Art of Bruce Whistlecraft

I have a new range of figures in the works and I thought I would post a peek at how they were made.
I work out the overall look on paper with a pencil first, figuring out the look of the figure. As I am making the prototype I dont need to do detailed turnaround views for another sculptor to work from. So I dive right into the build..

This is what I am using for my prototype master sculpt. More of a construct than a sculpt.
Acrylic geometric forms. Styrene sheet. Acrylic and styrene rod and tube. Lead tape. Some plastic hemispheres. And some epoxy putty to fill the gaps.

My tools for this job. All hand tools apart from a mini power Proxxon drill (not shown) for bulky cutting and sanding, of which there is not much. As I am mostly using acrylic and styrene I am chemically welding more than gluing. Using dichloromethane.

Basic form built, with most gaps plugged with filler. Some rub down and finishing required before molding but he came together nicely. Three days work so far.

The switch on the back of the figure. I turned the handle grip from acrylic tube held in my mini drill chuck like a tiny lathe.

Some more views of the figure.

A couple of coats of primer and some rubbing down to get the best surface finish possible.
I use automotive acrylic paint mostly. A couple of coats of “Filler Primer” first. This is a high build primer that is great for filling any tiny indents or scratches in the surface. You can get a nice even surface with this, then move onto the regular primer.
Rubbing down is about 50% of modelmaking.
This will need another pass before it’s ready.

All finished and ready to send off to the casters. I wont be hand casting these myself. I know people who are set up specifically for that job and they are faster and better at it than I am..

And here is a small army of resin castings. I have filled any tiny air holes and primed these ready for painting…

More info on this new series coming very soon.

Watch my social media pages or this blog for info..

Something new in the works.
Something destined to debut ToyconUK if all goes smoothly.

Behold a test vinyl pull of my upcoming toy with the awesome Munky King…
Available at San Diego Comic Con in a couple of weeks time..

New toy in the works..
Mr. Pumfrey and his Astounding Mechanised Perambulator.
From Munky King.

This is a glimpse at an early wax work in progress sculpt by Dave Pressler.

The first teaser of my work for the Oddfellows show opening May 3rd….

Working, working, working.. New pieces begin taking shape for my two man show with Chet Zar at Stranger Factory new May.

Another peek at some work in progress…..

Sorry I have been quite for some time..
Lots going on in the studio right now..

Its full steam ahead for me right now with works for my New York solo show at My Plastic Heart in October..

And here is a rare “Work in Progress” photo from me.. I generally dont let people peek behind my curtain…

Some pieces in the making bound for my New York solo show in october at My Plastic Heart.

Tiny clockwork brain…..

And a fairly typical day on my workbench..
About to cannibalise a bunch of antique (and probably frighteningly rare) draughtsman’s tools to make robot appendages..

Arts Unknown and myself have become convinced of the existence of the “Curse of Bella”.
Some toy projects run as smooth as clockwork. Some do not. This one is one of the latter..
Bella has resisted creation every step of the way. But after several abandoned digital sculpting attempts and two physical sculpting attempts we finally have a locked down final prototype which is capable of being manufactured..

I am sorry so many of you have had to wait so long to meet her, but she is moving forward now at speed.
Along the way everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.. The highlight (or lowlight of which) was the flooding of one of the sculptor’s studios, Bella wanting to escape to the sea no doubt..
It’s been a baptism of fire for Arts Unknown as this was one of their first projects. But they stuck by it and like myself decided to do it right or not do it at all.
And now she is looking better than ever. With improved, re-tooled weapons and a secret tucked away somewhere.
She is, quite literally, a killer…