Samples

WHEELCHAIR: I plan to make the seat of the wheelchair from leather. I made the sample below earlier in the week by sewing leather around foam padding and using bronze tacks to create the studs. I do want the leather to look a bit more worn though, so i'll experiment with trying to age it.

Below is the look I am aiming for.

Creating the Armature

As I am making this model to hypothetically be used for a stop motion animation, the character needs to be able to have flexible joints and moveable parts. The robot character is wheelchair bound and so the most important joint for him will be that which connects the neck and head. I have found a ball and socket joint to give me a flexible movement and it will be the starting point for the armature.

I have added onto the joint by silver soldering another couple of pieces of thread to elongate both sides. I also created with thinner wire the arms and top of the head which I will add the chavant clay on top of.

Starting to model

Today I've tried massing out the basic size and shape of the robots body and head. The chavant clay I am modelling with the NSP grade, which is sulphur free. This minimises the risk of it reacting with the silicone rubber I intend to use for my moulds. The clay is medium firmness, I've found however it is far too firm to sculpt effectively with it at room temperature.

TIP: Warm chavant clay up in the microwave for a couple of minutes to soften it and make it more pliable. It can if left in the microwave for too long start to liquify!

Since heating it up I've found it much easier to work in this material. I heat it to quite a soft state so it's almost like normal clay, however within a short amount of time it will cool back to its original firmness. I was originally going to use sculpey to model the character, however I haven't worked in this material before, so I decided to give it a shot and I am finding it very versatile at the moment.

Sketch model

Today I created a very rough cardboard sketchmodel of the wheelchair the robot character will be sitting in. This is to help me establish the scale at which to make the character when I am sculpting.

Materials and Processes

To make Machinarium's robot character, I intend to use chavant clay to make the body and head, which I'll then mould and cast in resin. I'll use metal powders within the resin to create the effect of metal. For the character's wheelchair I plan to use metal for certain parts and possibly leather to create the seat.

Introduction

For the second task of my final major project I am going to be creating a robot character for animation. I am basing the character on one of the robots from the new Flash game called Machinarium, created by Amanita Design.