Monday, February 27, 2012

Pachyderm's Progress




I love to sculpt and I never sculpt.
Every time I've taken the opportunity to explore a character in clay (or sculpy as the case may be) I've found it incredibly satisfying. For me, it is such a perfect extension of drawing and in some ways a fuller experience. Drawing a figure in a pose is one thing, but it is often a cheat. It's only when committing that drawing to 3D that you see how much you faked for the sake of that one angle. That's the challenge and the pleasure of it though. In clay, you have a chance to spin your drawing around, to add and subtract. And not just lines, but real volume. Real weight. 
As with almost everything I do, this piece is an assignment. Left to my own devices, I would probably noodle this to death or only get it half done. But fortunately my pal, Michael DeFeo, formerly head of the sculpting department at Blue Sky and now a formidable gun for hire, is also something of an entrepreneur. He's come up with a scheme to sell a line of small sculptures by prominent illustrators and character designers as limited editions. This may be one of them if we like the final result. The line is called Designer Rock Stars (his title, not mine) and is in it's still in it's early stages. By the way, check out the video about his L'Ecorche app. It looks like it will be an astonishingly good tool for understanding human anatomy in a really complete way. You can find it here.

So anyway, I am putting my little maquette out here not only to prove that I am still alive, but to force me to finish the thing.

Wish me luck.

(Point taken, MacDougall!)



32 comments:

  1. This piece is really amazing & really really inspiring. I hope you finish it soon, good luck! :)

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  2. You're back! Yay!
    The big guy in the photo looks great. Is the clay wrapped around a wire mesh form? How big is it?

    And...I spy with my little eye...an Emmy just above his head. ;)

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  3. It's still looking fresh and 'un-noodled'. I'm intrigued to see how it's going to balance on that little guy's head without special engineering, or magic. The very best of luck.

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  4. This is amazing!! it is so inspiring that I feel like starting to sculpt something :O) cant wait to see it finished

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  5. Looks really good Peter - wouldn't mind seeing it from a couple of other angles, it is a sculpture after all.

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  6. probably unintentional... but I like the emmy placement!

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  7. Great work here! I got out my sculpting tools recently too. I think the start is always the best part. The details are what frustrate me.

    Good eye Teresa! I think I see a Nico Marlet dragon on the wall?

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  8. It's fascinating to see your drawing line translated to 3d. I hope he's left a little rough.

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  9. Looks fantastic, Peter!
    I can't wait to see the finished piece and I can't wait to see some of the others. Someone mentioned Marlet. I'd pay for a sculpture based on his art too!

    Does Chris Sickels get to do one? Or is that just too easy?

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  10. Inspiring. I'm off to break out the old clay, myself. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. ¡Fantástica! Peter. Cualquiera de tus dibujos llevado a 3D sería una auténtica maravilla. Buen trabajo y un saludo.

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  12. Nice done !!

    Ps: in your link i saw that "Bobby Chui" ... plz tell them to change to Bobby Chiu

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    Replies
    1. And u use sculpting like Daumier.. ^^ like "portrait charge"

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  13. Have you seen the new(ish) Miquel Barceló sculpture next to Union Square? I thought that it was your texture that was making me think of it...on second thought it might just be that they're both large balancing elephants...

    In any case - I've always loved this illustration, and it's looking great in clay!

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  14. I love that elephant! Solid, worried...Brilliant piece of work

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  15. you're a madman. in a good way! :P

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  16. Love this Peter, I sculpted so much about 10 years ago and have not gotten back to it since. Maybe this will inspire me. You re right in saying that drawing is a cheat and that only once you transfer it to a 3D
    platform does it really test the illustration/character.
    Hope youre well.

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  17. Fabulous Peter! He's a brilliant character. Please post some updates.... nudge nudge. ;-)

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  18. That's same thing for me, I'm forced to take engagements to sculpt, other way I won't do it.

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