Sunday, September 15, 2013

Submersible Maquette


Reference maquettes don't have to be made from Sculpey. Any materials that you've got in the studio or workshop can come in handy (which is a good excuse for being a lateral thinker and a packrat).


I constructed this very rough maquette for Arthur Denison's submersible using cardboard for the body profile and a clear plastic egg shape, which I filled with kit-bashed plastic model parts. The long gray pieces came from a model railroad supply store.

As you can see, I didn't follow the maquette closely at all, but it was really valuable for imagining Arthur Denison's submersible. I also referenced reconstructions of Bushnell's Turtle, a Revolutionary-era ancestor of submarines.


Combined with a kronosaur maquette that I had on hand, along with underwater photos of whales, I felt more sure of myself when I tackled a more difficult scene like this one, from Dinotopia: The World Beneath. 

4 comments:

  1. Very cool James, reminds me of a submarine for the bath tub I had as a kid.
    I had to look up kit-bashed, makes sense, its right up your alley, now I know.
    An artist/sculptor worth checking out, I saw a show of his at the Oceanside Museum of Art, is John Taylor.
    He use cast-off computer parts among other things to create (folk art)ships. You would probably enjoy these.

    http://www.folkartships.com/

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  2. It's posts like these that justify my need to keep my labeled boxes of odds and ends haha

    I'm excited to try making up a few rough models and such for my next piece! :D I think it will really help me in my trouble area of believable lighting in my backgrounds.

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  3. Katie!!! You finally posted. Congrats on the contest btw.

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