Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque COMPLETE

[GROND29]

With Christmas fast approaching and the inevitable gift idea headaches, I thought I'd make something this year as its more personal and much more fun! This particular project is for my mum, who like me, is a big horror movie fan, especially of the original Universal films.

The first character in what I hope will be a series of resin wall plaques (for subsequent birthdays and Christmases) is the Frankenstein Monster. I'm sculpting the character in Chavant NSP medium clay, roughly 20cm tall X 13cm wide. This will be my first stab at sculpting a likeness, in this case, the incomparable Boris Karloff.



I got so carried away thumbing blobs of clay onto the board and forming the general structure of the face that I forgot to take pictures of the very earliest stages of the sculpt. In the pictures above you can see that on the left side of the face (as you look at it) I've started to rake the clay together and smooth it out. I had the idea to include a 'real' element to the sculpt (and the eventual resin cast) and added real bolts. I'm pretty happy with it so far, although I think the jowls look a little puffy and too old man-like. I'm going to take them back bit and also soften the cheek bones too make him less ape-like.This is my third sculpting project so I'm fairly new at it but I'm enjoying it immensely, its so calming!

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP



First update on the sculpt. I've thinned out the cheekbones and blended them more with the skin of the cheek. I've also knocked back the jowls and added thinner but more pronounced nasolabial folds. The smoothing process has also begun. I found this one of the more challenging aspects and tried a multitude of techniques, from 99% alcohol to heating the surface gently with a hair dryer, lighter fluid to just my fingers, which work pretty well. I'm happy with how the likeness is coming on, particularly from the sides in the profile shot. It's not dead on but a good first attempt.

The next step is to give him some hair, a big staple in his head, pupils for his eyes, continue smoothing the clay and adding some of the smaller facial details such as his scar.

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP



Second update, I've added the hair and some pupils for him which really brings him 'alive' so to speak. One thing I almost forgot to add were the ears, which I think help to give the piece a better silhouette. I also etched in the scar on his forehead. I think he is now ready for final smoothing and skin texture.

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP



The sculpture is finished, with final pore texture done with a texture stamp I made from an orange and fine wrinkles tooled in over sheets of plastic. The textures are quite subtle, so I'm hoping it with come through in the finished piece. Time for moulding!



I built up a mould wall using water based clay. Beforehand I measured round the sculpture in order to roughly estimate the volume of silicone I would need to fill it, subtracting some to account for the sculpture within the mould space. I ended up using 1100g of RTV silicone. Now for the waiting game! :wackoopcorn

 

[kreaton76]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

Awesome man. Can't wait for more pics.

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

Thanks mate. I'll be able to de-mould it this afternoon, so I'll have a few more pics up tonight!

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP



Upon removing the cured silicone from the sculpt, most of the hair remained in the mould, so I had to spend a bit of time cleaning it all out. There must have been gaps between and underneath some of the hair too because I had to trim some of the silicone to ensure that the resin that I will be casting the piece in, would come out of the mould cleanly. This was a bit nerve wracking as I wasn't totally sure if I was trimming the wrong parts of the mould! :wacko



I couldn't resist the urge to do a test cast, after I cleaned and dried the mould. It required 400g of resin. Luckily it came out pretty well! Some of the silicone in the hair did still snag slightly as I was removing it and there are a number of small air bubbles that need cleaning up, particularly at the hair tips. What I will probably do is do a tiny bit more trimming to discourage some of those air bubbles from forming, then just fill in any stubborn ones, once its cast, with milliput. Other than that I'm very pleased with how its come out!

 

[kreaton76]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

That looks cool man. I may have missed it, did you say how big this thing was? Could you post a reference photo?

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

Yeah, in inches he's about 7.5(Long) X 5(Wide) X 1.5(Deep)



Here he is with the Universal Monsters Blu-ray Collection which has the same 2D dimensions as a standard Blu-ray case. I didn't really have a scale in mind when I sculpted him but I guess he is somewhere between half and full scale.

 

[kreaton76]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

OHh, ok! LoL I thot he was close to 1:1. I was thinking "That's a TON of resin!" since you filled it full. I would've used some sort of thickened plastic (still new to resins / plastics too) and foam filled, lol. But this makes so much more sense

Are you planning to sell copies? This would be awesome for my room.
\

 

[Mifune]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

I have a newbie question. It's necessary to put a demolding agent between the chavant and the silicone? I'm having problems with modeling clay (sulfur free) and silicone. Thank you in advance.

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

I would've used some sort of thickened plastic (still new to resins / plastics too) and foam filled, lol. Are you planning to sell copies? This would be awesome for my room.
\

I guess the beauty of this hobby is there lots of different ways of doing these things. I think in this case the resin filled method works well as the piece is fairly small, but if it was bigger you're right, it would be a lot heavier and wouldn't be as efficient in the use of materials. I've not tried foam filling yet, plenty of stuff to get working on! In terms of selling copies, once I've completely finished one, I may start a thread in the Junkyard once I reach the selling criteria, to judge interest

It's necessary to put a demolding agent between the chavant and the silicone? I'm having problems with modeling clay (sulfur free) and silicone. Thank you in advance.

Hi Mifune, I didn't use any type release agent when moulding the piece as the silicone shouldn't stick to anything except other silicone. What kind of problems are you having?

 

[Mifune]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

Hi Mifune, I didn't use any type release agent when moulding the piece as the silicone shouldn't stick to anything except other silicone. What kind of problems are you having?

The surface of the clay and silicone becomes rough, I'm thinking if the problem is that the vaseline oil I use as release agent attacks the clay. Maybe I will try with only vaseline. Thank you for your answer.

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

The surface of the clay and silicone becomes rough, I'm thinking if the problem is that the vaseline oil I use as release agent attacks the clay. Maybe I will try with only vaseline.

You're probably right, adding too much oil to an already oil-based clay could make the surface runny and not work very well with the silicone. If the sculpt you're trying to mould is fairly simple you shouldn't need a release agent as the silicone is flexible. Good luck!

 

[daredevil665]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

Beautiful work!

 

[GROND29]

Re: Frankenstein's Monster - Wall Plaque WIP

The wall plaque is now finished! The final stage was to paint the thing, which I did with the Citadel range of acrylic miniature paints. I first undercoated the piece with a black spray primer. I followed this with a base coat of a dark green and then a green wash to get into all of the recess detail. The eyes were painted with an off white bone color, which can be seen in the first set of photos below.



The iris was done with two different shades of brown. I mixed up a deep purply red colour to paint the interior eyline and finally a very thin red ink wash was applied to give a blood shot look. The rest of the face was painted and drybrushed with successively lighter shades of green and finally, a small amount of the bone colour was used to highlight the prominent areas such as the brow, cheek bones, eyelids, nose and jowls.

At this stage the details were nicely accentuated but I felt the piece had a very chalky, painted feel to it, which can sometimes be the result of the drybrushing technique. I've always considered painting and colouring to be one of my weaker skills. It may sound strange to some but colouring always scared me. I think its the thought that a poor paint job can ruin even the best sculpt or drawing.

I decided to try giving the skin a light fleshy brown wash to see if that would help. Happily it turned out to be a great decision! It seemed to breathe some 'life' into the paint, knocking back some of the harshness of the green and giving the impression that this could have been alive at one point.



The photos below show the final piece photographed in natural light, finished with a few light coats of matt varnish and a gloss varnish to accent the eyes and forehead wound. The last two pictures show the presentation box I bought, painted and gave to my mum for Christmas. She loved it!

 

[garlicbread]

Nice box...very coffinesque. Bet she was really pleased