My ceramic work (Now includes the Lizardcommando staute and other new work)
 

So I've been taking ceramics for my summer class and one my projects I had to do was make a sculpture or vase based on an ethnic culture. I did mine on ancient Peruvian ceramics, specifically the ones from the Moche people. I recreated a sea lion vessel that I saw in a book. It's the first time I have worked with clay so it's not exactly the greatest thing in the world. I've got other stuff too like some pinch pots, some plates, and some crappy pots I made on the potter's wheel, but I'm not going to show them until I get my Lizardcommando statue finished. I also have another statue in the works, but I might not be able to get it until the fall semester starts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00376.jpg
My recreation of a sea lion effigy vessel of the Moche people.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00377.jpg
Me holding the recreation for a close up of the face.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00378.jpg
Just a crappy angle of my recreation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00379.jpg
My recreation and the original picture.

As you can tell, there's a lot of flaws in my recreation. The head is small, the legs are a bit too fat and long, the spout's a bit too big compared to the original picture, the sea lion is not as plump, and it's not as well sculpted overall. That spout was a real pain in the ass to make. I didn't exactly make it the same way as how they are normally supposed to be made, so turned out crappy. The clay was originally a red earthenware-type clay (I think it was terra cotta). If I remember correctly, I painted the vessel over with some white terrasigilata and then painted the eyes and other spots in red terrasigilata. I think it took a week to make.

Its quite good work for a first time using clay. You took it upon yourself to meet challenge and it worked out closely, yeah the flaws you mentioned do exist but its always true that "practice makes perfect". If it has been a incredible learning experience, then I encourage you to continue. :-)

Thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I may not be able to take another ceramics class :(. The reason why I took it was to fulfill the required credits needed for my major. A personal reason why I took it was to see how a '3D' version of Lizardcommando looks. I have made actual 3D graphics of him and some other Lizard characters, but I wasn't too great with 3Dmax studio so they didn't look like the way I wanted them to look.

Hopefully, if I end up going to the Academy of Arts in San Fransisco, I get to take some kind of sculpting class if I take some class involving 2d/3d Animation and Game Design.

BTW, has anyone else seen Moche/Mochica ceramics? Pretty cool stuff in my book, especially those spout vessels.

Double Post:
I got most of my other projects back today. I finally have my Lizardcommando statue. This is my favorite project besides the Cowboy Lizard statue that I am making.

The color of Lizardcommando's skin wasn't what I originally wanted. The color was alot brighter than I anticipated. I used a bright kiwi Concepts underglaze. I probably should have used a darker green color. I have an idea which one, but I forgot the name of it. I probably should have used 3 or 4 layers of the ungerglaze instead of 2 layers.

There are parts that seemed lumpy here and there, but I couldn't exactly help that. Another thing I probably would have changed was the goggles. The lens aren't as big as I wanted them. They are too small compared to the concept art. The statue can stand on its own, but it'll sometimes tip over onto the tail, so I have to put something under it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00384.jpg
A front view of LC.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00385.jpg
A side view of LC.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00386.jpg
Close up of LC's face/goggles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00387.jpg
A comparison of the statue and the concept art.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00390.jpg
A closer look at the concept art.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00388.jpg
The front view's concept art and the statue.

Here's the rest of my glazed ceramic projects. The quality on some of them range from decent to meh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00380.jpg

The rest of the pics are in the spoiler tag to cut down on the loading time a bit.



The slab box's glaze was unintentionally like that. The glaze I used was fucked up. It was really liquidy and alot of the junk was stuck in the bucket. I liked how the glazing went on the side of the box, but the lid looks like crap. The coffee cup's glazing went pretty well along with the pinch pot (it's the one in the deep sea green glaze.

There are a few thrown pots, two of them were glazed, and one of them (the one on the far left) was put in a pit firing. The coil pot's glaze turned out how I wanted, so there's not much I'm complaining about that. Out of the thrown projects, I'd say my favorite was the coffee mug.

I have four more projects that I couldn't bring home. Two plates I made need to be put in the high fire kiln, a Shoji Hamada inspired flask bottle needs to be glazed and decorated, and the Cowboy Lizard statue needs to be put in the electric kiln and then decorated and then be put in the low fire kiln again. Unfortunately, I may not be able to get them until the beginning of September or even a bit later than that... :(

Overall, I'm happy how most of the stuff turned out. Obviously, there are things that can be changed and improved, but it's not exactly easy doing that since everything's been kiln-fired.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...k/DSC00382.jpg
I like the poopie looking one :D.

Heheh, that crappy coil pot? That thing sucked. It was the second thing I made. The only good thing about it was the glazing.

Don't be hatin on coil pots now.

I made a few in elementary school, but I never went as far as clay sculpture.

I like the Lizard dude. Commando, right? And the Peruvian recreation one wasn't that bad actually. Although it has the flaws you mentioned , it still had everything else which still makes it good.
I probably would've really messed up the face of that creature.

Yeah, the Lizard character's name is Lizardcommando. He's from my Doom mods, Wolf3D mod, some Flash movies, and some of my own crappy comics.

I think this is all bloody good, and it's really nice to see someone doing more of a craft in TCC. Wow, this is the first time i've posted in TCC for ages >_O.

All of those are not bad for someone who's only taken a summer class. I took a year of ceramics/sculpture myself, so I know how difficult the 3D media is. Especially the (cursed) potters wheel. My suggestions are just to smooth out some things, and don't be afraid to just plain start over. Even if you fudge a little after it has been dried, you can still scrape to make it look better. But the best way to fix mistakes is to do it when it's moist.