Octabrain Sculpture by DavoX

[davox]

Octabrain from Duke Nukem Forever
By
Leonardo "DavoX" Pellegrini


http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image004-1.png


Hello everyone! Here I'm showing you my Octabrain Sculpture, an enemy from Duke Nukem Forever!

I hope you like it and I'm in the process of making molds and then I will paint it :)

The clay I'm using is obviously Super Sculpey.

First I'm going to show you the armature I made for it. I Forgot to take pictures when I made the armature but I'll tell you it's made out of Wires of different kind of thickness which I then covered with a Wire sheet and then with Epoxy.

This is the unfinished body with some wire still visible:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0239.jpg

And then fully covered with epoxy, ready to add the clay!

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0243.jpg

This is all to bulk up the body and to use less Clay ( Which is Super Sculpey by the way, kinda expensive).

Basic shape:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/octa1.jpg

Started making the brain:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/octa2.jpg

I'm adding the "things" that hold the head onto the brain, I also made the belly which I'll show later:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0111.jpg

Improved a bit the "tentacles" that hold the brain and then added small "balls of steel" to make the eyes:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0123.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0124.jpg

Worked a bit on the face and added details. Going to make the spine tomorrow:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0126.jpg

[davox]

Worked some more on the "brain holders" that keep the brain and the head together.

Also I just noticed how cute the octabrain looks when smelling a nice flower. (Sorry about that lol.)

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0151.jpg

Added the spiky spine and added more detail to the head as well. Next step: Tentacles!

Now some before and after pics:

Before:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0164.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0162.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0163.jpg

After:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0172.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0174.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0175.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0173.jpg

Working on it's tiny arms .

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/IMAG0187.jpg

[davox]

Added more wire for the armature so the legs stay steady and strong.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/1.jpg

Upclose. Added little holes on the Epoxy putty to avoid clay slippage.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/2.jpg

After adding a bunch of clay for the belly and making sure the proportions are correct, I start detailing it with the basic shape.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/3.jpg

More detail on the belly.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/4.jpg

Added the little anus.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/5.jpg

And finally added clay to the tentacle armature. This is the basic form. Will add detail later.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/6.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/7.jpg

Here is the first tentacle, 5 more to go and it's done.

Nevermind the rotated pics, photobucket is acting really strange lately.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20120824_233521.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20120824_233904.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20120824_233852.jpg

[davox]

Three legs done, 3 more to go. (Well the frontal one needs a bit of work but still :P)

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20120829_233439.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20120829_233410.jpg

've been touching up a bit the brain as it looked unnatural before, so I gave it a try:

Before:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/Octabrain1-5.png

After:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/octabrain2.jpg

Finally, it's finished. There may be a few touchups to be done but overall it's finished.

It's been a long ride but there's still work to be done. Namely molding and casting it, and then painting it. Stay tuned.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image004-1.png
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image003-1.png
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image001-1.png
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image002-1.png

[davox]

Started boiling the different parts to harden them and then make molds out of it.

First I started with one Tentacle since I've never actually boiled sculpey, so this is just a test to see if it really works... Boiled for 20 minutes and then let it cool at Room temperature for 1 hour.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/1_zpse7668fab.jpg

Apparently it does work:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131118_161845_zps5517c3fd.jpg

I've only had one problem with the first tentacle , it had some bubbles on the surface, then I knew it was because Right before boiling it I brushed it with turpentine, apparently turpentine on the surface and boiling don't mix well.... So I didn't add any turpentine at all for the remaining parts and Didn't have any problems.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131118_133601_zps5137171f.jpg

Here I'm sanding rough surfaces to smooth them out.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131116_200624_zps8cc1c09d.jpg

After sanding:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131116_234423_zps32aa10c6.jpg

Now what you've all been waiting for... boiling the head, it took some time to actually set up the head inside. It fit inside by just a few milimeters. Let it boil for 30 minutes and then let it cool outside for 4 hours, of course while it was still inside the water.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131116_184737_zps28aff10f.jpg

After cooking, everything went great, or so I thought....

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131116_233058_zpsa6019592.jpg

Cracking! Aahh! Thankfully this is easy to fix with some epoxy putty and sanding.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131116_233106_zps8e354981.jpg

That's it for now. Next step is sanding the rough spots on the head and then onto mold making!

[davox]

so I started building the Base for the sculpture...

First I made an armature for it, with wire and aluminium foil. Then I covered the whole thing with epoxy for sculptors.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131118_232141_zps99b1e842.jpg


Then I made little holes on the surface for the clay to hold on to. Also drilled a hole on top and inserted this hook to be able to hold it and place it inside the boiling cup later on.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131119_195201_zps20b8c63a.jpg

Here I placed the sculpting clay on it and used some clay to get a sense of how the thing will flow when it's finished, Form wise.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131119_220338_zps61d38d7b.jpg

Here I'm drawing some lines so I know where the edges of each little rock will be. Then With a dental tool I'll separate each rock as I need.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image001_zps90ac46f3.jpg

Started making the little rocks, I realized later that some parts where too thin (too close to the epoxy) and It would crack if boiled, so I added more clay to make it a thicker layer.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131119_231047_zps183bdd01.jpg

Here I'm adding some bumps on the rocks to give them more tridimensionality and protruding.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131120_205137_zpsd454e409.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131120_205157_zps9197476f.jpg

And how it looks so far....

