Challenge! Pirates! Arrrrrrrrrg!

[Garyo]

Avast Ye fellow skulllptoooorz! Fer the next challenge we be makin' Pirates. We'll leave the time frame at one month. You can do a traditional pirate from the Spanish Main or something inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series or a pirate of the Space lanes or a cartoon pirate like the flicker link http://www.flickr.com/groups/700pirates/pool/. Just as long as the figure is recognizable as a pirate.


Once again WIP shots are encouraged. At least one, but I recommend once a week. Additionally the main reference shot should be posted as well. This way we can give each other solid criticism and improve our final results. If you work from a reference that is not your own be sure to credit the original ;)

I'll make up a new poll in mid July.

Now get to work or I'll make ye walk the plank!

Garyo:pirate:

[KonstantinZ]

I'm in. Will try to use a mix of water clay and paper for this one to get a bit more strenght to the figure. Can we use Monkey Island Pirates as inspiration?:D Le Chuck rules! hehe

K

[EBristow]

I, I'm in/ I am going to challange meself in to this. I really need something to get my booty in gear... (sorry, i had to) anyways, I'm off to sketch ideas. after looking at the flickr drawings, i had an idea or two off of them.. ok here I go..

[Garyo]

Sure The Monkey Island Characters would make for great inspiration too. And welcome aboard EBristow!

[Borax]

I am in as well ! now i just need to figure out what I want to make :)

[Garyo]

Perhaps you could incorporate your spider idea somehow?

"Arr we call em' eight legs McCullah! Es' a master at the riggin'."

Garyo

[EBristow]

ok this is an omen to do this scupt, I get to work and there is a huge Priates theam going on, a "Captin Jack", and Pirates of the Carrabean playing for the donnors (I work at a blood bank) HAHA ok off to work now. i just had to share that with ya

[Borax]

Well I got started on mine. I went ahead and took your idea garyo (sort of) I tried to come up with something I liked with more of a spider feel to it but could not draw up with anything I was happy with so I chickened out and just did 4 arms. I am also going to be trying to make clothing for the first time so this will very, very challenging for me.

I have already made some mistakes, i.e he has no neck to speak of ! :) I was my intention to make him all musceley and massive at the neck but I went a little over the top so that will have to be adressed.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-wire.jpg

I then made a skeleton to strengthen it up, so I did not have to use too much braceing. one of his arms is also a little short, but that will be fixed later on.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-core.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-core2.jpg

Starting to add some bulk....

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-bulking.jpg

I dont have to worry about the back anatomy, as he will be wearing a jacket, so that will save me some work there.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-bulking2.jpg

More bulking with some musclesand pantaloons ! :madchef: And yes I know he has a very long Torso area, that was intentional as he has 4 arms so wanted him to have some more flexability with them, instead of being a mass of arms and muscle that cant even touch his toes. ha ha
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-bulking3.jpg


Well thats is so far. Please tear into my sculpt and tell me anything that needs to be fixed so far. Hope to see some other wip's soon I know you guys can do it. and I hope we have more willing people this round !!

[KonstantinZ]

Looks very interesting Borax. The only thing I can see that should be fixed right away is the neck. I think it has to be a bit more pronounced. Other than that it's a good start. And the pants are already very well done, so I'm confident that you'll be able to pull it off.

I have the clay ready and I have the sketch all prepared for the work. Of course I forgot the sketch at work, hehe. that's not a problem though. I am going to start working on it tonight and will have the first rough-in posted tomorrow. It's going to be about 4 inches when fired, so I am going for 6 in wet clay with 20% shrinkage. Details are going to be a pain to do, but I need to do a few studies in that for the fall classes if I want to be able to do what I am planning to accomplish there. :D



cheers

[KonstantinZ]

This weekend I spent with my family so I didn't have much time to actually do any sculpting, but I did what I planned to do. A small study in the clay I'll be using for the actual pirate. This is the main idea, though he will probably be much less sad and nude. But I needed to try the sitting pose and see if I can go for this kind of size in the clay I have prepared for it. It's a mix of stoneware Cone 10 claybody mostly used for wheelthrowing with toilet paper fibers mixed in to serve as grog and support.

So I went ahead and tried to do this one just by carving from a test slab I had. It worked ok, though I need to find some better tools to finish it or better yet try carving it in bisque. It's going to be mostly an experimental thing for me all around so I doubt that I'll be much of a challange. But hey it might work out well in the end.

Any tips on carving bisque fired clay are very welcome, since I haven't seen any books on that.

K

[Garyo]

Sweet beginings so far guys, I need to get in gear and catch up. Maybe tonight, as I spent most of the weekend making more rockets and another monkey. I'll have to sit down with the sketchpad and then get busy ;)

[Borax]

Well here is an updated wip, still lots to do. he need to have his torso widened out for one but I have been mainly working on the upper body anatomy, I love working on this one and cant wait to start putting the details and clothing on him !! Although I hate to cover up all the work that I am putting into his arms.

