Making Talos Awakes – Part 16 of 20
Reshaping the lower back
I needed to carry out extensive work to reshape the lower back into the convex twisting curve of the Talos Awakes position. Almost the opposite of the untwisted concave form of the animation model’s standing position (below).
The concave form of the animation model’s standing pose
First, I cut away a large unusable section of the left side of the lower back (below left). This allowed me to indent the form in a line below the left shoulder blade and draft the new form in Plasticine (below right).
Back before corrective work | Left lower back excised and form indented below shoulder blade
Next I cut and heat-formed two large grafts to curve the muscle structures each side of the spine (draft below right). I used a third to reset the mid section of the spine detail from concave to convex (assembled below right).
The three largest back grafts laid out | Six of ten back grafts fitted
Next I set three new spine nodule grafts to extend the spine form to the belt line (above right and below right). Another two to reinstate muscle structure above the belt line. And a final one to infill a narrow void at the right waist seam-line caused by the curving out of the large back muscle graft (below right).
The back form drafted in Plasticine | Ten grafts fitted. Note the graft at the waist seam-line
The back form drafted in Plasticine | Ten muscle and spine grafts fitted
The back form drafted in Plasticine | Ten muscle and spine grafts fitted
Rebuilding Talos’ stomach
As described in post 14, I removed the stomach to allow the fitment of a replacement waistband. Subsequently, after studying the film footage (e.g. below left), I drafted a replacement abdominal muscle form in Plasticine, to overlap the waistband.
Film still from Jason and the Argonauts time code 30:32 | The stomach after the first graft
Based on the draft form, I heat-adapted and fitted the stomach muscle in two grafts (graft 1 above right). The first graft established the centre line of the muscle structure running in line with the centre line of the upper body. The second reinstated a horizontal muscle separation line to the left side of Talos’ stomach (below left), which is visible in the film at 30:32 (above left).
Talos' stomach, rebuilt in two grafts including a section of the horizontal muscle line | Due to the compression of the pose, the stomach overlaps the waistband
Forming the junction of the upper and lower body halves
To make alignment and TIG welding of the bronze body halves easier, I established a close fitting junction which described a line above the waistband but below the stomach line where it overlapped the waistband. After consulting Simon, I built up the thickness of the adjoining surfaces to an even 5mm.
The established close fitting junction of the upper and lower body halves
Shaping the loincloth
As you can see below left, I needed to curve the top of the left inner thigh in to allow space for the groin. So I cut away the existing loincloth and adjusted thigh muscle (below right).
Loin cloth prior to thigh adjustment | Loincloth excised and left inner thigh reshaped
As the raised right leg would naturally cause the groin to deform to the left. Consequently, I needed reform the vertical lines of the replacement loincloth into a subtle outwards curve mirroring the line of the right inner thigh. So, leaving 3mm connections at the vertical centre of the graft, I slit the loin cloth lines and heat-formed the graft into the desired shape. I also curved the loincloth out to meet the right thigh to further suggest the deformation of the groin under pressure from the thigh (below left).
Because of the compression of the pose, I had to remove sections of the graft at the waistband and adjoining the right thigh for the graft to fit. Once set, I used two narrow grafts to form the outer folds of the loincloth (above and below), to give an impression of the gathering and rolling under of the material.
Top right: Two grafts reinstate the junction of skirt, the left thigh and the loincloth | Bottom right: A graft reinstates the underside of the skirt between groin and right inner thigh
Final intimate adjustments
I added two grafts to complete the form in the hollow formed at the junction of the groin, left thigh and the overhang of the draped skirt (above top right). Another established the underside of the skirt fold between the groin and right thigh (above bottom right).
I made further adjustment to realign the graft behind the groin and left inner thigh to establish a smooth transition between the structures.
Completed grafts and adjustments to crotch (between the groin, inner thighs and hemline)
These sculptures were hand made by Raven Armoury in association with The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation.
Based on effects characters created by Ray Harryhausen for a Charles H. Schneer Production.
TM & © Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
