Sculpting

I was apprehensive about beginning the sculpting process as I had previously found it very difficult to get a clear idea of what I was aiming for in my design drawings. I could visualize what I wanted to achieve in my head, however, putting it down on paper, or potentially, in clay was quite another matter. I began by blocking out the key facial features – the eyebrows, nose and cheekbones. John had expressed concerns to me previously that due to the number of times his nose had been broken as a boxer, it was a little unusually shaped and he feared that the wrong type of sculpt could cause him to look at little bit like he had a pig-like nose. This was, however, far from the type of sculpt that I was aiming for as I wished to flatten and broaden the nose as much as possible to mimic the typical Uruk-hai noses on characters such as Lurtz in ‘Lord of the Rings’. Regarding the nose, one area that proved to be a little bit more complex was the correct placement of the nostrils. I obviously wanted John to be able to breathe naturally through the prosthetic, however, when I placed the nostrils in the same place that his lay naturally, it did not look right at all. Looking at photos of Lurtz it was noticeable that the nostrils were quite far forward on the front of the nose, and placing them in a more human position made them almost unnoticeable from some angles. Once I had repositioned the nostrils further forward, whilst still allowing the top of John’s nostrils to be exposed, it looked much more convincing. The only alteration that this will make on application day is that I will need to lay some colour down (grease paint or skin illustrator) in black on John’s nose so that the skin is not visible beneath the prosthetic.

Day One

Another concern when sculpting key facial features was the amount of clay that was being used. I was very aware of the fact that every gram of clay that was being placed on the face would amount to a gram of silicone; if too much was used it would not only be more expensive, but also heavier for the actor to wear. John had previously expressed concern that he still be able to act convincingly using his face whilst wearing the prosthetic and I wanted to keep it as light as possible for him. The alternative perspective of this is, of course, is that the clay needs to be a reasonable thickness the entire way around the head to prevent the silicone from ripping when the prosthetic is applied. This was something we realised a little later and a second layer of clay needed to be applied to the head to increase the depth from about 1mm to approximately 5mm. To counter this problem when sculpting the heavy set brow, it was important to create as much definition as possible to trick the viewer into thinking the brow was thicker than it actually was.

The cheekbones were the final tricky area as the strong, sharp design that I originally blocked out looked very effective at making the face appear very angular and therefore, more intimidating. Pete did question the placement and shape, however, as it was not strictly anatomically correct; that the bone would curve upwards into the apple of the cheeks instead of down towards the mouth and that it would tilt up and out more towards the zygomatic arch. I was unsure whether or not to make the more anatomically correct alterations and risk losing the impact of the face, or to leave it as it was. The deciding factor came when Charlie came to view the sculpts before the mold making process began and the first thing he commented on was how much he liked the strong cheekbones.

Day Two

One thing that was interesting to note during the sculpting process was how much my opinions changed on the sculpt between day one and day three. After the initial shapes were blocked out I really hated what I had created. It looked far too bulky and generally nothing like I had pictured in my head, by the end of the third day, however, I was very happy with what I had created. Evidentially sculpture is a discipline that requires large amounts of patience and reservation of judgment until the piece is completed.

Once the basic form of the face was completed, the process of sculpting the ears could begin. Luckily, the fibre glass copy of John’s head cast still had some slight bulges at the sides of the head where his ears had been pressed down underneath the bald cap, which gave a clearer indication of placement. I kept the size reasonably human-like as I wanted this to be a differentiation between the Uruk-hai and the Moria-type Orcs that Paige was sculpting, I did however create a more pointed tip to the ears. One form of body modification that Charlie and John had agreed on was having a piece of sharpened bone pushed through one of the ear lobes so it was necessary to sculpt a hole rather than trying to pierce and stretch the silicone and risk it ripping. I used a 10mm drill bit to get a rough size estimation, however, I imagine this will stretch slightly larger in the more flexible silicone. Instead of ordering a pre-made, potentially artificial looking ‘bone’ stretcher from a professional piercing website, I decided it would be more rustic looking to actually use a small piece of animal bone which I will sharpen myself, so a trip to the butchers to try and find a suitable piece will be necessary.

When all of the form was completed, it was time to begin the texturing process. To begin with, simply breaking up the smooth surface of the clay slightly I used a coarse washing up pad and a toothbrush. When I was satisfied with this I could begin creating more deep set texture such as the wrinkles on the face. I did not want the character to look aged, however, I noticed that a lot of the Orcs and Uruk-hai of ‘Lord of the Rings’ had a lot of lining of the face, and felt that this was still an important factor of the texture. On the recommendation of another sculptor I found a small, metal-pronged animal brush to be the quickest and most effective method of doing this. The lines could be scratched in, covered in a layer of talcum powder and then the process repeated to achieve a variety of depths. I focused my texturing primarily on the face as the back of the prosthetic would be covered with a wig, although it did still require a little attention.

Day Three