Animate Exeter Model Making Workshop

A few weeks ago I applied to take part in a model making workshop at animated Exeter, for which I was delighted to hear I was successful. This course was run by a lovely lady called Gill Bliss, who is a model maker at Aardman. With her experience and enthusiasm about model making I gained a lot from this course and feel her enthusiasm has rubbed off on me and made me even more determined to improve my modelling skills and become a successful model maker within the animation industry.

During this course we completed the following activities: 

Day 1

 Research + Character Design

Moodboard

Rough Sketches

Character Turnaround

When Gill said we were starting by designing a character I was a bit worried as I'm useless at creating a character in my head and than drawing it on paper. However I got right into it and was able to create the designs above, which surprised me. I think being forced to create a character in such a short time worked well. However struggled to draw the front view of the croc's designs due to the long nose, when I attempted it he looked like a pig.

Sculpting the Croc's Head

1. I started by creating the basic shape of the Croc's head using tin foil on a wooden stick.

Tin Foil Base Shape of Head

2. I then started to apply the plasticine, building it up slowly and adding key features such as eyes, nose and lip line. For the eyes I used beads, which I placed in the correct place quite early on in the process so I could then build up the plasticine around them; making them appear as if they are sitting within eye sockets.

Basic Features sculpted out of Plasticine

3. I then started to add more details such as spikes on the back of his head.

Adding Spikes to Back of Head

4. I then decided I wanted the croc to be holding a fish in its mouth, so I removed the bottom lip to enable me to model it slightly open so the fish model (which can be seen below) would fit in and look as if he is actually holding it there.

Removing Bottom Lip

Dead Fish Model

5. Once I was happy with the fish model I placed it within the croc's mouth and made it look limp and lifeless.

Croc Holding Fish

6. The finishing touch was the teeth, which I think really brings this character to life. For the process of adding the teeth I firstly made little teeth holes and forced the lip out slightly so that once the tooth was in place it would look as if it is part of the mouth. Also from my research the areas around the teeth were very dominant, going in and out around each individual tooth.

Adding Teeth

The Finished Model

I am really pleased with how this came out and enjoyed sculpting using plasticine as there is no worry of it drying out and hardening unlike clay. I think a scaly texture should be added in places, such as on the top and underneath of the nose and down the back of his head just to finish it off. I also think I should added a bit more character to his eyebrows as he appears to be staring a bit making him look a bit lifeless, these would also show more of his characteristics to the viewer.