So first and foremost, the good news is - I finished my maquette! Three weeks of hard work on my little character, and finally at around lunch time on Monday, after just a couple more tweaks to the wood-grain, I got sign off from my supervisors, head of puppetry Georgina Haynes and sculptor Toby Froud. For those who have been reading along, you can imagine my utter joy and relief!
So this week, I have been working on a wig sculpt for a background character (several background characters in fact). It has been such a positive change, especially the feeling that I am now really contributing to the film and creating something that is useful. The process has been going really well. Throughout my trials with my maquette sculpt, I learned so much in terms of technique, and also in terms of patience, detail and the feedback process. I have felt far more confident to ask lots of questions and for feedback more regularly to make sure I am on the right track.
A challenge I faced early on with my maquette was that I was working from a 2D image that only showed the characters front, meaning that my first attempt at the character was too flat. I had not put enough thought into the side profile. This trial set me in good stead for this sculpt, Toby reminding me early on to always think in 3D and look at it from every angle as I work. My reference material for this sculpt has been a lot more detailed as well, multiple photo’s of different hairstyles, from the front, side and back. Some of the images contradict each other a little, but through trial and error, and conversation with both Toby and George, I was able to lock down the hairstyle we are going for, a combination of all of my references.
For the sculpt itself I have mainly been using one particular loop tool that Toby modified for me. Basically it has a small loop on one end, and a wooden handle. Toby sanded down the wooden end to make it a little more pointed for me (something to mimic a favourite tool of his own). Wooden tools are better for creating soft lines/ finishes, so I have been using the wooden end of this tool to make strong, deeper impressions in the wig to create a bit of an overall shape, and then the looped end to make finer lines and clean up the detail. Toby told me, when sculpting lines for the wig to “think gesturally” and demonstrated what he meant for me, arcing the wooden part of the tool from the very start of the line, all the way round the head to where it needed to end, rather than using it like a pencil and drawing the line (if that makes any sense).
I am sculpting the wig directly on to a cast of the characters head, the cast has a flat bottom just under the neck, so I can sit the head on my work bench and work on it. The head is around the size of a golfball, perhaps a little smaller. Later the wig will have a mould created, a process I will be able to tell you more about when I finish this wig and naturally segue in to mould making. I believe one of my first tasks with the mould making team will be to create a mould of this wig.
I have also had lots of reference wig sculpts to look at which has been very helpful in terms of keeping my sculpt to the same aesthetic world. Many of the wigs I am looking at were sculpted by Maeve Callahan, an amazing artist from the hair department, and Maeve has given me some great feedback and advice to move forward with. Maeve showed me some of her own favourite tools to work with and told me about the trials of achieving a wig that is “Perfectly Imperfect”, a term George had said to me earlier that day! It is about finding some consistency in the lines and shapes, but not too much consistency. It was lovely to feel a sense of camaraderie with Maeve, and nice to know I have another person to ask for advice. She also told me to try using brill cream to clean up the lines and shapes on my wig, which I will have a go with next week.
Maeve was also very complimentary of what I have done so far, which is always nice (especially from someone so accomplished). In fact, for this sculpt, George and Toby’s feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive for the most part. I think I must be getting better at this! It has been a good week.
With my time in the sculpting department coming to a close (though I may get the chance to sculpt a bit more throughout my placement), I have started a sculpt of my own at home, to make sure I don’t lose momentum, or forget any of these new skills. I am someone who learns by doing, so it is one thing to write down what I have learned, and another to commit it to muscle memory. I have started my little home project this weekend, so will have some images to share very soon.
I will leave you with something that I have been pondering, and have as-yet found no answer to. The word “bun”
I only just realised how much hair bun’s look like bread buns, when I noticed that my characters hair was looking a lot like a brioche. A connection (something that is perhaps very obvious to other English speakers) that I hadn’t made till now.
So… which came first? Is the hairstyle named after the bread? Or the bread after the hairstyle?