And yes I kinda gave him a little more neck but not much, and that was intentional as I feel as though with the four arms his muscles would be crammed up on his upper body.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-shapeing4.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-shapeing5.jpg

[Garyo]

Nice wip Borax. I like the definition of your torso and arms. The legs look a little odd to me though. The shins look short compared to the thighs. Might be some parallax from the camera distorting them? Oh and I'd buy the head and short neck if you went a spider or insect direction with it. With my larger scale stuff I like to make the head removable till nearing the end of the sculpt. That gives you a bit of flexibility in last minute adjustments to the head and neck. What ever direction you take I like it so far :)

Oh and I whipped up a sketch of the thoughts I've been having for my figure. Hope to start on her this weekend.

[KonstantinZ]

Ohh, a sexy pirate eh:)

Looking forward to seeing her in clay!

Borax, I see what you mean. Any more progress so far?


I'm playing with my second sketch and so far it's turning into a bit more cheerful pirate than the first sketch, heh.

K

[Borax]

:zzz:
Still working away on this fella.... some more WIP shots....

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-detailing.jpg http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-detailing2.jpg

A little closer, with his new belt... Face shot...

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-detailing3.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate-detailing4.jpg

And just for the hell of it, here is the original sketch, which I have strayed from quite a bit in the head area.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/piratesketch.jpg

[KonstantinZ]

Borax, nice progress. I like the belt, it pulls the bottom part togather nicely.
Cool sketch too. Are you going to add an eye patch?

Here are some more of my wip studies. I am still not sure if I'll stick with this drinker, but I probably will. The name Is Oberon and he is the midget king of Grog:D He is going to be sitting on the cork in the barrel of grog.

Going to let this stiffen a bit more and will use it as a clay armature for the rest of the sculpt. Sort of like Roden used to sculpt. The little guy is just a part of it though. I still need to do the barrel. But I'll be able to do it when I am throwing cylinders in my Ceramics class this fall.

Oh well, enough with the rumbling.

Konstantin

[Borax]

great work so far on your piece KonstantinZ ! I think its going to turn out great in the end, I like the idea you have for yours.

I have bounced around the idea for an eye patch but have not decided on it yet, he still may yet have a hat or bandana or just hair or something. Still working how i like all that tied together. He will for sure have multiple peircings, some scars, and arm and a little chest hair.

right now that main time consuming parts are building his weapons and coat ! Time will tell how well they are going to turn out. :)

keep up the great work

[Oblio]

good to see this picking up - if you need any help drop me a PM
thx. guys
garyo - :hatsoff: thank you!

[Garyo]

Hey Welcome back Oblio! Glad to keep your seat warm while you took care of bidness.

KonstantinZ planing on firing? I like the second attempt much better. The torso vs. legs are bothering me though....

Borax, I'm digging the spider eyes for the head. I feel the belt is a bit bulky on him however.

EBristow AWOL? Prod, prod, poke... Do ye know thats a plank ye be walkin' ;) Show us something good or bad just as long as you show.

Keep up the good work, looking forward to more.

Here's a wip of my pirate grrrl. Had to make the little cannon for inspiration. I'm doing mine as a 30mm gaming size figure. I think she is coming along nicely. Need to work on her hands and clothes next...

Garyo:pirate:

[KonstantinZ]

Great start Gary! This is very impressive especially for a 30mm piece. Are you using wax for it?

I'll fire mine if and when I am happy with it, but yes I am planning to. I hope to be able to get it into good shape by the end of this week and fire it next week with iron oxide stain finish.

Ahoy matey!
Arrr....

K

[OMB]

Hay guys i've started this one late, and hoping that i'll meet deadline. i'll have it finished by end of the week.
As you may be able to work out my concept of the subject is a pirate crocodile. i've included the orginal idea sketch and one progress photo, but i'm having a nightmare with cameras.
Thanks for any feed back.

Ollie

[OMB]

Me again!
Just posting another pic of progress. Had to glue head back on and slight cracking on top of legs, due to poor prep of armature, i get too excited to get the clay moving!
Really appreciate if deadline could be held off till end of week.
1 Have arms to finish off, one holding walking stick like in sketch, and one holding treasure map. No time to do sword.
2 Find a base to put it on
3 Do tail which curls round in front and maybe put one of those birds that sits on crocs and feeds/pecks . Or did i imagine those birds? Or was it elephants that has a pest control bird that sits on them?

Anyway speak soon Ollie

[KonstantinZ]

OBM, love the croc, especially the picture with glowing eyes:D

There is a bird that cleans crocodile teeth I think, not sure about tails;)

I'd apreciate an extantion until Sunday night too, since I won't have a camera until then.

