Slap some paint on it

I worked in my studio slapping some paint on some of the props I will be using in my animation residency project.

You may remember the elephant from a previous post, well he got his tusks, toe nails and eyes treated with silver leaf for starters.

I rubbed some black all over him and then covered him in copper again but much more loosely.

Once you pour the ammonia over the copper not much seems to happen, it just looks wet.

A minute later it starts to patina and looks like this.

This patina is very fragile and I learned through trial and error you cant really put a protective coating over it without jeopardizing the integrity of the material sadly. it has to be brittle to stay beautiful. Hopefully it doesn't degrade too much while shooting.

I also brought in the pair of mannequin hands for a pink palm treatment. They will get another coat and detailing soon enough.

I also used the same colour on the bottom of the foot.

And did a first coat on the nails. The paint wears off nicely through movement making them look aged and chipped, just the look I am usually after.

Elephantitis

Not the skin thickening disease........ something much nicer.
The transformation of my elephant mannequin.

Here is the little guy after assembly. He has a dark brown wooden finish and is fairly glossy. I animated him  doing a walk first on 2's then I turned off the front light and allowed him to become a moving silhouette on 1's.

I covered him in a copper acrylic paint. I allowed the texture of my rapid brush lines to remain. I didn't even sand him first since any damage that lifts the paint will reveal the undercoat in an interesting way. Shiney!

I quickly put on a thin second coat of copper and while it was still tacky I dripped over a blue  patina solution made of ammonia which instantly aged the copper.

I did some touch ups and another patina treatment. As it dried it was gritty and chalky and I felt it necessary to put a protective coating on it so that it doesn't wear off too quickly during my handling for my animation.

The coating may protect it but it did change the look quite a bit. It appeared to eat through in some areas giving it a deeper look and texture. I am pretty happy with how it is looking. I think I am going to silver leaf the tusks before I carry onto the next stage. And rub in some blacks to pop some of the crevices. I also re-attached the tail using a bent sewing pin. I intend on painting in the eyes in yellow and using plasticine disks on top so that he can look around.