Sesame Street Figures "Palisades-Style" Grover and Oscar

So there was this great company called Palisades Toys. They made some great collectible toys including the Muppets before they went out of business in 2006. I have many of the figures in my office, except for several hard to find figures or way unbelievably expensive figures (they have all gone up in value). One of the Muppets I didn't have was part of Dr. Teeth's Electric Mayhem band, Zoot the saxophone player. Back in January I decided to make one. I looked online for some ideas and found a light as air modelling compound that air dries called Cloud Clay. So, I embarked on making one, I even took pictures of the process. After I sculpted it, I painted it using acrylic paint. Unfortunately, I had a file issue that corrupted all the photos between January and March on my tablet. But here are a couple photos of the finished product.

The problem was when it dries it sort of puffs up, softening any detail you have sculpted into it. So, while I was somewhat happy with Cloud Clay "Zoot", I wasn't ready to make any more figures. That is, until I ran across a post on Lance Cardinal's blog. I found his blog awhile ago and loved the Palisades-size Muppet Theater he designed and built. You can see all about it here. Every once in awhile I'll go check out what he is working on, great artist, great maker of cool stuff.

That's when I saw Wembly. His post, here, of how he created a Palisades-style head of a Fraggle, one of the "Muppet" extended family Palisades hadn't gotten to yet. After reading his process using Polymer Clay, which I had never heard of, I was inspired to say the least.

I decided I would try to make Grover. About the time Palisades closed, they were planning on doing a run of Sesame Street figures. They had however made a Super Grover which they released at San Diego Comic Con. You can see a photo of the figure here at Muppet Central. You can still find Super Grover online at eBay and others, but he runs about $200. Too steep for my wallet, but I had always wanted one. That's why I chose him.  His construction went so much smoother than I thought, I started immediately working on an Ernie head and Oscar the Grouch. In just a few days, I finished both Grover and Oscar, painting them both. Polymer clay is sort like moldable PVC and then you bake it for it to set. Then you can paint it with acrylic paints. What follows are several photos I took of the process.

Grover's head takes shape.

I used 20 gauge wire for some stability in Grover's legs, arms and neck/head.

It took little effort to get him to stand correctly, with no assistance.

Grover's Cooking!

I really like the unpainted sculptures....a lot!

The start of Oscar's head, no detail.

Ernie has gotten shelved, since I think his head is too wide and his nose should be rounder.

I baked Oscar's trashcan separately.

I started baking Oscar with his trashcan, but there seemed to be some wisps of smoke, so I removed the previously cooked trash can.

Oscar and Grover baked and ready for painting.

These are a couple Palisades Toys (Gonzo and Beaker) which I used for sizing and comparison.

Grover's base paint was dark blue, filling in all the cracks I detailed.

Oscar wants in.

Oscar's in his can and ready for his close-up. I eventually worked more on his pupils.

Here they both are and ready to go up on my shelf.

So, I am very happy with Polymer Clay and how it doesn't change size when it bakes allowing great detail to be made in my sculpts. I am going to probably work on Ernie and Bert next, and someday work on Big Bird, The Count, Snuffleupagus, Harry the Monster and Cookie Monster! As for Ernie, I also plan on doing two versions, one regular and one in his tub with his rubber duckie and bubble overflowing.

Red Painting

This is another painting that I did recently. It has a very intense red theme to it.

Spring Flowers Painting

I've been painting more lately. As I completed a decorative project for my office, I would find myself with leftover paint that I didn't want to go to waste, so I painted a few extra paintings. Here's one I did with a Springy influence.

October Monster Madness 2011 - Day 26 - Jack Painting

Day 26 - Jack the Pumpkin Head painting.

Here's a painting I've been planning on all month and finally got around to doing it. It's a painting of Jack from my book Jack the Pumpkin Head. It's available on Amazon, iTunes and the Barnes & Noble Nookstore.

Artist Notes - This a painting on a black canvas using acrylics.

Painting - Orange

Here's a painting I did. It is twelve inches by twelve inches on canvas. I guess I just felt like painting something bright that day. We might hang it in the room that my office is in. The room will be used for other functions, but I think it will fit with the decor. 

Art notes - I used an Artist Loft 12X12 medium heavy duty canvas. The brushes I used were 12 round. And the paint I used was acrylic - colors were orange and deep yellow.

Experiment in Watercolor

So, I am not much of painter. Part of the issue is that I don't have a great deal in patience while creating. When I draw with a pencil my strokes are instantaneous. When, I use pens, color can be added as soon as I close the lid of the previously used pen. But with paint, you have to be careful about mixing colors that you don't want mixed. While our nephew Kohl was here visiting, I took him to Venice. While there we found an artists' little store. Her walls were filled with watercolors. She had full size originals mixed with various sized reproductions. I noticed that her watercolors were different. They weren't the washed out paintings that I have seen before. I noticed that she used a black outline and then she colored it in with watercolors. It looked like a black pen, since the line was perfect and completely uniform in every stroke. I asked her why the watercolors didn't make the ink run when it came in contact with it on the paper. She said its because she found the perfect pen finally. It is a waterproof, fade proof pen by Uniball. She told me that she had a spare pen that she would give to me. When she went to look for it she realized that she had left it at home. I took a picture of it and looked for it at stores once I got back to Verona. After only four stores, I found it!! At a store three blocks from our apartment. So I gave it a whirl.

The character below is a new character that I came up with recently. Angie and I were out to lunch a couple weeks ago and I saw this statue in the window from across the restaurant. Because we were on the other side of the restaurant I couldn't completely make out what it was. But I thought it looked like something, so I made a quick sketch of it in my notebook. I looked at the statue on the way out and laughed because it was completely different than my drawing and what I had seen in my head. I am also putting the original sketch I made of him.

Right now, his name is Bog. He is part of a comic book idea idea I am working on called "The Year of the Bog", that is unless I change it.

"Love" Painting

So, until the October Halloween monsters start going up on the blog, I thought that I would upload a couple other items. First here is a painting I did in 1996. It is small about 4X6 and done in acrylics. I used pencil to sketch it out first, then painted it.