King Kong Sculpture Finally Finished!

I'm pleased to have finally completed this sculpture! To give you an idea of the size the finished piece measures 8 1/2" W X 9" L X 10 1/4" H . I had wanted to finish this sculpture on April 15th to correspond with my shaving my head as a fund raiser for the St.Baldrick's Foundation for childhood cancer research.

Unfortunately I underestimated the time needed to finish it on schedule. But on a positive note so far I've raised $ 240.00 by shaving my head and now I plan on auctioning off this King Kong sculpture with 100% of the proceeds going to St.Baldrick's.

If you click on a picture it will open to a larger image.

I'm Just About Done

I expected to have my Kong/Pteranodon sculpture finished this weekend but the rainy weather is preventing me from getting outdoors to spray paint some of the parts with primer.

Anyway I thought I'd share a couple photos of what I've been working on to this point. Here is the flying reptile with Kong's paws sculpted directly onto its body. I wanted to convey the look of him actually clutching it which I didn't think just gluing the paws on later would accomplish.

I've completed the rocky base section and I've given the Apoxie Sculpt clay a coat of thinned down acrylic wash.

Now I'm in the process of wiping it down with a section of cloth to give it an aged look and bring out the crevices in the clay.

Update On WIP

I thought I'd share a few photos of work I've completed on my Kong/Pteranodon sculpture.

Here is the beginning of the claws for the flying reptile. I used green floral wire for the toes.

This is Kong's bottom jaw. Super Sculpey teeth and tongue set in Apoxie Sculpt clay.

This is the upper half of the jaw. Again I am using baked polymer clay teeth inserted into Apoxie clay.

To make my life easier I wanted to paint the two halves of the jaw before they were assembled.

Using acrylics I base coated the interior of the mouth with a fleshy pink color.

I then began using thinned washes of color to build up the final color for the inside of the mouth.

When I was finished I sprayed it with matt clear to protect the paint. Then I used an antique wash to bring out the detail and give the teeth an aged look.

After everything had a chance to dry I brushed a coat of clear gloss on the tongue and interior of the mouth.

I am hoping I can have this sculpture finished and painted this week.

Pteranodon: Work In Progress

Sometimes when working on a piece of artwork I hit what I call the point of no return. This is when a creative decision has to be made that can't be undone.

I reached that point this weekend with my Kong battling the Pteranodon sculpture. I couldn't continue work till I committed to how the flying reptiles wings would be posed. And more importantly how Kong would be grasping his opponent.

After planning ahead I decided that the Pteranodon has to be sculpted ( and painted ) before it can be put in Kong's grasp. At the moment I'm toying with the idea of sculpting the hands directly onto the reptiles wings and attaching them to Kong near the completion of the sculpture.

Before I got to the complicated work I thought I'd insert the reptile's eyes.

Then I procrastinated a little longer by making Kong's hands. They are a block of balsa wood and braided green floral wire.

I purposely left the wires long and glued them into holes I drilled in the wood hand.

Okay I couldn't put it off any longer. I folded the Pteranodon's wing into the pose I had decided on and used a bulldog clip to keep the screen out of the way.

I then locked it in place by beginning to model Apoxie Sculpt clay over it.

The wing is delicate being made of a single strand of aluminum wire and plastic window screen.

I learned of the technique of using screen as the armature for wings in a great book titled: Dinosaur Sculpting by Allen A. Debus and Robert Morales.

Amazon.com: Dinosaur Sculpting (9780965146302): Allen A. Debus: Books

The book is a good introduction to sculpting dinosaurs in polymer clay. I found the only slight drawback was that the pictures are in B&W. I was spoiled by the color cover of the book and wanted to see more of Mr.Morale's outstanding dinosaur sculptures in color.

I'll update as work on the Pteranodon progresses.

A Couple Of Irons In The Fire

On occasion I'll work on two or three pieces simultaneously. It may seem chaotic to other artists but it works for me.

If I'm sculpting I have to get out my tools and set up my work bench. If I'm airbrushing I have to fire up my compressor, prepare my spray booth and thin and strain my paint.

And of then of course there is the cleaning of the tools and neatening up my studio at the end of the day. For just this reason I find it more productive (and cost effective) to work on multiple artwork at once.The sculptures I have going presently are Kong vs the Pteranodon, a thresher shark and a gillman.

The gillman is about ten years old! It was the first piece I ever made using Super Sculpey.I have always been interested in Cryptozoology and the sightings of unknown, mysterious lake creatures. So it wasn't surprising that my first polymer sculpture would be a cryptid of my own design.

Recently while searching for something in my studio I came upon a box containing the gillman.I thought it would be fun to design a base for it which I did.

Here is a picture of his head. In preparation for airbrushing I've masked off his eyes and mouth and primed him with spray paint.

On his side you can see the holes I drilled that correspond with the bolts at the top of the piece of driftwood on the base. I'll post more photos as work progresses.