Dan C. Real Person

Dan is one of my on-line buddies that I met less than a year ago and as I was showing him my work he wondered if I could make him. He had many different pictures to choose from but he said he liked the one of him on the porch the best. I told him I'd make it for him.

Here is the picture I recreated:

The hardest part making this particular piece was the bench. I tried looking on ebay for benches but none really looked like the bench he was sitting on and I try to get as detailed as possible. This was tricky because I had to make it to the correct size so when the figure sat he wouldn't have dangling legs. The legs are still dangling a bit but it's not bad. For the sides of the bench (and legs) I used a plastic part from maybe a Barbie table. I had to cut that up a bit to get it to size. Then I used the plastic piece from the top of the table for the seat of the bench. I then glued Popsicle sticks to the top of that. I also used some smaller Popsicle sticks to make the back of the bench. It was quite a task to master! I then used some foam board for the decorative front of the bench. The bottom of the base is two floor boards from a Charmed set. I had to cut away some extra plastic pieces and fill in the gaps where walls were. You can see that in the pictures below. Originally it was going to be a wood floor but then Dan said it was actually on concrete so I painted it gray with some grit in the paint to give it a rough texture.

Here are the pieces I used to make Dan. I used a hockey player's head (Salo from the Oilers), A Harry Potter's torso, Claude's (from Heroes) legs , a Xander arm/hand (bent), and a Spike arm/hand (open).

I had to cut a lot off the top of Claude's lower torso to allow for the Harry Potter torso to fit on it. Then I had to figure out just how bent over it needed to be for the arms to rest on the legs and be able to reach up to the arm sockets. The arms were a bit short so I had to sculpt most of the upper arms/shoulders. Here is a picture without arms--torso not glued yet.

Then I sculpted around the legs. I had to cut a lot from the under thigh area. Plastic figures don't squish like real people so in order to make the figure look like it's sitting on the bench and not floating, I had to cut away the bottom of the thighs and then sculpt around it. You can see on some of the side shots where the pants are flat against the bench. I sculpted the crotch area to make it look more natural and I also sculpted over the knee joints. Here are some pictures.

When I attached the Harry Potter top torso there was an awkward gap in the back. I used a lot of clay to fill in that part. In order for the figure to look "normal" I made it so it looks like his shirt is hanging low in the back and his jacket is above it. It seemed to do the trick and cover any irregularities. You can't see that in these pictures.

For the head I had to sculpt the ears, hair, and beard. I am still trying to perfect my ear sculpting. It is not perfect but I think what I did is better than earlier attempts. I then sculpted over most of the Harry Potter torso. Then I sculpted on his jacket.

Finished sculpting:

The background is the wall. I glued Popsicle sticks at an angle on a piece of foam board. It was quite the task to cut and place the sticks but it was worth the effort. I do wish I had slightly wider sticks but it still worked.

And here are the final pictures!

I know the super sized version of these will look sooooo bad since you see every detail and the eyes looked messed up. I just wanted to show some close-ups of the face.