Gary? Please?:D
:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

[Garyo]

OMB, lovin' the Croc' goodness! I hope you can get the camera fixed so we can get a really good look at him. Great to have you aboard.

KonstantinZ, I was looking to starting the wrap up on the 22nd. So we have a little better than a week to go...

I've worked a bit on mine and plan on doing some more this weekend and doing a posting of the results.

Everyone keep up the good work :)

Garyo

[Cat]

Ah nuts, it's ending this weekend?
Wish i'd seen this earlier!!!

[KonstantinZ]

Cat, you have two weeks! I'm sure you can make it on time so jump in:D

Gary, thanks for clearing this up!:)
Maybe I'll be able to fire my pirate too.

K

[Cat]

ARRR!!!! I will try! I have some prothetics and props to finish by next week but i'm gonna try!!
Pirates are hot stuff :pirate:

[KonstantinZ]

Got my camera back and here are some quick shots of the wip.


Arrr, Grog

K

[Garyo]

KonstantinZ that is one drunken looking pirate! I like him. I think I getting really close with mine. Tell me what you guys think...

Garyo :pirate:

[Borax]

That is awesome garyo!! so much detail in something so small. great work! You as well KonstantinZ your progress is comeing along nicely.

OMB so glad to have another join in on the fun with a pretty cool concept. reminds me of cpt. Hook in peter pan because of the crocodile.

[KonstantinZ]

Gary, it's awe inspiring. I love the top part and the boots. The only place I hope you work a bit more on is the skirt. It just looks a bit too heavy I thinnk compared to the rest. Other than the skirt it's great:).

Borax, thank you:D

Ahoy!

K

[OMB]

Garyo you must have one hell of a steady hand to work on such a small sculpt.
Konstant i like the pose he looks proper smashed!
Hopefully finishing off tonight and have finished photos tomorrow.

Ollie

[WanderingProphet]

Hey Garyo, thanks for telling me about the challenge, I did this with no idea, so thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

She's 10 inches, super sculpey

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0012-5.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0011-3.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0010-3.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0009-4.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0008-3.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/boondog221/DSCF0006-6.jpg

[OMB]

I think we have a winner! Fantastic work prophet.

Ollie

[KonstantinZ]

Great entry Prophet! Great to have you here and a helpful kick in the butt that you performed with this great sculpt is apreciated:D Love the folds and clothing. What's her legend?

Thank you again.

Cheers

[Garyo]

Prophet, glad to see you come on board and hope you get to more fully participate in the next challenge. You show great promise.

The rest of the gang you have till Sunday to wrap up and post your finals, I'm looking forward to seeing them all.

As for me, I'm finished early, which shocks the hell out of me. :jawdrop: I did work on the skirt a bit more. The thickness you see is mostly for strength if I go ahead and cast her up. I also made it a bit thick at the top on the cannon ball leg because I had somehow gotten a bit off in the leg proportions. The shin was too short and I made it longer, it's still a bit off, but not as bad as it was before.

So remember Sunday I'm making the Poll so get to work ;)


Garyo

[OMB]

Well these are my final pics was going to include a little plover bird( the ones that clean crocs teeth, so i found out!) on his shoulder but ran out of time.
I know that he needs a tidy up , but learned a few things with sculpt ( only second ever).
Everyones enteries look so good abit embarrassed about mine.
Had great fun with this one look forward to the next.

Ollie

[Garyo]

I love him OMB, I hope you continue and add his fine feathered friend. Most importantly don't feel embarrassed. All the elements are there and its clear what he is, both animal and pirate bits. The biggest thing you could refine him would be to smooth him and he would stand above lots of stuff I've seen posted in the sculpting forum. Everybody has to start somewhere and that's what I'd like to think these challenges are all about. Growth and improvement are first and the voting is second in the end result here. That's why we post work in progress shots and hopefully give each other constructive criticism.

Garyo

[KonstantinZ]

Gary, great job on it. I'd love to learn to sculpt so small someday. I'm practicing in steading my hand hehe. The piece is well designed and positioned. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it once it's cast in wax.

Ollie, you shouldn't be ahamed. This is a great piece! It has a pirate spirit and enough in detail to make it an outstanding piece. I remember Gary posting one of his pieces in the forum thread to show that art can be done from basic media. It also showed that art can be done with different degree of finish. I'm sure that your next piece is going to kick ass!:yayca:
I'd recomend changing the stick into a musket though. It would work well with his posture.

K

[WanderingProphet]

hey Konstantin, I have problems with steadying too, it's not really something you get rid of, you just control. Do what I do, it's called a Murtaugh Draw. Ball up your fist as tight as you can, put all your frustrations in the front of your mind, crack your neck, and throw the stress away, snap your fist open, and allow your stress to follow. And your homefree, at least for a few minutes. I do this before I do any detailing work. It sounds like psycho babble kinda stuff, but it works. You just gotta believe that your throwing your stress away, not just flexing your hand

[Borax]

everyones pirates so far look great !! love the croc pirate OMG ! and garyo as always amazing detail in something so small very cool.
And wondering prophet.... I hate you !! :} you and your seriously awesome eye popping sculpt :xpld: The detailed clothing is quite bitchin !

