April WIP brings May.... Robots?

EliaMurrayArt

Robots update. I found this tiny switch, and some tiny light bulbs. Some colorful electrical wire.

What I'm debating heavily right now is how/what to paint... photographing metal can be difficult... plus since the head is not metal it might be hard to get the head/body to look like they belong to the same robot. But I think I can work it all out.

Definitely a mess, but I suppose that is ok for an exploded robot.

Coley

Do you have any shiny metallic paint? I think Barbara Reid, Plasticine artist extraordinaire, paints some of her metallic items with metallic paint
before photographing them. At least that’s what I think!

johnchoi

@EliaMurrayArt adding it to my massive “things to try someday” list

EliaMurrayArt

@Coley I will look into those!

I am thinking that I will paint both pieces and then sand away some of the paint to reveal some metal below... that way too, I can control the color scheme of the whole piece!

I am currently gluing tinfoil to the head in places where I will sand the paint away a little. Hoping that will create the illusion that the whole thing is metal.

baileyvidler

@EliaMurrayArt This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing your process!

EliaMurrayArt

@baileymvidler my pleasure!

EliaMurrayArt

Woo today has been really tough...
I was feeling all confident about the puppet and the robot... and then I really settled in to building the room and it alllll came crashing down...

First I tried building the walls with cardboard, as show in the first picture, but they warped and wilted when I tried to paint them and they just looked bad. Then I realized that Lisa's table was TINY when alone in the room it just looked terrible.. so I decided I needed to build her cabinets... I thought perhaps cardboard with spackle over it to give it texture. Bad move. Bleh not good. Tossed that version. (All in the first picture)

Then I remembered I had some plywood left over from an old project. So with some help from Zac (the ever patient husband) we constructed some plywood walls and I carefully built some new cardboard cabinets with no spackle (though I am still most likely going to paint them.) (Second picture plus some blue prints Lisa made)

Woo. Still got a long long way to go but I'm learning a whole lot!!

Oh! Zac also helped me build Lisa a mini blow torch it is constructed with some little copper tubes, and an old computer wire.

Coley

Sitting here smiling while reading this so much fun. You have a fabulous husband!

@EliaMurrayArt Wow, this is has been amazing to watch, and I love the room and cabinets!

EliaMurrayArt

@Coley what is not pictured is his immense anxiety as I paint in our living over the carpet.

He has since "suggested" I move to the kitchen where the floors will be safer.

ArtofAleksey

This is amazing I love watching everything unfold

Coley

@EliaMurrayArt ba hahaha that’s hilarious

demotlj

I don't know how many times I can say "Holy Moley" but about 400 times might get close to my amazement at what you are doing.

EliaMurrayArt

I thought I should give you guys a look at the scale that I am working in... also the mess that I am creating Haha

It's easy to take photos that look relatively "tidy"... but you can see that I am anything but. I dream of the day when I can have a studio, outside of the home, in which I can set up a workshop of my own.

chrisaakins

@EliaMurrayArt This is so freaking amazing. I am really excited to see who this turns out. I wish you had been documenting your process by making a video. I would have totally binge watched it.

EliaMurrayArt

@chrisaakins ugh that would have been SO COOL! Next time - I will set up a camera and film... it's been many many hours! I don't really know how to film things so I'll have to learn but that is a great idea!

theprairiefox

@EliaMurrayArt this is so much fun!

This reminded me of one of the Mo Willems lunch doodles where he talked about how he created a village using boxes and such. Might give you some ideas:

Lunch Doodles Ep. 04

EliaMurrayArt

@theprairiefox thank you for sharing!!! I'll definitely check it out

EliaMurrayArt

Technical Update

I began working on the hands. They were left until the end because I wanted to make sure I had the things she was supposed to be holding made first.

I initially thought I would be making them out of the same clay her head is made from but I quickly figured out that would be very difficult.

You can see the hands on the left, the white ones with wire sticking out. Those are the start of the clay hands. I thought I could sculpt them and place the items/glue the items into them. But this proved to look terrible, be complicated, and just not a viable option.

So after some research and zooming in to photos of stop motion puppets I began the new set of hands (in black). These also have a wire armeture. I used steel stick epoxy to attach the wire to the square tubing that act as wrist joints and then I wrapped the whole thing in tiny strips of medical tape. I used black because that is all I had on hand. In the future I would use white or beige.

If I could, I would then paint the hands with Liquid Latex but alas. I do not have any of that with me.

Working in this way allows me to adjust the hands shape around the items I plan on having her hold without being limited to a rigid shape.

Kat

@EliaMurrayArt this is amazing! I’m so loving watching you progress with this project, and I can’t wait to see it done. Great work, and a really fun scene.