I was so excited to finally be able to sculpt the classic, ubiquitously terrifying symbol of the circus: a clown! Evidently, a challenge arises when trying to recreate a character that has been seen over and over again. Should I make him scary? Cute? Funny? Gory? I honestly couldn't even decide between making him happy or sad... and then I watched a taco commercial and thought... porque no los dos?
I decided to sculpt a sad clown but then glaze a happy one. The idea is that in order to keep his job, The Clown has to at least give off the illusion of cheerfulness so he wears happy face paint despite his depressed state. I have come up with back stories and histories of all my concentration pieces so once I'm done with them all, I might make a back story post describing how they are all interconnected. So stay tuned if you want to know why The Clown is so sad!
But I digress.
To start off, I had to turn to only the best model in the business, my classmate Peter.
Dat face tho.
After attaching two pinch pots and adding in rough basic features, I put in additional details and wrinkles to intensify his expression.
He has a very oddly shaped head and strange saggy cheeks but I like all the weirdness so I kept it as it was for the most part.
Every sad clown needs a neck!
I added his shrugged shoulders and started the construction of flower petals for his costume.
I wanted him to be as pathetic as possible so I thought a flower collar would add to the humiliation that he undoubtedly faces everyday, which helps explain his demeanor. I think that any sad clown needs a small, sad hat. That is undeniable. I also sculpted disproportionately small ears and began laying down some coils in order to construct his puffed sleeves.
This is a photo of him after all the finishing additions were done. I still hadn't smoothed him out with a watered paint brush at the point that this picture was taken but you get the point.
And so without much further ado... The Clown!
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