Digital Blue Prints

These are some digital blue prints I made in photoshop. I created these as if it was a major scientific or military project, which is why it says the limbs will be made of steel and carbon fibre, etc. I created these by using photographs of my self and robots and creating a mockup of my design. I then used the layers tool to draw over the photographs so I had an outline of the robot. I like this piece a lot because of the amount of detail and how well it will fit in the project as being the design for my robot.

Adding hair

I punched synthetic hair into the head using a needle with the loop cut in half. I mixed brown and blonde hair too try to accurately match my own hair. This was a time consuming process but it will make the hair look very realistic. However, due to time constraints I had to glue the hair in to save time. This should still look accurate as I can always punch more into the head after the hair has been cut. I then left the head with my hairdresser to cut.

Painting the face

I painted the face with illustrator make up which is used with acetone. I used shades of blue of red to paint the face and I really felt it come to life after this. I then fitted the acrylic eyes into the head. The paint and eyes made the head look disturbingly life like which made me feel more confident about the piece.

The head is cast!

I coated the mould with washing liquid so that the two silicones didn't stick and then I painted Gel-10 silicone onto the inside of the two mould halves. I then placed the foam core into the mould to save using a lot of silicone and then put the mould together and filled it with silicone. When the silicone had cured I removed the cast and trimmed any excess silicone. The cast came out with a flawed mould line as the two mould halves didn't fit together properly because the head core was too big, so I had to cut the head apart and re-glued it. This, however, gave me the opportunity to fit the eyes accurately whilst the face was separate from the head. If I was to repeat this I would create the head core more accurately.

Moulding the Sculpture

To mould the head I have coated one side in silicone. The mould wall stops the silicone from seeping onto the back of the head which means that when the front half is done I can remove the clay wall, coat the silicone that was on the mould wall with vaseline and then pour silicone on the back half. The mould worked well as it captured a lot of detail and should make a good clear silicone cast.

Moulding the sculpture - Building a mould wall

One of the first steps when moulding my sculpture was building a mould wall. I used clay to build the wall around the head. This wall now clearly separates the back half and the front of the sculpture so it will now be very easy to mould the head in two halves. I then coated the sculpture in wax and vaseline so that the silicone won't stick to it.

Concrete Robot Head

As an experiment, I created a mold of a male  mannequin head with plaster bandage and then filled the mold with concrete. Whilst the concrete was curing I pushed bits of circuits and wired into it and the result is a very mechanical looking robot head. I really like this piece as it seems like the opposite of my silicone robot head as it is very mechanical and rough looking rather than realistic. I think I will continue to work on this piece and create the back of the head completely out of circuit boards and wires.

Expanding foam test

I poured expanding foam into a mold to see if I could use this material for some of my robots body parts. Unfortunately,  I discovered that the foam does not cure in enclosed spaces and therefore the face was lost, so it is not ideal for my robot.

Latex test

I cast this face out of latex to see if I could use the material for creating my robots face. My main problems with latex are that it shrinks by 17% during curing and it is not as flesh like as Silicone. After comparing this with my Gel-10 silicone experiment I think I will stick with silicone.

Mannequins

Hands

I have been looking at parts of mannequins as they are very similar to some part of robots. I have bought two mannequin hands that I may use in a sculptural piece further on in the project or in digital work. I have also taken note of how the lack of texture makes the pieces look so artificial.

I also experimented with creating a hand out of wire mesh. I found that it is very difficult to shape the wire into the correct shapes and if I do make a metal had in the future I will make it out of sheet metal, more like a knight's gauntlet.

Body

I bought this mannequin body for a previous project but I realised that it could come in handy when creating robots later on in this project. Like with the hands, it is easy to see that it is the colour and lack of texture that makes the piece so artificial looking.

I have also photographed a Ken doll as this looks very similar to a full mannequin. If I create a mannequin in the future I could look at the body shapes and the articulation of the Ken doll.

Creating my own mannequin

I have creating this duct tape body in case I want to create a mannequin in the future. I created by wrapping myself in duct tape and then cutting the clothes off. This way I know that the body is very close to the shape of my own. If I follow up this idea, I will create a frame for it and stuff it with newspaper and polystyrene.

Robot Head Sculpt

This is the plaster life cast that I made with new open eyes that I have sculpted on with plasticine. First I had to dremmel out the old closed eyes and then I could sculpt on the new eyes. I have also re sculpted the right ear that fell off during the original casting.

Robot Self Portrait

I drew this to show what a robot modeled off myself would look like in the Kraftwerk style. I really like the mixture of mechanical arms and the realistic head and I think I will follow this idea further.

Life Cast Photo Edits

I particularly liked one of the photographs that was taken whilst I was having my face moulded so I decided to experiment with it in photoshop. I used curves, brightness and contrast and the invert tools to edit these photographs, and although they don't fit in with the robot theme very well I think they look good and they do show the creation of a robot.

Raw Life Cast Plaster Cast

This is my life cast straight from the mold. I need to smooth the back of the head by sanding it and filling any holes with filler. I also need to resculpt one of the ears and dremmel away the closed eyes so I can sculpt open eyes on top.