Diverted from work on Sisyphus today as I realised the time elements for our Fall in Green Jabberwocky release. The single will be released on 27 Jan 2021, the 189th birthday of Lewis Carroll, so at least the B side (if we have one) and the cover art needs to be ready a month earlier.
So, today I've continued modelling work on a Jabberwocky model. I began with a wire armature (was it a month or so ago?) and added some Milliput (the horrid yellow stuff) to the big tangled bits that won't move. I like Milliput as a modelling material, particularly the smooth white type. It's not ideal; it tends to get very hard when not used, and it very difficult to mix on cold weather. I wish it were softer generally, yet this is probably my favourite sculpting material, the perfect mix of smooth and easy, yet hard and tough after a slow set of a few hours.
Today I applied two more favourite materials. Sculptamold, which is a mix of plaster and papier maché, and then plaster bandages. Sculptamold is great, it sets very quickly and is very easy to mix and handle, and it's strong. The downside is that it is rough and lumpy and always results in a porridge or lumpy-rock like surface. It's impossible to smooth, but this makes it good for some types of texture (like rock, like dinosaur skin). I used it for the 'volcano' frame for my painting The Bully. Plaster bandages are great too, and made a smoother finish, but you need a lot to sculpt with them. They work best when covering an sculpture, or an armature made of mesh, like chicken wire.
Here the model by mid-day:
Sculpting a face or details is nearly impossible, but, as in painting, things can be removed later, and added too... when it's dry, more details can be added.
I had considered making the whole model poseable... after the wire stage I could have put the skeleton into a fur skin, or any other sort (rubber?) to make it pose, but I don't think I'll bother animating it - it wouldn't look as good as it could and it would be so much work to make that posable rubber skin...
This will move a bit (it may crack, but I can paint over those). My main aim is to pose it for stills for the cover artwork.
A lot more detail is to come yet.
