I decided to develop the designs for three of my favourite characters that I explored during initial ideas: the Soucouyant, the Jumbie and the Douen. The next step for me was to use air drying clay as method of quick experimentation, particularly with form. I began by modelling the Douen, attempting to create a small doll-like figure so that I could trial my initial idea design, focusing mainly on the twisted legs and the void-like face. Despite using wire, the figure ended up being flimsy and broke apart, especially the arms, legs and feet. I attempted to create the twisted legs but found it difficult to create defined shapes in the first place. If I used a larger scale and perhaps a newspaper base then it would have been less likely to fall apart.
The next two models were more successful however, as I made clay head busts which had fewer weak points. I created the bust of the Jumbie, mainly focusing on the exaggerated neck length and the indentations of its skin. This model was much sturdier and felt more true to my interpretation of the Jumbie, as well as providing me with a better idea of what the back of the bust looks like. The last was a bust of the Soucouyant, where I experimented with the four faces on the head. I feel like I could have achieved greater detail, particularly with the facial features, or even painting them, but the experiment proved useful nonetheless as again, I was able to experiment with the form of the head, e.g. checking that the four faces fit well with the character in 3D.
Testing and Analysis: Mudbox
The clay served as a useful basis for some Autodesk Mudbox sculpting for the head of the Soucouyant. I used a basic head as a starting base on Mudbox, and as I went along I used my original sketches and the clay model as references, and altered and developed minor features, e.g. the number of teeth and the shape of them. The tools that I mainly used in the programme were the sculpt, tool, the knife too, smoothing and grab tools. I then used the Projection brush tool to apply textures and colours to the head, which I used on the eyes, mouth, skin and flames. I tried to create the effect of burnt and charred skin from the fire of the Soucouyant, and altered the base material to achieve different lighting effects, settling on the black illuminated base. It was challenging to freshly sculpt many features from the base model but I learnt a lot from the process, and I will be able to work from this model for my further development and final outcome.
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