Wednesday 4 May 2011

It's madness I tells ya...

I was sculpting a face for part of yesterday and ended up spending around half an hour tweaking the eyes and eyelids of the model by the tiniest fractions of a millimetre. Hunched over my desk with my optivisor on. Alternating between a mounted pin and a blunted sculpel. Making teeny, tiny changes that no painter will ever actually notice.

I have come to a conclusion.

As mini sculptors I think we're all barking mad.

Tomorrow I'm going to be working on slightly changing the brow and the nose bridge on a different figure. Nobody is going to notice that either...

I'm really looking forward to my morning coffee. I'm glad the coffee emporium is in walking distance and open at half seven...

6 comments:

  1. Well, looks like lately your sculpting is the opposite of your painting ;)

    I do agree, we all are barking mad and you know what ? the raw reality is that noone will ever notice that, even at a subconscious level nor will it make the mini better/ closer to perfect but closer to how you wanted it.

    Some might say "that's what makes you a great sculptor" and such but IMHO you are a great sculptor and that you mentiones is just a temper deformation that often came with the hobby; excess of self criticism, random obsession...

    I take it as an artists' flaw that won't make you better but makes us stand (artistically-psichologically-wise speaking) from others' in the hobbie.

    Obsession is the dark side of the coin of creativity I guess... take your own example with painting; sometimes the most effective works better than the more accurate and academic techniques.

    Thanks for sharing, it's a relief when you know about other people being as nuts as you! :)

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  2. Absolutely right, both of you! Only I can spend a whole evening on a eyeline.

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  3. Time well spent, really!

    There has been countless times that I've cursed by myself when I've seen otherwise perfect mini to paint but the face has had something wrong. For me, the face is the key part in a miniature and I tend to spend 1/3 of my time trying to make it look "perfect".

    Maybe it's a latent (or maybe less latent) perfectionism that makes us miniature hobbyists unite, one way or another...

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  4. :D Miniature Hobbyists, Assemble !!! (insert heroic music)

    Who else licked a radioactive brush or got his thumb bitten by paint bottle's lid ?

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  5. Self inflicted, perfectionist tendency corrections -or the result of annoying customer intervention !?

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  6. Annoying customer intervention? Well, possibly but I do kind of think that we're sick enough in the head to do so anyway ;)

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