King Kong Sculpture

I completed this original Kong bust over a year ago. But with getting my studio renovated after hurricane Sandy I haven't had an opportunity to paint Kong till recently. I also wanted to design an appropriate base for the King!

I had a lot of fun posing Kong amidst some foliage for a few B&W shots. I apologize for the low resolution shots but I've had some of my images used without my permission.

There's nothing like nibbling on a Skull Island native to chill Kong out!

In the near future I'll be posting photos of the finished bust mounted on it's new base.

Painting The Skull Island Natives Head

After washing all the mold release from the cast head I sprayed it with gray auto body primer. When it was dry I began brushing on acrylic paint that had been mixed to match (as closely as possible) the latex skin that would cover the stop motion puppet.

When I had the face painted to my satisfaction I gave it a coat of Testor's Dull Cote spray to protect the finish. Finally I put a drop of clear gloss on the eyes and a touch on the lips.

Sculpting A Head For The Stop Motion Native Puppet

When it came time for sculpting the natives head I again used plastilene clay. I decided on making two different heads so my puppets wouldn't all be identical. Once the heads were finished I made a two piece latex mold of both heads. Then a two piece mother mold of Apoxie Sculpt clay. The mother mold acts as a rigid support for the flexible rubber mold.

I sprayed the inner surface of the latex mold with mold release. Then reassembled my mother mold. I used Polytranspar Liquid Cast as my casting material. Here is a picture of the mold in my hand and one of the cast heads.

Sculpting The Skull Island Native: Kong's Victim

Once I had the wire armature for the Skull Island native finished I positioned it in Kong's mouth to test the fit.

After arriving at a pose that would work I began sculpting the figure in Apoxie Sculpt Clay. I'd work a section at a time letting it completely harden between sculpting sessions. I built the native up slowly carefully test fitting its position in Kong's mouth.

Once the figure seemed right I began painting it using acrylic paints. I sprayed the finished native with Testor's Dull Cote to give the fleshy areas a flat matte appearance. The eyes and mouth got several coats of clear gloss to give them a bit of a sheen. Next I made a necklace for the victim out of Super Sculpey clay. Then hot glued on a grass skirt. Here is a couple photos of the finished native.