The 7th World

In part 2 of behind the scenes I’ll be covering the Hunters model.

First off, why a model?

The nature of the idea of the small cute furry animal being hunted, wouldn’t have had the same impact if it was done as an illustration. I believe if you see an illustration you are removed instantly from the emotive aspect. I’m not saying that illustration doesn’t do that too, it’s just that it’s one step closer to being real so the emotion is stronger.

We know the little characters with spears are not real, but is the animal real? It’s these triggers in your head that confuse and challenge your emotions to a particular piece.

I really enjoyed creating this one. And for the animal fans out there, it’s all fake.

Another thing to know is that Tiny Owl Workshop only wanted to see the FINAL image. They didn’t know what I was creating, they wanted a surprise.

So where did I start?

I created some sketches to understand the characters and how they would look.

Once these were done, I began building the wire armature and filled out the areas which needed filling with wadding. Then it was covered in masking tape.

The small pieces of metal wire you see top left were for the hands. I usually build the clay over wire so I can bend and position the pieces for the final photograph. It also gives you something to hold when working on the pieces.

Once these were done, they gave me a sense of scale to create the heads and hands.

Once the heads and hands were baked and hard, I built the skulls around the heads. These were then also baked. You can see the bodies are covered in this shot which I talk about further in the post.

The skulls in the oven.

I used a Drimmel machine to add detail and open the area for where the head fits in. They were then painted and had a coating of satin gloss varnish over the top. I wanted these separate from the head to give myself flexibility when photographing. I could move and tilt the skulls to get the right angle when in front of the camera. Or remove them altogether.

The clothing was next. I have a bag full of odds & ends that I use from time to time. In my previous life in advertising I’ve made shrunken heads, Ferrets, Werewolves and Chihuahua slippers. After a while you tend to build up a few things.

The bodies were covered first and were fixed with hot glue. they were later stitched to create a finer seam. The arms and legs were next.

Then I added the frills on the ends. I liked this touch as the scene is so brutal the frills kinda lighten the image slightly. The little creatures care for their clothing and themselves more than the furry creature they’ve just hunted.

I made little leather shoes too. Being so small they were fiddly.

Here you can see the cardboard soles.

I added metal bars to strengthen the ankles.

I decided they were too high so I then trimmed them down. Then restitched the shoes.

Next is the furry animal.

I did some research into taxidermy and used the same tricks to achieve my little guy.

I first built the body with a single piece of wire, so I could bend into shape, wadding and masking tape. Much the same as previous. The reason the body looks so thin is that I needed to allow for the thickness of the fur. I didn’t want a massive puff ball in the shot, that would look crazy!

I used some small black beads and sewed them into the body.

Now it’s time for the fur. I used fake fur that varied in tone. I trimmed out a rough shape to wrap around the body making sure the fur is falling in the right direction and shaved the area that would become the snout. Then I cut 2 slots for the eyes. The beads were simply pushed through the slots to be revealed on the other side. The fur in these areas were also trimmed back to simulate how real fur would be.

2 more slots were cut for the ears. The ears themselves were small pieces of leather, coloured and poked through to appear on the other side. Once everything was in place I stitched the fur body together down the belly.

The tail is simply grey silicone.

Then I bent the animal into shape and started placing the models into the environment. I grabbed some rocks and sticks from the garden and slowly built it up.

I positioned the characters and started to place in the background. I bought some artificial moss from the train shop (it was my first time in a model train shop) which was used at the base. The below image shows the overall staging. I simply used desk lamps to light the scene.

The spears are very cool twisted chopsticks which were sharpened.

Over the next few weeks I will talk about the process of generating some of the illustrations for the Unfettered project.

I’ll be starting off with Squirrel Hair. Some of the other illustrations were generated the same way, so I won’t be covering them in detail.

The sleeping image (game birds) was done the same way as I have described below.

Here we go.

I keep a lot of sketch pads around the house, and when I had my meeting with Tiny Owl Workshop about generating a book where the images come first, my sketch pads swung into action.

Here is the scribble I presented to Tiny Owl. They certainly had a lot of faith in me as the scribble was well and truly rough.

No Squirrels I here you mutter, I added the squirrels later whilst I was painting the image. I thought it needed another element to create a story. Something a writer could see as an interesting idea.

The image was to convey how silly fashion can sometimes be. I had done a previous illustration with someone wearing a snail instead of fur. Squirrel hair followed the same theme.

At the same time I did this rough, I also did a rough of a man with strange hair. I’m hoping to paint him later in the year.

So the rough was approved by Tiny Owl which was great.

I began painting the image in photoshop, starting with the face. The expression gives me hints of who this character is.

Base colours first.

Then I slowly built it up in photoshop.

Adding shadow, colour and highlights to slowly build the face and give it depth. I’ve also started the neck wrap. Again adding shadow and highlights. I use the smudge tool to give it a painted texture. Slowly merging and softening the edges. It also gives the illustration that painted look.

I try not to polish the illustrations so much that they become like an airbrush painting. I like to see the strokes.

The hair next. This section took the longest.

She was going to have dark hair at first but once the colours on the face were done, it didn’t look right. So I decided to lighten the overall hair. Then went in and started the detail. Adding variation of colours and fine hair strands.

I worked up the blue bodice and hair sticks next. As the hair was so high, I wanted her to have sticks that held it up. The handles on the sticks were going to be leather.

Added more to the sticks and started to play around with maybe a tartan pattern to the bodice.

I began to think about the birds that were to perch on top of the sticks. The birds I had scribbled in the rough were way too small. It needed more of a statement.

I came across this image of a stone peacock.

It was perfect. As per the face, I placed down the base colours and built it up, using the pic as reference.

You may have noticed I have gone away from the leather handles and now have black and white striped handles. I’ve also added the squirrels and gone darker with the dress. At the base I’ve started the underskirt.

The background has been roughly painted in too. It now is starting to come together and the colours are working well with each other.

The background was worked on more. I added a texture using the photoshop brush. This was then smudged and painted to create bushes. I wasn’t too concerned about how accurate the bushes were as they are only supposed to be a backdrop. I varied the colour to give it the antique look it needed. Just just like a Victorian photograph.

Added some pencil pines further off in the distance to create a little more depth. Then I started the base. As you can see from the image above, she is floating against the background at the moment and she needed something to stand on.

You’ll notice I’ve added texture to the under skirt. Again building up the light and shadow.

She is nearly complete. I go in and add more detail. More strands of hair and a small acorn on her bodice. Just a small touch of detail that may or may not be noticed. Add a few highlights to the peacocks to give an ivory appearance.

The image is then tweaked and adjusted with curves, brightness & contrast and colour corrections.

Next week will be the Hunters model.