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Post by wardster on Apr 26, 2019 23:33:12 GMT -5
A shot of the light pole, so far ... but I decided to spice up the background with a new toy I just got.  I won't go into all of the details (especially not now, since I don't really know what I'm doing with the unit, yet) but I'm really stoked that I now own a jeweler's tool that Tim Bruckner (a famous sculptor / toy creator / et cetera) recommended in the book, "Pop Sculpture". I took a chance on an eBay deal, on a used unit that was being offered for way under what a new unit would have cost me ... and no one else bid, so I got it for a price I loved ... and it arrived, earlier today ... and it works! All I've done with it, thus far, was to clean it up (the back of jeweler's shops must have lots of metal polishing "dust" all over) ... with that having happened after doing a quick test, just to see if the tip heated up; and the controls did what they were supposed to, on regulating heat. I "painted" a smiley face on a block of machine-able wax, with an off-brand crayon, just to test that the unit worked. I'm satisfied that it does. Buying it used was the way to go: I saved a lot, compared to the cost of buying myself a brand new one. So ... whoo-hoo! It won't be used on this project, simply because I need lots of practice time with it, etc., but I wanted to sneak it into the background of this photo, anyway ... if only to say I really enjoyed "Pop Sculpture"! Meanwhile, though: the on-topic part of today's update is sitting towards the bottom of this photo. I played with the traffic light's pole and "head" a bit, last night, using some thinned-down analine dyes. I buy the stuff in powder form, that you add water or isopopyl alcohol to. (I get it fairly cheaply from Keda Dye on Amazon. You're supposed to only mix up small amounts, when you need them, but I mixed up too much on some prior projects, and still had it around, way past it's "use by" date/time. It still mostly worked.) Anyway, those fancy dyes are sort of like wood stains in terms of their purpose, but they work very differently. They change the surface of a wooden item to whatever the color is that you're adding, but with far less "hiding" of the wood's grain, in the process. Which, in this case, makes it look more "in scale" in that lots of grain details that aren't apparent before the dyes, are obvious after it. (But not necessarily in this poorly-lit photo, unfortunately. Ugh!) To get this particular final color, I added several (thinned) layers of their golden brown; some black; and even some purple (to give it sort of a "filter" or slight and transparent tint, since it was the only other color I had, pre-mixed; and the other two earlier layers were going off on a sort of a weird greenish tangent or direction. I figured I'd be adding some reddish when I added the purple, which was meant to change the greenish back to brownish.) At a later time, I'll probably seal this light pole with a strong clear; and then do the "hair spray trick" on it, for later paint layers; so I can "chip" and "wear" some of the top layers back off. So most of this color won't show through on the final-final paint job. Or that's the plan, anyway. |
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Post by wardster on May 2, 2019 23:17:53 GMT -5
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Post by wardster on May 2, 2019 23:23:02 GMT -5
Looking at the pics, I guess I should add this much, anyway: I'm finding that the original drawing, while very cool, isn't really "accurate" in terms of the arms or the legs. What I mean is: for them to wrap around the pole, the way they do, one arm and one leg would have to be considerably longer than the other; and it looks like one leg, in particular, would have to have an extra joint in it, too. Which is one reason I like using the system I'm using, of marking off where joints are, and limb lengths, and so on, back when the figure is still in a "non-posed stick figure" mode. (So that I'm not tempted to add a "3D error" to fix a "2D error".) But, hey, it's Toon Land. Most people might not even notice slight changes, as long as the overall affect is achieved. I loved the overall feeling of the original collector's card, and want to stick as close to that art as I can; but a few minor "pose changes" are going to have to not bother me all that much. I want to stick with the spirit of the drawing, as much as I can creatively do that; even if I have to alter some minor things. I'm still going to be playing with the pose, a bit, here and there (and I'm ignoring the hand areas, entirely, for right now) but I did "lock" the hip joints into this pose. Creativity-wise, I like the "fix" I came up with for the legs, to try to closely match as much as I could, on the original card's artwork, while sticking with same-length arms and legs. I chose to hook the figure's right ankle area behind the left calf because that sounds / looks / feels (whatever) like something that would really happen, if a person was up on a pole, and really REALLY didn't want to slide down or fall off. Plus it puts the shoes not too far away from how the drawing shows them. Plus, I'm likely going to need to bend at least one lower leg, forward, temporarily, so that I can reach the shoe areas, to sculpt them. I can then bend that back to where it's shown, here -- and then begin working on "fattening up" the legs; hips; torso; and so on. It's kind of like I'm concentrating on "lines" right now, at this stage; then "thickness" and "surface details" will come, later on. So that no one has to go back to the very start to look at the original artwork, for comparison purposes, here's a "repeat" of that card's image:  |
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Post by plastimatic on May 6, 2019 18:38:20 GMT -5
Ward, we all know the kit never matches the illo!
