Kara Jansson Kovacev

Rapturous Cyclops

Rapturous Cyclops

BY KARA JANSSON KOVACEV

Artist, Illustrator, Graphic

Designer

New York, USA

Kara shows us how to build a 3D puppet with an app that mimics molded clay. Then she’ll bring that rough clay to life with her portraiture painting expertise in the app “Brushes”.

I start off by modeling a head using the app “Sculpt-Master 3D”. “SculptMaster” has only a few basic tools: adding, carving, and smoothing. There is no ability to stretch, warp, or texturize as in a typical 3D modeling program, and there is no mesh to make subtle alterations. The experience is similar to modeling with clay. I start off creating a few general spheres that are modeled roughly, with my finger, to create the basic shape of a head.

Then I use a Pogo stylus to do the more delicate carving and shaping of the facial features. The stylus allows me to work on very small sections of the piece without my finger obscuring the working area.

The size and tool constraints of “SculptMaster” don’t allow for very fine detail, so I model the figures to the point where they can be transferred to the app “Brushes” without losing too much of the clay-like quality. “SculptMaster” allows you to rotate your object 360 degrees, so I select the frontal angle to use and save a copy to the camera roll.

I then import the image into “Brushes” and rough in the details, often extending the body or adding to the background.

I refine the features, especially the eye, and then concentrate on flesh tones. These characters evolve in the creative process, but I did have French symbolist painter Odilon Redon’s gentle cyclops in mind and maybe a portrait by the 17th century Dutch painter Frans Hals.

Final Image

I created this piece in three layers: the “SculptMaster” layer, the background layer, and the top retouching layer. I usually redraw a majority of the image on the retouching layer, leaving only a small amount of the “SculptMaster” file visible. I start with a thin brush at full opacity and draw outlines on

the top layer and highlight important details like the eyes and nostrils, then add subtle shading with a larger brush and less opacity to liven up the skin tone. I finalize the piece by working the reflective details and highlights in the eye, and giving our cyclops a few teeth.