My ceramic work (NON DOOM RELATED)

[Lizardcommando]

So I've been taking ceramics for my summer class and one my projects I had to do was make a sculpture or vase based on an ethnic culture. I did mine on ancient Peruvian ceramics, specifically the ones from the Moche people. I recreated a sea lion vessel that I saw in a book. It's the first time I have worked with clay so it's not exactly the greatest thing in the world. I've got other stuff too like some pinch pots, some plates, and some crappy pots I made on the potter's wheel, but I'm not going to show them until I get my Lizardcommando statue finished. I also have another statue in the works, but I might not be able to get it until the fall semester starts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00376.jpg
My recreation of a sea lion effigy vessel of the Moche people.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00377.jpg
Me holding the recreation for a close up of the face.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00378.jpg
Just a crappy angle of my recreation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00379.jpg
My recreation and the original picture.

As you can tell, there's a lot of flaws in my recreation. The head is small, the legs are a bit too fat and long, the spout's a bit too big compared to the original picture, the sea lion is not as plump, and it's not as well sculpted overall. That spout was a real pain in the ass to make. I didn't exactly make it the same way as how they are normally supposed to be made, so turned out crappy. The clay was originally a red earthenware-type clay (I think it was terra cotta). If I remember correctly, I painted the vessel over with some white terrasigilata and then painted the eyes and other spots in red terrasigilata. I think it took a week to make.

[Mivalekan]

I always preferred the throwing wheel over hand-building.

[MmM]

Well, as you've already noted, it doesn't compare too favorably to the original you based it on. You'll improve with practice. I look forward to seeing your Lizard Commando when you finish it.

[Lizardcommando]

I got most of my other projects back today. I finally have my Lizardcommando statue. This is my favorite project besides the Cowboy Lizard statue that I am making.

The color of Lizardcommando's skin wasn't what I originally wanted. The color was alot brighter than I anticipated. I used a bright kiwi Concepts underglaze. I probably should have used a darker green color. I have an idea which one, but I forgot the name of it. I probably should have used 3 or 4 layers of the ungerglaze instead of 2 layers.

There are parts that seem lumpy here and there, but I couldn't exactly help that. Another thing I probably would have changed was the goggles. The lens aren't as big as I wanted them. They are too small compared to the concept art. The statue can stand on its own, but it'll sometimes tip over onto the tail, so I have to put something under it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00384.jpg
A front view of LC.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00385.jpg
A side view of LC.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00386.jpg
Close up of LC's face/goggles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00387.jpg
A comparison of the statue and the concept art.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00390.jpg
A closer look at the concept art.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00388.jpg
The front view's concept art and the statue.

Here's the rest of my glazed ceramic projects. The quality on some of them range from decent to meh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00380.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00383.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00382.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/Lizardcommando/ceramic%20work/DSC00381.jpg

The slab box's glaze was unintentionally like that. The glaze I used was fucked up. It was really liquidy and alot of the junk was stuck in the bucket. I liked how the glazing went on the side of the box, but the lid looks like crap. The coffee cup's glazing went pretty well along with the pinch pot (it's the one in the deep sea green glaze.

There are a few thrown pots, two of them were glazed, and one of them (the one on the far left) was put in a pit firing. The coil pot's glaze turned out how I wanted, so there's not much I'm complaining about that. Out of the thrown projects, I'd say my favorite was the coffee mug.

I have four more projects that I couldn't bring home. Two plates I made need to be put in the high fire kiln, a Shoji Hamada inspired flask bottle needs to be glazed and decorated, and the Cowboy Lizard statue needs to be put in the electric kiln and then decorated and then be put in the low fire kiln again. Unfortunately, I may not be able to get them until the beginning of September or even a bit later than that... :(

Overall, I'm happy how most of the stuff turned out. Obviously, there are things that can be changed and improved, but it's not exactly easy doing that since everything's been kiln-fired.

