𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐊𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 💀| 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲

I wanted to have the figure standing on a pile of skulls and so I sculpted a bunch of miniature skulls with polymer clay as an art doll prop in the image. I was inspired by stylized works by people such as Shaun Tan from his book “The Singing Bones” and by the work of sculptor Dug Stanat.

Watch me get up to some Skullpting

Prints of the dimensional-illustrations made with the redcap art doll are available here:

Open Edition Prints

“Redcap’s Rage” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rage-evil-fae-fantasy-art/

”Redcap’s Rest” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rest-evil-fae-fantasy-illustration/

“Redcap’s Reaping” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-reaping-wicked-fae-fantasy-art/

The skulls were made with original Sculpey, which is something I generally avoid using unless it’s for a background element. The issue I tend to have with sculpting with the original polymer clay’s that it’s really soft and gets even softer as your hands warm up as you work with it. In this case, I set myself the challenge of making these little sculptures with minimal clay, with each skull being mostly comprised of aluminum foil and also that I would make each one quickly, spending less than five minutes on each individual sculpture.

Once sculpted and baked in the oven, the skulls were tinted with raw umber ink, painted with a lightly earthy tinted white, and a final wash of ink was again applied. I found the change of pace freeing to work in such a loose and abstracted style.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐎' 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐭 🎃

In my latest project, I’m making a Jack O’ Lantern art doll. This character probably has the largest head out of any art doll I’ve previously built in proportion to his body, but I found using a large wad of tin-foil to do the trick all the same. In making this Jack O’ Lantern head sculpt, I spent plenty of time looking at reference online, looking various interpretations of Jack O’ Lantern characters and photographs of real Jack O’ Lanterns people carve for Halloween.

Making a Halloween Jack O Lantern Art Doll Head Sculpt 🎃

The design of a Jack O’ Lantern character’s pretty simple, it’s just a round or oval shape with a stem and a central seam at the top and bottom of the form, though since I created a human-like figure, the neck overs much of the bottom of the pumpkin. I love art and objects with surface texture, so I really enjoyed adding the variations of the pumpkin rind on the art doll head sculpt and later the way the sepia ink wash was able to pick-up these little indentations.

Here I’m roughing out the spherical shape of the Jack O’ Lantern’s head sculpt

Giving this lil Jack O’ Lantern doll a smile

Continuing with this series, I’ll show you how I built this little Halloween Jack O’ Lanterns body as well as how as I made a crow that appears in the background of the finished dimensional-illustration. To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

Around his mouth got a lil bubbly and warped, but I actually think it added to this piece