And now for something completely different..

Bless the great Ray Harryhausen. There are a few artists that have influenced the world of science fiction and fantasy art like no one before them.  Jason and the Argonauts. That's really all that needs to be said, right? From the harpies and Talos the colossus, to an army of skeletons and the hydra,  the artistry of the stop motion animation still makes me giggle with delight. It has been many years since my early attempts at sculpting but here's an attempt at a simple maquette. I'm working on a painting and instead of just making up the form and lighting I thought I'd try a little something different, for me anyway. An hour of playing around with sculpey and a few photos and there is plenty to be taken away for the painting.  It is a bit backwards, Starting the painting, then intermediate sketches, now a sculpture for reference? Whatever works. We'll see.  Sketch #3 is the only one done after photographing the maquette. There will be many more and this process gives me may ideas for the future. I should note this process was also influenced by seeing how James Gurney uses sculpted models as reference for some of his work. It was fun to revisit the 3rd dimension!
 By the way, sculpting is not as easy as Ray made it look! If you want to be simply amazed look at the works of Thomas Kuebler and Jordu Schell!

http://www.tskuebler.com/

http://schellstudio.com/

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/01/really-rough-maquettes.html

Among my collection of art books, this one is an absolute treasure. I get chills when I see his signature. I recommend this book to everyone!