Found At The Scene

I needed to make a second model gnome- an older and much less friendly character.

I like the idea that over time a gnome’s nose gets longer from rolling around; that they are born with snub noses that descend. I also decided to give him a receding hairline (mossline) and some facial hair to denote age.

Using the same process as before I made a model of my character sketch;

I used quick drying super glue to make it look like my second gnome was salivating, READY TO ATTACK

My final piece is going to be a collection of photographs found on a discarded camera/smartphone in the woods. Supposedly a jogger happened upon a strange creature during his morning run and -finding it surprising friendly- took a series of photographs before encountering a much less amiable member of the same species and meeting an untimely demise. Perhaps his body was found nearby, perhaps not.

HEY THERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Face painted, eyebrows stuck on. One ear is not yet dry enough for me to paint it as I made it a day later than the rest. Oops. When it’s dry I will finish the painting and glue the rest of the moss over the exposed polystyrene. I had been pretty stuck on what to use for teeth. I had decided that he needed uneven molars as he would be herbivore and eventually had the idea of using little pieces of rock. I will stick these into the mouth with tweezers and superglue once the moss is stuck and dried.

TADA!

I surprisingly really like the eyes, they make him look kindly and the red of the irises makes him look less human.

I started painting the face and ears with acrylic paint…

I bought a couple of polystyrene eggs, some air-dry clay for the face and ears and a few glass toy eyes.

Unfortunately I could only find one kind of eyes in the several craft stores I visited, they were a lot larger than I wanted them to be and amber coloured. I had to make the face larger and the nose thinner than originally planned in order to accomodate the scale of the new eyes. They looked pretty ridiculous when I was planning it out, but I decided to use them anyway hoping they would look better once they had eyelids and were set back in face, and order some smaller ones from the internet if he continued to look like a delirious conjunctivitis patient

I dug out the eyes and mouth so I could set the eyes further back in the face and to give the clay a rougher surface to stick to.

I gave my final design an egg shape and replaced my previous design’s luscious locks with moss, but kept the face relatively the same.

Although inspired by the look of trolls, I don’t think my character fits the description of one enough to merit being called a ‘troll’. Trolls are steeped in highly established folklore history- my character is much too small small and friendly, and there are other aspects of the characterisation of trolls that I do not want to include in my character.

I decided to research gnomes to see if he could fall under that category. Gnomes are far less defined characteristically, but seem to typically be diminutive forest dwelling creatures that live underground. Specific attributes are often redefined in various interpretations. Most depictions (including the most famous Garden Gnome) are of gnomes resembling little old men.

The Secret Book of Gnomes by Will Hugyen, Illustrated by Rien Poortvliet depicts gnomes that look like traditional Garden Gnomes, and describes their lives in detail; from courtship to marriage to how they build their tiny underground houses. I love the way the gnomes are depicted as living in harmony with nature; delivering first aid to the creatures of the forest, and their kindly craggy faces.

I want to include some of these attributes in my interpretation of Gnomes. My gnomes don’t have any limbs; they move around by rolling. Most of their egg shaped bodies is covered in a fur that closely resembles a blanket of moss. I like the idea that the saying ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’ began as a warning against gnomes- if you see a rolling stone that is covered in what appears to be moss, it’s probably a gnome. WATCH OUT. They live in small groups in underground burrows, they are predominantly nocturnal and are not friendly towards humans. Their bites are poisonous and they have long powerful tongues used to pull leaves off low branches of plants; something between that of a giraffe and that of a frog.

This particular gnome is a bit of an anomaly. Somewhat dimwitted, he occasionally slips out of the burrow while the others are sleeping. He has gotten into trouble more than once because of his unwillingness to use his poisonous bite to defend himself. He loves nature and has various collections of oddities he has found during his furtive morning rolls. Pride of place is his collection of buttons and coins which he does not know the difference between.

It is pretty much impossible for my gnome to take photographs so my idea of having a series of photos taken by my main character is out the window. However I still like the idea of physically making him and displaying a narrative through photography.

I came across this article about Pjotr Sapegin’s stop-motion animation The Last Norwegian Troll on animationmagazine.net– http://www.animationmagazine.net/features/the-last-of-his-kind

I loved the look of his puppets and I thought it would be a great idea to make a model of my final character that I could use in my final photographs; have my character take some selfies or have him in the background of some of the shots.

I did some preliminary character sketches based on my research. I gave them a basic bullet shape and focused on the facial features, leaving the body almost entirely formless.

None of these initial sketches quite had the personality I wanted to portray; a younger, friendlier creature. I most liked the facial features of my 5th sketch, particularly the long nose which would make for an interesting profile. I decided to forgo the facial hair and keep the lopsided grin with the irregular tombstone teeth.

I really like this design, particularly his face; he looks young and friendly. I like the idea that his limbs are completely concealed or maybe he doesn’t have any at all and just rolls around. I might make the most of this and make his shape more rounded. I do however feel that he looks far too clean for a creature living in a cave or a hole in the ground and I don’t think he would be that camouflaged in the forest. I think in my next redesign I will change the hair to something like hay or moss.