wiIIiam's 2014 Jan-Feb Sculpture Contest Entry

There is nothing like a contest to force me to get something finished!

For a while I've wanted to sculpt a scale model/ maquet of the Elephant of the Bastille from the 2013 Les Miserables film.

For those unfamiliar with the film (I know its not very RPF-y), it is an interpretation of a massive plaster elephant erected by Napoleon outside the Bastille, which quickly fell into ruin, and became a metaphor for the decay of Napoleonic France in Victor Hugo's novel. I thought the sculpture/ set piece in the film was incredibly striking: a huge, finely detailed and stylised fiberglass elephant, sat in Greenwich (London) where the scenes were filmed. I only wish I could have worked on it The elephant used in the film wouldn't have looked out of place in a grand fantasy epic, so hopefully you will enjoy it.

I will be working in plasticine and balsa wood (balsa can be removed if it breaks the rules). While I'm not the most accomplished sculptor, I will hopefully be able to give it a good shot.

I made a start yesterday, and will begin posting some photos once I have made some progress.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=elephant+of+the+bastille+les+miserables&FORM=HDRSC2

Loved the movie myself. Look forward to your sculpt!

Working out the shape of the legs and playing with some textures. Will pop the head back on at some point I hope I get time to finish.

Ok, well I'm not as finished as I'd like to have been, but I got a little railroaded by another project (which I'm quite excited about sharing when it is progressed a little bit) I wanted to tidy up the textures a little bit more before submission, and add some tiny street urchins to help sell the ridiculous scale of the film piece, but I'll probably include them in a new thread when I paint the sculpture up.

Ive included some pictures below of the raw plasticine sculpt, as well as some with the 'backpack' on to help illustrate how it goes together.



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