Relax a bit a just do what looks good to you!
The boys'll love it! (do appreciate the mental effort you put in tho  ) |
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Post by Starryeyes on May 7, 2019 14:34:24 GMT -5
Ward, we all know the kit never matches the illo!
Relax a bit a just do what looks good to you!
The boys'll love it! (do appreciate the mental effort you put in tho ) ^^^^^^^What plastimatic said ^^^^^ |
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Post by TooOld on May 7, 2019 15:17:15 GMT -5
Ward, we all know the kit never matches the illo!
Relax a bit a just do what looks good to you!
The boys'll love it! (do appreciate the mental effort you put in tho ) ^^^^^^^What plastimatic said ^^^^^ I can put what I want to build on paper and plan everything out . . . but it never turns out like I expected . "Klancy" looks great so far ! I don't comment much but I'm paying attention and learning !  |
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Post by wardster on May 8, 2019 18:36:45 GMT -5
Guys,
Just to be clear on a few things -- in case all of my typing and explaining is accidentally making me the "weird, annoying guy" around here, and might be irritating some folks, I figured I'd explain the "why".
Regarding the idea of me "relaxing" more: for me writing _ IS _ one of the big ways that I "relax"!
I know other people don't like doing it ("writing") all that much. Some even hate writing anything.
But for me, writing is fun to do. I love it!
(Same with reading -- which not everyone else always loves, or even "enjoys a lot".)
Writing is a whole separate process, related to my hobbies, that while it (in a way) has nothing to do with the actual "building" or even "planning" parts of things, is still something that is, separately, enjoyable for me. Only way I know how to explain it is to say it's kind of like a person enjoying a well-made hamburger (the planning part of things); and also enjoying some well-made French Fries (actual building); with the writing being sort of the dessert (maybe comparable to having a Milk Shake, with such a meal). Where the process of "painting" comes into that, I don't know -- but you get the idea, I think.
If that makes me the "weird guy," then, well, what can I say: it's a price I gotta pay, I guess. As long as it is not actually annoying anyone here, that's my main concern. (And I'm glad some folks like some of it!)
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Other semi-related thoughts or concerns, so others know more about why / how I do things on forums like this one:
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I realize that any time "word count" goes up, higher than what other people might choose, some people may interpret that as "he is trying to show off" or "he doesn't think we can figure it out" or something. It's not that, at all, with me. Just this week I pointed someone towards some tips I had put on the Coffin Corner 2 web forums, that I had posted there, ten years ago. And literally forgot I'd written up. I did a search on my computer, at home, to see if I had that info handy; couldn't find it, to send to that person who wanted to look at it ... and was about to "start over, from scratch" explaining it in detail. Then I remembered, "Hey, didn't you already explain that, ages ago, over on Dave's Show Rod Rally?" And I had. So I got away with just sending them a link to that old posting ... and saved myself a lot of "starting over". Which is good, because, over time, I forget some details. If I write it up as I'm doing stuff, I remember all the little subtle stuff that I know I'll forget, later on. Forgetting is just the nature of things, if a person does a lot of experimenting. I've found I may forget I tried something, at all, in a few months, if I don't write it down. I've even had to get out some of the old magazine articles I used to write, to try to recall what the heck I did on such-and-such a project. If it's written down, it's easy to look up.
