He's Got a Knife: Detail Construction

The last post dealt with the core construction of the monster. Now to take the previous blob of vaguely monster-shaped clay an turn it into something that you wouldn't want to see coming at you with a tiny knife.

1. The Bod.

With the the Sculpey Base, I covered the entire thing with a thin, thin (1/8 inch) layer or Super Sculpey. This was the first time I'd used Super Sculpey. My opinion? It...is...awesome. Seriously, I really like this stuff. It models well and bakes up super hard. Even with the just the thin layer, the thing was solid. I flick it with my finger and it stings a bit. It's maybe a little firmer than Original Sculpey but it feels smoother. The color is completely different, too. This is more of a skin tone color like an old G.I. Joe than Original Sculpey's stark white. I will definitely be using Super Sculpey more in the future.

I'm not sure I needed to cover the entire thing. I did it thinking it would provide a uniform Super Sculpey base as I add details later. This step also smoothed out a lot of the lump I left in the Original Sculpey. The only downside is that it caused the sculpture to be a little bulkier than it probably needed to be but it turned out well.

Anyway, after baking the initial Super Sculpey, I still had a pretty blob-ish chunk of clay with few features.



2. The Face.

Here's where I started added features to the monster. This took place through several modeling and baking cycles as I gradually built up the specifics. Over a couple evenings I added toes and claws, head shape with mouth and eye sockets, fingers and claws, finger webs, and, finally, the scales and gills.

Another thing I like about Super Sculpey is that is seems to adhere well to itself. I was able to model fingers and kind of smoosh and smooth the unbaked clay to the previously baked model easily. After baking, the transition is reasonably solid and unnoticeable.

There was a pretty tense moment while baking the monster. The baking sheet warped in the oven and the monster tipped over, breaking off a couple fingers and toes. It glued back together well but the lesson is that Super Sculpey is pretty soft while in the oven.

He's Got a Knife: Core Construction

Thus far, I've reviewed the design process for He's Got a Knife. Now it's time to get our hands dirty with the core construction.

1. The Skeleton. I used aluminum foil to build the inner core of both the monster and the man. There are several reasons to build the core:

• It provides an solid internal structure to which the clay can adhere.
• It's useful to rough out the main shape and get the scale right.
• It cuts costs. Foil is significantly cheaper than clay.
• It allows for thinner, more easily baked sections of clay (i.e. you're not baking a tennis ball-sized chunk of clay...you're only baking/curing the .5 inch outer layer).

I used foil because it's cheap, light, bake-able, and we already had it on hand. I created a very rough estimate of the monster's outline with some tightly wrapped and heavily crunched foil. It was close enough that the foil monster would actually stand on it's own but that's the extent of my exactness here. I made a similar structure for the guy but it ended up being little more than a skinny stick figure.

I have heard of people using wire armatures or materials like chicken wire to build the core. I haven't tried this but I think if I were making something where I might want to reposition something mid-sculpt, the wire would hold up better than foil.

2. The Bulk. Using the foil as the base, I began bulking up the creature using Original Sculpey. There are other similar products like Fimo but I have yet to try them. I've been pleased with my previous work with Original Sculpey and, well, I don't don't like change. If you're not familiar with Sculpey, it's a polymer clay that remains soft until you bake it for 15 minutes at 275 degrees for each .25 inch of thickness. It's also easy to work with and relatively inexpensive. It does tend to be a bit brittle after baking so I'm hesitant to use it for small or thin pieces. It was perfect, though for building up the monster's beefiness.

At this point, I had already decided to make the monster a swamp beast but the figure was still pretty rough. No fingers. No toes. Just a stump for a head. The details come later.

He's Got a Knife: The Design

I'm terrible with documenting my various projects. I usually start with a goal to photograph my progress but I inevitably fail to do so. On the one hand, it's unfortunate I don't have a good step-by-step history of the process. On the other hand, the fact that I didn't slow down enough to pull out the camera is pretty indicative of how into the project I was. That is, I'm passionate about it to the point that I don't want to pause for photos.

As for the He's Got a Knife (HGK) sculpture, I did take the time to snap a few photos...mostly because I had to wait for clay to harden. With this and a couple future posts I plan to document the steps I took to create the sculpture. Maybe you'll find it interesting...maybe not. I'm hoping it'll spark some fellow sculptors to take up the clay and, by all means, if you have suggestions for how something could've been done better, please share. I would love to get your ideas.

