Wedding Statuette (2014)

A good friend of mine was getting married and I wanted to make them something personal.
I thought it would be nice to make them a little wedding statuette of them in caricature.

Finished piece with a lighter to show the actual size.

First off I made a quick sketch:

This is a terrible draft; I messed up her face.

Nothing special about that, more a draft to tell me things I should pay attention at and how their position would look like. Also I did a small study about wedding clothes and hair. They didn't give me any tips to use, so I just had to choose something.

I started with their heads. I figured that if I wasn't able to do their faces I wouldn't need to continue on their bodies.

The "rough" version. Lateron I remove/ add more clay to finish details that aren't right yet.

The most tedious job is haircuts. Her boyfriend has a bit curly hair without bold spot. Therefor I had to put hair by hair on his head. These are small rolled up pieces of clay, folded once, slightly curled up and pushed into place.

Almost halfway with his hair.

Since the faces turned out alright I started with their bodies.
For that I made a wire frame. I've worked before on things without a frame, but that didn't always work. It was recommended to use some sort of frame.

The wireframe; 1 piece for their legs, 1 piece for their body + arms. These are hot glued together.

I kept 2 separate figures because that's easier to work with and paint.

Later I glued their heads in place and added hands.

The groom. His right hand is missing.
It will be glued in place after he's painted.

The bride; her left hand is missing.
I can't fit them together when their hands are already on.

Now it was time to paint. I used pictures all the time to get their natural color about right and to add things like birth marks.

Groom in color

Bride in color

Back view

Front view.

I added a layer of varnish a nice plateau and put them in a bell jar, which actually fitted perfectly and added their names + wedding date.

Finished piece.

And if you're curious if it looked anything like the wedding couple when it comes to clothes/ hair:

Not really!

She had a dress with small sleeves; he wore a dark grey suit with a green tie. Her hair was a-symmetric.

But the most important thing was that they enjoyed their gift and it does look like them.