I've completed stage 3 in the developement of Abe. In this stage I test paint the prototype. I do this for a few reasons:
- The paint reveals imperfections that I can correct before making a mold
- I can determine if the likeness of the subject is close, or if I have additional work to do to get to that point
- I can add finer details with layers of paint, such as veins in the hands, wrinkles in the knuckles, seams in the clothing and creases in the shoes
I can also determine if the color scheme works for the figure. Painting also reveals problems with proportion that a divider and a ruler don't always show.
It is important to note that unlike building a scale model, successfully capturing a likeness isn't as simple as transfereing measurements from the subject to the sculpture.
The fact is, that some exageration of features is required in order to make the person seem more like themselfs. Its hard to explain, but, the human mind doesn't identify human faces by the size of specific features, but rather by how individual features impress us, or disturb us, or attract us.
During stage 3 I take several photos from different angles.
Here is a trick that a lot painters used to help see them perfect their master pieces. They would take a mirror and look at their painting in the mirror.
The mirror isn't magic, but the reversed view of the painting was new to the eye, and because it is new, the eye will pick up on more problem areas than it would looking at the normal view. The fact is, that the longer you look at an object, the more your mind makes up for things that are missing and the more bored it gets with the subject matter.
The mirror gives your mind something new to look at, and it treats this percieved new image with greater attention.
Its like waking your mind up.
Photo images do that for my mind. Wakes it up. Makes me look at the figure in a new way.
Another advantage of the photo image is the closeness you can get to the subject.
I have magnifying glasses and they can do a pretty good job of getting up close, but they tend to distort what I'm seeing a little.
As you can see from the image above, there is no distortion.
What I can see is that this figure will require an additional cast before the final piece.
The reason for this is the area around the eyes and ears.
As the photo reveals, they are kind of clumsy and not well defined. Sculpty doesn't hold small detail well, (at least not for me) and tends to crumbly when you get too small.
The first cast will allow to work the resin, which holds a lot more detail.