BA3a Reflective journal
Mon 23rd Oct – 29nd Oct
This week has been pivotal to my creative practice, as I have commenced construction of my life size hybrid form sculpture. After the open studio days last week, I have been convinced by several tutors to go ahead and initiate this ambitious project. However I feel it is necessary to construct such a form as is the next logic step along the journey of my practice these past three years; as such I feel it is time to look my creature in the eyes face to face so to speak.
As such the most sensible first step to take in the construction of this sculpture is to create its head, whereas the rest of the body will be made from a steal armature which I shall need to weld together, the foundation for the head will need to be lighter yet close to the exterior form. Therefore I back tracked and used a cross section format of foam board to build the “skull” as I did for the base of my previous two skull concepts. However to remind myself of how I made the eye sockets for the human wolf hybrid skull last year I dismantled the existing sculpture. Next I created to scale simplistic line drawings of the head from the fourth drawing, firstly a line drawing of the skull, secondly a line drawing of the surface form, so as I may accurately sculpt and form the flesh (clay) atop the bones (foam board). These I then merged together and printed to scale roughly 38cm long and 42cm tall.
Furthermore to aid in my creation of the cross section skull I needed a front profile view of the skull therefore I used the line drawing I made of the human wolf skull, which I previously used to help create the human wolf skull at the end of BA2a. This I have attached as a thumbnail above.
Now that I have the foam board armature for the head I have begun to consider that which will shape the body, it is curious as a studio mate Nhung Ha has started work on her own human form in a similar manor to that which I plan to create my form. Steel skeleton chicken wire form shaped and rounded using damp newspaper and plastic bags. Below is an image of N’s figure which was interesting for me to see as an example of where I plan to go. Thus I went and spoke to the 3D technicians who informed me as to how I can approach this task. In keeping with this direction of thought I have started to make drawings of potential armature designs. Based on the plans that the technicians showed me. Below are a series of sketches that the technician used to explain how certain techniques work.
Most significantly I was shown a technique to have a connection/disconnection point so that I could detach the rear section of the form from the front to simplify the transportation and movement of the sculpture for display and storage.
Returning to the head I have finished building the foam board skull, to piece it together I built it layer by layer from a central layer each piece changing form, shape and size decreasing each time over and over as I saw fit. The lower jaw I made separately so that I could attach with pins allowing for an articulated jaw so that I could work on the internal details first which I would later position in a manner of my choosing that I would then build the lips and cheeks around.
I have now started to form the surface of the form, I have strengthened and hardened the foam board by adding a coat of mod roc to areas. This I then began to apply a clay layer which would be sculpted into so as to create the muscle structure and form. I have only managed this week to add a layer to the face and have begun to add the ears. The ears have proved to be a difficult task to settle on as I was unsure if I want to use a noble jackals ears or a wolf’s folded back defensive ears. So I need to choose on either superiority through intimidation or wisdom. Below I have added three options to choose from.
For the ears I have chosen to employ the form of the jackals ears a creature of nobility known for representing the Egyptian god Anubis a character who judged the weight of one’s soul granting or denying access to the afterlife. In using such ears I intend to illustrate the idea that this character is wise an intelligent being like ourselves yet superior as it is a link to god like beings of old tales. Below I have added documentation of how the I have built the head so far…
I have been considering how to create the eyes, I don’t want to paint a ping pong ball that’s not powerful enough, I want the creature and the audience to feel an uneasy connection thus the eyes, being the window to the soul must be powerful. And so I do not wish to simplify these structures instead I wish to create taxidermy eyes, I have thought about this in great depth that I have planned to create resin balls 38mm in diameter, which I shall cut in half painting the iris on the front of one and the pupil on the inside of a hollowed out semi sphere. The other half will be filled with black pigment as I want to create wolf eyes not human. Although the human eyes would allow for a deeper connection a sense of familiarity, the wolf eyes would present the lure of the primal uncanny. Blazing amber pools which pierce the audience. To emphasise the intensity of the eyes I shall use gold leaf shards in the iris so as to add a link to divinity or regality allowing the creature to appear superior to the humans.
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