Suffocating


Here is my latest custom done by commission for a very nice client who gave me complete freedom to be creative. Well, maybe not complete freedom. There was one requirement and that was what inspired this concept. The requirement was that the dunny needed to fit inside an acrylic baseball trophy case. The collector has a beautiful showcase of Dunnys all featuring the artists particular styles. I really could do whatever I wanted but when he told me about the restriction I have to admit I was a little stumped. I\’m building a reputation(or trying to) as a artist who modifies the platform in a manner that hopefully hasn\’t been seen before. I like to add to the platform with sculpture and to be restricted to the height of the Dunny at first put a big cramp on my style. But I then began thinking about who the character was. Why was he in the case? What would happen if he was in the case? That\’s it. I now had my idea. My Dunny would be trapped in the case and fighting for his life. I really like this idea because when the client showed me the case of Dunnys that other artists had done, I thought to myself, how can I stand out amongst all this great work? Well, all the other are standing in the same Dunny pose and this guy is seated with ears drooping. Mission accomplished. Now my only fear is that I\’m too different and my Dunny will stick out like a sore thumb making my client remove him from the company of the others.

I had debated for a bit whether or not to make this guy a creature. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I wanted the focus to be on the struggle between life and death. This Dunny is at the brink of death. He\’s just passed out and has moments to live. If I was to make the character a creature it might then become more of a narrative on the creature and less on the struggle.
To make this guy I ended up chopping of the head and repositioning it at an angle. I also cut off the legs and angled them out to allow for a seated position. Once that was done I cut out a mouth and eye sockets, created a large tongue and eyes, primed and painted and can say now that I am very happy with the results. To create the sweating look I simply applied a gloss varnish over the entire piece and then used a matte varnish to dull the areas I wanted dry. This created the sweat on his shirt and piss on his pants. I then applied gloss varnish in drops on his forehead and dripping from eyes and nose. I really love how the gloss looks like sweat beads.
Overall I think this is one of my favorite pieces so far. The paint job was real subtle but works for me. The sculpt is polished with only a couple minor things I would have done better upon reflection. Considering the size of this thing, 3\” Dunny, I couldn\’t be much happier. This piece and the Vampire Dunny were the first and second 3\” customs I have done and I found them to be taxing. The bodies as so small to work with and make it difficult for me to get the results I want. I\’ll probably be staying away from pieces this small in the future but you never know when I good project might come your way.

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