"Solomon"

JosephCarlson77

This is "Solomon", my first creature, and a character I invented back in first grade.  Now, I'm building a tiny cinematic universe of characters, so I had to include my classic favorite.  He's inspired by the mutated frog/salamander epidemic of the 90s, and I hope to use him as sort of a "smokey bear" of wetland protection. We filmed most of his intro video back in October, wherein actor Jack Schmidt wore most of the costume, with the intention that I edit in the head and tail in post-production.  The head and tail puppets are finished now, 6 months later, allowing me to create this example for how he's intended to look onscreen.  The head and tail are storebought rubber foam, shaped with scissors, smoothed with silicone and water, primed in plasti-dip and painted and sealed with flexi-paint brand paints and gloss sealant.  The hands and feet are costume props, alien hands bought online and repainted and mostly covered, I'll try to find the brand name, but I guess I'm really entering the head and tail more than anything.  The feet were actually vintage alien hands from the 60s, the cost me about 50 dollars but they were the only thing on the market with 5 proper toes, they've been reinforced at some tears and were sewn onto a pair of black socks that get covered by bandage to hold them onto the end of the actors foot. The contest doesn't really specify how the creature has to work or how it comes to life, or how much of the creature can be entered, or whether all parts must be built to the same scale, so I think I'm good to put this up.  Some of you have incredible entries, so I guess we'll see how I do with all the weird decisions I had to make to make this happen.  This top pic is also the first public image showing this much of Solomon so far, but I'll be updating this discussion with better pics as we release them.  We're not like a real studio in any official capacity; I'm mainly just a guy and my friends act in my stuff out of the kindness of their hearts.  I hate to call it a B-movie vibe, but this was not meant to be as serious as it's turning out, the original plan was a goofy looking monster trying to act all serious, but I got carried away.  I did most of the work on this creature while sitting on my bed, watching old cartoons.  Since filming I also repainted his hands and feet to match better, and a reshoot may be off the table, but he should look more polished in his next appearance, but as a creature outside the video, he's complete now.  Check out the trailer link beneath the pics




"Solomon" Trailer:  https://youtu.be/onUg4hZ-K7I










The mouth insert took some forward thinking; I designed the bottom as a flat and mostly non-reflective surface so I can more easily edit it morphing up into an amphibian tongue, springing out to catch a fly or something.



The tail puppet was built to a slightly smaller scale due to limited materials and will be upscaled to better proportions in post-production.







*UPDATED:  HANDS AND FEET REPAINTED, and to reiterate, I did not physically sculpt these, they are repurposed costume hands that get mostly covered by bandage.

"Solomon" Trailer:  https://youtu.be/onUg4hZ-K7I