Lucas Morawski’s Artistic Journey
by Lucas Morawski
Ever since I was a little kid, I've been fascinated with creating stuff, my own toys, for example, and I focused on fantasy because I was heavily influenced by video games like WarCraft I.
I've always enjoyed inventing new monsters and sketching them. My imagination would run wild when it came to those sorts of things. My friend and I used to draw a lot as kids, and I would give anything to still have all those drawings I did back then. We were always competing with each other, drawing Orcs, BIG ogres, dragons... hell, whole armies marching!
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(Early drawings by Lucas Morawski.)
(Lucas Morawski's early illustrations.)
Making the First Sculptures
As time went by and I grew older, I started to work and travel to different countries instead of drawing and began wandering in the dungeons of my imagination. I eventually thought to myself: THE TIME HAS COME to create monsters again!
But this time... I'm going to sculpt them!
It all started when one day I saw a figure on the internet and wanted one for myself. It was from one of my favorite games, StarCraft. I did some research, and to be honest, I was not impressed by what I found. I remember thinking to myself, "I bet I could do it better."
I had absolutely NO sculpting experience whatsoever, so I went to YouTube and typed: "How to make a sculpture." I ordered Super Sculpey (because the guy from the video used it), and as soon as it arrived, I started to sculpt the creature below.
(StarCraft Protoss Zeratul sculpture (front view) by Lucas Morawski.)
I sculpted the StarCraft figure in 2012, and my only sculpture tool was a piece of an umbrella!
(StarCraft Protoss Zeratul sculpture (back view) by Lucas Morawski.)
After I had finished and painted it with acrylics (using a brush), someone told me that there were special tools for sculpting. I created a fan page and uploaded my work, and then the Blizzard community came along, and in one day, I got over a million views. I was blown away!
I did several sculptures after that, mostly my interpretation of characters from my favorite video games. I was focused on experimenting with textures and realistic effects. When I created "Hunter" and "Smoker," for example, I wanted to test out material bending.
(The “Smoker” from Left 4 Dead. Sculpture by Lucas Morawski.)
(Left 4 Dead "Hunter" sculpture by Lucas Morawski. Photo by Michal Nowak.)
(Left 4 Dead "Hunter" sculpture (back & top view) by Lucas Morawski. Photo by Michal Nowak.)
When I created "Butcher", I wanted to test out stitches.
(“Butcher" sculpture (front view) by Lucas Morawski.)
("Butcher" sculpture (back view) by Lucas Morawski.)
When I created "Shaman," I wanted to test out wrinkles on skin... and lots of gear.
("Shaman" sculpture (front view) by Lucas Morawski.)
("Shaman" sculpture (side view) by Lucas Morawski.)
(Experiments and drawings by Lucas Morawski.)
Then, my grandfather died, and my life changed dramatically. I stopped making any form of art for a year and a half.
It took me some time to figure things out and realize that that's not the right way. At the end of 2016, I joined the Shiflett Bros Sculpting forum, where I found out about Stan Winston School's Creature Sculpting Contest. I wanted to make a comeback. But this time, with a different mindset, different goals, and a different perspective... and here I am!
The ANURAG'ANAN Project
While thinking about my creature concept, a few things came to my attention. First of all (and I guess it's quite obvious), when the word "creature" comes to mind, people TEND to think of claws, aggressive attack positions, scary, monster-like, insectoid shapes, etc. But on the other hand, it's not easy to create something original and interesting enough to catch someone's attention in this era of millions sharing their ideas and inspirations.
The simplest split and the most basic category that one can use while wondering about creating something is based either on FEAR or LOVE. Well, that's the way I see it anyway. So, to break the typical creature concept, I decided that I wouldn't make something based on the idea of FEAR. It started with the fact that I'm from Poland, so I wanted to implement this a bit by inspiring myself with a Slovakian God, "Światowit," a 4-headed humanoid. I began researching representations of ancient gods and creatures.
(Inspirations for Anurag'Anan.)
I started to combine my previous work with something new. I'm very fascinated by ancient cultures, and one of my very early designs was inspired by my Egyptian concept of the An'Unna'Ki (translation: Heaven to Earth Came), an alien race that came to Earth, and if Egyptians met them, what would they look like?
("An'Unna'Ki" alien concept by Lucas Morawski.)
My An'Unna'Ki design was a combination of a cobra and an elephant. The cobra's "hood" would be like an elephant's ears. It was interesting,g but I felt like there was a conflict somewhere. I wanted something quite simple in design yet interesting enough to come back to it again and again. So I set myself some guidelines: love, nature, protector, multidimensional, primal, energy, story.
(SWSCA Creature Sculpting Contest winner, Anurag'Anan by Lucas Morawski.)
I wanted it to feel gigantic in form yet not frightening. I was wondering about the name, and I wanted it to sound a bit like "An'unna'ki," so I did some research, and ANURAG could be translated as "love" and the other part ANAN as "infinity."
(SWSCA Creature Sculpting Contest winner, Anurag'Anan by Lucas Morawski.)
My workflow was chaotic and slow because I got lost in the details very easily. The fact that I have a "normal" job that has nothing to do with any form of art meant only one thing when I participated in the Stan Winston School contest: a lot of sleepless nights!
I'm really happy that my creation was picked, especially since there were lots of really strong submissions to the Sculpting Contest. This win means a lot to me; it gives me hope and determination to create more of my original designs. And a grand prize means that I will get to finally see new sculpting techniques. Again a BIG "Thank You" to the entire Stan Winston School of Character Arts team!
- By Lucas Morawski
To learn more & follow Lucas Morawski on Facebook, check out Elenem Figure Sculpting
The contest winner announcement: Anurag'Anan
View all the entries at Creature Sculpting Contest