I was at it again last night. This is getting to be a very heavy project already and it’s not even halfway completed. First step last night was to add a tube down the center of the cavity.

Again, I’m flying blind on this and really don’t know if it’s going to work out exactly as I have planned. We’ll see. I then continued to add clay to the sparse armature. I’m certain there are way to do this that I’m missing, but I don’t have a really good idea as to how thin the skeleton aspects of the design will be so I can’t bulk them up with non-clay stuffs too much as that limits the tweaking I intend for later in the sculpting process.

Basically this is the fat older brother of the slimmed down, cut, final version. I put a guide wire arch in place temporarily for something to aim at. Also, I determined that I’m going to cast the center spine as separate pieces for later assembly.

I’ll just have to create some foolproof method of matching up the pieces later. I’m thinking pegs may do well here. I bulked up some of the “ribs” on one side to see what shape it could take over time.

I do intend on fusing the individual “ribs” in sections for a more plated bone look (see original sketch). This is using an astronomical amount of clay compared to anything I’ve ever made before. I’m not doing anything this large again for quite some time after this, I think.

Since I panicked yesterday, everything has gotten much better.

First off, I tore off the stuff I put together yesterday.

Following some rough sketches I drew up at work, I progressed into adding the foundational clay for the rear segment of the cranial cage.

I got a bit “creative, with the foreknowledge that most of this can be changed as I go.

I can’t depend on painting in “dark” areas like one can with a rubber mask to hide lack of detail since the sculpt will likely be painted in a bleached bone color scheme.

Anyhow, that’s what I did on the project last night. I’ll be working on the “spinal” center structures tonight and hopefully get some sleep. I was up ’till 4a last night and left for work this morning at 8a. I’m definitely feeling it now at 4p.

Last night I stayed up a bit too late trying desperately to figure out what I was thinking attempting this project. It wasn’t until I looked over the pictures this morning that I realized why it felt “off”.

In case you didn’t notice it, the framework for the armature is flat across the bottom; however, the alien head is arched. Sure it sits up there fine now, but as soon as I go to sculpt the underside, I’m going to find a board sticking out along the entire bottom edge of my design and that’s problem #1. I didn’t see this all last night as I was working. Even as I write this, I’m trying to figure out a way to correct the issues without totally starting over.

I cut the spinal board down a bit in length last night to account for where the front lobe cavity would be. I already expect to have a multi-part sculpt/casting process due to my desire to make this replicate-able, but I am still figuring out the “how” of the design. As I look at this now, I think I can just cut the board length down a bit more in front and drop the placement of the skull a bit on the armature so the board will be covered. Hopefully, the interior hollows will still exist. I am aware of the fact that I should remove the boards being used as vertical supports and replace them with a pipe. I just don’t have that pipe right now. Anyhow, I fell asleep at 2:30am after sticking some clay to the structure (clay I now know I will have to sculpt down a little differently, or possibly remove). Oh, well.

I won’t have a lot of time tonight, but I may try to at least modify the substructure if I get a chance.

Every so often in these types of projects it’s a good idea to rough sketch a multitude of variations. These are some of the continued design sketches I roughed out on a notepad during lunch today.

I was attempting to figure out the assembly steps necessary to make this duplicate-able. If I make it once, I fear I’ll have people asking for copies.

Though I have no pictures this time around, I starting cutting out some cardboard frames for the internal “brain ridge” and the cranium cap area last night.
For reference on why see: Armature Building.

I would have gotten more done but due to lack of sleep was seeing things (imaginary spiders, it was weird). Don’t worry, Jean, I’m not crazy, yet… Anyhow, I went to bed at 10p instead of the usual 1:30a (definitely not 3a like the day before). After all, I do have be up for work at 7a. Thursday through Sunday I’ll be taking a break from the project (time/location/fiance variables), but might get some smaller things done instead.

BBQ tonight, mmmm!

Oh, and Happy Earth Day, you hippies!