Mark james porter Illustration

A Home for a Humpty

2012-02-29T03:27:00.006-08:00

Hi everyone! So, to get back on track with my blogging I thought I would post pictures of the box I made for Humpty Dumpty, the idea being to find an antique box and decorate it (much like the Music box you can see earlier in this blog).

So, the first thing was to cut a big hole right in the middle and as much as I hated doing this to a beautiful mahogany box, it had to be done! as poor Humpty needed a home... at this stage I start to add drawn typography to the wood ready for painting at a later stage.

Here is an example of the hand painted lettering on the box, I do love old typography and this gave me a chance to try out some new things.

If you remember the little portraits I was doing from an earlier post, you can see here how one of them has been put to use, the little frame is hand made to, I love trying to make the entire object from hand, or at least as much as I can.

Humpty Dumpty

2012-01-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

Almost finished painting Dumpty, I always leave the eyes to the last second, I think it really gives them a personality and soul and is always fun to see them awaken when I paint them in.

He is missing the top of his head in these pictures, Will post more once I am done with the box.

Fands and Heet

2012-01-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

So I figured I would write a bit more about Dumptys process, I decided to Make the shoes like them old Clown boots, the ones with the giant toe cap you know? I knew they had to be pretty small, but they were a lot more fun to make than I expected.

(Insert Circus music here)

When it came to the hands I knew I wanted them to be fat and used Baby hands as inspiration. Surprise surprise, they burnt, again! I think my oven is a little temperamental when baking this clay....

The Father of someone rather Dumpty

2012-01-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

I have been drawing little portraits in an old fashioned style, one of which will be used in the model of Humpty, I think im going with the top one..... we will see.

Doodles

2012-01-01T11:41:00.001-08:00

just thought I would post up some Sketchbook doodles, the top drawing of the old man was going to be used for the Humpty Dumpty model I am currently working on and was drawn using nothing but dots, it took forever and I don't think i'll ever be doing that again!

Old Types of Type

2011-12-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

I love type and have been busy doing lots of scribbles on tracing paper which will later be used as part of the Humpty Dumpty Model I am currently working on, so I figured I would show some of it. I can't take good pictures with this camera so you will have to forgive me!!

The Death of Humpty

2011-11-17T05:20:00.000-08:00

I have started work on another puppet, this time inspired by the 1803 nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. I won't go into what i plan on doing yet as it will be a surprise!! but I thought i would share some early clay sketches/sculpts with you.

Beginning with a rough egg shape I began forming his face, I didn't want to place to much emphasis on his eggy-ness, and instead am far more interested in the idea of a short 'Humpty' man, although he should still retain some of that hard boiled charm.

At this stage i really started to hate his face, i felt the mouth was to big (even though that was initially intended) and i wanted his cheeks to sag more, shortly after, Humpty Dumpty got punched in the face and I attempted to remold his deformed face to something more like what I have in my head!

Being happier with the expression on this attempt I decided to start adding details and refining the sculpt.

He has since come a lot further and i will try and upload pictures at the end of each day or every other day so you can track his progress!! P.S I think my desk needs a good clean!!

Rabbit Marionette

2011-10-03T09:52:00.001-07:00

Hello! So the rabbit marionette finally got finished and i figured i should post up some pictures! The quality of the pictures isn't great and i will need to take some more once i get my hands on a better camera and some nice light :)

Uncertainty

2011-10-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

I wonder if he knows when he will get off, or for that matter if there was any prior knowledge to where he would be taken. But then, why would he even have left this way in the first place? And getting there in time is certainly out of the question, unless of course he was instructed to be 'promptly late'....

Boots and tick Tocks...

2011-08-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

Little update on the rabbit marionette i'm making, i managed to squeeze in enough time yesterday to make and paint his boots! i used plastic coated wire for a base this time and didn't think about that fact as i placed them into the oven, oops. :p

Here are some pictures of a clock i just got through the post to!! i like it, and is just the right size, more to come on what this is for. :p

2011-08-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

Hello again!! Drawing hands can be a pain in the back side, and sculpting them, in my opinion is even worse, when making models and puppets in the past if there was one place I felt really let the whole model down it was these damn things!

I ended up sculpting 3 in total as scale was an issue and I needed to make them bigger, below are some pictures of the hands before and after the baking stage.

As you can see in this picture, I burnt the fingers while cooking them :/ oh dear, in my experience Super Sculpey has a tendency to burn when you least expect it, and it can happen in a few mere seconds. When painted they should be fine and you won't even know but i have found in tests that any longer in the oven and this burning turns to hideous blisters that ruin your models!! I now stand gaurd over the oven while things bake :p

Rabbit heads :o

2011-08-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

The head was sculpted from a Clay called super sculpey, it's great stuff as it cooks in the oven to a plastic, almost toy like finish, I played around for a while with the shape, but in the end went for an almost humanoid look.

After cooking the rabbit for 15 minutes I proceeded with the painting, this is always a lot of fun because you are painting the colours and not worrying so much about form and shadow etc, I find this is one of the most enjoyable parts of making anything. Since this photo was taken I have added eyes, he looks 100% less zombie now!

Rabbits and notes

2011-08-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, So i have been rather busy but i thought i would post some personal work!

I have been wanting to try and make another puppet and figured i would note down some character ideas, this is where these rabbits come in! i kind of like them and figure one of these creatures would make an interesting marionette... Bring on the sculpey!

Goodbye Max...

2011-06-03T06:12:00.001-07:00

hello! for a while i have wanted to paint something to do with maurice sendak's brilliant children's book 'Where the Wild Things Are'. There is a very emotional goodbye between two friends and this has always been an inspiring moment for me. I made this little sketch and will hopefully get on to painting it over the next few days.

Musical Boxiness

2011-05-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

So, I love those old playbills they used to paste on walls to advertise upcoming special events, such as the Circus as it rolled through town. loosely based on one of those I made this image in pencils without being sure of what i would use it for....

... And then I found this wooden, musical box and thought i would have some fun making Something. Not sure if i like this or not, although the process was new for me which made it interesting.

Notebook

2011-05-11T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all

Thought i would post some more sketchbook pages, i love working in a book, the idea of carrying my thoughts and findings in one visual space really appeals to me. I'm also finding it helps me loosen up, as working in a cheap notebook keeps me from being to precious.

Still lifes

2011-02-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

So today, I have been working on a few 'daily paintings'. I spent about forty five minutes on each, the first (light bulb) was painted with oils and the final two with painter.

Beep Beep

2011-01-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

Another sketch, a little robot this time, hmm maybe we will see him more in the future?!

2011-01-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

I do love lighthouses, this little sketch in my notebook was painted with oils. they don't take very long and are fun so I think I will be doing more of these soon.

Blogging blogging blogging

2011-01-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

Hi again!! right, I'm going to start updating this blog! maybe once per week to start off with, I'll start by posting random sketchbook junk!! enjoy! :D or maybe you won't, but feel free to browse.

2010-09-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi! here is a quick watercolour of a shop front, i'm not very happy with it, but hey better luck next time!!

2010-08-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! this is the place i'll be posting new works and anything i find interesting! please feel free to follow!