Other reasons I treat this stuff like a "web-published article" rather than "forum comments" include the idea that, actually, "the boys" that are here, are not the only people looking at my threads, here. It helps me with some locals, in two ways, if I'm adding a lot of photos that tell stories, with "full" text.
For instance, when I was figuring out (either here, or in some other thread where I mentioned sculpting ideas and materials) how to use locally-purchased aluminum electrical wiring, I kept asking really weird questions (as others saw it, locally) at places like hardware stores. I used to think it was a mistake to tell the people working in places I was getting stuff from, what I was using it for. Some of them didn't care; some got confused; some just gave me "Are you putting me on?" kinds of looks. I recently told one of the ones that seemed to be more curious about why people do stuff, and what other uses the items he sells can be put to -- and, suddenly, that guy tells another; who tells another; and suddenly "weird questions" out of me, to them, became a good thing, with those people. (I should have done that, ages ago, it seems.) I brought in the armature for Klancy, after I'd first begun adding the epoxy to it ... and, suddenly, the "boring stuff" they formerly sold only to a few electricians, isn't quite as boring any more, to them. Suddenly, I wasn't the weird annoying guy that kept asking them bizarre questions that no one else asks, half the time I came in there. Once I went to the right guy within one such store, and got that "he thinks out of the box, but the stuff he tries actually works" ball rolling, I went from being a person some of them would rather not have to deal with, to a guy that's doing creative, artistic stuff with the stuff they have stared at for years, and never thought of as anything but "what it was made for". And that's a big deal to me. (One store in particular had tons of stuff, but I was starting to dread going into that place. When I belatedly realized "There has to be at least one salesperson here, who also thinks outside the box," my experience of going to that store became pleasant, instead of being dreaded.) I gave him a verbal explanation, and the web address here ... and the next time I went into the store to get something, I had several employees looking over at what I brought in ... instead of them thinking, "Oh no, not him again" and wanting the whole sales experience to hurry up and get over with. Verbally describing what I would use what I was buying from them, for, helped. Showing them the in-progress "thing" was a whole other step forward, though. Suddenly I wasn't the "crazy experimenter guy". I was the "clever lateral thinker guy".
Another local reason or motivation -- one person (Hi, Dennie!) from my city just thanked me, out of the blue, earlier today, for having given her some samples of Super Sculpey several months ago. She does some sculpting of things like spiders and snakes and stuff, using materials like air-drying clays of some sort. (Which I know basically nothing about, material-wise.) When she was showing me some pictures on FaceBook of what she had made, and saw how much she enjoyed doing it, I knew I had more of that sculpting material than I would personally use, any time soon (then or now!) -- so, I had offered her some of it to try. She took some, and recently tried it. And she really liked it, apparently. It made me smile to see how happy she was, about using that material. Seeing a life-sized Rattlesnake shape, which is what she made from the excess or left-over (but still unbaked, and thus, still good) Super Sculpey I had given her, wasn't what I expected a female to make with it -- but that's part of the fun. Main thing was that she was all excited about it. I immediately offered her some more (since I'm a much bigger fan of epoxy style putties) and she immediately said "yes" ... so, while running some other unrelated errands, I dropped some more of the stuff she used and liked, to her place of work. And I gave her some armature wire, too. And I pointed her towards this thread and these boards, so she could see what I was doing with similar (but slightly different) sculpting materials. Before I even left her place of work, she was already thinking the aluminum armature wire might allow her to make wing-like pieces; so she just (mentally) jumped from having created a 1:1 scale Rattlesnake to thinking, "I might make a winged dragon, next". I saw the sparkle in her eye, when she said it, too. She's already planning it out, in her head. She went from never even heard of a product called Super Sculpey, to learning how to knead and prep it; to sculpt with it; to bake it (to harden it) ... and after only one successful project with that material, she's already feeding her head with the info she'll need, to make a dragon, next. And all I did was to hand her some material I had bought, years ago (before I found out I preferred other stuff) and tell her to look up the correct temperature you have to bake that material at (since I couldn't recall what it was, off-hand.) She created a snake, and I can see from her single positive experience with that material, that I "created a monster" in terms of her desire to expand beyond the air-drying clays she once used to make stuff, to this new-to-her material ... and, to me, that's awesome!
