Mr. Undercroft (Patreon)

     Say hello to Mr. Undercroft. He started out as a head sculpt I did just for the fun of it. Basically just sketching in clay. (Here I'm using Sculpey firm, gray. I may be switching to Kato Polyclay, due to Sculpey's tendency to crack. Kato is extremely stiff and may prove too hard for my tendinitis, but we'll see.) Then I was contacted by a lady who had bought one of my earlier pieces, inquiring about a commission. I showed her this head and several others I had on hand, and she picked two that she liked.

     I did some cut-and-paste to work up a couple of concept sketches and emailed them to the client. Once I had her approval, I went to work transforming the two floating heads into 3/4 busts.

          I knew I would be alternating between sculptures and comic work for Patreon, and it's easy to lose track of where you are and what's next when juggling multiple projects. So I drew up 1:1 diagrams of both and created exacting step-by-step breakdowns of how things should proceed. It's important to remain flexible, however (as we'll see later), so I knew I wouldn't be keeping exactly to the steps listed. It was more of a safety net, in case I lost track of where I was hopping between the two sculpts and several lines of comic content.

     I couldn't make the two busts all out of polymer clay, as my oven wouldn't accommodate such large figures, and as I mentioned above, I don't trust Sculpey not to crack, especially in pieces that have to be packed and mailed. So these guys' bodies would have to be made in components, and from paper clay. Because I had several kinds of paper clay on hand, I was able to compare the qualities of each and discovered that each (Paperclay, La Doll and Premium) have their advantages. The arms started very rough (pictured), with the simplest indications of wrinkling fabric. Once they've dried overnight, I sand away what doesn't belong and add fresh clay, re-sculpting and sanding a number of times until I'm satisfied with the result.

     The torso begins with screws sunk into a base made of two pine plaques screwed together. I drill two holed between the screws, and put wood glue on the ends of two dowels and insert them in the holes. Once dry, I pack Apoxie Sculpt around the screws and the bottoms of the dowels. This creates an unbreakable bond with the base; these sculpts aren't coming off without explosives. Then the torsos--which are basically flattened tubes-- are sculpted and allowed to dry. I follow the same steps of sanding and sculpting, referring regularly to the sketches to get the overcoat details right. (Note that the lapels in the sketch extend over the shoulders, so they can't be added till after the arms are attached.)

     The paper clay hats are anchored to the heads by first drilling then driving screws into the tops of the heads, then packing in some Apoxie Sculpt. (Again, I like my sculpts to be solid as hell. Paper clay goes over this understructure, a simple tube at first, then the beginnings of the brims. The brims are extended and shaped a little at a time, carving and sanding the dried clay until a proper hat emerges. 

     And now Patreon has started to glitch out on me, so I'll have to end this here for now.  The bottom  pics are out of order, for absolutely no reason. And apparently you can't delete a pic once it's been posted, without deleting the whole post and starting over. Thanks, Patreon!

     Lastly, let me say that I'm posting this here because there was some interest in my side work under the Grayson Fogg pseudonym. If it's not something you're interested in seeing on this page, please speak up and let me know.  I'll be making another update Thursday or Friday, bringing you up to date with where the figures are now: fully assembled and in the process of being painted. I'll also be showing some of that flexible improvising I mentioned. Have a great week, all!