I hung the Beast from Beyond up on my wall at work, and it has got quite a bit of attention. People seem to think it's a real animal at first glance, and most are rather surprised to learn it's made of paper mache. I've always said paper mache is an underrated medium.
Recently I discovered Ian Johnston's translation of the Eumenides and after reading the passage where the priestess describes the furies she saw inside Apollo's temple, I got the idea to sculpt a harpy's head. This, I thought, would be an interesting subject. So far I've been making an armature to give me the internal structure of the head.
When setting up a head armature, I find it's helpful to break the skull down into its component shapes. This ball represents the brain case. Next we have a beak that juts out from the base of the brain case, and a lower jaw underneath that.
Once the basic shapes are securely stuck together it's easy to build up the vague shape of a face, as you can see in the first picture. This will form the basis for all the facial features. And here you can see one of the reasons I like paper mache so much: I wasn't happy with the shape of the jaw, so I simply cut it into a better shape with a Stanley knife.
Recently I discovered Ian Johnston's translation of the Eumenides and after reading the passage where the priestess describes the furies she saw inside Apollo's temple, I got the idea to sculpt a harpy's head. This, I thought, would be an interesting subject. So far I've been making an armature to give me the internal structure of the head.
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| It reminds me a lot of a Corinthian helmet. This was unintended, but it seems appropriate. |
When setting up a head armature, I find it's helpful to break the skull down into its component shapes. This ball represents the brain case. Next we have a beak that juts out from the base of the brain case, and a lower jaw underneath that.
Once the basic shapes are securely stuck together it's easy to build up the vague shape of a face, as you can see in the first picture. This will form the basis for all the facial features. And here you can see one of the reasons I like paper mache so much: I wasn't happy with the shape of the jaw, so I simply cut it into a better shape with a Stanley knife.
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| From this angle you can get a better view of the cheekbones and where the eyes will eventually sit. |
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