Methods for Large organic scultpures?

I have a few different ideas for large scale creature style sculptures and was interested in seeing what methods people here have used.

This methodology recently posted on Tested looks really nice with a good durable skin. The material is a little pricey though and sculpting in the final material seems a bit scary knowing that you can't make changes later on easily.


Making molds seems like it would be really pricey in any form so I'm guessing that's basically out of the picture though. (Please correct me if I'm wrong though!)

Any other really good tutorials or techniques you know of?

Here's a good rundown of making silicone mold and doing a rotational casting process on large nativity scene figures-
http://www.bignativity.com/how-to/

That rotocasting machine is HUUUGE!

Hard coated foam from Tom Spina

http://www.tomspinadesigns.com/sculpture-statue-of-liberty-foam-trade-show-style-prop.html

Here's a nice paper mache based methodology that won't break the bank-

http://www.ultimatepapermache.com/lindas-paper-mache-elephant


http://www.ultimatepapermache.com/make-a-paper-mache-giraffe


http://www.ultimatepapermache.com/the-making-of-georges-or-the-joy-of-rex





And this video on mass producing large paper mache animals has some neat ideas.

In college, we built displays of endangered animals for the Pittsburgh Zoo. I was on a team that built a Sumatran rhino mother and child. The dragon build above is similar to how we made the rhinos, but is using updated materials. (Frank was a couple quarters behind me, so he may have worked on other displays in the project. I heard they were working on some elephants after I graduated.)

Anyhow, we built an armature in a similar fashion as the above baby elephant using 3/4-1" plywood.
EPS foam boards (sheet insulation from the home improvement store: blue, pink or green) was used to bulk out the bodies.

Broad shapes and details were carved out using rasps, "cheese graters" and the like.

Since these were going to be outdoor displays,one floating in a pond, we had to make them weather tight by fiber glassing the whole thing. Before we could do that, we had to protect the styrofoam from the polyester resin with a couple coats of wood glue.

After the fiberglass hardened, we covered in sections using a product from AVES called Apoxie Sculpt. Skin textures, wrinkle, etc were sculpted in at this time.

I don't know the price difference between the Apoxie Sculpt and the Smooth on product, but the EPS board is cheaper then the urethane board Frank used.

I've always wanted to make a lifesize figure like this, but I've been too intimidated. I can think of tons of things that I'd love to do... just have to work up the nerve. I'm always envious of people that tackle this kind of project. Good Luck!!!

Some really great videos covering mostly EPS foam carving and finishing. Wonderfully thorough tutorials!
https://www.youtube.com/user/adenHynes/videos

Gorgeous stuff here as well-
https://www.youtube.com/user/johncoxcreatures/videos