based clay. The cool thing, and this is why I'm posting about it, is that it's the professional standard of clay. It's a formula that has remained the same for over 100 years! I like expanding my repertoire of different sculpting medium I've used. Each one makes me feel a little less like a college student who got lucky.

So now I've used polymer based clays such as "Sculpey" (my favorite), oil-based clays like, "Roma Plastilina" and "Chavant" clay, and awesome two part apoxie clays like "Magic Sculpt" and "Apoxie Sculpt", both very good clays.

It's also nice having the experience of learning about different interior forms to sculpt off of. I started out in college (and still do at home) using aluminum foil, a nice space filler, and it has no problem being in the oven. And the Scenic Shop has taught me about alternatives like carving urethane foam blocks (very dangerous, use a dust mask and tyvek suit!), using Hilti spray foam, and even using the expanding insulation foam stuff you can buy at Home Depot and Lowes!

Scenic Shop memories: Part 1

Almost two years ago I walked into the Hollywood studios Scenic Shop and did work on their Fairies meet and greet. The very first thing I sculpted were the two smaller mushrooms in the first
image at the top. After that, the third taller mushroom, the snail and the lady bug. Since then I've done work in three of the four parks, sculpted full size parts for ride vehicles, painted 50 feet in the air, sculpted for projects for other parts of the world, and seen things the average guest will never see. The Fairies Meet and Greet at the Magic Kingdom started it all. It was the beginning of the best job I've ever had. A job that, as a freelancer, I could be layed off of any day. All the more reason to savor every day I get to go in and work for Walt Disney.

DONE!

Finally! It took six months, but I finished my latest illustration! I hope you like it.

Ever Closer

The first background group of onlookers is finally sculpted. I've been working 65 hour work weeks at the scenic shop and at petsmart, so progress is extremely slow. I've only got two things left to sculpt, the second and final group of characters, and the floor of this scene. THEN I can finally paint and light and photograph. Ahhhh!

One thing that's really nice is that I haven't lost interest in this illustration yet. Usually, if I work on a project and it takes over three months to do, I lose interest and move on to other things. But I'm staying the course!

The Swan Queen

I've finally finished the Swan Queen. This is photographed in roughly the same lighting she'll have in the final illustration. Her paint scheme will be fairly complicated so I can't wait to do that! First, however, I need to scupt the background people. I want to paint everyone at the same time.

Scuptwerks Car

I've finally gotten up the courage to put vinyl logos on my car. I've always been one for very tasteful car decoration, the kind of stuff you don't notice till you're really looking at the car. But you can't do that with logos. The whole point is to stick out. I've attached two pin stripings on the front fenders and a larger 5 inch logo on the back left side window.

The first mold experiment.

I've just finished making my first mold! I bought a 1 lb. silicone rubber mold kit and a bucket of 'super strong' plaster of paris. I've made a bout 6 Gummie medallions so far.