I began this project completely
ignoring the self portrait aspect. It is the end of the term, I am
tired of travelling more than four hours a day to and from school,
but above all I am just anxious to start next year.
My first attempt at this project was a
combination of an axelotl and a dragonfly. I made the armature,
bulked it up and began sculpting it in class. By the time our second
class rolled around, I was already done. That day I was feeling sick
after an exam, and went home, I knew I was in a bad mindset and would
only waste time in that class. I baked it that night and everything
went smoothly. Until the painting aspect. I base coated and tried
many colour schemes, but nothing was working for me. I became
frustrated and ended up dropping the sculpture, breaking part of it.
As I thought about the project, I realized I had been missing the self portrait aspect all along, and I knew that I needed to start again – a completely fresh start. What I came up with is sort of a yeti with the hands, feet and face of a human girl, with antlers. The human aspect is me, or how I feel in my mind. The emotion displayed seems sad, possibly lonely, but the mystical quality of the eyes (glass beads) seem to be seeking something. The antlers represent my roots (as they are made from sticks). They are seemingly growing out of her head, branching out and craving knowledge. There is a larger glass bead in the centre of the creature. This is my heart, displayed outside of the fur protection – vulnerable. The overall pose evokes hesitation, yet the candle held in front, cradled by the lantern, lights the way forward – hope to be happier and to escape the darkness. The fur that engulfs the being is protection, warm and soft.
The overall figure is an armature, covered in tinfoil and super sculpey. The eyes and chest piece are glass beads inset into the clay. The antlers are twigs, which I also inserted into the sculpey while baking (I covered them in tinfoil so they would not catch fire). The fur is from an old stuffed bear. Before brutally murdering it, my brother decided to name it Todd – just to make me feel bad... it worked.. R.I.P. Todd. The candle is a real candle, that I cut down to the small size.
Overall, I love how this came out. I feel it will be different from other projects, and hopefully stand out (both qualities I like to achieve everyday). I love the gesture of the creature, and the expression that shows through. Even though it was stressful, I am glad I started over. I think it is a good end to my projects this year in 3D which all in all I am pretty proud of.
For my first time in a 3D art class, I think it was very successful, and I plan to continue using these techniques within my future career of animation.
I hope you enjoyed it :) My last fundies project I will upload WOOO!!!
-Sarah
P.S. I have also been watching a lot of Avatar the last air bender lately --- so here is some Appa Love <3
