My recent sculptures
 

I made all 3 of these over the course of 2 months or so. Each are Lord of the Rings based. They are posted in the order in which I did them. All 3 are fairly large images, so 56k beware :eek: Let me know what you think.

Was supposed to be a Mumakil, from Lord of the Rings, but I didn't do the cage on it's back. The ornate look was achieved with shoe polish
http://www.toddfx.com/pics/elephantfull.jpg

Cave Troll. Realistic paintjob
http://www.toddfx.com/pics/trollfull.jpg

The Belrog. Unpainted.
http://www.toddfx.com/pics/belrogfull.jpg

Wow...those are really great! The last one is especially nice.

Fantastic! The balrog is especially slick!

The medium appears to be plaster, am I right? And could you describe your process?

Brilliant! Definitely.

Thanks guys :)
Glad you like them.

I guess I forgot to mention that. It's all clay. Stoneware, more spacifically. All 3 of them are almost 100% made from coils.

On the elephant I made the body, legs, and head as seperate pieces, then attached them all before refining and adding details. Same goes for the troll. The Belrog's head was all coils, and then I made the horns seperatly and attached them. They were done about half with coils, then about half way I just took a big chunk of clay and made it into a triangle, hollowed it out, and stuck it on the end. Speaking of which, all of them are completely hollow.

For those who don't know what I mean by coils, it's basically taking a chunky of clay and rolling it out into a long stirng about as thick as your finger. Then you just start at the bottom and start spiraling upwards. After you have 3 or 4 levels, you smooth both the inside and outside. Then make another coil and continue wrapping.

Coils are just for the general shape. Then after it's perfect, you come in with tools like ribbon tool and needle tool for the small stuff. You can also build up with additional clay, where it needs it. Things like the teeth and tusks are added seperatly as well, of course.

amazing sculptures everquestjoe!! I really like the elephant :D

did you paint them yourself as well?

Thanks Nancy :)
Yup all paint jobs are by myself as well. I'm not too great of a painter, so that troll is the best thing i've ever painted. Really the only thing i've painted that has turned out looking good. The elephant is just shoe polish. I rubbed it on there with a cloth. I wish I would have done a realistic paint job on that, like I did on the troll.

I don't know if i'm going to paint the Belrog or not. I'm afriad i'll screw it up, or lose the texture. I'll do something with it some day.

yes you are!

keep up the fine work.

that elephant-thingy is bad ass.

Fantastic work! The elephant is my favorite. There is just something about it. Maybe it is the contrast you achieved by using the shoe polish against the white of the horns. It just looks great is all I know.

The others are very good too. Oh, it's "Balrog" - just so that you will get your titles on your photos correct.

Thanks for sharing your work. It is something to be shared, for sure!

Very cool ;)

I love it! Very impressive work, everquestjoe. :)
They are all three great looking, but in my opinion, the Balrog in particular is well done, and seems to be almost 'frozen' in the process of scaring the shit out of a party of wayfarers. :thumbsup:
If you ever do paint it, I hope you post the results on here, 'cause your Troll turned out swell. (<---attack of the 50's lingo) :D

Awesome!
:D

Wish I could model like that in Maya >_<

Thanks again guys :D

Golden you mentioned Maya..do you do 3D? I do a lot of 3D modeling in 3D Studio Max. Heres my gallery if you're into that and care to check it out.
http://todd587.deviantart.com/gallery/

Those are amazing. What are they made from?

Boy, do you have a lot of talent!! Judging from the fact you have a studio, I am assuming you are professional. With your talent, I see no reason why you can not make a fine living with your art. I know someone who would like to purchase that troll. How much do you want for it?

Thanks a lot, Dale :) But I'm far from a true professional. I've barly made it to college yet. I'm actually more interested in digital art. Graphic design, 3D modeling and animation, stuff like that. Thats what i'm going to college for.
I'm flattered that anybody would be interested in purchasing my stuff! But unfortunatly, i'm not interesting in selling my work quite yet. Maybe in a couple years when it starts to pile up i'll try to sell some of it, but for now the only spot for them is my mantle :D

Thanks pinkie, they are made out of clay. Stoneware, more spacifically.

the paint job on the troll is really good for sure but I don't think a realistic paint job on the elephant would necessarily make it look better... I prefer the black shiny look :)

i wouldnt ever want to get rid of those myself, but i bet you could sell those for a lot on ebay.

my favorate is the elephant. i really like the tusks on it

Good GOD, man! Nice hand-building

real nice, everquestjoe!
[insert paris hilton or nicole richie voice] i think your cave troll is hot.

i've never tried any sculpting at all.

my friend's brother though has been doing clay molds he casts for reproducing for many years. i'm thinking your process might be the same as his...

i have a few of his pieces. i should take some snap shots sometime.

his website is not perfect & is very new, but you can see plenty of his works here:
http://www.larryzimpleman.com/

yeah. he also paints. he is also colorblind, which boggles my mind.

:lol:


Thanks for that link, that guy has some really amazing stuff! The fact that he's color blind makes it even more incredible.

I always thought it would be cool to make a cast of one of them and have it reproduced in diecast metal. I've never looked into the price of that, or what kind of temperatures are needed to melt it.

That's really cool. Some kind of talent there.

Keep it up.. The Balrog skull is absolutely awesome, Keep us posted if/when you paint it up..

fuckin' awesome man..............the hands can make many great things.


and these are great

I saw your 3d models and they kick ass. Im taking a 3dmax class hopefully next quarter.

Very Well Done!>

WOW.

I really like those sculptures! My favorite is the cave troll.

If you make more, please post pictures =)

If you could get a cast of the troll and make some replicas in another medium, I know so many people who would love that.. the balrog as well.. great stuff..