I Have (Little-To-)No Motivation and I Must Create...
Started: March 31st, 2026
Finished: April 14th, 2026
(The sculpting itself was actually complete by Friday the 3rd. But, long story short, my grandfather needed to repair some stuff around the house. We only have one unfinished room to use as a workshop, so I had to clear my art supplies out of it for a while. I only just got the painting done yesterday.)
Now, if you saw my last post, you might be wondering, "You said you were gonna work on revamping those amateur dragon sculptures. Why aren't you posting progress on that? What's the deal?"
Well, first of all: read the title of this post. As I've said before, I'm free of my old toxic job and am very happy with my current one. Now that I have more emotional energy, I've been getting more consistent inspiration like I used to...but last year's hiatus really left a mark. So, my brain has still kinda been feeling like a great soft jelly-thing.
Second of all: I'm still working on the revamped dragons, and I do plan to post about them sooner or later. I literally did this because of TADC. Episode 9 was awesome, but it also really fucked me up and made me relapse with I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (yes, both the original story and the game. Seriously, I just kinda hyperfixated on a compilation of AM's dialogue for a few days).
At first, I was just going to try to mimic the design of the jelly-thing from the video game. But that didn't really work out, and for once, I just let myself do whatever. (It really helps that plenty of other fans have made their own interpretations. A lot of variety in the ideas for a devolved lump of human-slug.)
I usually don't post actual progress photos, partially because I just forget to, and partially because of self-induced pressure that makes me worry about something ruining said progress right after. But in this case, I really wish I had, because I honestly surprised myself. After I abandoned the video game's design, I started out with sculpting a basic humanoid torso and head. And then...I just kinda set it down and kept adding partially-flattened pieces to its back and chest until I felt satisfied. I swear I'm not trying to brag, I'm legitimately not sure how this came together.
Once the initial form was done, I tried to add rippling layers across the back to simulate melting. But that didn't look quite right; so, given that this character is still technically human, I just went with distorted veins. At first, they were just around the neck area, but then they spread all the way through. The eyes took a few tries, but I eventually got the shape I wanted, and I used the edge of one of my carving tools to give them a texture like clouds of fog.
As for the paint, I originally wanted to go with more grayish/bruise-like colors to reference decay. But then I remembered how Ted is the poster-child for the Curse of Living trope...
So, there we have it: my official first sculpture of 2026. I'm proud of it, more so than I thought I'd be, considering how long I've been out of practice, and I hope you all think it looks okay.
@sammys-magical-au @insane4fandoms @inkbedou @the-matpat-ever @darkedeusvult48-blog
