To check out the FULL LESSON, just click HERE: CHARACTER DESIGN - PART THREE: SPACE CREATURE MAQUETTE SCULPTURE
Maquette Sculpture Techniques with Don Lanning
You are being employed by a production company in order to come up with a unique concept for a feature film. You are a professional, giving it 110%. As most of you know, a lot goes into sculpting a maquette. In addition to the sculpting techniques performed on the clay, there is also all the brain power put into the initial concept. Completing a maquette is a monumental feat of thought, concentration, and skill. Quite an accomplishment. Time to turn it in and receive your kudos.
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- Adapting to Unforeseen Production Changes
- Maintaining Symmetry in Your Sculpture
- Making New Character Concepts
- Creating an Entirely New Sculpture
- Lessons from Don Lanning
(Don's second in the 3-part series. This guy has character!)
Adapting to Unforeseen Production Changes
But wait… the production company has changed its mind. They want something else. An entirely new concept. You weren’t expecting this.
Not to worry. Don Lanning is here with his velvety voice to walk you through the entire process. This is part III of Don’s continuing series, Character Design: Maquette Sculpting Techniques. In Part I, Don created an aquatic character. In Part II, he completely revamped the maquette, adding horns, armor, and additional pieces to turn it into a more military-like alien soldier. In Part III, he will start again and create an entirely new concept. But what’s fun about this is that he doesn’t know where he will go with it yet. He’s just going to figure it out as he goes. That’s part of the fun.
Maintaining Symmetry in Your Sculpture
Before he even begins, Don hammers home the importance of the centerline of the sculpture. He uses a small sword sticking vertically through the top of the head to keep this center established. It’s his Excalibur. It stays there through every iteration because keeping symmetry is his #1 most important rule. Without that, everything else will look off. Although, besides keeping that centerline established, everything else is fair game for change.
(The sword of centertude. If you've been binge-viewing on Don, you'll know this sharp friend plays a pivotal role.)
Making New Character Concepts
Don immediately digs right in. He rips off the horns. He digs out the eyes; he slices, chops, and carves off almost every distinguishing feature on the face of his initial character. He doesn’t do this quickly, mind you. It does it with careful focus. Not only do you need to make completely sure there’s nothing you want to keep, but you also have no clue where inspiration is truly going to strike. This is the beauty of this lesson. Watching the act of subtraction work as inspiration.
(How do you gouge the eyes out of your CLAY BABY? Fast. And maybe with your eyes closed.)
We’ve all seen how building up and adding clay layer upon layer can create ideas and inspiration in character. Here, we watch this same type of inspiration take place by removing elements. It’s truly fascinating. Watching him slowly carve off the entire face and then see how this act puts the idea of a longer, thinner-faced character in his brain is extremely unique. It’s not something you normally see. Inspiration by subtraction. It’s just really, really cool.
Creating an Entirely New Sculpture
Once Don has reshaped the base form and created a new “canvas” to start from, it’s game time. From here, it’s Don at his best. He builds, carves, and creates upon his reshaped core as only Don Lanning can. His tips and teaching style are bar-none some of the best in the business. He explains how sometimes you can start with one component and then work outward from that. In his case, a large center eye is his beginning, which then makes him think about what the bone structure would be to support that eye, and then works outward from there. Tips like twisting the edges of the mouth to find the corners, how to use various smoothing techniques, and when to use certain tools are just a few of his amazing tips.
(The silhouette is alive, and his clean slate is ready for Lanning's skill to really shine through - Creating a BRAND NEW character on the fly.)
Lessons from Don Lanning
Finally, I know I mentioned it before, but I must mention it again. Don’s velvety, smooth voice is like butter. It’s like listening to Bob Ross back in the day. I can’t tell you how many Saturday mornings I spent watching Boss Ross paint, and I swear it was partially because of his voice. Don’t underestimate it. Don’s voice calms you into such a peaceful state that information simply absorbs into you like nothing else.
(Say it ain't so! The end of the series?? Well. Yes. But Mr. Lanning has carved his way into our faculty in a big way. Look out for plenty more. And a bunch of great LIVE stuff, too.)
Enjoy Part III of Don’s amazing journey -- tips, techniques, voice, and more.
- Jeff Dixon
To check out the FULL LESSON, just click HERE: CHARACTER DESIGN - PART THREE: SPACE CREATURE MAQUETTE SCULPTURE