So I actually made this a couple of years ago now, soon after Guardians came out. My fiancee really liked the Baby Dancing Groot at the end of the movie, and at the time they didn't have any of the figures and statues that are now so easily found. And I had some time, so I decided to make one.
So that's the finished Groot statue that I made, entirely from things I got from the local dollar store (Except his eyes, but you could get stuff for it there.) His "Bone structure" if you will was made from pipe cleaners, which I braided together. His arms are each three, which end in the fingers. And then his torso is 9 braids of three, also braided together and posed. Then I wove the arm braids into it. (I wish I had taken progress pictures)
From there, I skinned him with streamers, because I felt the wrinkly texture lent itself well to bark. I paper machied that onto the bones, and then gave it several layers of various browns to give it some depth and highlights. The Green vine and leaf pieces are some fake plantlife stuff that I think they expect you to use on model houses, but I painted them into the build to give it some life. They go all around the torso, and then I snuck them into little crevasses left in the paper mache streamer skin, and it was a great way to end the fingers.
The head was a foam ball, which I wrapped in a foamie face that I built, and then the hollow was filled with sticks, and more of the fake plantlife, painted in. At the time I was doing this build, the film was still in theaters, so I didn't have a lot of good reference pictures of the young Groot, save for pictures people got from cams. Which was useful for the pose, but less ideal for the head. I ended up basing the head more on the Adult Groot face than the young Groot. I suppose I could resculpt it, but I kinda like it as is. I think of him as a slightly older Groot than the one in the end of the film.
His eyes are two studs that were originally cheap tuxedo button studs, that I broke the bottom off of and embedded in the foam ball before putting the face on. And then the eyebrows were made out of hot glue, to give him a bit of a facial expression. And then to attach the head I literally just impaled it on the top of the torso Pipe cleaners, which thus far has held very well.
It's far from perfect, but it was a fun way to spend a couple days, and didn't exactly break the bank. Although I did get the pot colour wrong, with mine being orange instead of white. No idea how I messed that one up.
So that's the finished Groot statue that I made, entirely from things I got from the local dollar store (Except his eyes, but you could get stuff for it there.) His "Bone structure" if you will was made from pipe cleaners, which I braided together. His arms are each three, which end in the fingers. And then his torso is 9 braids of three, also braided together and posed. Then I wove the arm braids into it. (I wish I had taken progress pictures)
From there, I skinned him with streamers, because I felt the wrinkly texture lent itself well to bark. I paper machied that onto the bones, and then gave it several layers of various browns to give it some depth and highlights. The Green vine and leaf pieces are some fake plantlife stuff that I think they expect you to use on model houses, but I painted them into the build to give it some life. They go all around the torso, and then I snuck them into little crevasses left in the paper mache streamer skin, and it was a great way to end the fingers.
The head was a foam ball, which I wrapped in a foamie face that I built, and then the hollow was filled with sticks, and more of the fake plantlife, painted in. At the time I was doing this build, the film was still in theaters, so I didn't have a lot of good reference pictures of the young Groot, save for pictures people got from cams. Which was useful for the pose, but less ideal for the head. I ended up basing the head more on the Adult Groot face than the young Groot. I suppose I could resculpt it, but I kinda like it as is. I think of him as a slightly older Groot than the one in the end of the film.
His eyes are two studs that were originally cheap tuxedo button studs, that I broke the bottom off of and embedded in the foam ball before putting the face on. And then the eyebrows were made out of hot glue, to give him a bit of a facial expression. And then to attach the head I literally just impaled it on the top of the torso Pipe cleaners, which thus far has held very well.
It's far from perfect, but it was a fun way to spend a couple days, and didn't exactly break the bank. Although I did get the pot colour wrong, with mine being orange instead of white. No idea how I messed that one up.
