Painting The Stegosaurus

After spraying the stegosaurus with primer I brushed on a coat of liquid latex to mask off the tail spikes.

Using an airbrush I misted a couple light coats of Polytranspar Light Bass Green over the entire sculpture.

Stegosaur Tail Spikes

After the plates were added I moved on to working on the tail spikes. The locations were marked on the tail and then drilled. The spikes were then glued in place. When all the parts of the stegosaurus had been assembled I covered the entire sculpture with a thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

While the clay was still soft I embedded various sizes of baked Super Sculpey into it to give the dinosaur hide a pebbly armored look.

After the clay had cured overnight I gave the sculpture a couple light coats of white lacquer primer.

Super Sculpey Brontosaurus

After mounting the wooden skull to my aluminum wire armature it was time to begin working on the brontosaur. I began sculpting using Super Sculpey polymer clay. The advantage of polymer clay is that it stays workable for a considerable length of time. This allowed me to send pictures to my client as work progressed.

He would advise me to any changes he would like made and I'd rework the sculpture. We went through three revisions of the brontosaur's look till we hit upon the one that pleased him.

At that point I stripped the polymer clay from the wooden skull and switched over to sculpting in Apoxie Sculpt clay. The final sculpture was built up in layers allowing each layer to cure before adding the next.

The final layer of Apoxie Sculpt was given a scaly texture. Here is the finished brontosaurus posed in front of the unpainted sailor and tree trunk.

Brontosaurus Update

After the teeth were primed white it was time to install them into the jaw. I snipped the wire near the base of each tooth and used Zap a Gap to glue them in place.

Once I had all the teeth secured I began sculpting the gums and interior of the mouth with Apoxie Sculpt clay.When the clay had cured the mouth was painted with acrylics and given a top coat of clear gloss lacquer.

After the teeth and interior of the mouth where completed I could glue the balsa wood skull halves together.

Sculpting The Brontosaurus From King Kong

Using balsa wood I carved a skull for the brontosaurus. Then it was on to drilling the locations on the jaws where the teeth would be.

The teeth were sculpted of Super Sculpey clay over a stiff piece of wire.

When I had my teeth completed I baked them at 350 degrees to harden them.

The teeth were then taken outside and sprayed with white primer.

Painting The Tree

When I was finished sculpting the tree and sailor they were sprayed with grey auto primer. The tree was then base coated with light tan acrylic paint.

Next I dry brushed some brown over the whole tree trunk.

After dry brushing the trunk it was sprayed with Krylon clear matt and then given a wash of dark acrylic paint to hi lite the texture of the bark.

Sculpting The Brontosaurus From King Kong

I recently got an interesting commission. I was asked to create the brontosaurus from the 1933 version of King Kong. My client wanted a likeness of the nasty sauropod as it menaced a sailor from the rescue party that had climbed a tree to escape.

I began by cutting a block of wood which would be the base of the tree.I affixed a nut into the wood so the finished tree could be securely bolted to a display base.

Next I screwed a couple of pieces of metal strip to the block which I covered with some Apoxie Sculpt clay. I gently pressed a wooden dowel into the top of the clay to make an impression. When it had cured I attached the dowel which would be the spine of my tree.

After gluing the dowel in place I checked the tree size next to the aluminum wire and Styrofoam armature of the brontosaur.

The Completed Styracosaurus Sculpture

Working on the Styracosaurus was enjoyable. It was an interesting challenge to sculpt something that had to have movable parts for stop motion animation. Eric Kessler has since completed filming the sequence where the raptors are feeding on the dead Styracosaur.

He was kind enough to give me a sneak preview and the scene came out great! It isn't often I get to see one of my creations come to life in a film. What made it even more exciting for a Kong fan like me was it is featured in a stop motion King Kong film.

If you haven't seen any of Kessler's animation of Kong and the other inhabitants of Skull Island you should check out his work on Youtube. Here is a link to one of my favorite clips:YouTube - Kong vs. Pack of Raptors

Painting the Styracosaurus Sculpture

Making a base to display the Styracosaur.Using Apoxie Sculpt clay I textured the edge of a wood base to look rock like.

