Shaker Maker

The plasticine models have pretty much become a permanent feature of the studio, at any one time I will have half a dozen of these cluttering up my desk illuminated with a standard halogen lamp. The depth they can add really does make them worthwhile. The photo above is the model for the painting below.

It's allowed me to get the shading and shadows just right and more importantly portray the stripes at the right angles. This is a relatively simple one though, it all gets more complex the more you model.

Bigger scenes require more care and attention, this one had hand made wallpaper and carpet, it took around four hours to model and get right.

Others are more simple to do, in this case these two took less than ten minutes to create, the rest of the scene however took two days to complete, it's a shame they get destroyed once finished with though.

This took a lot of plasticine even though the heart is basically formed from balsa wood and foil underneath, this heart and Impossimals was eventually placed in a box and lit from the side allowing the shadow to cast across the background.

You can see the difference in this portion of the painting, already the shadow looks more natural, far more accurate than I could imagine. All this from something as simple as plasticine.