Charlie with a sixpack

[grumpygrowly]

HiYa Toonsters!

Yea, the model is the sillysurfer Hodad.

Charlie is my neighbor, great friend and also my boss when installing Blinds. Oh gosh, most important to us modelers, he has a constant and endless supply of glue to give me.
Charlie is no hodad, he is a dad and he and his wife did raise a family in a small town north of SF on the ocean. He loves to go fishing, set crab traps or just sit on the beach. Charlie and his wife printed Beat poetry for City light book store, they have even told me about hanging out with Allen Ginsberg and Maria Magdalena Barcinski (Magda). What, you don't know Magda? She's the mother of Heuy Anthony Cregg III, and one of the true "Beat poets",  ,  ,  Heuy Anthony Cregg III is Heuy Lewis, as in Heuy Lewis and the News. 
Charlie, along with working for Whole foods before they went big, being a child runaway, crossing the Canadian border less then legally, standing up to "those Pigs" in Colorado, the list goes on and on
Charlies has also been know to enjoy a puff and a Rolling Rock or 3.

Charlie took a chance on me when no one else would. He is teaching me a skilled trade and for that I am truly grateful.
 I will never be able to repay him for his kindness; I do hope to give him some thing this Christmas that one else will.
 My previous hodad has striking similarities to a Young Charlie, but I did not know him then. Doe went way out of her way to get a second hodad and suggested that with certain changes we could make so that we could have a fairly convincing Cartoon Charlie.

So Doe and I think we can change Hodad into Charlie before the 24th. not alot of time with my in-laws coming to visit this weekend. Ahh but as per usual with my trend in Hodads; I have time off as I smashed a couple of teeth and have to have them pulled by a dentist and can not do it my self this time.

Work started when I heard the plan, no time to wait.
We glued, filled seams, sanded, filled again and sanded again. Primed it all.
I filled in the word Hodad on the base with a grey epoxy putty, but it is very light and stands out even with the goopy brown primer. easy fix with the acrylic paint, we can blend it in.
 Doe also gave Charlie his mustache, air dry clay.



I am off the the Dentist at 10:30 and will continue working on Charlie when I get home.
TTFN

[grumpygrowly]

blending base colors.
painting starfish and crabs.
 More tomorrow.

[brizio]

Looks a great start so far!

[grumpygrowly]

Still plugging away. today we worked on jacket, shorts and flip flops.
star fish needs a touch up; took a lot of bending to get him to stick.

[Starryeyes]

Great story !! What a great project to tackle !!

[grumpygrowly]

Last night Doe taught me how to dry brush with acrylics and why. Charlie's jacket has to be 10 years old and has faded, so the bright green was too much color. I have tried to dry brush before, but the contrast in colors always displeased me. Doe showed me how to blend the two colors I wanted. Going from Phthalo green (dark green) to an unbleached cotton (off white).

-Painted on the green making sure to get it deep into the folds in the jacket, let the paint get tacky but still wet and don't dip brush in water instead clean the brush on a towel, this leaves some dark paint in the brush.
-We added drops of the off white to the green paint on the pallet (I use old glossy junk mail as a paint pallet) and the green gets lighter. With the dirty dry brush, layer on the lighter green, this time I'm not trying to get max coverage but instead hit the large flat areas, where the sun hits.
We repeated the process of lightening the green and layering it. 5 or 6 times?
-Finally Doe took the by now very dirty brush loaded it with just the off white paint and then, unloaded the brush on the towel so almost no paint was left on it, She then feathered the brush over the tops of the folds in the jacket, cuffs and collar. Then she let me try, not hard at all.
Really brought out the texture of the jacket.


The texture come from blending the now tacky paint that has been drying on the model with the new wet color. The dry brush alone would give you this affect, of rolling the paint on its self to create lumps, but you would be left with unpainted spots. However by adding the new lighter wet paint with the dry brush, you can still get full coverage. And get this neat fabric look.

Oh yeah, I painted the t-shirt.
Also worken on a sign that will come out the top of the pylon.

[TooOld]

That's some great paint work Grumpy , and thanks for the lessons in how to achieve this !
I've never attempted anything like this but I do plan on giving it a go in the future . . . thanks !

[brizio]

The dry brush make pop up every thing!

[grumpygrowly]

Thanks all, I know there is a lot to do still.
We will keep plugging away at this, working on a street sign and the 6 pack today.

[grumpygrowly]

I worked on the street signs and had hoped to finish the 6 pack. The weather got sticky and I dont have time for silly rattle can issues. I will hold off on the 6 pack until we dry out on Sat.
I did a bit of matte Mod Podge over the sandy beach. Then went back with gloss Mod Podge and highlighted the creases in the sand. This creates a depth to the sandy base. when you walk on the beach at the inter tidal level you push the water out of the sand as your feet compress it.

We did decide to use one of the gulls from my Birds project; it's ok I have 2 more.

For fun I put the 2 Hodads next to each other. This turned out to be unnerving to me as I could see all the work needing to be done.




I head to the dentist again this morning. A little more yanking teeth.

[brizio]

Great update, the bird is a nice touch! Good luck a the dentist too...

[grumpygrowly]

Dec 19, 2017 12:05:02 GMT -5 brizio said:

Great update, the bird is a nice touch! Good luck a the dentist too...

Thanks Brizo, hate to say it, I've gotten used to the process and pain. (Not A Good Thing!)

I think that I might try to paint Charlie's "rollie" this afternoon.


TTFN

[grumpygrowly]

Never got to the rollie.  Doe and I took tunrs last night painting coats of flesh tones on Charlie.

Today I have been working on the Salt and pepper hair. I think to look more "Charlie" its got to be lightened a bit.

Thanks all

[grumpygrowly]

Getting close to deadline. I worked on his Rollie and did some washes, painted teeth and the inside of his mouth. giving him a Matte clearcoat with touches of gloss for pop.

Lots of tiny things to work on after getting him put together. And a whole 6 pack!

TTFN

[brizio]

I like the "Salt and Pepper" hair! It give more wisdom a the character!