Summing up:
The pay-off for me is seeing what (if anything) people end up doing with what I'm sharing with them. (Along with some type of enjoyment in writing it all up; whether or not anyone chooses to "copy what I'm doing" or "steals some ideas" from what I type up.) It's sort of like buying a lottery ticket: I'm risking a bit of my time and what not, and hoping it "pays off" big, later on. I only need one person trying any of these materials, or techniques, to feel the time I spend typing and such paid off, well.
I'm explaining stuff so much, not to compete with anyone, or put anyone down, or anything like that. I'm basically trying to have others "join the club" or "be invited to the party". (I always read a ton of books, and from that I know that social psychologists and researchers would think of those motivations as being "ranking" versus "linking". I'm trying to "link" here; not "rank".) I'm trying to encourage other people to try this stuff ... both on these boards, and outside of these boards ... simply because I enjoy playing with the materials and the techniques others taught me about, in books and magazines and stuff.
I had no idea that excess Super Sculpey material that I handed to a local female, months ago, and then basically forgot I'd even given to her, would end up becoming a 1:1 scale sculpted Rattlesnake. (I never would have guessed that, but maybe I should have?!) It'll be cool to see what she ends up making out of what I handed her, today, when she gets around to "making something" with that second batch of supplies.
And it'll be cool, when it happens, to see what you guys here end up taking from what I'm typing up, if/when anyone here applies these ideas, or variations on them, to future projects. That's probably the biggest joy of being a "person who writes articles" -- seeing what influence you might have, down the road. I learn from lots of guys here, and get ideas from lots of you, too. It makes it fun! My lateral (out-of-the-box) skills get stretched, seeing what others do. And my appreciation for that kind of thinking definitely goes into "whoo-hoo!" overload, when I see somebody applying something they saw me do.
Anyway ... more than enough said, even for me ... and I'll try to get some more actual progress made, and new photos taken.
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Post by wardster on May 9, 2019 2:34:19 GMT -5
Something I'll add, that seems more directly on the original topic that you guys were (ever so gently!) bringing up: that is, that it basically looks pretty bad, right now. That's not "on purpose" but sort of.
I have thought of it this way, for a bunch of years: "My stuff looks like crap; right up until it doesn't."
What I mean is better demonstrated, visually -- but it's not far enough along for that, yet. So I'll try to explain what I mean, now, so that as things progress, it (hopefully) will make more sense what I mean.
Over the years I've developed a very specific step-by-step methodology I use, so that I don't "go backwards" any more than I have to, whenever I'm building (say) a sub-assembly for a model. Because I'm intentionally NOT worrying about the actual "surface level stuff" until what's under that satisfies me, the whole project looks like crap ... then, about the same ... then, more of the same ... etc. ... until, way down the road, I'm satisfied that the "bones are correct" and the pose is correct (etc.) and then, way at the end, the whole project (ideally) sort of "snaps into focus" because I'm confident that I can work on the stuff that's "closest to the skin" without un-doing my progress or work-flow or whatever, "under it".
It's easier to describe what I mean with a vehicular model. With one of those, if I'm building it all the way from scratch, I'm focusing (in the "blueprint stage") mainly on two things: proportions and outlines. Technically in that order, actually -- even though they're so closely related that they seem like "one" thing instead of "two things". I've learned to prioritize proportions first, and outline "within that," because if the "block of marble" that I'm trying to chisel something out of, is the wrong shape or size, the whole project is doomed. (Unless a person scales the outlines down, to fit without that "block".)
Then I work on what I call contours -- and that's kind of where I am, now, with this project. To me, the contour stage is sort of "getting anything over the bones, except the layers near the skin," dealt with.
When I have that good enough, then I work on the stuff that's at that "skin" level. I think of this step as working on the "texture" of a kit. (And I'll need to get busy with "contours," or I'm gonna fail to meet the contest's deadline, that's for sure!)