Still working on mine but will be done sunday for sure, looking forward to getting my ass kicked in the poll !!

I will post a wip latertonight for you guys :)

[KonstantinZ]

Thank you WP! I'll try it and see if I can get it to work. It is all in the head anyway so I'm sure there is a way to trick the brain into doing what I want, hehe.

Couldn't fire mine yet since it just wouldn't dry fast enough. So I'll have to fire it next weekend when I get back home from my vacation. Couldn't find time to finish mine, and it just doesn't look good enough to me atm. So I am withdrawing it from the challange not to clutter the vote. We have enough great entries and I'm sure it's better to consolidate the vote.

things I've learned in this challage:
1) Too much paper in paper clay results in lackluster medium. I'll make the mix different for the next challange. I did like the ease of repair and "safe" drying compared to regular clay.

2) I must learn anatomy of human arms. The arms on the pirate look horrible because I have no idea how the arms work. Hopefully I can do better in the next challange.

3) Radiation of folds on fabric from and into points of stress(knees,pubic area, etc) That was really cool to just study the way folds work. Hopefully I can use it for the next challange.


Thanks for this opportunity to sculpt and all the inspiration.
Good Luck in the Vote!

Cheers.

[Borax]

Late as usual, but i finally finished Mr. fourarms. Well finished as much as I can to be presentable for the poll. I still want to add the weapon in his other hand and I am going to build him a hat as I do not like what I have done with his head. Just not very creative, and just to clerify, those tubes coming out of his head are tentacle type appendages not hair.

There are a lot of things I do not like about this fella, but for my second sculpture I think It may just pass for 'ok' . Hope you all enjoy. And please beat him up and scrutinize him so that I learn.

I Need Better Lighting ! sorry.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish1.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish2.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish3.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish4.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish5.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish6.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish7.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb9/jnhogan02/Sculpted%20art/Pirate_Finish8.jpg

[Garyo]

Excellent, it looks like everyone is in now! I'll set up the poll tonight :)

As for Crits Borax... I love the character of his face and the dreads. A hat or bandana still might be fun. The anatomy for his arms is fantastic, but I feel a bit let down by his torso and especially the legs. Compared to his arms the pecks and abdominals come off a little too exaggerated on the actionfigurey side, but do fit in with the muscular nature of the figure. The legs and this one is not just for you but KonstantinZ and OMB too, even if you plan on putting baggy clothes over a part of a body, its well worth the extra time spent on doing the underlying anatomy first to provide a great structure to hang the clothing or anything else on ;) Looking at the earlier WIPs of all three figures there is no structure, it's just straight to the surface. If I've learned one thing the hard way in sculpting the figure is all about structure! Even the teacher I had that was all about abstract sculpture pounded that. Well I hope you don't feel too beat up at this point, because as you said this is your second sculpt and you do really have some great character put into him that makes me want to know more about him. I can really see him in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episode for some reason.

KonstantinZ, your turn... Sorry you ran out of time, I can tell you have beat yourself up a bit already. I'm going to say one thing that I've already mentioned in Borax's critique don't rush to the surface. From what we did in the Skull challenge I know you do structure ;) And sturcture is our friend in sculpting. For clothing folds, I'd recomend the Burne Hogarth book Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery. All the books he's done art (pun intended) great and the Dynamic Anatomy book is worth having too. I think the pose is great for a drunken pirate, and if you come back from vacation and put the work into his anatomy you'll nail him.

I hope everyone has really enjoyed this challenge like I have. I feel we've some really impressive figures and growth in skills as well. Start thinking about what you want to try our hands at next. I'll see if Oblio want's to pick the reins back up ;)

Garyo

[Cat]

I'm not gonna be able to make it guys... too bad i love pirates!
Just too much to do :S

Fun entries so far though! :teeth:

[KonstantinZ]

Thank you for the critique and the tips Gary! I am going to do a lot of plain anatomy studies this year just to get to the next level, because without the ability to see those muscles and planes I'm just wasting my time.
I'll look into getting these books ones I am back home. :D

Borax, he reminds me of the vampires from the second Matrix movie.
Really cool design and execution. The only critique I will give is the nose.
Try to define the planes a bit more. There are more planes in a male nose than what you have, and I think it's distracting from the otherwise very good face.

Cat, sorry to hear this, but I hope you can enter in the next one and kick some butt:D The more talanted artists there are in the challange the more inspiration for everyone:D

K

[Garyo]

Ok polls are up, great work again guys and sorry you couldn't play Cat.