New skills!

As I am currently in a bit of a costume lull it seemed like the perfect time to learn some new skills, and so I have started the Modelmaking evening course at the Arts University to learn more about props making and add some more skills to my repertoire!

Last night was only my second class, the first being for architectural style models, let night however we started making character armatures to practice scaling images and converting a 2D image to a 3D form! This is a huge element of what costume and set is about in terms of taking a 2D image that you've designed or been given to build/make and turning it into the 3D finished product. I have done a small amount of armature making before during my degree - having a scaled person inside your set model can make a huge difference when your designing, show you when you have scaled other parts wrong or where things need to be changed or moved using your figure as a point of reference. In costume and set, the standard scale used is 1:25, so I have experience making 1:25 set models and people, however larger scale models and props are something that I have had no experience with before so it was interesting last night making larger armatures as it involves a lot of techniques that I would not have guessed.

Learning the skills to create accurate armatures and set models to express your designs in 3D in miniature can make a drastic difference in how your set design can be interpreted as it's built, especially when it comes to texturing and surfaces. Sometimes drawings and annotated diagrams just aren't enough.

So, in this 2 week practice we are learning and improving on how to create scaled models from 2D images, and for the sake of practicing and a bit of fun I have decided to use one of the images provided by the tutor - I am making Master Shi Fu from Kung Fu Panda (I do apologise if I have spelt that wrong) 

In last nights session I build the armature frame from florists wire, using 2 thick pieces of wire as the main structure - the first as the flat front view to get the size and bulk right from the front view, the second to form the curve size of the shell at the back and the ends curving round the front to form the basis for the arms. Using thin florists wire I made onto this the structure for the long neck and head, and wrapped lengths around the original wire to add rigidity and give the sculpting material a better surface to grip on to.

 

Then, in a technique I hadn't seen used before I used tin foil, first to 'bandage' round the front frame to form a front and back section to make it easier to work with, then compacted tin foil in a long oval ball to form the bulk of the shell. This creates bulk without wasting the sculpting material and it keeps the model light so that if the supports are thin it will still allow it to stand.

I then used sculpey - standard modelling material for Modelmaking and set design - to bulk  out the frame and start forming the outside of the model, pushing it into all the sections of the frame to make sure no air was trapped as that would make the structure unstable while I was working on it, as well as create problems when it is fired.
 

 

Next time we will be finishing and firing our models.