1. The Idea. HGK really started with the knife. It was leftover from a custom action figure project where a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys figure was the source (somewhere in my stash of goodies there's a tiny spear and diminutive crossbow just waiting for a project). It's a good knife. Plain. Simple. More importantly, it's sized realistically...not some huge, stylized mystic machete. The idea to build a nasty monster around a tiny knife came to me at work one day. The irony and the humor struck me. I'm a sucker for both monsters and funny so the combo was a one-two punch.

2. The Design. I sketched out a couple ideas. I didn't do a lot of this initially. The idea to make the monster more swamp-themed came later, after I decided that sculpting fur would be too difficult for a first sculpture of this magnitude. Eventually, I had a monster and a man but no base. I put more effort into the sketching of the base than the actual characters.



Those are the pre-construction steps.

Next up...construction begins.

Baby Dos: Week 35

Size Comparison: Betamax VCR

Our due date is May 24th which, you know, is exactly a month from today. So we're officially scheduling appointments with the doctor weekly now. Wow! The last appointment went well. The baby is still positioned head down...mostly. The baby is a little more sideways but still generally head down. It sounds like that's not out of the ordinary. It's gotten a lot warmer here in central Indiana which, for me, is a welcome change from what seemed like a really long winter. Of course, I'm not carrying around an extra person. My wife is definitely felling the heat. Let's hope things don't get too uncomfortable.

I grew up with Betamax VCR. Not only that, it was Hi-Fi. In all seriousness, it was a great VCR. I would say it had far better picture and sound quality than our current VHS. Granted, our VHS is pretty cheap and I bet the Beta wasn't but, still, that says a lot about Beta quality for, what, 1982 or so. Sadly, the Beta got fried when our house was struck by lightening. So sad.

He's Got a Knife

Here's a happy picture. As you can see, it's my very messy art desk. It's not the table or the messiness, itself, that makes me happy. What makes me smile is the fact that the messiness is proof that the table has seen from pretty extensive use recently. All too often, I've looked at the table and seen it looking spotlessly clean. That's sad. Even worse is when it's actually dusty.


What have I been working on? Well, a sculpture titled He's Got a Knife. I just wrapped it up over this past weekend. I'll post some of the detailed steps over the next week or so but, for now, here are a few simple images. I'm happy with the results. And let me tell you...I love Super Sculpey. It's some very, very cool stuff.

As for the sculpture, I hope the pictures turned out alright. The creature is holding a knife from an action figure that I can't even remember anymore. Everything was handmade.

Currently, the piece is on loan from my private collection at home to my private collection at work.

Earth Quaker

No, I'm not talking about Earth Quaker, a character from The Tick. I'm talking about a little earthquake we experienced here in central Indiana this morning. Earthquakes aren't really anything we regularly notice. I guess that's kind of nice. It helps offset the ice storms and the tornadoes.

Anyway, it was an exciting start to the day. I've had trouble getting up early recently and this definitely did the trick. You can't really snooze your house when it's shaking around you. Here's how it happened. My alarm went off at 5:30am. I thought "Just a couple more minutes." I'm sure I was on my way to another hour of sleep when the house rumbled at around 5:37am. The bed, the dresser, the window blinds were all shaking. Our son slept through the whole thing but it woke up our dog who proceeded to curl up right near me at the head of the bed.

There were news reports the previous night about a sonic boom just north of us as part of an Indiana Air National Guard training session so we wondered if this was something similar though there wasn't any sound. I found the articles on the quake this morning.

Lesson: it takes an earthquake to get me into the office early.

From the Vault: From Bad to Worse

This one is short by sweet. Basically, it looks like there's a motorcyclist in a pretty tight spot.

1. He's fallen off his motorcycle. If that weren't bad enough...
2. He's also caught on his motorcycle by something that looks like fabric. Maybe a cape. Or a scarf. If that weren't bad enough...
3. There are several sticks of lit DYNAMITE also attached to the bike. If that weren't bad enough...
4. HE'S STUCK THIRTY (estimated) FEET IN THE AIR! ITWBE...
   
5. THERE'S NOTHING BUT A RATTY LOOKING MATTRESS (possibly a large chunk of stinky cheese) TO CATCH HIM!
   

I've had two motorcycles. I have my MC license endorsement and I've completed the ABATE of Indiana Inc. Basic Riders Course. I love motorcycles. I would really like to have another one at some point.

