Well, here he is. This is pretty current. I have hit the wall and taken a night off after a lighter day yesterday. Sometimes the smartest move is to do nothing and hope that your batteries recharge quickly. Right now, I should be fired up about it because he is just coming into that period where you see the biggest payoff in most compressed time. So for me to be dragging indicates that I need to pause.
I spent almost the entire day painting and working out the airbrush kinks. I found that the light in my shop is worse than I imagined. Stinko. And flourescents are worse for judging true color and subtleties. I had a lot of trouble seeing the colors and got some nasty surprises after shining direct light on it. But overall, I was pleased as he looks lifelike and the likeness is good.
85% of the body is done and most of that is sanded to where I can seal and paint soon. The next big hurdle comes in the form of the hands. Technologically, the bat is heavy (35 oz.) so I want to have the hands looking good of course, but also able to deal with that weight. Locking in the hands is never a picnic and it’s one aspect that I underestimated (forgot).
Thanks, everyone, for the nice words about the Babe.
P: To answer your question, it may not show in the photos, but the space I work in is tiny. You maybe can’t see it but I can just about walk around the full statue unimpeded. The bottom of the joists are a few inches over the top of the statue so I can’t get any kind of “lookdown” on the piece. I also have two doorways to clear to get the piece out of the house to be transported so that affects design. In this case, I’ve gone to a 2-piece design, as I did with my Mickey Mantle piece. The join is about 6 inches below the belt. What is still to be determined is the final position of the hands and there is a chance that the bat will not be able to fit in place in my shop, with both halves mated. All in all, the lack of photos are just a by product of the space that I work in owing to the fact that I really can’t get a lot of different angles and distance and lighting on the piece. I’m not worried though for the simple fact that he looks far better when you’re standing right next to him than in any photograph. That’s just the way it is. Let me put it this way, if you walked around the corner and didn’t expect babe to be there, he would (and has) startle you.
Comment by mcgonnigle — November 27, 2007 @ 10:12 am
And yes, P, there are a few too many folds in places. That is a technique I have developed. I make more folds than I know belong and near the end, I take out a few key folds and leave the best looking ones. It works out the best. Remember, the sculpting game is “take-away” and not additive, so you always err on the big side and ease down to where you belong.
And yes, there is too much meat on his shoulders on both sides, you have a good eye! Trouble for me is, shoulders and upper arms are the toughest thing to nail and up to the point of that photo, I have not been able to “see” the guy inside the wood real easily so you hold off rather than make mistakes. You always do the easy stuff first and then the hard stuff becomes easy. Thanks for the nice sendups.
Comment by mcgonnigle — November 27, 2007 @ 10:17 am
The belt loops…amazing work!
Comment by John Walker — November 27, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
sweet man you made that
wow you are very talleted
Comment by www.kl4e.com — November 29, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
I clicked through the link on that last comment and it is from the Navy Seals? Who ahhhh… My cousin’s boy just went into the Seals. The closest I get to the Seals is licking Easter seals. Those guys are some razors. Fanatics. And I’m glad they’re on our side. Even Rudi, the old-time seal on the first Survivor. I loved the way Rudi called it like it was. No PC with that dude. Thanks for the nice words–stay tuned for more progress shots. –Fog
Comment by mcgonnigle — November 29, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
A little Marine Video i did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yG-kElRvp0
Comment by Tim — November 30, 2007 @ 2:03 am
Semper Fi, Tim…
Comment by mcgonnigle — December 3, 2007 @ 1:57 am