Step 14: Create a Mermonster

The first step was making a basic form to act as an armature. I simply crumpled tinfoil and covered it with another sheet of tinfoil for the body. For the arms, I rolled a piece of tinfoil and wrapped it around the shoulders of my mermonster. I forced a wooden bbq skewer through the belly of the armature to map out where the pole would be.

For hands, I took some fine wire and cut three lengths. The longest one is the wrist and middle finger. I wrapped the other two around it and covered it in a bit of tape. When I had the fingers bent in a shape close to what I wanted for a final product, I started covering it in paper mache. You have to tear the strips very, very small. It helped to use the tip of a wooden bbq skewer to press the wet strip of paper against the form in order to get the to stick (mainly between the fingers).

I covered the main body of the mermonster with paper mache strips. After it was dry, I taped the wire hands to the mermonster and covered those with mache to bind hand and arm together.

Having the figure on the wooden bbq skewer while I worked on it was so helpful. Besides plotting out the hole, it allowed me to move the figure around while I mached and painted. When I was done (or even while I was working sometimes), I would press the end of the skewer into a block of scrap styrofoam. It allowed me to have my hands free and was great for propping it up while it dried.

(Note: all 4 sculpting pictures can be clicked to view a larger image).

Detailing took a substantial amount of time (I've never created a mercreature before, so I was learning and making him up as I went).

I covered the back end of the body first in a layer of paperclay (when the mache was dry). I used the sharp tip of the skewer to carve the lines for the scales (which are basically a sea of 'U's overlapping each other. They get less distinct as you get closer to the end of the tail). When it was dry, I gave the scales a very light sanding with fine sandpaper.

I used the fat end of the skewer to create craters in his skin and some dimpling.

For the face, I hollowed out the eye sockets first, then shaped ovals for eyeballs.

I wanted his mouth to appear chapped and almost coral-like, so I used the tip of the skewer to create lines around the raised circle of his mouth.

I made a pattern along the sides of his head to hint at gills, but I didn't want to make it look traditional. A simple cluster of divots around the sides of his face were used.

All of this detailing will help me later when I am trying to create depth with paint.

I took the painstaking time to paint the crevices of the tail in dark blue as my base. This was followed by a light green on the surface of the scales. Once I was happy with how the blue was showing through, I began highlighting the scale surfaces with yellows, lighter greens and hints of white.

The craters were painted brown, and patches of the skin were also painted this colour. The brown will lightly show through the main colour of the skin and act as shading of the contours and general texturing.