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FANtastic Feature
The Seventh Kingdom : Minotaur |
Day Five:
What you see here is a selection of pieces that were sculpted and cast into hard
plastic for various reasons. Most of these were done so that they could be
duplicated. A lot of time is saved by doing this. The process also ensures a
certain amount of symmetry. Of course some asymmetrical details such as battle
damage will be added to make it mare interesting. The second reason for getting
pieces made into plastic rather than clay is durability. The harder material
allows us to work with some of the finely detailed pieces with out their edges
softening while they are handled. We don't always use this technique, but on a
personal project such as this, time is of the essence.
These sorts of pieces are often times fabricated rather than sculpted. For those not familiar with the term, fabrication is when pieces are made out of hard materials such as plastic or metal. The fabrication process combines the skill of a machinist with the artistic ability of a sculptor or designer. Fabricated pieces are predominately used for accessories and articulation building. We usually try to take a more integrated approach by designing figures that take advantage of all of our resources. In an ideal world that is how it works. In this case we have to step back into to real world and deal with things accordingly. As it happens during the holidays C.B.(Cornboy) broke his ankle. Part of the aftermath of his accident has resulted in his absence at the office for the past month or so, and Jim having to handle most of the fabrication duties by himself. Combine this with the onslaught of preparation for Toy Fair and some office remodeling, and we are nowhere near our normal capacity. Normally about half of these pieces would be sculpted while the other half would be fabricated. This time all of the parts done up to this point have been done in clay.
Finally one of the big decisions made with what you see here is whether or not to make the knives removable. After trying to make this work it just wasn¹t happening. One of the main reasons is that the one piece that combines the armor plate, the knives, and the sheaths would have to be five separate pieces. It would have cost potentially much more for somewhat of a small payoff. It would also result in a lot of flimsy pieces. Rather than making a mess out of a simple piece we opted to make up for it elsewhere on the figure. |
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| Day Six >> |
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