At this point in the imaginary step-by-step "plan" or sequence, the raw parts just need primer and then final paint.
So, to sum up how I "think of" most of my "all the way from scratch" sorts of projects, I follow these five steps, in order:
"Proportions"
"Outlines"
"Contours"
"Texture"
"Paint"
Imagining those five steps backwards would be paint; then texture; then contours; then outlines and proportions. I saw a lot of guys (in other niche's: not necessarily we 'toon guys n' gals) doing pretty much that method -- and I very much wanted to avoid that, if I could.
The reason I said that my projects tend to "Look like crap, right up until they don't" is that it takes a long time (especially if you're not actually working enough on a project! Yikes!) to get to the point where I am satisfied that the first two steps are dealt with, in a way that I won't have to "backpedal" later, to undo things like the "texture" stages ... which I would have to do, to deal properly with the "contour" stages ... which (worst case) I'd have to do, because I got the first two stages wrong, somehow. But, that said: I still saw a lot of detailed "mistakes and all" processes described, that had LOTS of back-stepping.
Ten or fifteen years ago, when I was informally apprenticing myself (in a way) to some well-known guys in other areas of this hobby (David Merriman comes to mind: he's an R/C submarine scratch-builder, mostly -- he also contributed some parts for space ships and what not, to Star Trek TV shows, and so on) I really gave the overall methodology a big-long thinking time.
What made me think in those terms was two things: bleeping up way too many of my own projects, back when I was first assigning myself "figure out how to build stuff from scratch" projects ... and also, all the reading I do. In many magazine articles, or books, or whatever, if guys are showing all of the actual steps they took, the conclusion I finally reached is that if they under-valued the first two steps, and rushed past getting that correct, and proceeded on-wards anyway, the project failed to EVER look right. Maybe it had the right textures and paint, and because of that, was fairly easy to "recognize" -- but if texture or paint were laid over incorrect contours, then the "surface" was laid onto-or-over a "foundation" that wasn't right.
I hope that makes sense?
I know it looks like it's not going to turn out, well, at all. Visually, if it wasn't me making this thing (and thus, knowing my intent regarding that five-step hierarchy) I doubt I'd have any faith that the final thing would turn out okay. But because I know how my mind works, and I've done this before, I trust the overall process enough that the step-by-step progress should bring me closer to completing the "contours" before too terribly much longer ... then, I'm thinking the "texture" stage won't be too lengthy, because it's being done on a kit that's supposed to be fairly simple (to fit in with the idea of it being, in a sense, a "Never Was" but "What If" kit in the Weird-Ohs series) ... so I'm hoping it's almost a short blink or two between the end of the "contour" stages, and when I'm actually applying the final paint.
Hopefully you'll see what I mean, and it will turn out okay, as the project progresses ... which I need to seriously speed up on since time's a-wastin' big time, deadline-wise!
Another reason for me going into all of this detail -- (and again: sorry if my lengthy posts irritate or annoy you folks!) -- on this project, in regards to my plans / methodology / explanations, is that when this project is done, it's my hope that the next 'toon figure I do (whatever it may end up being) will be close enough to this one's work flow and materials and all of that, that I can save myself time, later, by just uploading new in-progress photos (for that future project) and saying something along the lines of, "Here's the pics for this project; the explanation is elsewhere" and put a link to this message thread.
Apologies if I should have went to bed ages ago, and just typed up a bunch of stuff that only I "get"? I think this is a good point in this project for me to mention stuff ... but we'll see what happens, later.
Anyway, thanks again for looking, guys! (And putting up with my "Maximum Verbosity Mode ON" traits!)
