Mad Clown

[moonmin82]

The day job has been pretty hectic of late and sadly this has put a bit of a dampener on my nocturnal sculpting activities. So brings me to my latest sculpt(s): Mad Clown:

Reference sketches:

...and the armature:

Tried something different with the armature, using a technique I spotted in one of the sculpting reference threads on this fine forum. My reason for not quite smoothing out the putty is my use of superglue to secure the torso.

This Mad Clown will be sporting a straight jacket and a rather manic expression! I'm toying with the idea of sculpting a set of three for casting and release, each in a slightly different pose with a different head variant. I'll be using everything I learned from the outcome of my Pie Clown cast when creating these single piece sculpts.

 

[moonmin82]

Here is last nights progress:

 

[moonmin82]

Tonights (casual) progress. Just a little preparation for when I sculpt the jacket:

 

[khavor]

Looking good Moonmin, you're off to a nice start. Have you decided which head to use, or are you going with the variants? I quite like the idea of the short hair / no nose version in your sketches, with a painted face a bit like the joker.

 

[moonmin82]

Cheers Khavor! I intend sculpt 3 of these, each slightly different. I'll have to make up for the static pose of this one with a suitable face. He'll either be head down, looking up or wearing something strange and sinister such as a gas mask. Still undecided!

Pleased with the way this one is going so far. Made a decent start on the straight jacket this morning:

 

[Oktane]

Looks like another I'll be needing to make an order for soon.Nice work.

 

[moonmin82]

Cheers mate! There'll be a lot of fiddly detail to finish on this one - buckles for the straps, plus I'll have to figure out how to add the cross-over straps from the arms... Could be tricky!

 

[Oktane]

I meant to say in my email to you but I'll put it here so others can comment;
Have you considered doing an optional head or 2?
And have you thought about a Hannibal Lector style muzzle/mouthguard to go with the straightjacket?
And another thought-Surgical/lobotomy scars on the head?

 

[moonmin82]

The current plan is three single piece mini's, each with a different head and pose:

- full manic Mad Clown face;
- muzzle (Hannibal style);
- ball-gag or gas mask.

Lobotomy scars are something I hadn't thought of but now you mention it it's a really cool idea that I'll be certain to explore! I like the idea of eventually doing something more modular (head, arm, torso and accessory variants) as a sprue set, but for the time being (at least while I get my head around sculpting anatomy to a reasonable level) I'm going to mostly concentrate on single piece sculpts and casts.

By all means if anybody has any suggestions or ideas they'd like to see as a potential future release be sure to shout out

 

[moonmin82]

Hoped to get the buckles done today but the putty just wasn't playing ball. The putty wasn't sticking well and whenever I moved onto another belt the buckle above peeled off. In the end I added the top and bottom most buckles and left the piece under a lamp briefly to set in place. I can see this is going to be slow going!

Still to add a couple more bits to each of these buckles and then to think about the middle one. This will take some planning as I'll likely need to leave space to allow me to sculpt the sleeve straps... Damn this is complicated!

 

[moonmin82]

Finished two buckles today and started another. Once the third is done I'll make a start on the sleeve straps.

 

[moonmin82]

Epic fail!

If you look at the previous WIP shot you'll notice that the strap buckle is the wrong way round!

Here is a Photoshopped version of how the straps SHOULD look:

I've made an Instantmold mould of the detail, should I want to return to it, but for now I intend to cut away the details and start again. Having said that, I've got a book on anatomy and posing so should make a fresh start on a new improved (dynamic) version.

 

[10 ball]

Nice work, its this attention to detail that makes the difference

 

[moonmin82]

This clown will have hair hanging over his face, which will be looking slightly downward. As most of his face will be obscured I'll need to add a collar to make his clown nature clear:

I've made a start on the correct belt orientation! I just need to neaten up and make everything tidy and parallel:

Am quite surprised how fast I completed the collar compared to previous clown sculpts...

 

[moonmin82]

Legs re-posed. Once cured they'll be re-shaped and corrected. The head will be leaning back.

 

[moonmin82]

I've finally made a start on "the hard bit" (i.e. the face!). I really should've done this earlier as I'm finding yet more details falling off the straight jackets belt buckles...

 

[khavor]

Nice, I like the new pose. Much more dynamic. He's got a lot more attitude now! You had me checking my belt buckle on the straps. I'm afraid I may have sculpted some backwards before too now....

 

[moonmin82]

Cheers Khavor! Thought it'd be worth the effort.

Face and right shoulder...

...again, the legs do need re-shaping.

 

[moonmin82]

Yesterday I reshaped the legs, neatened up the trousers and added ears and hair. Today I started work on the slottabase tag:

Any advice on the trousers or any bits that look particularly wrong?

 

[moonmin82]

Sculpted the slottabase tag maybe a week ago. This morning I added more hair and neatened up the trousers. My other half pointed out that his left arm was too fat so I've re-sculpted that.

Next I intend to finish the face, straps and correct his right leg.

Would appreciate any honest feedback on this one. If he's a dud I wont cast him.