Next I mixed ground cover with a 50/50 mixture of water and Elmer's Glue to coat the base. While it was still moist I worked some moss here and there to add some color.

When it came to painting the Styracosaur I used paints from WASCO -- Wildlife Artist Supply Company and my Iwata HP-BC airbrush. Once I had the general coloration and markings laid out I clear coated my work with Testor's Dull Cote to protect it.

When that dried I used pastel chalks on the horns and also sprayed them with Dull Cote. The next day I mixed up some thinned down acrylic paints with blending medium to make a dark brown wash. I brushed this over the entire dinosaur and wiped off the wash to accent the scale work and tie all my colors together.

Sculpting the Styracosaurs Body

Once I had the head and legs added to the armature I began to sculpt the dinosaurs body in Aves Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Since the neck and jaw were going to be manipulated for stop motion animation I installed a stop nut in the side of the body. This would enable the Styracosaur to be tightened down onto the set and prevent unwanted jiggling during animation.

When I had finished the sculpting I gave the dinosaur several light coats of grey automobile primer. I then built up the sections of jaw and neck which would be animated with foam rubber.

A Tongue for the Styracosaurus

In his film Kessler wanted the downed Styracosaur to have its tongue ripped out by attacking raptors. This would require a flexible tongue, jaw and neck area.

I began by sculpting the tongue out of Super Sculpey polymer clay. Next I made a two piece Plaster of Paris mold of the tongue. Several days later when the plaster had dried I was ready to cast the flexible tongue.

I chose latex from the Monster Makers . They carry a high quality latex used for mask making. I mixed a small amount of latex with acrylic paint till I had a suitable fleshy tone. I brushed two light coats of this latex/paint mixture inside my mold. When it dried I clamped my mold halves together and carefully inserted a braided section of aluminum wire down the center. I then filled the rest of the mold with pure untinted latex. When the latex dried a few days later I had my flexible tongue.

The Styracosaur Gets Some Legs

Using Apoxie Sculpt clay I began building up the front and rear legs of the dinosaur. The claws were made of Super Sculpey polymer clay which had been baked before they were added to the toes.

The look of the Styracosaurs scaly skin was achieved by pouncing a piece of textured latex over the clay while it was still soft.

Styracosaurus Sculpture

Using Super Sculpey polymer clay I roughed out the general size of the Styracosaur. The stop motion raptors that appear in Eric Kessler's King Kong prequel are going to be feeding on the thigh area.

Once Kessler gave the green light on the pose I stripped the armature of the Super Sculpey and prepared to begin the sculpture in Aves Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Styracosaurus Sculpture

Once I had the pelvis of the Styracosaur completed I began work on the rear legs. A small piece of brass rod was inserted in the Apoxie Sculpt clay before it cured. This would enable me to place the rod from the thigh in the hollow tube in the pelvis.

Kessler said he may have a scene in his Kong film where one of the attacking raptors perches on the body of the Styracosaurus. The feet of the raptor puppet would need to be anchored securely to the dead dinosaurs body. I reinforced the shoulder area of the Styrac armature with a block of wood to allow for this.

Sculpting an Apoxie Clay Styracosaurus For a King Kong Film

After completing several stop motion native puppets for his King Kong prequel Eric Kessler asked me if I would be able to sculpt him a plant eating dinosaur that could be made to have a movable neck and jaw. In his film the plant eater was to be the victim of an attack by Raptors.

It sounded like an interesting project and being a rabid fan of the original 1933 version of King Kong I jumped at the chance! While discussing the size and type of dinosaur that the Raptors would be preying on we decided to go with a Styracosaurus. Its nasal horn and head ornamentation would make it an interesting subject.

Kessler provided me with photographs and measurements of his stop motion Raptor puppets so I could design the Styracosaur to be on a similar scale. The first step was locating good reference material. I based most of my Styrac measurements on the skeletal drawings of Gregory Paul :The Official Website of Gregory S. Paul - Paleoartist, Author and Scientist

Next I began to make an armature for the sculpture. Using aluminum wire I roughed out the backbone and pelvis of the dinosaur. I drilled a hole where the hip joint would meet the thighs and glued a brass tube in place. Here is a picture of the start of the armature.