[MmM]

Your Lizard Commando is entirely different that what I expected (For some reason, I was thinking it was going to be the creature from Duke Nukem). Did you invent the character yourself, or is it from a cartoon/comic/etc? Anyway, the quality is definitely better than what I saw in the vase and it looks like you adhered to your concept very well. The legs kind of have a tacked-on look to them, and I think the figure would have benefited with more of an action pose--standing with its arm to the sides doesn't convey much emotion.

The bowls, cup, box look pretty good to me overall. There's a lot of asymmetry/weirdness going on with the coiled looking one (maybe that was your intent, I don't know), but the rest look nice. The cup on the far left and the box have the most interesting color patterns in my opinion.

Why is it that every sculpting class I've ever heard of has you start out making bowls? I never took any sculpting classes when I was in college, but I had several classmates who did, and it seemed like they were forever making bowls... Mr/Mrs Art Professor: I fail to see how making bowls is going to help me make a badass Doom demon. :)

Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you a couple of things about your vase, and forgot: Does that thing actually hold water or is it solid? Did you try to use any kind of frame/mold for the circular 'spout' part of it (maybe you're not allowed to do that, I don't know)?

[Lizardcommando]

I dont remember if that sea lion vase is able to hold water. Does terrasigilata make things waterproof? Also, the spout was not exactly made the true way. How the original's spout was made was with molds. The spout would be made by having the clay being sculpted onto a wooden rod. When the clay is hard enough, the spout would be carefully removed and then shaped into the spout. I just cut out the inside of the clay and then reattached the extra clay back onto where I had previously cut it out. That's why it looks kinda messy.

I'm a bit intruiged that you thought Lizardcommando looks very different from what you had originally thought. Have you ever seen my Doom mods or even my Flash movies?

Lizardcommando (LC for short) is my own creation. He was a character for an old comic I made up called The Exterminators, which was about a group of government-hired mercenaries who kill without mercy. He's made his leap from comic character to game mod character (he's in a Doom mod and Wolf3D mod), to 3D model (crappy one at that) to cartoon (Flash) character, even to miniature metal figurine. I could probably write an entire biography on the character and write about how his initial conception came to be. :p The Lizardcommando you see today wasn't even what I had originally intended him to look like, believe it or not. I think the only thing that came from the first incarnation of Lizardcommando was the backpack. But only the Exterminators where the large backpacks. Rarely, will you ever see LC with the backpack.

About the legs having that tacked on feeling... Actually, one of the legs fell off while I was painting the statue. I made the unwise choice of using the underglaze before bisque-firing it. I had to quickly put the leg back on since the clay was already pretty hard (not hard enough though since that leg fell off :p).

The reason why he's in a standing pose is because I originally wanted to use it as a model for sketching. It was originally going to not be colored. But I decided later on to go ahead and color it. My other statue, Cowboy Lizard, will be in the classic dueling stance. That is, he'll have his arms to his side getting ready to pull out his two revolvers like in those classic Western movies. It may not be an exciting stance, but it looks hilarious. :D

Oh yeah, about the other ceramic stuff... The coil pot was one of my first projects in the class, so it turned out like crap. Ehh, the thrown stuff are decent. I can't really think of other stuff to say other than the glazes came out great for some while others were not so great, like that slab box for instance. The walls were cool (in fact, how it came out was unintentional), but the lid is a bit too bland.

[MmM]

This is the first time I've ever seen or heard of the Lizard Commando character (other than you using it as your username). I've never seen the comics, Doom mods, flash movie, etc. you've mentioned. Like I said, when I heard Lizard Commando, I thought of the creatures from Duke Nukem 3D.

[Craigs]

Your hand is really pale.

Anyway, it looks pretty odd, but in a good way. It looks like a dog with some kind of pitchfork going through it. :\

[Lizardcommando]

Craigs said:

Your hand is really pale.

Anyway, it looks pretty odd, but in a good way. It looks like a dog with some kind of pitchfork going through it. :\

Lol. That was the lighting. It was really bright.

I never said that recreation was spot on either.