Haunt Forum banner

Time to start breaking ground

23K views 189 replies 43 participants last post by  WeirdlyGruesome 
#1 ·
Too many meetings today, but boredom got me kick-started for the season and inspired a sketch for some ground breakers I plan on making this year. Initially I was going to make two more pumpkin heads to go with my Sawtooth prop and my back-story, but seeing all the amazing ground breakers on this site has me rethinking that approach. So now I plan on making some skeletal things hopefully pretty close to my rough sketch...of which I've only completed the head-hey, I had to at least look like I was paying attention today. I figure posting the sketch will pressure me into getting something started this weekend! More to come soon I hope.

 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
Made a little progress between errands today. These will ultimately be covered in paper mache, but I thought I'd make it easy on myself and start with a little foam foundation to work from (learned a little from that paper mache work last year!). Looks a little Jack Skellington silly at the moment, but a little paperclay detailing should fix that and add some fright factor to them. I think there will be three of these guys when all is said and done.

 
#4 ·
I've used those foam balls as the base for a prop's head a couple times myself. Very easy (although messy) to work with. I did find that it was a whole lot easier to get papier mache to stick to the foam if I covered the foam with masking tape first.
 
#5 ·


You might want to take a look at AllenH's vid on making shrunken heads where he uses styrofoam balls and foil for a base and then covers with liquid nail.
Using foil as a sclup material looked easy to work with and a self supporting base to put your cover material on.
I plan on making some cat skulls with that method.
 
#6 ·
Yes, they are messy to work with and all kinds of fun when you add static to the mix...the particles either stuck to everything or went flying off in all directions. :zombie:

Here is some progress with the paperclay I made last night. It is not going to be an actual skull per se, but I still need to shave down the brow ridges, mess with the cheeks and add some mass to the top of the head, but the first one-which I'll consider a test-is coming along.

 
#11 ·
Thanks for the comments everyone. This one is certainly another learning experience for me, so I hope I can pass some of it along as I go.

Roxy and Super, the paperclay stuck to the foam pretty well as long as you slightly wet the clay before applying. The only troubles I had were tiny pieces of the foam kept coming loose and getting stuck in the surface of the clay which made smoothing it difficult. That and the clay is just extremely heavy. Another thing is cost. I've already gone through almost two packs of the paperclay on just what you see here and I'll still need to cover everthing in mache, so I think celluclay will be the way to go on the other two heads, that or I might just try building the entire head from paper mâché without the foam foundation...I think it might be easier and more efficient to get the proper shape for the head starting with something that is not a round ball? I'll have to decide as I go along. :jol:
 
#13 ·
Hey Sawtooth, check this homemade clay tutorial out! http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?p=565191#post565191 it might be cheaper for ya!
That could just do the trick. Thanks for sharing the link! :)

Did a little sanding, cut the bottom off the foam ball and it's starting to look like something. Found the perfect sized cardboard tube at work for the neck, and it's sized enough to allow a piece for all three heads...yay. The plan is to start the mache, and add the neck and teeth to this one by the end of the weekend.

TODAY I LEARNED: Dry paperclay sands extremely smooth...and I mean featureless if you wanted to take it that far. Sculpting it takes some very sharp tools though, while oddly enough I could dent it with my fingernail??? Go figure.

 
#16 ·
Refined the details just a bit more and added the first layer of mache today. Next up is adding more wrinkles/folds to the face to make it a bit less skeletal-looking and add mass to the neck. Need to mache the teeth and attach them as well, although I'm starting to question their length as maybe this thing wants a lower jaw of some kind?

 
#17 ·
The face in the sketch looks fine without a lower jaw. Biologically, of course, it doesn't make sense to have only an upper jaw, but complying with the laws of nature isn't required when making something wonderfully eerie.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Agreed.

Below is a bit more progress on the teeth. I'll give them another coat or two of mache before I make a decision on re-doing them or not, as they are a bit rough looking at the moment.

EDIT: I'm thinking I may try Fimo for the teeth now, but I'm afraid of them snapping in half.

 
#23 ·
Thanks guys! :)

Finally a proper update, with teeth securely attached-they will not be brown, or at least that brown when finished! Next I need to start the body or continue to detail out the face. Overall it's kinda close to the initial sketch, so I'm happy so far. Now off to the hardware store for some PVC...

 
#24 ·
Going with the old roller-ball eye method I think, the ping pong balls where just too large. Just trying to decide whether or not to light them from inside or age them with paint. If I did light them, they'd be red or orange, but I did a quick test with a blue LED I had laying around just to see how it well they glow...pretty well.

 
#25 · (Edited)
To quote Charlie Brown: "Auuugghh, I've killed it. Oh! Everything I touch gets ruined."

I've turned my eerie skull-thingy into a sad corpse with fangs...I'm hoping I can fix it once I add the body.



EDIT: did a quick color in Photoshop and I think it can be saved in paint...we'll have to wait and see.

 
#26 ·
I'm sorry to hear you aren't happy with the results. Getting what's in your head or in a sketch translated into a physical object is always a challenge.

Having said that, this face has a very appealing, almost childlike look to it. It wasn't what you were going for, but it's actually charmingly wistful and endearing.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Thanks for saying so, but all I see is a sad walrus! I tried to scrape the new layer of mache off, but it just dried too fast today. Mostly it's the way I made the brow ridge-too open and rounded at the top-it made it difficult to lid the eyes in a menacing way.

EDIT: I just took the eyes out...good decision, enthusiasm for this year's props renewed! I think can bring the look back to where it needs to be with another layer of mache tomorrow, plus I'll be able to sleep tonight!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top