You can see in (pic st1.6) where during adding the first stage of clay i decided to provide it with more support from the knee, by not being precious at the early stage it doesn't matter that you have to pull off a lump around the knee to add the extra wire. In (pic st1.7) you can see more clearly the extra wire i used and also the start of some more detailed basic shaping in the form of the major muscles in the thigh & (pic st1.8).
Continuing to add basic muscle structure (pic st1.9) & (pic st1.10)....its always better i think to start from the bottom an work up as the clay although still soft will provide more support an stability.
2 Oct 2009
Its soft an easy to use and now that the wire frame is ready I simply start to smear and squash an press the clay onto the wire so that its completely covered, see (pic st1.4) and then continue in a careless manner to add the overall shape (pic st1.5) as you can see I've added a simple head and a rough idea of the feet. Its always good at this point to step back and look at the overall shape rather than focusing on one particular part, coz if you do focus too early you can end up having to destroy what you've done or keep knocking it.
Continue to create the the basic shape while not paying any attention to detail or 'real' shape.
Continue to create the the basic shape while not paying any attention to detail or 'real' shape.
Its a good idea to use ordinary kitchen foil to build up areas such as the chest/torso and hips along with some wire to prevent the maquette from becoming too top heavy when the clay is added as this can cause the model to sag or require more external support than is necessary, too much external support in the form of extra wire can make access more difficult.
If you have turnarounds, and I'm not assuming you will have, then by all means use them to help shape the torso etc.....but don't make it too big as you've still to attach clay on top. Its just for keeping the weight down. you can just about see some foil on the torso in (pic st1.3).
Clay - the only one I've ever used is 'Super Sculpey' which when soft is very much like plasticine but a bit less sticky and when hard or after you've baked it they describe it as a ceramic like sculpturing compound with can be sanded an drilled an shaved etc.
If you have turnarounds, and I'm not assuming you will have, then by all means use them to help shape the torso etc.....but don't make it too big as you've still to attach clay on top. Its just for keeping the weight down. you can just about see some foil on the torso in (pic st1.3).
Clay - the only one I've ever used is 'Super Sculpey' which when soft is very much like plasticine but a bit less sticky and when hard or after you've baked it they describe it as a ceramic like sculpturing compound with can be sanded an drilled an shaved etc.
st1.1
So using the thicker of the two galvanised wires you essentially make a stickman but 'double up' or go back along the same lines with the wire to make it stronger, as the wire will have to support all the clay (pic st1.2). Once your happy with the overall shape you then need to 'wrap' or wind the thinner of the two galvanised wires around the stickman, this will prevent any clay from rolling around the wire, it basically gives it a 'key' or something to bind to (see the arms in pic st1.3).
Kanu... how i made him...
STAGE 1. Normally the best way to start to build a 'maquette' is to enlarge or blow up your artwork (see original sketch) to the actual size that you want the model to be, and then, using the wire (galvanised 18g & 20g) you simply bend and shape the wire by actually laying it on top of your artwork (pic st1.1). In this case though I didn't have a series of 'turnarounds' (which show the object from all different angles) all I had was one perspective drawing so I had to kind of make it up as i went along, but as Kanu isn't meant to be anatomically correct so it didn't really matter.
16 Apr 2009
Kanu Awoke...
Kanu's face took on a stare, eyes fixed on a imaginary point way off in the distance.
Tension and the frown that had unknowingly consumed his face began ever so slightly to ebb away....his mouth started to open as the muscles in his jaw unclenched his teeth.
A moment of peace began to wash over him, consume him, a moment to reflect on what had become the most intense day of his life.
A man lost in the desert who finds a brackish pool will drink without hesitation as if consuming the most heavenly brew and he will ignore all other stimuli until satiated. This was Kanu and freedom was his water.
Only the warm breeze on his skin and the sounds of nature penetrated the his moment of stunned tranquility.... How can 10 years of confinement feel so trivial an so short, feel as if it were only a blink, a mere flash in an otherwise empty imagination.
This, Kanu thought, was a 'day of days' where time had seemed to travel so slowly. Every moment of his escape, every breath he'd taken, all those faces, all those voices and smells of life that were taken for granted by free men and women, all the movements he'd made, all the things he thought he'd forgotten forever that had allowed him to eventually blend in the background and escape flashed before his eyes in minute detail. His mind, his under stimulated mind had surprised him he thought. After all this time I am still whole.
The images and sounds continued to fire and flash before his staring eyes becoming ever more disjointed, the way they would for you or I when asked to recount exactly what had just happened, gaps began to appear and he felt his forearms loosen an his fists begin to unclench, he exhaled again and shoulders dropped and that which his eyes had stared so blankly at began to focus and realize, his surroundings becoming clearer the images slowed and more and more of the forest came into back into view.
Awake now, awake again, his blank gaze had been focused but he'd not been able to see it. His gaze had been focused on something important, that which had brought him back from the brink of insanity and despair. It was the Bird.
The bird eyed him and cocked its head first one way then the other the little black eye showed no emotion but no matter, the birds manner and movement more than made up for its lack of a human eye. It was perched on the lowest branch of a chestnut oak.... still looking, cocking its head and ruffling its feathers....waiting for him, waiting for him to respond.
Kanu looked down at his hand and back at the bird, he realized that his hand had been slowly extending toward the waiting bird, extending without any real thought to do so from him almost as if the bird wished it.
Tension and the frown that had unknowingly consumed his face began ever so slightly to ebb away....his mouth started to open as the muscles in his jaw unclenched his teeth.
A moment of peace began to wash over him, consume him, a moment to reflect on what had become the most intense day of his life.
A man lost in the desert who finds a brackish pool will drink without hesitation as if consuming the most heavenly brew and he will ignore all other stimuli until satiated. This was Kanu and freedom was his water.
Only the warm breeze on his skin and the sounds of nature penetrated the his moment of stunned tranquility.... How can 10 years of confinement feel so trivial an so short, feel as if it were only a blink, a mere flash in an otherwise empty imagination.
This, Kanu thought, was a 'day of days' where time had seemed to travel so slowly. Every moment of his escape, every breath he'd taken, all those faces, all those voices and smells of life that were taken for granted by free men and women, all the movements he'd made, all the things he thought he'd forgotten forever that had allowed him to eventually blend in the background and escape flashed before his eyes in minute detail. His mind, his under stimulated mind had surprised him he thought. After all this time I am still whole.
The images and sounds continued to fire and flash before his staring eyes becoming ever more disjointed, the way they would for you or I when asked to recount exactly what had just happened, gaps began to appear and he felt his forearms loosen an his fists begin to unclench, he exhaled again and shoulders dropped and that which his eyes had stared so blankly at began to focus and realize, his surroundings becoming clearer the images slowed and more and more of the forest came into back into view.
Awake now, awake again, his blank gaze had been focused but he'd not been able to see it. His gaze had been focused on something important, that which had brought him back from the brink of insanity and despair. It was the Bird.
The bird eyed him and cocked its head first one way then the other the little black eye showed no emotion but no matter, the birds manner and movement more than made up for its lack of a human eye. It was perched on the lowest branch of a chestnut oak.... still looking, cocking its head and ruffling its feathers....waiting for him, waiting for him to respond.
Kanu looked down at his hand and back at the bird, he realized that his hand had been slowly extending toward the waiting bird, extending without any real thought to do so from him almost as if the bird wished it.
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