Bull Reins and Frog Leg Texture

I've added rope and metal rings to my BullFrog, that Im going to mould and cast as well as the bull. I'll have to remove the rope reins and mould these separately. The frog texture has been a challenge, because it just seemed to look weird on such a large scale.  Still working on this, trying to make it look subtle and it needs to blend into the bull body.  Finally got the saddle looking leathery, needed the clay to dry out slightly, easier to refine then.

sculpting frog legs and marble eyes

Found sculpting the frog legs quite difficult.  Frog leg anatomy images proved very useful though, I wanted to exaggerate the muscles. The bull is supposed to look on steroids so I need the frog legs to do so as well. Had to get the feet on before the ankles could make any sense. Spent whole day on ankles.  Feet are very rough at the mo.

Ive inserted marble eyes today 34mm. Now I can sculpt the eyes properly.

Reflecting on todays pics, stomach looks too low and hump to high. Get a rake tool on that.

Shapely arms

Bigger horns and more defined arms.
P.S please ignore the left ear sliding off. Must address this tomorrow.

Bull Nostrels

Disaster struck again this week as the belly collapsed like the bum did last week. Another fixing sesh with ally, chicken wire and poly and more butterflies.  The stomach feels sturdy now. After this I decided to take a break from the body and work on the head. Using anatomy books to help. 'Animal Anatomy for the Artist' has brilliant drawings. The head always looks like it has something missing from the profile shot, I think he needed more on top of his head and he still needs bigger horns. Want to copy the bull's horns in Drake/Rihanna's Take Care video. Will need to extend the armature here. I will just attach another length of ally with a jubilee clip. Pleased with the nostrils.

progress

 The clay on the back side fell off last friday morning, two days work on the floor. The clay was too heavy and wet and it didn't have enough to grip onto. To recover this I added a bulk of polystyrene wrapped in chicken wire to the back and tightened the chicken wire already there around the thighs.  Then I attached lots of butterflies around the whole area to support the clay.

Ive been working on the stomach today and the front legs which needed an additional piece of ally and polystyrene and chicken wire (as seen above). Trying also to make the frog legs look strong enough to support the bull. Cant seem to bulk them up enough.

Given him a flat frog bum and some more bumpy bull areas on the bod. And even got carried away enough to mark out the beginnings of a saddle. Looking forward to refining him.

sculpting bull frog

 This weeks sculpt so far. Needed extra support armature wise in areas that were going to be bulky.  I made lots of 'butterflies' (wooden crosses) attached to the main armature with 1.25mm wire twisted. I put these on the shoulders and on his cheeks. Wanted to get the head making sense first. Moving onto the back end now as he is very top heavy and leaning forward then need to figure out the shapes within the body. 5 bags of clay gone.

Bull Frog Armature for Sculpting

1. Cut BOX STEEL lengths to make the core structure.  To make the shape, I cut some pieces at a 45 degree angle.  I tacked them first and then welded them together.  Next I welded the structure to the back iron at the angle my BULLFROG will be 'jumping' at. This will be completely rigid and take the weight of the clay.
2. Onto this I welded 10mm steel legs and 6mm steel curves and a sort of silhouette.  The 6mm is flexible enough to adjust slightly later with a hammer.
3. Stuffed the armature with polystyrene blocks and wrapped it in chicken wire. Stitched this up tightly with wire and stuffed more poly in any holes.
4. For the front legs, tail and head I have added aluminium wire onto the armature attached with jubilee clips.  These areas will be very flexible so I can develop them later, they don't need to be rigid because they won't have much weight to take in clay.
5. Now Im beginning to cover it in clay which is a steady process as it is so big. Someone thought it was a lion today so NOT going GREAT yet apparently.

FINAL 3RD YEAR PROJECT

For my third year project I have chosen to make part of a Carousel that features in Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods.  The Carousel exists in America at the House on the Rock.  It features 269 animals, none of which are horses.  So this was my brief.  I designed quite a few varieties, including a few hybrids, my preferred one is this BullFrog. Sketches below of BullFrog, Do-Do and marquettes of Bullfrog and Lion/Fish. The marquettes are rough, sculpted out of chevant.  I want to build a mini carousel out of wood to present the final piece.

Old Bailey Stop Motion Figure Finished

I ended up casting only the head, hands and legs in silicone as these were the only parts to be seen.  The silicone was not flexible enough for his spine armature to move.  As a result he has been built up with foam inside stitched around armature.  Painting silicone to look like skin was so hard.  Doing the animation was even worse.  I cant say I enjoyed it, stop motion animation will not be something I will be going into but it was worth trying for this project.

Old Bailey Work in Progress

12. Silicone sample of face. This is a different silicone to the mould and has a flesh pigment in it aswell as catalyst. NO THIXO. All moulding/casting materials are from Notcutts. I cut holes into the eyes and popped in the tiny 6mm acrylic eyes. Really pleased with these, hard to source eyes this small, got them from a doll shop on ebay. Also started playing with hair punching into his chin.
11. Fingerless gloves and cuffs.

10. Cast a resin sample of the figure to make the clothes on. Here is Jumper one. Like the murky colour but worry bulky sleeves wont fit under coat so will knit sweater vest and cuffs to give illusion of jumper. Puppet height is 14 inches.
9. Prised mould open, cleaned plastaline off armature and it fits.
9. Plaster mixed with water, followed by plaster socked scrim and poles for extra support when pulling mould apart. Turn over and repeat with silicone and plaster. Remember to put release on first so the mould can be split. LPJ for the silicone and slip for the plaster.
8. Remove clay wall, cut keys around silicone edge and make circle keys into clay bed ready for plaster jacket layer.
7. First layer of silicone is mixed with 10% catalyst, second layer is mixed with thixo as well as catalyst. The first layer gets the details. I had to do a third layer with thixo aswell because of the high points like the feet and hands.
6. The mould making process, put my figure into clay bed so he is halved, built up clay wall around him and made keys (circles).
5. Sculpting the face was difficult, however Im pleased with the kind face he has and the defined forehead wrinkles. Used dental tools for this.
4. Face concept drawing inspired by image I found.
3. Here I have aged the figure and turned him into a skinny old man by bringing out his bones (hip, breast etc) and using a rake tool to remove the buff muscle he had before.
2. I am scultping onto the armature in soft Plastaline from Tirantis. By sculpting onto the armature I know later the armature will fit into the figure mould. I used a book called Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet to build up a well proportioned male figure. This figure is far too youthful and muscular though for my character.

1. First I made a Ball and socket joint armature from stratch with magnets in the puppets feet to hold him to the floor. This took about two weeks to make in the metal workshop at college.