Jurassic Park - Big Velociraptors

[Prop-Builder]

This thread will be dedicated to all my studio scale Jurassic Park Velociraptor sculptures. I will also be doing 1/2 scale sculpts to add to this thread later. For now, I will be focusing on the Raptor version from Jurassic Park and its sequel...The Lost World. These will be large wall mounts, but the half-body bust display type would be mounted onto a floor stand with maybe bushes etc arranged around the torso to hide the missing legs and tail.

JP3 versions will come later with some modifications to the head of my first sculpt.

Enjoy!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Looking forward to seeing all that! :thumbsup

 

[Prop-Builder]

So far I have cut out a paper template of the Raptor's head, neck, shoulders and ribcage area. Next will be the armature and I may use wet clay for the sculpt as it's so large and the majority of the clay I have is water based. It should stay moist for a fair while due to the amount I have to use which will give a good thickness.

 

[MooCriket]

Also very much looking forward to this!

 

[Bubbaman]

Great project !!! I will keep an eye on it !!!

 

[Prop-Builder]

Does anyone have info on how the eyes were made for the studio animatronics? I know spheres were molded, then slightly smaller eye 'inserts' were sculpted and painted before getting a layer of clear resin, but I wondered if the clear resin was poured into the mold around the painted insert, or if the lense was created separately and simply dropped over the insert afterwards?

 

[XtcofPain]

Cool looking forward to seeing this evolve. lol

 

[Prop-Builder]

Due to only being able to print on A4 sized paper, this image took a fair bit of time dividing up and printing separately. Measures over 3ft long.

 

[Bubbaman]

Will you make it open or close mouth ?

 

[Prop-Builder]

I will do as many variations as possible. I have a fair few in mind, including the male Raptors. Below is a rough plan of my armature. I will use heavy duty canvas roll tubes mounted to a board to make the support which will be covered with fibreglass. The clay should then stick to this nicely.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

You can't have the tube extend that far out into the head, unless you cut it at an angle from below the eyes to the upper front tip, if you want to make an accurately shaped mouth cavity.

Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Prop-Builder]

The mouth inserts will be modelled and molded separately, so it doesn't matter about the bust mouth cavity being filled with tubes etc..

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Oh... gotcha.

 

[Prop-Builder]

Here's a quick update. As you can see, I've constructed a basic armature from wood, card tubes, foam and resin to place the clay onto. The lower jaw will be made as a separate piece for now so I can remove easily for refining later. This armature measures about 2ft long from the board and is pretty heavy. It should allow me to add clay up to 1 inch or more which is plenty of depth to work on details. Will add more WIP pics shortly. Comments welcome!

 

[Prop-Builder]

Here's a rough in of the bust with wet clay minus the lower jaw. Much refining to do yet.

 

[MooCriket]

Nice to see this project progressing!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I always thought it was easier to sculpt it closed-mouthed to get proportions right and then cut it into sections later.

Definitely looking forward to more progress.

C.

 

[Prop-Builder]

The movie sculpture done at SWS had a hinged jaw I believe on their sculpt so they could open and close it as they worked. I'm guessing this is so the alignment of the lip area was dead on and met up with each other, but also allowed the sculptors to position the lower jaw slightly apart for inner lip detailing and reduced stress on the foam rubber skins when the animatronic opened its mouth.

The lower jaw on my sculpt will only be separate at first so I can get the curvature of the lips good before joining them together prior to molding.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Cool info. Can't wait to see you get to the refining stages of the sculpt. :thumbsup

 

[Prop-Builder]

I plan to do the chest area of the Raptor too complete with arms once this head is cast.