Portrait bust: started out as wednesday
My portrait bust was based off of Wednesday, a character from the movie The Addams family. I wanted to make a character that wasn’t overdone but one that was automatically recognizable (so it had to have big, unique, recognizable features). With Wednesday, I wanted to do her signature braids, the dead eye look, and the pale skin.
Now, this is what I planned to do, but my plan failed mid-building my portrait bust because the head kept falling apart. I don’t exactly remember why (I think it was because of the swim meets) but I missed a lot of classes while making the busts that my bust got too dry too fast. I ended up making it a second time (because it looked like a giant potato) when the back half of the head completely fell apart. At this point, my objective changed from doing it well to finishing the pot quickly and getting over it.
After firing it the first time, I hid it in one of the cubbies next to the slab roller because just looking at it stressed me out too much. It also didn’t help that a spider crawled out the back of it when I attempted to sand it (making me hate the head even more). Unfortunately, I had to finish this in order to graduate, and since I really want to graduate, I decided that I would overcome my hatred and paint the head.
At first, I decided to paint the head as typical Wednesday (black hair, pale face, & scary eyes). I got the paint ready and was done with the first layer of her face when I realized that I didn’t bring black paint for her hair and eyes. I knew I needed it... but I was too lazy, so I painted the hair and eyes red (it was the darkest color that I had at the time). I also decided that I wanted to give her some zits, so I covered her forehead and cheeks in little speckles of pink and white paint. I got a little excited while doing this part, and Alisa brought black paint around this time (she needed it for her head) so I added that to the face as well. I smothered paint all over her face till I thought it looked decent enough, and then added paper towels on the face to give it some texture. (The paint already made it look like a zombie, so I thought why not). I actually like the head a lot more than I did before painting it.
Now, this is what I planned to do, but my plan failed mid-building my portrait bust because the head kept falling apart. I don’t exactly remember why (I think it was because of the swim meets) but I missed a lot of classes while making the busts that my bust got too dry too fast. I ended up making it a second time (because it looked like a giant potato) when the back half of the head completely fell apart. At this point, my objective changed from doing it well to finishing the pot quickly and getting over it.
After firing it the first time, I hid it in one of the cubbies next to the slab roller because just looking at it stressed me out too much. It also didn’t help that a spider crawled out the back of it when I attempted to sand it (making me hate the head even more). Unfortunately, I had to finish this in order to graduate, and since I really want to graduate, I decided that I would overcome my hatred and paint the head.
At first, I decided to paint the head as typical Wednesday (black hair, pale face, & scary eyes). I got the paint ready and was done with the first layer of her face when I realized that I didn’t bring black paint for her hair and eyes. I knew I needed it... but I was too lazy, so I painted the hair and eyes red (it was the darkest color that I had at the time). I also decided that I wanted to give her some zits, so I covered her forehead and cheeks in little speckles of pink and white paint. I got a little excited while doing this part, and Alisa brought black paint around this time (she needed it for her head) so I added that to the face as well. I smothered paint all over her face till I thought it looked decent enough, and then added paper towels on the face to give it some texture. (The paint already made it look like a zombie, so I thought why not). I actually like the head a lot more than I did before painting it.