Sculpture Moulds

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #7 Part 2 -Clay Model

I'm back again with my latest updated images of my newest sculpture.

I wanted to give a 360 degree view of this clay model.
The initial construction has been quick so far . I find the beginning the most exciting part of the execution because as the piece advances you begin to see the emergence of a new persona.
Anyway, I hope to finish the roughing out of the all the masses soon,perhaps in a couple of weeks.
Later this week,I will return with more photos of this model's progression plus other studio news as well.

Friday, 17 August 2012

Introduction of Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #7 Part 1

Welcome to the the introduction of Hyper Realistic Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture#7. For those who are not familiar, this is a series of eight reconstructed sculpted busts using eight different skulls,four male and four female. After each clay model is completed,they are then moulded and afterwards cast in silicone. The entire series will be eventually part of a planned art installation.

In the meantime,today's post is the first for this project.
The individual shown appears to be an adult male. I'm not sure of his age. He's not likely to be young. The most impressive aspect of this particular skull is the extensive tooth loss especially the front teeth plus a noticeable reduction in his maxilla and mandible as well. .

The first order of business is to carefully reconstruct the missing teeth and lost bone. This will aid in establishing the anatomical structure of the mouth. After the teeth are restored, I'll begin the process of mapping out all the important anatomical landmarks on the facial mask. Following that procedure, the clay build up will be under way.

In my next post, I'll be showing the early build up of this sculpture with the facial features being established.
I'll report back soon on this sculpture and other studio news.
Have a great weekend. Cheers.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Positive Destruction and Renewal - Sequel

I'm back again after another extended break with a new post. This time it's a sequel to the one I did back in November 2011.
The title to this post is a bit contradictory. It really means the job is long done and it's time to pull down the old model and use the armature for next work in this series.
I thought the pictures showing the destruction of this model informative because it illustrates the rather thin layers of clay that cover the bone itself and of course this implies that the skull has more of an influence on the surface features than most would expect. Some of the images are a tad gruesome but as the title suggests this will lead to the creation a new sculpture.

The image immediately above is Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #4 OM (Old Man) and his skull.

My next post later this week will be an introduction to Hyper Realistic Sculpture#7.
Have great week.

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #6 "Little One" Final

Hello again, I've been taking some time off here and there over the past few weeks,so that is the main reason I haven't been posting as often. But during this time off, I have been working on #6 Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture and moved this project forward to finally putting the finishing touches on this model.

Today, I just wanted to show the final pictures of this clay model. I decided to present a couple of close ups of the face with lots of contrast added to the images because it's difficult to see the surface detail without it. Although it may give the viewer the impression that I have overdone the texture on the skin, it's actually understated. Children, do have texture on their skin, it's just more subtle than an adult. So why bother? I guess the best way to answer is to say that if the skin is absolutely smooth and then cast in silicone, it tends to look odd ,doll like and very artificial.
But on the other hand, I have to be careful and not get carried away otherwise it will not be believable. The whole process of making this sculpture has been a constant evaluation of the skin and testing it under different lighting conditions before declaring it satisfactory.

Moving on, I'll back soon with the introduction of a new sculpture,Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #7.
Until next time,take care. Cheers.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Skin Texture and Adjustments of Hyper Realistic Figure Sculpture Part3

Hi, I'm back with the second part of my post. This time it's the torso. The images illustrate the base textures that have been applied to the surface. It's a back and forth process that has constant checks on both the texture and the surface forms underneath. I'm hoping to get the basics done on the torso sometime this week.
In the meantime, I've gone back to working on #6 LO,remember her? I'm very close to finishing this model and hope to unveil her soon.
I will be returning this week with some new updates to publish,so until then ,have a great week!

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Skin Texture and Adjustments of Hyper Realistic Figure Sculpture Part 2

Image copyright Art Di Lella 2012

Hello, I'm back again with a two part post.
Over the past week,I've been working on this sculpture's skin texture and making further changes or adjustments to the modeling. So, I thought it was time to show new images of the progress thus far.

Today's entry focuses on the head. In earlier postings,I talked about the need to find the right skin texture for this sculpted figure. I've been spending time experimenting with different approaches,sometimes making the skin fairly smooth much like a modern adolescent or applying the texture more vigorously like an older adult human. I have deliberately avoided any texture that would look ape like because as I stated before both apes and humans have evolved so to apply ape skin textures to the surface of this sculpture would imply that apes have skin texture that has changed little from the common ancestor. That being said, it would not be reasonable in my opinion, to have modern human skin on this figure either so instead I've applied a somewhat exaggerated human texture to this figure. You will see in these photos that some areas such as the neck are not complete but has the basic texture laid down. It just requires a bit more detailing before it's finished.

Image copyright Art Di Lella 2012

I guess what really counts is believability. Does this work overall? We'll see how things play out.

Anyway, I'll be back in a few days with the second part of this post which is about the torso.

Cheers.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Inspirational Casts

Skhul 5 Epoxy Cast (Wenner Gren Foundation) Adult male cranium 90,000 BP

Over the past several years, I've been acquiring a small collection of casts mainly of prehistoric hominids. These casts are used not only for reference but also I find they help me generate some new ideas for sculpture. In a sense they are part of my art practice and I refer to them often.

Amud 1 Epoxy Cast (Wenner Gren Foundation) 40,000 BP

Reconstruction of Australopithecus Afarensis by SOMSO 3.5000,000 BP

The first shown is a early modern human from Mount Carmel in Israel,discovered back in the 1930's. The second is a Neandertal specimen from Wadi Amud near Lake Tiberius,also found in Israel in 1961. The final cast is a reconstruction of Australopithecus Afarensis. This individual is a composite of several fragments which were discovered in the1970's by Donald Johanson.

The main reason that I collected these castings is because I love the exotic shapes of the bones themselves and the potentially amazing faces that were once attached to them. They're certainly part of the inspiration for the current figure that I'm working on and I'm hoping to start another prehistoric character soon but that will have to wait until all the other projects are finished or close to it. We'll see how things go.
In the meantime, I'm working the skin texture of my Hyper Realistic Figure #1 and should have some new updates soon.
I wish all of you a great week Cheers.

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