Sculptures - 3D creations & Frankenstein's
Monster.

"Art is a line around your thoughts." - Gustav Klimt

Ever since I was little kid I've loved monsters. For me theres nothing like being scared, at least from the comfort of my own home! One of my very first memories was being terrified of the Daleks on Doctor Who. In fact my Mum tells me that everytime they appeared I would be watching the credits from behind the sofa! A few years later it was the shark in Jaws that had me biting the pillow.

But if theres one monster that casts the longest shadow over every other screen Frankensteins's Monster. The book was written in 1818 and it's hard to believe it's author Mary Shelley was only 18 when she put pen to paper.

Ever since watching the film as young kid in 1980s Frankenstein Monster has been a bit of an obssession of mine. A misunderstood creature, rejected by his maker, feared by everyone and doomed to be misunderstood because of his horrific appearance.And Boris Karloff's portrayl is in equal parts terrifying and tender. Which is why I've taken the time here to show you some of my work based around this bit of movie magic.

Right - my sketch of Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein 1935.

Left - is Boris Karloff being terrifyingly English and enjoying a cup of tea mid-makeup session!

Below -Colin Clive as Victor Frankenstein as he confronts his creation in their final showdown.

To scale Frankenstein's Monster bust - clay - acrylics.

"It's alive...it's alive...it's alive!" Victor Frankenstein

Making a life size bust of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster left was my biggest artist challenge yet. I went into the project quite naively as I had only ever sculpted small models before and expected him to perhaps take a few weeks of solid work. In actuality it took a little over 6 months of trial and error to complete the final peice! I used a wig (borrowed from the bbc props department) for his hair and slicked it down with gloss varnish. Those are amp fuses for bolts and I gave him a thin layer of satin varnish to make his look half dead half alive.

My main reference source was a dvd of the 1931 film, pausing scene by scene to build up a three dimensional profile of the creature.

But quite by chance one day whilst browsing through an old book shop in London I came across an old 1970s book which contained pretty much every scene from the film in pictorial form. This changed everything and enabled me to work from multiple angles and the turn of a page.

I eventually sold the final piece was sold to a private collector for a reasonable price. But, as is sometimes the case when working on peice of art for a long period time, I became quite attached to him and little sad to see him go.

"I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel..."

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein 1818

Frankenfrog or Frakenfrog?

Still feeling the loss of my Frankenstein's Monster sculpture, a few months later I decided to create a substitute pet in the guise of Frankenfrog (or....flying piranha toad as he's also known!).

Part toad, part bat, part piranha. 'Frankenfrog'...although if you look closely at his metal plaque it says 'Frakenfrog!' Somehow I seem to have managed to pick one of few remaining dyslexic engravers on the south coast England!

The Demon Gorilla of Old London Town bust &...

A few years ago, the night before I was due to go on a trip to London, I had an incredibly vivid dream or rather nightmare in which a demonic looking gorilla the size of King Kong with black horns and bright red skin ran amok in Piccadilly circus.

It was such a vivid dream and stuck with for days. So not after I set about making the sculpture that you see to your left. It was fun to do and one day I hope to make full bodied sculpture in a suitably intimidating pose. Ideally he'd be eating a black cab driver - I used to cycle in London you understand.

The gorilla was scultped in separate parts. First I sculpted the skull from a solid lump of clay then once the various parts were painted and finished then were all carefully attached with the magic of superglue!

6 inch Hellboy clay bust & working colour sketch &
painting in acrylics.

In keeping with the theme of demons, I've included a couple of works inspired by Mike Mignola's graphic novel creation Hellboy.

Unless you're a two headed troll who's been living under an medieval bridge for the last 20 years you'll probably be aware of comic book creation Hellboy.

Right - Hellboy sketch - inks and below left - my Hellboy painting in acrylics on A3 canvas.

Below - 6 inch Hellboy bust - clay, acrylics.

Since his inception in 1994, Hellboy, a charismatic demon -turned - investigator for the paranormal who works with the secrective BPRD (Bureau of

Paranormal Research) has, alongside being a hugely successful graphic novel series, now recieved 4 film adaptations and numerous cartoons series.

The finished Hellboy bust - far right - although small in stature was suprisingly quite difficult to do. What with all the fiddly details but I was very pleased with the result.

At sometime in the near future I hope to make full size Hellboy bust based on actor Ron Perlman's incarnation of the character. Who you will only see in the film adaptations by the masterful Guillermo Del Toro.

Judge Dredd 18 inch sculpture - clay and acrylics.

