MAKING MARLEY: PART 5

Paint Master: I’d originally considered casting Marley in a translucent resin. The more I thought about it, the more problems presented themselves. I’d always intended to have the line produced as cold-cast collectibles, and so many of my decisions regards engineering and paint applications were governed by that. It would have been possible to do a one-off or a two- zee, with a translucent casting, applying a series of air brushed clear glazes with some opaque touches, but as a production piece, it would have been unmanageable. The same consideration went into the chains. I think it would have been cool if they were all rusty and corroded, but hard to keep consistently in production. I laid out a template for the length of chain sections, where they linked and how they were to be arranged on the figure. I don’t know what a “glowing lobster” looks like, and I don’t know that it would have changed my mind in Marley’s color. The color scheme for his costume is bland, dull and washed out, keeping the focus of the piece on his portrait. There was a good deal of dry-brushing and washes in painting him up. The only gloss touches were the eyes and glasses on the bound head and the eyes and interior of the mouth on the unbound head. The locks, keys and ledgers were painting in a buffable gunmetal paint. With a little dark gray rub. The base too, was grayed out. I’d played with a few versions of a ringing bell but thought a cast shadow of the bell in a different position would get the idea across. That was the plan, anyway. I still hope, one day, to be able to bring these figures to market and complete the line. The future’s a big place. Body parts crossed for luck.