Medusa

When I was growing up, Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts and Tails of Sinbad were the big fantasy films produced with the finest Hollywood talent at the time.
Real monsters came to life!
Clash of the Titans was my favourite.
I was crazily obsessed with unicorns and winged horses, that it was a dream for me to have a film featuring Pegasus.
I think it was my first introduction to the Roman/Greek gods of Olympas.
I must have watched it about 200 or so times.
..and Medusa fascinated me.




Can't believe how much I was in awe as she slithered about with live hair in the scene she meets Perseus and yet now it looks a little dated (but still very cool!!) as we have advanced so much with digital technologies.
I can't wait for the newer version and am jealous of all the people who got to work on it!

so..I wanted to challenge myself for the next venture and Medusa popped into my head.
I imagined her to look screaming in rage as her head was chopped off. A challege indeed!

the armature situation was still causing me grief and I just wanted to start workingthe clay. I found a small piece of a banister, pulled all the dowels off -bar one. Drilled a hole near the top of the remaining dowel, threaded a piece of aluminium wire - added chicken wire and I was good to go! (note 10hrs later - the head tips over occasionally grrrrr)

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again I used 'Modelling the Head in Clay' featuring Bruno Lucchesi, as a reference to my initial techinque concerning measurements of the face. His book is a series of photos and tutelage at every stage.

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I like this way of sculpting, you can't seem to go wrong. If you cut off an area you mean to keep, just stick it back on.
The Chavant was nicer to work with than the Newclay airdrying that I was using. It look a shape and kept it, whereas the waterbased can get soggy if you're working too intensely in a tiny area.
It's also more of a hassel to keep it covered up with bags to keep the air out!

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this is roughly 4 hours since I slapped clay to 'armature'. Am working away with the facial expression now I have the facial contours basically fleshed out. I also opened the mouth a wee bit for a more dramatic scream. She looks really manly at this point - so thinking of altering the chin, widen the eyes...
Not sure whether to have snake fangs or just jagged rotting teeth....

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Symmetry is the key. I drew an imaginary line which split the head in half and I continuously moved round the head, ensuring both sides were equally proportioned.
for the ears, had thought about not giving her ears - she's a snake.. instead went for a troll/ goblin type ear. It would have looked a bit odd without them.


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The snakes are on and I'm wondering how to cast this. I'd like to make a mould from it and see if I cast it in resin, with maybe some bronze powder added for a bronze effect.
Had a chat with a colleague and they suggested I make an individual mould of each snake and make a mould of the head bald.

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some pictures I took in natural light! this is roughly 9/10hours from start. I can see from the left picture that I need to lift up the eyelid on the left eye. Maybe thin out the tip of the nose a little. Hah! the right eyebrow is a slug!