You better believe it, alright. Because this year marks the first time I sculpt a bust. And I’ve done one of my late Aunt Angela, who died of cancer last year. My dad wants me to give her a legacy, so I did.
Now before I made her bust, I did some bust sculpting practice. I started by making 3 generic busts with newplast. Newplast is a bit like Aardman plasticine, because it IS Aardman plasticine!! It’s soft and it never dries out or go hard, that’s why Aardman is friends with the newplast company. Now, because this clay is soft and never dries out or go hard, you have to be very careful.
The first one for starters; egg-shaped with round eyes, smooth-rounded nose and sausage eyebrows and mouth, stuck on like parts of Mr. Potato Head.
The second one for almost; same shape but with eyes, mouth and teeth drawn on it, but it still has popped-out nose, which is a pointy one.
And finally, the third one for so far so good; again same shape (and size as the others), and with drawn eyes and teeth and 3-D nose, but with 3-D lips, cheeks and forehead.
Then I made a bust of the only and only Jim Carrey! It’s bigger and more detailed than the generic busts. Anywha, I used one of Jim’s images as a reference to one of his films. I can tell it looks like him because, during his interview from Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (2020), he did his famous Grinch face! V
And after I did Jim Carrey, I started to make 3 respective busts of 3 members of The Super Mario Bros. Movie voice cast! Just to let you know; my tutor, James, told me not to make my busts too realistic, so I didn’t, I made them both realistic and cartoonish. But I made illustrations of them first before I made them 3-D. They are bigger and more detailed than Jim Carrey’s bust and I referenced their busts to their respective realistic images. So I started them with a tin foil skull and then clay skin before I add the details. The reason why I use the tin foil is so my 3 final practice busts would not be heavy, because too much clay makes something a model very heavy. Now there are at least 5 stages; tin foil skulls, clay skin, getting the features in the places, facial details, and hair, moustaches and beards. V
Chris Pratt (Mario)
Jack Black (Bowser)
Seth Rogen (Donkey Kong)
And after all that practice, I finally got started on my aunt’s bust. I made it with polymer clay, which is, unlike the actors’ busts’ clay, oven-bakable.
And what was different to how I made this bust, compared to the others, is that it’s bigger and harder than the others due to it being made with polymer clay. James helped me made the clay soft before I can model it, so we had to use little pieces at the time. And because it’s a bust of a woman, it has long hair than the other busts. Quite tricky doin’ it, so don’t ask….
Anywhay, the thing I feel about making a bust portrait of someone I knew in real life is like she’s still alive. I used a picture of her to memorize her. My idea to make a bust of my Aunt Angela was all because of my dad. He was the one who wanted her to have a legacy from me.
Anywha, here is her bust. V
Oh, and before I finish, there another thing I did for the very first time. And it’s 3-D scanning. I took 200 photographs of my busts from every angle on a scanning app, check it out on https://youtu.be/iKLs38XBL-k. Λ
Okay, now, yet again, before I finished, I want to say….
In loving memory of Angela O’Toole (1963-2023) “You have always been Justin’s favourite aunt.”