Seriously, it's motorcycle season, be careful out there. Leave the cape at home. Keep the dynamite unlit. Wear a helmet.

Payment Plan

Retro Brett is a decent blog. I know there are things I could do to make it better. Probably the the best thing would be for me to write shorter, more focused posts. Rather than one horrifically long post, several shorter posts would certainly be more readable. That's one of my top goals for the blog. I think my reworking of my categories was a help. They're less fun but they're also a little less cryptic.

Another goal...making blogging worth my while. I like blogging but, let's face it, it's not exactly paying any bills. I have several friends that have been working with services in which they actually get paid to blog. While I enjoy blogging, I also enjoy getting paid. Why not try to combine these two things? Well, I did some (not a lot...but some) research and, of the various blog advertising services, I opted to try out Smorty. Here's why:

1. I liked their website. It was clear, easy to use, and easy to navigate.
2. I liked the idea of accepting assignments rather than feeling like I had to post about something of which I had little to say.
3. The pay is decent. More importantly, there seems to be opportunity, as I continue, that the pay will increase.
4. Their rules regarding qualification and posting seemed more in keeping with the nature of my blogging.
5. Smorty seemed on the ball with regards to communication (i.e. "you'll hear back from us within 72 hours...").

This chance to get paid for blogging should be interesting. I'll let you know how it goes.

Action, Figures

I dearly love toys. I'm particularly fond of the toys the bring back a piece of my own childhood. Legos. Hot Wheels. Fisher Price Adventure People. Old video game systems. Transformers. GI Joe. Even the lowly Go-Bot. You get the picture.

I'm not typically enthusiastic about new toys. I don't know why. I think they feel trendy. And I'm hardly ever trendy. Still, there are occasions when something new will catch my eye. Since college, this has really been limited to three lines of toys:

1. The newest series of He-Man/Masters of the Universe figures. I enjoyed the original MOTU lines of the 80's but there's no getting around the feeling that they were pretty repetitive and geared more towards marketability and sales than quality. These new toys were amazingly well sculpted figures and featured incredible detail. While they tended to be more like display pieces than toys, I fell in love with them. I was especially fond of Mer-Man, Buzz-Off, and Beast Man.

2. Stikfas. Stikfas seem like the direct opposite of the new MOTU figures. While the MOTU figures sacrificed moving parts and pose-ability in favor of detailed realism, Stikfas are simplified figures with an innovative ball-and-socket joint allowing infinite positioning. They're really the 3D version of the stick figure. I have a handful of these little guys and have successfully used them to recreate at least a dozen professional wrestling moves like the Boston Crab and the Vertical Suplex. They get a little pricey for the themed Stikfas but I highly recommend the generic blister packs...you can occasionally find them on sale online.

3. Xevoz (Zee-Voz) represent a kind of blending of the two above lines. They were developed by Hasbro off the Stikfa toys and use the same joint system. However, they're much more detailed and sculpted than the normal Stikfa. There were scorpions, robots, praying mantises, along with many, many more cool designs. They were, quite simply, a lot of fun. It's a shame the line didn't survive. They weren't really marketed here in central Indiana and I don't think they ever got the recognizability of a lot of other toys. It's hard for a new line, no matter how cool and innovative, to make it when competing against established lines and the latest movie franchise merchandising.

Anyway, that brings me to this...I'm once again excited about some new toys. Actually, two lines that are very similar. I've already mentioned Automoblox and I'm excited that these are now showing up in Target stores. I don't actually have any but I wasn't shy about opening a box at a Target and checking it out. Very, very cool. I like the simplicity and just the feel of the cars. It's not something I can really pinpoint. They feel, I don't know, wholesome. Clean. Solid. Makes me wish my Honda Civic were made of wood.

Similar to Automoblox, are these new wooden toys I saw in the latest Toys "R" Us ad. It looks like TRU is starting up entire line of more eco-friendly toys. There's a train, a fire engine, and a pretty cool truck. My favorites are the formula race car and the Indy style race car. I need to get down to TRU to check these out. I like the concept of more natural and simple toys. If I manage to get a hold of one, I'll be sure to post a review.