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Post by TooOld on May 9, 2019 5:51:35 GMT -5
Everything I build looks like crap to me too . . . until a point when I'm about 90% finished when I think "That doesn't look too bad after all !" My point being is every one of us thinks the same thing as you do about our own builds . When it comes to watching you or someone else scratch build I'm always impressed and always enjoy it . A lot of it is because I understand the basics of starting with a frame and building on that until you have a finished form , but I've only done it on paper and never on my bench . As for your writing I say "Go for it !", you can explain things in a way that's easy to understand . Some people , including myself can't do that so I rely on pictures instead of words to explain what I'm doing . So keep doing what you're doing !  |
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Post by wardster on May 21, 2019 21:49:40 GMT -5
Everything I build looks like crap to me too . . . until a point when I'm about 90% finished when I think "That doesn't look too bad after all !" My point being is every one of us thinks the same thing as you do about our own builds . When it comes to watching you or someone else scratch build I'm always impressed and always enjoy it . A lot of it is because I understand the basics of starting with a frame and building on that until you have a finished form , but I've only done it on paper and never on my bench . As for your writing I say "Go for it !", you can explain things in a way that's easy to understand . Some people , including myself can't do that so I rely on pictures instead of words to explain what I'm doing . So keep doing what you're doing ! Thanks, man! Much appreciated! (And then some!!) Given how fast time is flowing, though, and how slow I'm actually going on this project, I think I'm gonna change my goals, at least a bit, or change my timing or something ... and make this one be a project for the "Trick Or Toons" contest, instead ... thus (hopefully!?) letting me focus on getting more done on my Huey's Hut Rod project, for this contest, in the next week and a half. Maybe I'm picking on myself too much, of late, and/or worrying too much, but I can't help but thinking that it's pathetic of me that I'm letting so much time go by, and not getting much of anything done, on a regular basis. I used to do the "working to a deadline" thing all of the time, back when I was writing articles for Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller, out of England. (Sigh? Old age? I maybe picked up an allergy to deadlines, from the fifteen articles I once did for them? I dunno. Something happened.) Oh well ... some semi-recent work is getting (well, got) done on this one ... but I think I'm gonna switch over to Huey's for a bit, and see if I can't at least get SOMETHING actually finished up, in time for this contest's deadline. Then, finish this off after the current contest is done. But, it's not all "down on myself" kind of news ... I'm glad I'm working on ANYTHING, after being away from my workbench for about what seems like three years or so. Just getting ANYTHING worked on, feels like progress! |
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Post by wardster on May 21, 2019 22:51:30 GMT -5
Okay, here's some more pictures, showing semi-recent progress:  Sorry the shot above isn't super clear ... to explain what you're seeing: that's a wooden cutting board under the thin sheet of cardboard (see below) so that I had a fairly flat "foundation" area, underneath the work-to-be ... and so I could just pick up the whole thing, and set it aside somewhere, while the materials I added in the next steps could take their time, hardening.  Clearly, this isn't going to be done in a week-and-a-half ... so, as noted above, I'll (finally!) do some work on finishing up my Huey's Hut Rod kit, for this contest's deadline ... then, after the current contest is over with, finish this one off as just a regular build, or a "slightly halloween-ized" contest build. What's shown here (first image, above) is a piece of a frozen pizza box, that I did some layout work on, and then, protected with some clear shelf paper; then put some sticky-backed drywall reinforcing "tape" stuff on that surface ... then (not shown) globbed on some Presto Patch (plaster) to about a quarter of an inch or so in thickness (experimenting with dyes and stuff, as I went, just to get more practice ... and then, (second pic), after that all hardened, I bandsawed off the outer edges, and coping saw'ed off the hole in the middle. I haven't quite decided what I'm gonna do with the next layers. Might cover it in more plaster and I might cover it with something like Aves Apoxie Putty. We'll see, when I get to that point. I recently got in a DVD on making terrain for dioramas, so maybe that'll push me in some solid direction. If not, I'll just wing it as I go. (It generally works, even if it's not the ideal way to get stuff done.)  