Simon Lee Workshop - Week 1

I am currently doing an online workshop with artist Simon Lee.  Simon is a concept designer and sculptor working on films like Pacific Rim. He is self taught and it wasn't until his forties that he found himself being approached by Guillermo del Toro to work on his film. There is a very interesting interview that Stan Winston workshop did with Simon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO9Alq1UFZw and for those of you who love monsters and creatures you should check out Simon's website http://www.bigbluetree.com/

This week we started off making a very simple armature with aluminium wire. The sculpt is about 11" tall. I found the wire I had a bit hard to work with due to it's thickness about 1/8th (3mm)" so I am just doing the best I can and have ordered some thinner wire to try. I am using Chavant medium clay which I am warming to a workable condition in a little toaster oven.  What I hadn't really thought about though was it is winter and I have found the clay is hardening quicker than I can work it so I am thinking that the Chavant soft may be better for the winter months here in the UK. These teething problems have slowed me down doing my first weeks homework but what has been most challenging is sculpting a simple humanoid form as I do not yet have much knowledge of anatomy, so this has been a great study to do and one I will practice often.

Homework Week 1

So after taking the video above I kept working as it is very addictive using references of anatomy to help me. I need to stop now though and move on to Week 2 which is all about posing as I am already behind and I can continue to practice this stage later on. It really is a fun way to study anatomy.