Baby Dos: Week 33

Size Comparison: Jarts/Lawn Darts

Man, this pregnancy thing...it's like there's no stopping it. We had another doctor appointment this week and everything is looking great. The baby's heartbeat is nice and strong and he/she is still situated head down. The baby's heartbeat is a little faster (around 150 beats/minute) than Jesse's ever was (usually 140 beats/minute), whatever that means. We have another appointment in about a week and a half. I'm guessing we'll be moving to weekly appointments after that.

The baby's room did get painted this past week though we have a little stenciling yet to do. I'll post some pictures when it's really, really done. We also worked on our list of baby names. We sliced and diced the girl's name list down to just two possibilities. The boy's name list is still around six or seven options but even that is a big drop from the twenty or so we originally had. The naming is a difficult thing with so many things to think about. Do the initials spell anything? If we pick another J-name, will indicate a planned trend? What sounds good if you yell "Jesse, [fill in blank], dinner's ready!"? And once you start reading name books, it gets even more interesting. Fortunately, it's actually a lot of fun. Some of the published subjective evaluations of names are especially entertaining. For instance, the book, The Baby Name Wizard, says the name "Jesse" is "Timelessly, Lawlessly Cool". I also enjoy the Baby Name Voyager. It's a good way to check name popularity over the years. It's especially useful when you're looking for something that's not overly popular.

So, jarts...were these things ever safe. I know my family had a set though I don't remember ever playing it regularly. I do remember tossing around the target rings but those were just hollow plastic and not heavy, pointed steel. I have a friend who said he and his brother would position themselves with one in the front yard and one in the back. They would then throw jarts over their house into the other's yard. Yikes.

It's like the baby's really there!

Many thanks to my friend, James, for letting me know about 3D Pregnancy and the brilliant little widget at the right of this blog. Very, very cool

Shock to the System!

I happened to be checking out Woot.com the other day and there was semi-random mention of Billy Idol Fighting Zombies. It was a link and, because it mentioned both Billy Idol AND Zombies, I clicked on it as fast as possible. Anyway, it linked to Idol's Dancing with Myself video on YouTube.

First off, I strongly recommend you take a minute to listen and watch the video yourself. If you do nothing else today, this will make getting out of bed worth the effort. Face it, there's nothin' to lose and there's nothin' to prove.

Second, keep and eye on the chair that appears with Idol on the top of the building. It looks awfully similar to the chair my wife and I have in our living room. Merely a strange coincidence? I'm not convinced. I'd like to think this chair from Goodwill has seen from zombie action.

At the risk of being too racy, I'm officially naming that chair the Cradle of Love.

Baby Dos: Week 32

Size Comparison: Tomy Omnibot

I've been lax in posting about the pregnancy. For that, I apologize. The good news, though, is that the baby continues to grow as it should. The pregnancy has been relatively easy and that's been a tremendous blessing. The baby is moving a lot and seems to have hiccups on a fairly regular basis. During the last appointment, the doctor kind of mapped out how the baby was positioned. We were happy to find that the baby is currently upside down. It was good to hear the baby is in the standard delivery position. Of course, that's also a good reminder that the baby will be arriving soon and we have a lot to get done first. Hard to believe there's only eight weeks until the expected due date.

We're working on getting ready for the baby. I'm painted the bedroom this weekend. Once that's done, we'll probably really get into setting the room up. At some point, you know, the baby will need some place to sleep and we have yet to get a crib. I did, finally, wrap up my list of potential baby names. We still need to combine our individual lists and run through the selection process. We started during our weekend getaway but my list was so deplorably short at the time that little was accomplished. This time, though, I'm coming to play.

Anyway, the Tomy Omnibot. The eighties were an interesting period for robots. There was certainly a fascination with robots as they were an integral part of pop culture. I mean, Knight Rider's K.I.T.T. was essentially a robot with a wicked Trans Am shell. Number 5 of Short Circuit represented the classic robot turned friend scenario. Bubo from Clash of the Titans portrayed the ever-popular robot as a friendly owl character. And who can forget that orange robot, what's-his-name , from Riptide? Naturally, robot toys were a hit. Long before the Robosapien, the Tomy Omnibot was the servent/friend robot of choice. I never had one. I remember thinking they looked pretty cool but, for some reason, it never really struck a cord with me. Maybe if it looked more like a Trans Am...

Want more robots? Check out The Old Robot's Web Site.