G'Day Tony.
I still think you need to beef up the lower part of the chest and upper abdomen a bit more ,from bottom of his tie down ( take a look side on is a mirror ) relaxed stance
Cheers
Al

Thanks Al,

Phil made the same point mate, thanks. While he's in pieces I can work more easily on each part and I wont get my fingers all over the fresh putty.

I've found a photo of actor Bill Kerr, who portrays Monash in the excellent mini series "ANZAC's". This is my primary colour reference pic, as all my other pics are B/W or artists portraits.

Cheers

You are progressing well Tony and nice work with the detailing,i hadnt realised you had Phil at hand to give some hands on advise,you a lucky man to have him available to give some input.
keep going mate you doing fine so far.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks mate.

Yeah, I am very lucky to have Phil to guide, encourage, cajole and inspire me. I've known him for over 15 years and he was the person who inspired me to get into figure modelling.

I know he'd be embarrassed if I said so publicly, but Phil's been an inspiration and good friend to virtually every "fair dinkum" figure modeller I've ever met here in Australia and in his native New Zealand.

He's a very humble and modest bloke (except when it comes to rugby union) and he's always been willing to offer advice and encouragement to others who share his passion for modelling, particularly figures representing the shared military history of Australia and New Zealand; the ANZAC's.

I couldn't ask for a better person to advise me on sculpting my first bust, and I told him so just the other day.

Cheers

Well Tony,
In my absence here on the planet (vacation) you made some giant leaps.
Good work.

marc

Thanks Marc,

Actually they're just baby steps at the moment, but I appreciate your comment.

Welcome back.

Cheers

Great work on this bust Tony, it's getting better and better everytime!

Post-Surgery

Hi Marcel,

Thanks for your comments and for following my long SBS with this bust.

After attacking Monash with a hacksaw, I removed approximately 2mm in length from his head and his hat and cut his head off.

He's now in the recovery room, his head and hat are just held on with blu-tak..

I've positioned his head as I will eventually pose it, turned to the right and looking slightly upwards.

I've also continued to build up the back, chest and upper arms, and sculpted a new, smaller pair of ears.

I hope you like the changes I've made.

Looking good Tony,
Al

Very nice.. Just for the ears.. at the moment they don't exaxtly look like they fit in the last picture (just my opinion). Anywayz.. after having a pretty hectic week i can finally come back on here

7 days til WASMEx and counting

Hi Al & Daniel,

Thanks for your comments guys.

Daniel, the ears were too big before, so I pulled them off and tried to sculpt a new pair. I've measured them up and they are the correct size, although its been pointed out that they might not stick out enough.

I've done a lot more since those pics, and will post a few updated pics tomorrow.

Thanks once again for following my progress. Only 6 days until WASMEx now, and I'll bring this bust with me so you can see him for yourself.

Hi guys,

A bit more work done on Monash.

Scalloped breast pockets on jacket. Neck muscles bulked up to reflect turned head.

Very thin coat of Magic sculpt applied over cheeks and forehead.

Lots of sanding and scraping on upper body to create smooth surface.

Progress is slow but I'm pleased with the results so far. Some of the proportions still don't look entirely right to me.

If anyone sees something that doesn't look right, please let me know.

Hey again Tony, only 4 days left (well atleast sleeps that is)

i like hows it turning out so far.. just to me the neck at the back look a little bit thin, but it just may be how the pictre was taken.

Thanks Daniel,

I haven't finished the neck yet. I've just finished hollowing out a hole in his shoulders to fit the head and neck in,and will then build the neck up and sculpt the shirt collar.

Hi Tony,
I've been fascinated by this thread and the great results you've created already with your first bust.

Just the idea of trying to achieve a specific recognisable likeness in your first bust seemed quite a challenge to take on.

You've taken it on with a passion obviously and you've also taken on the great advice available from accomplished sculptors on this forum.

I'm certainly no sculptor and couldn't sculpt my way out of a paper bag but my opinion of progress so far is~

I feel the back of the head protrudes too far,the distance from the corner of the eye to ear is too far,the adjustment to the ear was too much,I think you took too much off the jowls and chin,the shoulders are not wide enough and the torso generally needs more bulking out front and back.

I don't mean to be negative about your results, far from it it's just how I see it and only my opinion,ofcourse.

G'Day Tony.
I still think you need to bulk out the lower chest and upper abdomen some more and also the upper back/shoulders.If you draw and imaginary line from the peak of his cap straight down, then, from that point back to the bottom of the tie will give you a pretty good idea as to how far you need to go out
Cheers
Al

Hi Mark & Al,

Thanks once again for your comments guys. I need and want this kind of honest feedback, and I thank you for your suggestions. I will attend to them as soon as I can.

Al, I can't quite understand your point about the imaginary line. I'll give you a call in a few days and you can walk me through it.

Mark, I think the shoulders are too narrow too, and I will reduce the distance between the ears and eyes by cutting another couple of mm's out.

More Magic Sculpt and surgery for poor old Monash!!!!

Tony.
It's hard to convey on paper what i mean and I'll talk to you soon hopefully i can explain it verbally.

Cheers
Al

Good news and bad

Hi guys,

I had a good long chat with my good mate and sculpting mentor Alan Mackie last night and we discussed the Monash bust in detail.

As a consequence, I attacked him with the hacksaw again (the bust, not Alan) cut another few mm's out of the cheeks to shorten the distance between the ears and the eyes, bulked out the neck and the back and squared up the shoulders. Thanks mate.

The good news is that I think I'm finally starting to correct some of the proportions that looked wrong to my eye, and that several observant Planeteers were kind enough to point out. The shoulders,in particular,never looked even to me, and now they do. I still need to add more volume to the back and reposition the upper arms and align them with the torso, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

As you can see from these pics, I haven't reduced the size of the hat to match the reduction in the size of the head, and now the hat's too big. This will be compensated for when I add hair to the head.

The bad news is my skin has once again reacted to the Magic Sculpt, despite the fact that I wear latex surgical gloves while sculpting and wash my hands and my gloves after every session in warm soapy water. The skin on my face and hands is red, sore, covered in blisters and bloody itchy and I'm off to the Doctor again for more cortisone tablets.

Hope you like the pics. As always constructive criticism is most welcome.

Holy crap Tony,what an amazing difference.
Excellent results mate.

Sorry to hear the reaction has flared up again,I guess if I was to say it was worth it you wouldn't feel any better, but it was worth it.

This is very close to Monash now,you're almost there.
Keep at it despite the allergy.