Homework - Emelie Bäcklin

Yukako Shimada

Hi Emelie,
Post your homework on this page!

Emelie Bäcklin

Alright so I made this sketch to start out with after a few tries on the design.





Then using Aluminium wire I made the armature, as mine is four-legged I decided I'd make them disc joints, and the head a ball joint.

I used galvanized wire to tie the leg parts of the armature into place.

After the armature was done I used an epoxy putty to hold it together.

Then I marked out on the armature where the feet start and so on, as well as drilling holes into the wooden board to make it fit. Gluing it into place.

Emelie Bäcklin

Then I started sculpting the base of the body along with the head, tail and legs using new plast, which is a sort of plastilline.




Sculpting in progress.

Emelie Bäcklin

More sculpting, I used more wire for the support of smaller parts as well.

The body without the head, in progress.


Trying on the head, sculpting out where the eye goes.


My final rough sculpt:



Right now I'm trying to figure out how to not make the details look chunky, and also I was thinking of having coral patterns or similar at certain places, but I am unsure on how to achieve those. My aim is to try make it fairly close to the design while also not making it too chunky, also I bent the tail so you could actually turn the legs for standing upright, to allow a bit of flexibility if you actually made it into a toy.
The head is a ball joint and the legs are disc joints. At least that's what I'm currently going for. I also want to make sure I do not have too may details, so it does not look cluttered or too messy.

Emelie Bäcklin

So I started with taking out all of the small pieces and the head! Then I cooled them all down a little as the clay started to go a bit too soft. My room temperature is quite high. And then I started by evening out all the tendrils and rounded, thin and small shapes.







Now I need to shape the end on 4 of them, as well as go over the head and body.

Emelie Bäcklin

So after doing all the small details and finishing them off I went over to the body. I added a bit more volume on the body, lining out a more proper ribcage and some muskles and thickness at the places where the disc goes. Also made the line out a bit more clear. Then I smoothed it out a bit before starting on the details.

For the details I used some wooden tools, I didn't find a coral in time, but I did some tests and figured a toothbrush kind of left the same desired texture, so I worked over the areas with a toothbrush to get a sort of spongy/coral texture. I worked over the design and changed a few things as I found I liked some of my tries at details better, but kept some as well. Overall I'm rather happy with the backdetails. I drew lines in the fins going along the tails as well with a not too sharp wooden piece.

Then I adjusted the head a little, reshaping the thicker tendrils a bit and smoothing out the head, also made the jaw a bit wider. I tried improve the eyes a bit as well, but I generally have had an issue with them as I keep overworking and the clay gets too warm and sticky as I try to fix them up. I should probably get a smaller metal tool for this in the future.

Working on the body.


Details.

Emelie Bäcklin

And here is the overview picture of my sculptures finished state. Well, there is always room for improvement. I took the pictures with all details attached in this one. When molding they are removable and easy to take in and out of the body, the armature inside the details simply go a bit further than the sculpted pieces to attach.

Collier Wilmes

SO COOL!!

Andrei Bradu

looks awesome!

Emelie Bäcklin

Thank you!