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/20131121_002650_zps731f801c.jpg

[davox]

Here I'm going to make the four big tentacles that are attached to the big rock formation. I start with long pieces of clay.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image002_zpse23402fc.jpg

Then I add 2 more pieces to have 3 total on each tentacle. Then I try to blend them together to make one piece.

Here are the 4 tentacles done:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image003_zpscdfa56e2.jpg

Now on to add a bit of detail to them:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image005_zps9f550965.jpg

Now I use turpentine to smooth out the rough edges:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image006_zpsaaec701f.jpg

Next step is to add parasites or mini tentacles of some kind to make it seem like it's spreading around. Here I use long pieces of clay again to make those. Then I adhere the tentacles at the same time I push it on the "rocks" with a pointy rounded tool.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image007_zpsc52dabd5.jpg

End result after smoothing with turpentine:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image009_zps0b0ae4a7.jpg

Here I'm going to boil the poor bastard, at this point I don't need the hook anymore so I removed it and put some clay in there to cover up the hole:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image010_zpsdcd969fa.jpg

Boiled piece after Cool down. Now I only need to sand some roughness on some parts.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/image013_zpsf6f7e5c5.jpg

[davox]

Here I'm making the little bed for the part to rest on (it's also the height of the other half of silicone)

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/001_zps17598d8b.jpg

I've smoothed out the surface and made some marks so that the other half of silicone will get properly secured when I want to make a copy.

I've used foam to restrict the silicone.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/003_zpse12cf5c7.jpg

Started doing the same with the base but since it's flat I don't have to make a clay bed for it.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/004_zpsc9e6ccbb.jpg

Done.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/005_zpsc9c05e79.jpg

All the first 3 ready to have silicone poured in:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/006_zps74bf627d.jpg

Silicone has set in 24 hs. I turned everything upside down and removed the beds of clay. After cleaning everything this is the result. Now I have to make a little film of vaseline on top and then pour silicone again. The vaseline is to avoid the new silicone from sticking to the other half.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/009_zps6b9da416.jpg

As for the base I need to pour a bit more silicone on top since I ran out of silicone and it left an uneven surface, this isn't good for when I have to make copies of it, it has to be perfectly flat to avoid distortion when placing it on the table.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/001_zps1771e3c3.jpg

[davox]

Reserved 8

[davox]

Reserved 9

[davox]

Reserved 10

[davox]

Do you guys like it? :P

[moon_knight1971]

Looks fantastic!

[sdilks]

Love the WIP procedure! Thank you for sharing!!!

Awesome sculpt!

[aliseo85]

Finally!!!great sculpt, great info...keep going!

[davox]

Thanks guys :)

[davox]

I've decided to make the tentacles again, mostly because I'm not happy with the shape of the previous ones, this is what the old tentacles looked like:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita020_zps4821f968.jpg

As you can see the shape is very weird and it's flattened on some spots.

So, let's do them again!

Materials:

Epoxy putty, aluminium wire, pliers, plastiline, wire, base, etc....

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita001_zps491c4c6f.jpg

Straight armature wire with small wire around it, to avoid clay slippage:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita002_zps519d5633.jpg

I insert the armature wire into a disposable pvc pipe attached to the base:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita003_zps07f8079d.png

Put some epoxy putty inside of the pipe to keep the armature wire attached to it as straight as possible:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita004_zpsdca67a90.jpg

Basic shape with the plastiline. This time I'm trying to make it as cilyndrical as possible.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita006_zps8bc13f6a.jpg

After that I start to add rough detail:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita009_zps8c1ee498.jpg

I start to smooth out the surfaces:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita010_zpsf049bb8e.jpg

[davox]

Now I make some little balls of platiline to make the suction cups:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita012_zps434bbf38.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita013_zps780d8c49.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita015_zpsc7280502.jpg

Finished:

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita017_zpsba15d88f.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff221/DavoX_2007/patita019_zps5f40fb42.jpg


Now I'll make a mold for this, and then make a silicone copy of the tentacle, this way I can use the same tentacle in different poses to make the other molds. And this will ensure that all tentacles will be the same lenght and shape.

[EPang]

This is great stuff. Excellent documentation of your process. Very useful WIP. Keep it coming.

E

[Sithlord32]

Great progression pics so far!

[davox]

Thanks guys, I promise much more pics in the near future.