Pictured, above: A (slightly) bulked-up Uncle Antlers, and my dad's model trucks (a love for miniature runs in the blood). As for feet, I've gone the magnetic route for securing him to sets so as to keep my options open at this point, and they're detachable (brass-stock on the bottom of his legs and top of his feet) so that there's a possibility for different rigging alternatives when it comes to actual animating.

Next week - some posts on costuming!

Uncle Antlers (a progress)

I've been meaning to make this fellow for a while. Starting with a rough scale drawings of his desired proportions, I've assembled a nice little epoxy-and-wire skeletal base which will then be bulked up with upholstery foam.


And his antlers - I'm still exploring the best means of producing these. I initially figured they'd be sculpted in clay, but when I gave that a shot I found it looked too chunky and 'heavy' to maintain any sense of gracefulnss. So I stiffened them a bit with gap-filling glue and plumber's epoxy, then added a layer of black tissue paper on top for a bit of contrasting texture to the smoothness of his head. The black's a bit too dark though, so I'm considering either adding a lighter layer of tissue paper on top, or painting details and a more accurate colur over the black. Suggestions?

I'm startin' something new..

wedding illustration

T'is a dark and stormy night (out here at any rate), and whilst I sip hot cocoa let me share some recent work with you.

I was an 'event illustrator' for a wedding a few weeks ago (very awesome idea and alot of fun to be a part of), and below are some of the little 'snippets of the day' that resulted: