Kimberley High FMP Level 3 Year 2

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Evaluation

When I started with this project, I did my Project Proposal. Which includes information about my project, such as; rationale, project concept, evaluation, proposed resources and bibliography. It also shows what order I intend to do everything that is shown within my project.

Throughout this project I focused on Creatures of Mythology with Fine Art. When I started I did two mind maps which were Segmented and Mythology. I also highlighted some key points that link to my chosen topic. I also collected images for my mood board that relate to my mind map and project topic.

After that, I did some research on different creatures that were part animal, and then drew inspiration from them to do experimental drawings. While experimenting, I looked into some artists which were; Tom Wood, Sandra Duchiewics and Guillem H. Pongiloppi. While looking at these artists, I did further research on ancient Greek hybrids and choose three creatures to focus on. My chosen creatures are Dryad (female oak tree spirits), Drakaina (part woman, part dragon), Siren (half woman, half fish). I collected images and information on each chosen creature to look more into because these will go towards my final.

After choosing my creatures, I did some spray painting. Each spray paint links to each creature. With the spray paint experiments, I also did continuous line experiments to possibly combine with the spray paints. Once completing that, I started working on my sculpture designs that I took inspiration from my chosen creatures. I continued to develop them before moving on to making my clay sculptures. I also did some research on Jan Svankmajer who uses animal bones and skulls in his sculptures. I took inspiration from his work and used my 3D Pen to make my own animal skulls for my sculptures. I then collected some bones from a chicken (from local food shop) and created them ready for my future sculptures.

I then did some developed sculpture designs and made them before moving onto working on my final designs. Once I had made those I came back to sculpting with my 3D Pen by designing and making another animal skull but for my large sculpture.

Once I had all of my experiments complete and my animal skulls and bones, I designed my final three sculptures, sculpted and painted them and then slightly added to them by going over it with my 3D Pen once more.

In conclusion, I think my final piece was successful because even though I came across a lot of problems along the way, I found ways to fix them and bring everything together. I also think that the animal skulls were successful and having all of the details, textures and materials come together works as my final piece.

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Complete Final Piece

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Once I had completed y whole sculpture, I then moved onto painting it. I used a lot of dark colouring but i kept the same colours that relate to my chosen creatures for this project. Which were; Dryad (green / brown), Drakaina (red / yellow), and Siren (blue). I decided to paint my sculptures to add more effect and detail because I noticed once I had finished sculpting that the details, such as; scales, or details on the tails aren’t as visible because the whole piece is the same colour. So by painting it, I have given it more effect and as an overall piece it looks more detailed and presentable.

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This is the start of my sculpting process. I started with the large sculpture because then when I move on to make the smaller ones, I know the right ratio to use. At the start of these, I nailed all of my sculpture structures to the piece of wood so I wouldn’t have any problems with them staying in the right positions, by doing this, it helps me when sculpting because they don’t move around.

While going through all of my sculptures, I noticed a lot of cracks forming. I used a silicone tip to smooth clay into each crack and build the foundation back up again.

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With the large sculpture of my final piece I noticed some problems. Which were; the amount of cracks starting to form as it was drying. However, I decided to come back to that and complete all three of my sculptures so i can fix them together and make any changes necessary. While I waited to fix all of the cracks on this piece, I went over all of the dry areas with a wet paint brush to wet it once more in order for me to fix it later on, then I got a damp cloth to cover it with overnight as I progressed.

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This is the start of making the large part of my final piece. I started by covering the upper body with clay and attaching selected bones for its spine and back and slightly covered the wings to see how much clay to use in order not to make it too heavy and tip the piece once complete or during the rest of the process. During the time of sculpting, I noticed that these pieces could become quite heavy with all of the bones and clay, so I collected a small square piece of wood and pinned it down to it for stability. I also noticed that the bones weren’t completely attaching to the clay, so once I had covered the top section of the sculpture I used some hot glue to help it stay.

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These last three designs are what I am going to make for my final piece. I will be bringing these three sculptures together and have two small sculptures and one large that will capture the most attention. I have created these designs by combining the multiple successful features from my experimental sculptures and by slightly modifying the features taken, in order to have a good overall effect and look of the overall set of sculptures.

Before moving onto doing clay work, i started off with making my structure for my finals, so I used wire to bend a rough structure together and to make sure nothing is able to break off because they are all connected. I also used tinfoil to slightly start making certain features and after that, used masking tape to keep the tinfoil in place, and to add some other features like the size and shape I intend to achieve. I used two sets of wire for the large sculpture structure because of its difference in size, so I needed to adjust its prep work.

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This is the skull I intend to use for the large piece in my final. I also made this with my 3D Pen but on a slightly larger scale for it to suite the size of the sculpture it is for. I have also included more details as this skull is for the centerpiece of my project, i have included long horns, a horn above the nose, and crocodile teeth. This skull isn’t complete yet because I need to develop it by using the multi-tool to sand down all of the bumps and rough edges. When making my final large skull, I used my 3D Pen and filiment to make the overall design and structure.

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While taking inspiration from Jan Svankmajer, I collected a selection of animal bones, cleaned them with warm soapy water, and then soaked them in bleach multiple times to ensure there wont be any issues when incorporating them into my final sculptures. I intend to use them towards my final piece and use them for more details with my creature designs.

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These are 3 out of the 4 sculptured that I currently have made out of my experimental developments. Throughout making these multiple designs, I have noticed that some details are difficult to achieve while using clay. To rectify these problems, I will not use them for my final piece, or, depending on the type of detail that it is, I will find different ways to make them work with different methods or positioning.

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These are the four experimental developments of my creatures. After making these I will be choosing the main features that i want for my final piece.

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This is when I used my 3D Pen to sculpt an animal skull. I started off by sculpting a rough idea of how I wanted it to look, then I went over all of the rough edges with some ore filament from the 3D Pen and fixed any defects that I came across. Once I was satisfied with its look, I moved onto the multi-tool. This enabled me to sand down all of the rough edges on the skull and remove all of the bumps created when sculpting it. When sanding the skull I noticed some holes and gaps forming, I then stopped and filled each hole created to get a nice cleaner finish once complete. 

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This is the artist reference that I did for Jan Svankmajer. I looked into his work and got inspired by the way he uses skulls and bones in his sculptures. I am going to use this inspiration in my own sculptures and incorporate bones and hand made skulls.

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These are my experimental marquettes that i designed to see what i can improve and what details will work for my final piece. To start, I made the structure with wire, tinfoil and masking tape. Once I has these done, I did a rough sculpture of the types of designs and features each experiment had.

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Out of my experimental drawings, these are the four designs I chose to sculpt and develop. 

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The drawn images are the official details that I will be using for my future developments, and create my own designs to sculpt. By re-drawing them in this style, I am better able to merge details together when I follow my designs in the sculpting process.

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Continuous line experiment

In some experiments, I have been interested in doing a continuous line but also having it as a squiggly line. This making it slightly more interesting and helps it stand out especially with a coloured background. This is an example of what I might do with the spray paint designs that I have and put them in the background of my final piece.