I made this chap a while back, and he’s been crooning away on the desk ever since waiting for the flashbulbs to go off. His five minutes of fame have arrived, his gigs in the pubs and clubs paid off. May I present my karaoke cuboidroid?
I’ve had fun creating my cuboidroids, and as my confidence has grown so have my modelling skills. The third cuboidroid in my series is perhaps the most whimsical to date… ‘will you be mine?’
The arms took a fair number of prototypes to get right, as did the ‘hands’. I eventually settled on the hexagonal shape and added the internal thread. This will give me the opportunity to add props using bolts that screw in. I’ve also added extra elements to reinforce the droid bits:
Now I’ve done the prototypes, I need to perfect the smoothing of the various components, perfect the paint jobs and come up with more characterisations. Not much then…
Another in my series of mini-characters is this unsure cuboidroid with a faux brushed steel finish. By combining various paints and varnishes, the dulled patina plays against the satin clean metal. I am amazed at how small an expression is required to anthropomorphise an otherwise inanimate/non-human object.
This little chap/ess is available to purchase – do contact me if you’re interested. Previous characters are here.
I’ve had a little bit more ‘me time’ in the studio and decided out of the blue to create something from scratch using my 3D printer. The second time I created this little chap was a lot quicker than the first. I had learnt how to do it in the preceding four hours and then neglected to save the file before it crashed… I’m in the process of kitting out another two of these mini sculptures and will be making a series, I think. I’m dubbing them ‘cuboidroids’ – cuboid droids. Two reasons: I had to call them something and ‘blockheads’ was already taken; a quick Google search showed no one had concatenated the two words together, ever. If only I had the cash to trademark the name.
This down-in-the-dumps rust bucket stands 9cm/3½” high and is for sale if anyone wants to make me an offer. Or commission a custom cuboidroid…
I don’t know how much of this art shrine sample was shown on TV last week… I certainly didn’t have enough time to demonstrate how I put it together, so here comes a tutorial to follow if you want to make your own 🙂
In tonight’s art journal session, we’re going to look at using large scale layouts. Though we will be working in our normal journals (mine is A4 spread), we’ll be using 12×12″ stencils and very large stamps to build our layers, only adding detail towards the end. This exercise is designed to encourage the breaking down of large patterns into manageable chunks… a lesson for life too!
Building on my recent commissions, I’ve had another commission to do a further painting. This one is to distract from the side of a cupboard installed in a boot (utility) room. The picture will be face-on as you enter the room from the kitchen area.
So when it came to subject matter, it seemed obvious to use the boot as a theme. Wellingtons aren’t particularly in keeping with the area, but being on the edge of Snowdonia, walking/hiking boots seemed very apt. I’m fond of the recent trend toward including typography in images, and a classic lyric popped into my head…
Here’s the last of my six castle paintings – the half-finished Beaumaris Castle. That’s the castle, not the painting that’s half finished… And, of course, the last was the trickiest! There is something to be said for having a good artist’s sketchbook, having the time and patience to use it and then apply what has been learnt onto the canvas. I don’t ‘do art’ quite like that…
Previous paintings in the series:
Caernarfon – Raglan – Criccieth – Dolwyddelan – Conwy
With the same immenseness as Caernarfon Castle, Conwy is going to be a good balance in the room. With the suspension bridge, modern meets historical – and was most tricky to paint!
Previous paintings in the series:
Caernarfon Castle – Raglan Castle – Criccieth Castle – Dolwyddelan
When I used to holiday near Porthmadog, I joined Cadw – the Welsh Heritage organisation. I then proceeded to overdose on visiting castles – I think the record was 9 in three days. I don’t really know where the fascination started, but it was certainly early in childhood. The bigger, the better in my book… But, as a subject for a painting, Dolwyddelan Castle is pretty much up there, despite being the smallest castle in the series.
Previous paintings in the series: Caernarfon Castle – Raglan Castle – Criccieth Castle
