Starchild Skull

- Starchild Skull -

I've just wrapped up the silicone cast for the Betty bust sculpt, and already it's time to put the Monster Clay back to work. The next job is an order from a couple who want a truly unique Christmas gift for their brother/brother-in-law. The brother is into mysterious artifacts, cryptozoological creatures, collectible figures and all that. So we started discussing options.

Maybe a skull, we decided. Something some demonic sort of figure could have left behind. I did some quick sketches with Sculptris...

But none of them looked like something to get truly excited about. There are a million demon skulls floating around the internet.


What about some kind of REAL mystery to draw from?

I did bunches of research on legendary creatures and unidentified remains from around the world, that have been attributed to everything
from Nessie to the Montauk Monster. But in the end, the obvious choice was my dear friend, the Starchild skull.

This fellow is around 900 years old, was found in the 1930s, and currently has a whole slew of professional researchers looking into his identity over at the Starchild project.

Besides the obvious strange shape of the skull. Starchild is reported to have a brain cavity 30% bigger than the average adult, bone that is stronger than a human's (while being only 1/3 as thick),  and extra large inner-ear cavities that may have enabled him to hear ultra high sounds.

Others have attempted to recreate the full skull, of course, but I'm trying to come at it a different way - creating a back story that will inform the way I approach the sculpt.Imagine that the Starchild was not human at all (as some suggest), but rather one of two expelled individuals from an undiscovered race. A roving tribe of humans came across the strange creatures, and revered them as a messengers from the gods. After the creatures' death, their bones were turned into ritualistic items, believed to have magical properties. But when a new leader rose in the tribe, he had all major identifying features smashed from the bones, so that others would never know of the "small people" who possessed more power than he. The lost pieces of one skull were saved, however, and have now come to light, to reveal the full story of the Starchildren's identity.

Something like this...

This is going to be fun.

Betty Bust

- Bust for Pre-Med Institute - 

My project for the last few days has been a small bust of Betty McDonald, namesake of the Betty McDonald Pre-Med Institute at Southern Utah University. The Institute needed to add a bit of flair to the decor of their front room, and also plans on presenting copies of the bust as congratulation gifts to students graduating the program. A nice gesture, I think.

I've got some refining to do still, but I think it's coming along nicely. I've stayed in close contact with the Institute director, to make sure the bust is shaping up the way they pictured it.

Since the institute will need many copies of the bust, and doesn't want to break the bank, we're going to go with cold cast bronze (a resin-based casting) on this one. That way, the finished product will look like real bronze statues - because they'll have real bronze in them - without ever having to send them off to a foundry.

- Shrunken Head Earrings -

I often find myself straddling a line between fine art, and fun art, but I am a details guy either way. I enjoy getting lost in a micro world - which is where these guys were born - so if they're a little kitschy, that's alright with me. They were also therapeutic.

 My affinity with shrunken heads goes way back to my first ever visit to California, and a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. Rather than spooky, the real-life shrunken head in their window looked almost peaceful to me, just chillin', with a half smile on its face. They've been my buddies ever since.

Experimenting right now with neon-colored versions. We'll see how that turns out.

Brainacle in Progress

- Brainacle (Brain barnacle) in Progress -

This guy is meant to be an electrically-operated puppet. He perches on one's head, feeding off one's thoughts and, occasionally, speaking them aloud to passerby. The finished model should have a moving mouth and eyes, controlled by an easily-concealed joystick in the user's pocket.

 

Here we see the original sketch, and the cast silicone skin, with the plastic skeleton inside. Next step is the painting of the skin and eyes (which are shown freshly cast at the brainacle's feet). Might be a little while before everything is up and moving, but I'm excited to see him in action.

Time for some Halloween fun

I love to make Halloween props and costumes. It's one of those things that got me started creating in the first place: building little spook alleys in the basement for my sister and I to go through when we were young.

Now this is a different little sister, but when she decided to go all out with an Avatar costume this year, I was able to hook her up with a custom latex nose and foam ears.

After all, how many people already have a silicone life-cast of their sister's face sitting in their garage? Might as well make good use of it.