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Sunday 16 December 2012

TASK 5: CLAY MODEL (HAND-IN)

         With the task of designing and developing a character out of clay, I had to find some inspiration  My tutor said if we really wanted, we could choose an aspect of a character or a character itself to base the model on. I initially went to my favourite game franchise, Resident Evil. I chose the most interesting character I could find, the Nemesis. The image that inspired me was the one below.


    I 'thought' it would test my skills and give me a higher understanding of 3D shape considering it's complexity and iconic facial features. However, my tutor thought it was "a bit boring" considering it has been modelled a thousand times before. It's a fair statement and regardless of my wish to model the Nemesis, to my own regret, I  scrapped the idea and used inspiration from it instead. Going for the comical route yet again, I designed an onion... for some strange reason. The back story will be detailed after I show you the development of the model I handed in not days ago.


STAGE ONE: I started building the basic shape of the model with two shaped balls of tinfoil connected together by a piece of modelling wire. Once down I flattened on a sheet of clay and moulded it around the base of the mouth.


STAGE TWO: Here I added the top layer of clay and added in the cheeks to stitch both parts together. After doing this, I filled in the mouth to hide as much of the tin-foil as possible, followed by marking out the positions of the eyes and the stitches. As you can see, I also tried to model the lips on basic level. At this point, modelling the mouth out of the same piece of clay was the tactic. It eventually proved impossible when attempting to stick the teeth on the inside of the mouth. So I decided to rethink to strategy.




STAGE 3: Pretty much complete by this point, the model had taken full form. I had added the mouth, the teeth, the eyes, the stitches and the hair of the onion (or whatever you call it). With the mouth proving so difficult in the previous stage and the teeth posing an issue, I decided to rethink the strategy. I filled in the entire cavity of the mouth with clay so that sticking the teeth on (all made up of one piece of clay) would be much easier - I would stick them on the clay in the mouth cavity rather than the roof of the mouth, which proved unstable. The lips where then added as one tube of clay rolled out and then smoothed to the face. The eye was made in a similar fashion and the stitches also - with separate pieces of clay layered upon each other. Finally the hair of the onion was added, which I will admit it dreadful - I suppose it's trial and error.



STAGE FOUR: Now that the model had been completed, I needed to bake it. It sounds like a such a simple job, but I managed to burn my onion (like most food I attempt to cook). Anyway, my onion now had a nice tan, but I had to paint it.


STAGE FIVE: Once the model had cooled, I gave it three coats of white paint. Rather than brushing the paint on, I dabbed it on. This was to ensure the final piece would look rough rather than smooth, hopefully highlighting its wild, organic nature and its evil tendencies. Because obviously, all onions are evil.



STAGE SIX: Considering the body of the onion was the most evident part, I decided to paint that first. Using a mixture of orange, two shades of brown and white, I mixed three shades of this golden colour that I layered - just like I would in any digital piece. I like the final outcome. It gave it the rough, organic texture I aimed to create.


STAGE SEVEN: Finally I used the same techniques for painting the teeth, the eyes, the stitches and the onion hair. However, with great disappointment, they are laughably awful and what I believe to be, a ruined model. 

    If I had the chance I would repaint it or even completely redesign and redevelop to model. Maybe I will one day. Anyhow, why did I choose an onion? The idea was comical. This onion is actually a giant building sized onion that was a result of science gone wrong. It was a happy, but lonely onion, until one day, something tried to eat it. After a traumatic surgical process, the onion woke up with one working eye and stitches - starting its revenge quest. Its evil nature spawned, it began to make everyone cry and thus, forced an entire country to bow to its mercy. With thousands of men wearing goggles to prevent tears, they roll the onion to its desired destinations. All whilst avoiding one arch enemy - the giant knife. A homage to Van Helsing, the giant knife constantly hunts the giant onion.

    So there you have it, my yet again, random design that could have turned out alright if the paintwork hadn't of been so terrible.


          My tutor said he liked it so I'll just accept that and forget this onion ever existed. On a more serious note, whilst having three weeks to develop this onion, I did miss a few lectures and workshops as a result of personal matters. In this time, the final task was set - to design and develop a hero and villain, choose my favourite, and then develop it into a completed deliverable. A task that should utilise everything I have learnt as of yet. This is one task I am really looking forward to and the idea of "Ying and Yang" I have chosen as a concept and goal has me excited.

NEXT POST: TASK 6 - HERO AND VILLAIN (HAND-IN)

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