Season 4, Episode 7: Apocalypse, Nowish
Original Air Date: 17 November 2002 Plagues of rats, earthquakes and a string of strange events lead Angel and the gang to one realization: the apocalypse has come at last. Meanwhile, Connor and Cordelia encounter The Beast, who has come to Los Angeles on the verge of Armageddon to help bring about the end of the world.
Next step was to make The Beast. I had this really cool figure that had feet that looked like it would work out great for The Beast's feet. Once I started sculpting it I realized I need to cut a lot of it's face away. I ended up redoing the nose and lips. Everything else is sculpted on. Here are some pictures of The Beast.
This is the figure I used. I started sculpting and cutting away at it until I realized I needed to take a picture of the before look. This is also about the time I realized that The Beast's neck was much longer so I had to pop off this guy's head and extend the neck area.
Once I got to this point I realized that if I were to stand this figure next to a 6 inch figure it would be close to the same size. I had to then cut the legs in half and add clay between the parts to make the legs longer. One leg broke in the process (go figure) but I glued it after I baked the whole thing. It didn't look bad at all since The Beast is a bumpy fellow.
Working on the legs at this point.
Close up of the head/chest. (the head is not attached, yet.
The completed front and back of The Beast.
This is to how how much taller The Beast is compared to a 6-inch figure.
The under coat I used to fill in the cracks of it's skin.
The completed beast. It has some orange due to the reflection from the flames.
Top view of the scene. 
Front view.
This is just another front shot.
Close up of The Beast and some of the burning bodies.
Original Air Date: 17 November 2002 Plagues of rats, earthquakes and a string of strange events lead Angel and the gang to one realization: the apocalypse has come at last. Meanwhile, Connor and Cordelia encounter The Beast, who has come to Los Angeles on the verge of Armageddon to help bring about the end of the world.
A friend and I were watching this scene awhile back and he said it would be cool if I made this scene (where The Beast stands in the square of burning bodies). It sat on my mind for quite some time and I finally decided to try it. I tend to be critical of my work because I know I could do a better job if I had the time and minimal distractions. This piece took me several months--collecting parts, sculpting, painting, casting fire pieces. I'll tell you what bugs me at the end of the blog so I don't bias what you think.
I started collecting various "body" parts. The bodies are varied in sizes and styles. I had some Power Rangers, Buffy spare parts, Star Trek, etc. I tried to put the really un-human parts at the bottom and the better parts on top. (With the fire added and paint, it's hard to pick out any details which is what I wanted.) I had various fire/flames that I collected. I made a cast of these fire pieces and I made many other parts to add to the effect. It is all glued on a tile. Here are the before picture.
This is the people parts with the casted flames.
Next step was to make The Beast. I had this really cool figure that had feet that looked like it would work out great for The Beast's feet. Once I started sculpting it I realized I need to cut a lot of it's face away. I ended up redoing the nose and lips. Everything else is sculpted on. Here are some pictures of The Beast.
This is the figure I used. I started sculpting and cutting away at it until I realized I needed to take a picture of the before look. This is also about the time I realized that The Beast's neck was much longer so I had to pop off this guy's head and extend the neck area. 
Once I got to this point I realized that if I were to stand this figure next to a 6 inch figure it would be close to the same size. I had to then cut the legs in half and add clay between the parts to make the legs longer. One leg broke in the process (go figure) but I glued it after I baked the whole thing. It didn't look bad at all since The Beast is a bumpy fellow.
Working on the legs at this point.
Close up of the head/chest. (the head is not attached, yet. 
The completed front and back of The Beast.
This is to how how much taller The Beast is compared to a 6-inch figure.
The under coat I used to fill in the cracks of it's skin.
The completed beast. It has some orange due to the reflection from the flames.
Top view of the scene. 
Front view.
This is just another front shot.
Close up of The Beast and some of the burning bodies.Now...in all honesty I love how The Beast turned out. I liked the sculpting challenge. I couldn't get the eyes to look quite right and any close up pictures I took looked really bad. Next, I wish I had painted the tile a darker color--since the scene was on a roof-top. I still may go back and rip off the people, paint it, then re-glue the people. The white base just throws off the effect. Last, I pride myself on paying attention to details and capturing the whole scene. Using these scrap figures makes the scene seen silly. I tried to cover as many of the "off" parts with flames and lot of "flamey" (sounds like a good Buffy word) paint. All in all, it looks really good with some lights shining down on it.
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