Making Talos Awakes: Final remodelling

Making Talos Awakes – Part 9 of 20

Paying close attention to film footage of Talos’ upper arms in Jason and the Argonauts, I restored detail missing from his deltoid muscles using a specialist hard casting wax, selected for its ability to take and hold fine detail without being too brittle.

Shin and knee surface detail

Basing surface repairs on film footage, I preserved, and in places reinstated, traces of surface crazing on Talos’ shins, as visible in Jason and the Argonauts at 36:50 (shown below).

To be consistent with the right knee, I applied a matching texture to the left knee, which I had previously reconstructed in wax.

Remodelling Talos’ feet

The animation model’s feet were in poor condition and there was little close up film footage to refer to. So I took guidance from Ray’s later Talos sculpture and adapted its chunkier feet to suit the animation model’s slimmer feet.

Talos’ toes

I reconstructed the largely missing big toes in wax and refined the detail of the rest of the toes. In particular I re-established the toe nails without making them too crisp and brought the form of the right little toe into line with the outer profile of the left foot.

Talos’ ankles – creating credible transitions

Both ankles needed significant work to create credible transitions from lower leg to the foot and heel. I also rebuilt the missing left inner and right outer ankle bones.

Reinstating the sandal side piece pattern

I derived the additional pattern detail on the sandal side pieces (see above) from a momentary close up view of the animation models foot at 41:00 and the large scale foot model seen seconds later.

Refining the sandal straps and soles

I adjusted the sole of the right sandal to bring it closer in size and shape to that of the larger left sole. I then remodelled the missing sections of the sandal straps and repaired the rest. Where detail was vague, I carefully built up the forms.

Sandal sole edge pattern

A level of pattern is evident on the edges of Talos’ sandal soles at 41:00 (see above) when his foot, in close-up, moves across the screen. So I added a stylised linear pattern to echo this pattern.

Completion of Talos’ restoration

Finally, Raven Armoury were able to mould and cast the in preparation for the next, and far more complicated and challenging phase of the project. To reposition the standing figure into the kneeling Talos Awakes pose.

Restored and remodelled Talos figure

Restored figure and a cold cast bronze

Once Raven Armoury had moulded the restored figure, they cast a cold-cast bronze of the standing figure to mark a milestone in the Talos Awakes project.

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.