Munny for your thoughts?

*Phew*

I just finished up a very interesting quarter yesterday, and I feel as free as a bird! Overall, I got good feedback, and for that I'm thankful. I always get a little nervous when I put my stuff in front of the teachers (better known as our critique panel).

The one item I'm excited to share with the world is a little sculpture I worked on! Anyone heard of Munny dolls? Of course you have!- but just in case... Munny dolls are the adorable little (or very big depending on what size you order) vinyl toys that are like mini canvases. They're perfect for drawing, painting, and even sculpting on! On kidrobot's website (www.kidrobot.com), they're billed as DIY toys. They even made an appearance on the Martha Stewart Show! Yep, apparently, Rosie O' Donnell loves them.

They look like this when you get 'em, and there are other models, too!

Well, I saw one in a bookstore and bought it on a whim. Luckily at the same time, I was taking an acrylic painting class. Our teacher (Theo Rudnak! Look him up!) wanted us to experiment with something dimensional. Obviously, this chance encounter with the munny was fated, and I took it out of the box and started to imagine what it could be... 

I quickly decided that I wanted to sculpt my munny into a colossi type creature, inspired by the awesome bosses you fight in Shadow of the Colossus! After a little research into my subject (which consisted of pizza and about 5 hours of playing through some Shadow), material (super sculpy), and possible process (curing of clay, creating texture and what not), I got to sketching. I didn't want my colossi to be a replica of one from the game, but I wanted the inspiration to be clear, as if it was a piece of this already existing series.

My 2nd favorite colossi, Barba, and partly my inspiration for my doll.

So began my sculpy experiments. Super sculpy is actually pretty cool, and is easier to use than regular clay, in my opinion. Especially since it doesn't dry when you leave it out! The vinyl was too smooth to just stick the clay onto, so my first step was sanding the surface. After drawing my design onto the doll, I started rolling and pressing pieces of clay onto the face. I sculpted into these with my clay tools and even used random stuff like toothpicks or paintbrushes.

Ze super sculpy

My baby's face.

Slowly but surely, the face began to come together. As I was working on it, though, I realized I had not payed much attention to my reference. The stoniness of the face is more like a mask than just stone features, so I began to fill in certain areas I had missed.

I'm adding the rim around the eyes in this part!

The munny head shape is a little like monkey, so I decided it would be interesting to give it that push towards a primate face. There are a few colossi that are inspired by animals. I remember the bird colossi being especially cool. Anyways, I cut small slabs of clay that I put together carefully to create a squarish snout, which I then added nostrils to. 

His little club's laying in the background.

The face was the most difficult part, but once I got warmed up, it was easier to get into the body and arms. Those details were kept much simpler in order to let the face shine. I also added blocks of clay down the middle of his skull, sort of like a mohawk.

I'm finally DUNNY! Haha, that was bad...

I had a feeling that if I put this little dude in the oven, I'd be setting myself up for some serious heartbreak, so I looked up a different way to set the clay and found that boiling it was just as good! Just a minute or two for the thickest parts (less than half an inch) and it was all set! Then the even more nerve wracking part... the paint! I knew it wouldn't be enough to just paint it a stoney color, so I took a big bristle brush and dabbed this stuff called AcrylPro all over it. It's glue for ceramic tiles but it's the perfect consistency for adding interesting textures to smooth surfaces. I did two dabbed layers, getting a roughened texture that was more to my liking. Then I painted some watered down gesso on it. Let me say, it was very difficult getting the paint into all the little nooks in this thing.

Looking good, little guy!

Finally the paint. First was my base, kind of brownish gray. Then I took a funky sponge and stippled the bajeezus out of the munny. I mixed a few different grays so I could layer the stipples and have it look more organic, but I'd actually like to paint it again. I'm not quite satisfied with the color of it.

Dun dun DUN!

Here he is. In the end, I decided against any hairiness. I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off, so I stuck with what I knew I could. In the future, however, I'd love to try this exercise again and see how much I can improve on it. Oh, and I also forgot to picture him with his weapon. I should do that!

Well, that's it for me. 'Till next time! <(*-*<)