This is a "maquette" I made for an animation class (Fall 00). A maquette is basically a test model for animator to use as a guideline when drawing character's action. I expand on the requirement a little bit by making it poseable.

The design is modeled from one of my original characters. It wasn't until much later that I decided to incorporated this 'character' into a stop-motion "experimental" project, due to, surprise, surprise, the lack of time in coming up with new characters.

"Therion", as a word, originated from Greek, refers to a mythical savage beast. Being a metal guy, it's only natural that I adopted the name for the figure. (Well, same goes for all the cheesy image title you might have encountered on the site, it probably safe to say that they're all heavy metal related ;)) Later on I had begun using this as part of on a story based on Arabic mythology (well, not much of a story, as much as an excuse for one), so the name is quite fitting, somewhat. Even though here he started out as a simple cute little turtle. :)

The project

At first, I did a quick sketch of a couple of characters that consists of a rabbit and a turtle. Yeah yeah, not the most creative I know. But it was such a boring assignment, and the clock is ticking. A few weeks later, we were asked to choose one to be made as a maquette.

We were given almost the whole semester to finish it, but true to my track record, I hold off everything till the night before it was due. It was almost midnight already by the time the parts were baked. So the rest of the night involved juggling between this and a couple of other projects which are also due at the same day. In other word, a total nightmare...

The Process

Upon realizing that a maquette is needed, I began to conceptualize about part breakdown and a full-action model. It was to be made out of clay. Consider the volume, constructing a wire frame to support the inside is the way to go. All the elevation sketch of all sides has to done in advanced (involuntarily, I must add :)). In the 3 hour class session I form the basic shape with super sculpey. The main piece, being the shell, started with an amarture wire structure, and then cover with patches of the sculpey. No movable joints or anything at the moment. All the parts are loosely piled on top of each other.

Fast forward 3 months later, the night before project was due. I was in already a little panic when I pulled everything out of the bag for the first time and it all messed up. Crap!. Well, not that I was actually surprise, but I was kinda secretly hoping not to have to fix it too much. It was never to be so.

After fixing up the basic part as much as I can allowed time to, it's time to bake. Something I should have done months ago...

Ornament

Now, this is actually the fun part. As mentioned above, I only have a few hours to mess around with detailing. But since it was my intention from the start to base it on the stack of spare parts I always have lying around, it came together pretty quickly. I even dug up an old 1/24 car kit from the basement and sew away part of its engine to be used as the engine in the back. The 4 minus-molds on its back, some might remember, are a copy of 1/144 GP03S joint cover.

Finishing

Having decided not wanting to spend any significant amount of time on the sculpt, the plan was to utilize these irregularity and the imperfection of form as part of the design. The composition is one based on contrasting element of my sloppy works (I would argue that it's intentional :D), and the exacting nature of mechanical element. I also exaggerate on it with an added layer of rough texture, which also serve to cover up mistakes like fingerprint mark(!) that I had no time to get rid of.

The whole thing is painted in flat color in order to let the metallic parts stand out. I don't have any particular scheme in mind prior to painting, just that I wanted the thing to be light brown based, so I improvised on the pattern as I go. Metallic parts are painted with brush as not to risk clogging up airbrush.

Making document is on next page.