My Kirk sculpt so far...
- Thread starter davejames
- Start date
Thanks. Just super sculpey.
Hahaha, pretty cool....
That is an excellent likeness, congratulations.
We had here on this board a short discussion some months ago about how it is so much more difficult to create a likeness of Kirk than of almost any other of the main TOS characters. So you have really risen to the greatest challenge.
Now my question would be (not necessarily to you but to anybody hwo might know):
As I have yet to see a good Kirk likeness in 3D computer graphics, could such a real 3D-model of a head be scanned and transformed into a mesh for that purpose?
We had here on this board a short discussion some months ago about how it is so much more difficult to create a likeness of Kirk than of almost any other of the main TOS characters. So you have really risen to the greatest challenge.
Now my question would be (not necessarily to you but to anybody hwo might know):
As I have yet to see a good Kirk likeness in 3D computer graphics, could such a real 3D-model of a head be scanned and transformed into a mesh for that purpose?
Dave, to say your work is inspiring doesn't do it justice enough. It has been years since I've worked in clay, but with this and your two Spocks, you make me want to feel the grit in my fingernails again.
Just like with your young(er) Spock bust, there's no single portion that I can't isolate and extract, look at it from a distance, and not think, "That's Leonard Nimoy." Here, every single part is Shatner. That robust furrow of his over-extended eyebrows, that tiny uptick in his left corner of his mouth (on the right). You've even paid attention to his ears -- they're not "generic ears" duct-taped to a skull, those ears are Shatner.
Now, if I'm imagining your studio (I've done maybe a few busts somewhere toward my youth, but I watched my mother -- a professional artist for over a half-century -- do hundreds), you've created a reference poster that's probably pencil-marked with measurements, showing Shatner's cranium from every conceivable angle, including probably the rear. I'm guessing you've done this because all your parts are spot-on Shatner.
Anybody who's tried this knows: Producing a true-to-life three-dimensional sculpture based on a dozen or more 2D photographs is perhaps the most difficult challenge an artist has. The great Renaissance sculptors never faced this challenge because they worked with live models in their clay or plaster mockups, and used "digitizers" to scale up when knocking out their marble. You can get someone's likeness pretty good from all the angles you're seeing in the photographs, but melding the "in-betweens" into something the mind equally accepts as "spot-on" is the hardest challenge any artist may ever face.
And I think that's where you are with this Shatner. Judging from these 2D photographs, it's the montage of all the spot-on Shatner parts that's facing you. Doing what Mom taught me -- blocking out parts with my thumb, letting my mind fill in the missing detail, and then remove my thumb to see what shocks me most -- I think the culprit right now is Kirk's right (the left) eye. Not the eyeball alone, but the entire cranial eye socket.
It's in the third of your four photographs where I feel it the most: The right eye is projecting itself just too far forward and just closer to the bridge of the nose (in toward the center of his face). From the angle of the second photo, you don't notice it nearly as much; but when you twist it to the angle of the third photo, my mind says, "Whoa -- uh-oh."
And at first, it makes it seem as though Kirk's right cheekbone is over-extended. Then I do the thumb trick and realize, no, the cheekbone is spot-on where it needs to be. The eye socket needs to sit back ever so slightly. You could probably scrape off a millimeter's width layer of clay to resituate his eye socket back toward his ear. And that really would be it, because you've already succeeded in getting his cranium exactly the right shape.
The only other thing I might change is his "crown" -- he seems to have too much hair up top, as though someone sprayed his toupee in a windstorm. But the placement of Kirk's folicles is spot-on -- don't change his forehead at all, you've got that part down. The hair just seems a tad bit exaggerated.
This is a truly beautiful piece. I'm curious, when you're working with Super Sculpey, do you have any problems with sagging or erosion as it sits, or does it mind you and stay where you put it? And did you create a wire mesh infrastructure for his cranium, or is that solid under there?
-DF "Has Experienced His Own Problems With Sagging Facial Parts in Recent Years" Scott
Just like with your young(er) Spock bust, there's no single portion that I can't isolate and extract, look at it from a distance, and not think, "That's Leonard Nimoy." Here, every single part is Shatner. That robust furrow of his over-extended eyebrows, that tiny uptick in his left corner of his mouth (on the right). You've even paid attention to his ears -- they're not "generic ears" duct-taped to a skull, those ears are Shatner.
Now, if I'm imagining your studio (I've done maybe a few busts somewhere toward my youth, but I watched my mother -- a professional artist for over a half-century -- do hundreds), you've created a reference poster that's probably pencil-marked with measurements, showing Shatner's cranium from every conceivable angle, including probably the rear. I'm guessing you've done this because all your parts are spot-on Shatner.
Anybody who's tried this knows: Producing a true-to-life three-dimensional sculpture based on a dozen or more 2D photographs is perhaps the most difficult challenge an artist has. The great Renaissance sculptors never faced this challenge because they worked with live models in their clay or plaster mockups, and used "digitizers" to scale up when knocking out their marble. You can get someone's likeness pretty good from all the angles you're seeing in the photographs, but melding the "in-betweens" into something the mind equally accepts as "spot-on" is the hardest challenge any artist may ever face.
And I think that's where you are with this Shatner. Judging from these 2D photographs, it's the montage of all the spot-on Shatner parts that's facing you. Doing what Mom taught me -- blocking out parts with my thumb, letting my mind fill in the missing detail, and then remove my thumb to see what shocks me most -- I think the culprit right now is Kirk's right (the left) eye. Not the eyeball alone, but the entire cranial eye socket.
It's in the third of your four photographs where I feel it the most: The right eye is projecting itself just too far forward and just closer to the bridge of the nose (in toward the center of his face). From the angle of the second photo, you don't notice it nearly as much; but when you twist it to the angle of the third photo, my mind says, "Whoa -- uh-oh."
And at first, it makes it seem as though Kirk's right cheekbone is over-extended. Then I do the thumb trick and realize, no, the cheekbone is spot-on where it needs to be. The eye socket needs to sit back ever so slightly. You could probably scrape off a millimeter's width layer of clay to resituate his eye socket back toward his ear. And that really would be it, because you've already succeeded in getting his cranium exactly the right shape.
The only other thing I might change is his "crown" -- he seems to have too much hair up top, as though someone sprayed his toupee in a windstorm. But the placement of Kirk's folicles is spot-on -- don't change his forehead at all, you've got that part down. The hair just seems a tad bit exaggerated.
This is a truly beautiful piece. I'm curious, when you're working with Super Sculpey, do you have any problems with sagging or erosion as it sits, or does it mind you and stay where you put it? And did you create a wire mesh infrastructure for his cranium, or is that solid under there?
-DF "Has Experienced His Own Problems With Sagging Facial Parts in Recent Years" Scott
Thanks! I have to admit I don't do the measurement thing you're talking about though. I basically just do a rough draft, take some pics, and then put then side-by-side a photo of the actor to see if everything lines up properly.
Yeah you're right about that eye. It's the one angle that just doesn't feel right yet, and still needs some work.
No I've never had a problem with sagging. Obviously the sculpey will dry out if you leave it sitting too long unbaked, but that's the only problem I've encountered.
As for the interior, I usually just ball up some aluminium foil and lay the clay over that. I find it much faster and cheaper than the wire mesh.
Anyway, thanks for the comments and advice!
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