King Kong Pays A Visit To My Studio

When filmmaker Eric Kessler came to my studio to pick up the miniature Skull Island wall and altar I had worked on he brought along a special guest -- King Kong!

I had often admired Kessler's stop motion puppet from afar. Watching as Kess put Kong through his paces dispatching his stop motion adversaries on YouTube: YouTube - Kong vs. Spinosaurus

As good as the YouTube footage is it doesn't come close to doing this unique piece of articulated artwork justice!

Getting to examine Kong close up in my own hands was a great treat. Kess and I concluded the visit by having some fun posing Kong attacking the Skull Island gates for a few pictures.

Painting The Skull Island Altar

After finishing adding the carvings to the altar it was time to prime it for painting. I used the same grey spray primer on the altar that I used on the Skull Island wall.

When the primer was dry I began dry brushing acrylic paint on the altar to bring out the hilites.

An application of thinned down acrylics was brushed on and then wiped off with a soft cloth. It tied all the colors together and accented the cracks and crevices.

I allowed the wash to dry overnight and then sprayed the entire altar with a light coat of Krylon Matt Clear to protect the finish. I then used a 50/50 mix of water and white glue to add bits of moss to the altar.

Ornamental Carvings On The Skull Island Altar

I sculpted four of the ornamental carvings that decorate the miniature altar. From these originals I made one piece latex rubber push molds.

Using Super Sculpey polymer clay in these molds I was able to create multiples of the carvings I would need to adorn the altar.

Starting at the top of the altar I applied a veneer of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

I textured it to match the stone work I had done on the Skull Island wall.

When I was finished I carefully pressed the baked Super Sculpey carvings into the wet Apoxie Sculpt clay. When the clay had cured I moved on to the next tier of the altar.

Skull Island Altar Pillars

The Styrofoam I had added to the sides of the original altar to enlarge it was covered with a layer of mache. The mache gives the Styrofoam some strength and also acts as a sealant.

I sawed off the old pillars in preparation of replacing them with taller, thicker pillars.

After inserting a hardwood dowel in a block of Styrofoam to act as a handle I proceeded to shape the pillar with a rasp. When I got it to the approximate shape I was looking for I began covering it with water base stoneware clay.

The carving was done with miniature wire loop tools.

The Skull Island Altar

One of my favorite scenes in King Kong (1933) is Kong looming over the sacrificial altar to claim his "bride".

I recently had the opportunity to recreate this altar in miniature. The miniature was going to be used in a stop motion prequel to King Kong by animator Eric Kessler.

He supplied me with the altar he had made and asked me to make it match the miniature Skull Island wall I had worked on.

The first thing I decided to do was to enlarge the altar by adding Styrofoam to the sides.

Skull Island Wall Completed

Once I had finished painting the wall I sprayed it with two light coats of Krylon Matt clear to protect the finish. Working on the wall was definitely an interesting project but I was glad to have finally finished it!

Next up I'll be making a miniature sacrificial altar to match the wall.

Staircases Added To The Skull Island Wall

After I had painted and antiqued the staircases I positioned them in front of the wall to take some photographs. I shot one in B&W to see how it would look.