Who's Knocking?

The idea for this little character was to have a little light sculpture for the garden.

There are lots of cheap, solar powered LED lights available. But usually they are simple lights or flowers.

Initially I thought of another Ork - like the Slug Hunter - holding a lantern.

Then I remembered an "Scrooge" bust I once saw. I can't remember much, other that Scrooge was in a night gown and a sleeping cap, holding a candle, and a frowning facial expression.

So I thought about a garden creature that was disturbed in his lair, and checking out the surroundings, holding his lantern.

I started with the basic shape.

  

So he's holding his night gown and holding out his lantern.

 

A wooden stick in his arm will ensure it is hollow and I can run a cable through.

Smoothing the robe and adding folds and creases.

 

To transport the idea further I decided to have him coming out of a ground hole, checking the area.

 

But for this I also needed a door.

 

While the door cured to a certain steadiness I started the head.

 

A hopefully investigative facial expression

 

and a night cap :)

 

Mounting the door - supported by a coffee mug.

 

Next I built the lantern.

 

quite some delicate cutting.

 

Until he's burnt, he will only hold the lop of the lantern, while the body will be separate.

 

 

Once everything is burnt, I can mount the LED through his arm.

 

I hope you like this update and I look forward to your comments and feedback

Cheers

Klaus

The Slug Hunter

Finally finding the time to post some more work-in-progress images.

This time it the "Slug Hunter".

Since this year was apparently a very good year for slugs and our garden was rather infested with them, I was wishing for a creature to hunt them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_slug

With this in mind I decided to create a little Garden Ork that's hunting slugs.

Initially I wanted to pose him on a dead slug, but changed it to maintain a more pleasant appearance :P

The basic pose

First details, like the boots and belly button.

 

The boots also received some clasps.

 

Knee pads.

 

Then I created some bracelets, a belt, loincloth, and a vest.

 

 

And then it was time for the most dangerous part of the project.

Removal of the skeleton aperture.

 

Luckily I was able to remove everything without major damage.

 

So I was able to add more details, like pouches and a small skull

 

A shield, in the form of a shell on his back.

 

 

And I started with the "face" for the slug.

 

with the body mostly complete, I started on the hunters head, starting with the hair.

 

 

Then the basic eyebrows and lips

 

Starting with the eyes

 

 

And adding the long nose

 

 

Ears

 

Fits the pose.

 

 

 

Finished face.

 

Some final cleanup and it's ready for curing and the oven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like this little update and I look forward to feedback and comments.

Cheers

klaus

Bertha the (fountain) Dragon and Roland the Frog

This piece is almost done, but still work-in-progress.

 

The idea is a little fountain for the garden in which a lying dragon is spouting water - and hits a frog, who's carrying an umbrella.

Pretty silly, isn't it?

 

Well, as usual I started off with a little base.

Onto which I added a slab of clay, starting the basic shape for Bertha.

The hind leg and claws.

And the front leg. The texture of the ground was done with a stiff brush.

As you can see I'm a sucker for smoothing early, but I prefer to have most of the textures early in the sculpt.

The other sides hind leg,

and the front leg, exposing the pose.

The right paw.

Then I inserted a hose, which will in the end be used to connect to the water pump for the fountain.

Around this I started the neck and basic head.

The head got heavy and needed some support :)

Starting the facial structures.

And adding details such as horns and the tiny wings.

Then the wings received their skin(?)

After removing the support I felt the neck was to thick, so I reworked the lines.

Better, but now it needed extra time with the support.

While the neck cured, I started with the frog section.

For this I created a little lily pad.

And started with the basic shape for Roland,

and positioned him on the pad.

Then I started the legs.

and arms :)

Next was to create Roland's umbrella.

I wanted to do a rather large leaf, from which the water would be deflected. So I sculpted the basic shape and let it cure.

In the meantime I hollowed the dragon.

This is necessary for the burn process, but also for inserting the hose once Bertha is burnt.

I managed to hollow her and even remove the hose without any major damage - some small scratches were easily covered again.

So this is the final walk-around for Bertha:

With Bertha completed I wanted to position the leaf umbrella on Roland.

But the leaf was to heavy for the stalk and it broke off :(

 

So I decided to sculpt a smaller mushroom instead.

The mushroom needs to cure a bit before I can position it safely, and then I still need to sculpt Roland's hand holding it.

I hope you like this little scene and I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Cheers

klaus