Growing up as kid in the 1980s I was a huge fan of the British comic 2000AD. Which was primarily a social satire and quite unlike anything else that had been in print before. If my memory serves me correctly it would hit the shops every Thursday and, pocket money prevailing, I never missed an issue. But out of all the fantastic characters in the comic, which still runs to this day, it was Judge Dredd that had the most impact on me.

If your not already aware Judge Dredd, who first appeared way backk in 1977 when I was 4, is law enforcement and judical officer who works within the dystopian future city of Mega-City-One.

So shortly after having honed my skills with my Frankenstein's monster sculpture I decided that it was several decades over due to have my very own Judge Dredd model.

The sculpture took 3 weeks to complete with pretty much non-stop work. The head, hands, feet, armour and various appendages were all sculpted separately and glued on.

Right below - I've included an image of early stage of the sculpt, you may just be able to make out that I've attached 2 wall brackets to the base to anchor it's wire frame.

The base is a small cheese board and if you look very closely you can see that I've already attached an actual zip to his midsection which I then worked carefully around.

Above - a close up of his face with helmet. I used small peice of plastic to act as his glass vizor. The face took about a day to paint, I really wanted to get the skin textures just right - including a slight hint of stubble.

Above - The final Dredd sculpture. He ended being a little higher than I had anticipated once he was all put together, standing at just over 18 inches in height.

Bigfoot and Yeti models.

Along with Frankenstein's monster, another monster that has captivated me from an early age is Sasquatch or 'Bigfoot' as he's more commonly known!

It was back in the early 80s when I was about 10 years of age when, one evening after school, I happened to catch a film on tv called The Legend of Boggy Creek. In a nutshell it's a low budget documentary style horror drama about a bigfoot like creature that raises hell and terrifies the locals of a small Arkansas town in United States of America.

It truly scared the life out of me at the time and planted the seeds of my life long love of all things related to Bigfoot. Pretty much anytime I working on an art project I'm listening to a podcast about bigfoot!

Left- 10.5 inch Bigfoot bust, clay, fur and hand painted with acrylics.

Right - 26 inch - Yeti model, clay, fur and acrylics.

Left - A quick working pencil sketch to help with the look and posture of the final piece.

The yeti to the right was a really enjoyable project. First I started off by making a wire frame armature and then, thanks to a woman's fur coat from a charity shop, I gradually added cut offs of fur peice by peice and styled it with a comb to create a sense of movement.

The head, hands and feet were all sculpted separately and secured with wire and glue. I experimented with lots various colours for his skin tone but blue really gave him that added tone of iciness.

Right - my very first sculpture
of Batman - made back in 2005.

This the first time I can recall seriously attempting to sculpt something. Lots of trial and error but I was very pleased with the result and it paved the way for me to attempt more difficult projects such as Frankenstein's Monster.

Art Degree show project - 18 inch leg span spider model.

I count giant spiders as monsters. I wouldn't say I have a fear of spiders but, like most sane people I suppose, I'd rather observe them from a distance. This model took around a week to make. This was back in 2006 and sadly I only have a couple of photos of him.

I made a wire amature frame first and then added the clay and then lastly the fur. The finishing touches were the fake blood and a 'fake' dead mouse cocooned in a web!

Despite being very pleased with the end result I remember being very disappointed at the time with a rather low mark.

A few months later I found out from a fellow student that University lecturer who graded my work suffered from arachnophobia.

Woodland Gnome sculpture 16 inch - clay - acrylics.

Left and right above - is Vargney Goodfellow - a magical forest gnome. I made him in parts from the feet up. He took roughly 2 weeks to complete working steadily everyday. Thats an old cheese board for the base and various pebbles and bits of moss and chesnuts painted as mushrooms for decoration.

Scorpion sculpture made from seashells.

Commission that went on to be a garden ornament installation. Made entirely from seashells a crab claw and little bit of garden wire and glue! Finished with acrylics and gloss varnish.

Hand painted - Mexican Day of The Dead - wooden artist's manequins.

I made these skeletons in response to posing an old wooden artist's manequin I never use. I thought he could do with a make over. 3 weeks later I had 3 Mexican Day of The Dead skeletons and pet chupracabra for them called Diablo. Oh...and a coffin too!

Right - Diablo - A Chupacabra - completely hand made from clay.

Left - Migel - one of my crew or 'drudge' of skeletons. Replete with his very own handmade coffin which is made from plywood - furnished with red satin cloth and adorned with various ornate little fixtures moulded from fimo clay.

Sculptures - 3D creations & Frankenstein's Monster.