I'm not sure it's even overly noticeable, but I did a teeny bit more work on Klancy's torso area, too. Just blopped on some more Magic Sculpt, basically. I'm shooting for sort of an "S-curve" to his spine, as seen from behind, to sort of "get more action" going, pose-wise. The only part that's sort of "locked in" is the spine / torso area, and the upper legs. All the rest I'm moving around, as needed, to get my fingers into the areas I need them to go. (Since I'm mainly doing the actual sculpting with my fingers, thus far.) Notice also that I removed the putty on the forearm areas (a few good whacks with a small ball peen hammer did the trick!) so that, later on, I can solder on some smaller diameter copper wires, to make his hands. (I may as well get more practice on smaller-scale stuff, and on hands, as I work on this, right?) Oh, and that's my Giles brand waxer unit's box, that he's treating like a big rock, and is "trying to push". I needed something to prop him up, and I had recently taken it all apart and stripped the beige paint off of that unit, so ... there's another lame excuse for me to get my new toy into another photo. |
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Post by TooOld on May 22, 2019 5:51:31 GMT -5
Clearly, this isn't going to be done in a week-and-a-half ... so, as noted above, I'll (finally!) do some work on finishing up my Huey's Hut Rod kit, for this contest's deadline ... then, after the current contest is over with, finish this one off as just a regular build, or a "slightly halloween-ized" contest build. Sound like a plan ! I'm working on my entry every day now in order to finish . Then I'm going to work on my Trick-Or-Toons entry instead of waiting 'till September , it'll never get finished otherwise . |
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Post by wardster on May 24, 2019 20:44:53 GMT -5
Clearly, this isn't going to be done in a week-and-a-half ... so, as noted above, I'll (finally!) do some work on finishing up my Huey's Hut Rod kit, for this contest's deadline ... then, after the current contest is over with, finish this one off as just a regular build, or a "slightly halloween-ized" contest build. Sound like a plan ! I'm working on my entry every day now in order to finish . Then I'm going to work on my Trick-Or-Toons entry instead of waiting 'till September , it'll never get finished otherwise . I'm doing just the opposite of you -- NOT working on anything, on ANY day. And I think I'm finally figuring out why. (Maybe?) I've methodically ruled out "discipline" and "planning" since those don't seem to be the precise problem I'm having. Years ago, I used to have a specific place and a rough time where/when I worked on things like this kind of a project, but for reasons I won't go into, that's no longer an available place I can work on such things, at present. I kept telling myself to just get over it, and to just use another spot; and to use any available time slot that comes up. And that keeps not working. (Partly because my current dog bugs me, for some weird reason, when I try to use what used to be my one "alternate" spot -- a spot that a prior dog was perfectly comfortable with me doing stuff like brush painting at / on.) I'm apparently going to have to admit to myself that I'm more "territorial" than I thought I was, regarding my working area(s). And my dog is reinforcing that anti-work mode. Looks like my biggest hurdle towards "getting something finished, in this life time" is going to be coming up with an acceptable-enough alternative spot for me to work. Which, longer-term, should work out fine (because I'm planning newer shop areas, etc.) but in the short term, I'm kind of wondering why this is a hang-up, for me. Oh well. Recognizing it, lets me try to get past it. Or at least, that's the plan. (The one biggie, equipment-wise, is not having a designated place to safely spray paint anything.) One good thing I noticed: sculpting doesn't really have any specific "designated place" as far as my mind is concerned, since it isn't / wasn't something I did regularly enough (a few years ago, and beyond that, going backwards) to have become "territorial" about where I did it. So I'll have to encourage myself to NOT get a "one and only" (or designated) "sculpting spot," apparently! Meanwhile, with only a week to go in this current contest, I think I'm going to officially push this one, plus Huey's Hut Rod, back ... not quitting on either of them, forever. Just "re-planning" where and when I work on stuff. Maybe consciously doing that will "get it done"? I'll be glad when my "new shop spaces" are fully up and running! But until then, I'll need to figure out some work-arounds ... |
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Post by dogfish7 on Jun 1, 2019 12:49:00 GMT -5
Great progress.
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Post by jffj on Nov 13, 2019 14:15:23 GMT -5
Love watching, and reading your build here Wardster. I've threatened to make an armature-ed figure for years!
Very cool idea of filling Leaky Louie with glue and Vermiculite..... I'll have to try that. Thanks for all the kool ideas and inspiration 👍👍
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