Umber Hulk Wall Hanging

As far as I know, the umber hulk is a D&D original. It's one of those combination monsters, in this case part nasty bug-faced creature and part bar bouncer, as can be clearly seen from the illustration from the AD&D Monster Manual below.


This is the umber hulk wall hanging. It has two sets of eyes, which can be disorienting to those who look upon it.




The compound eyes are easier to see when the simple eyes are missing:







The original drawing:

Shamrock Key

In this season of D&D Encounters, Beyond the Crystal Cave, four keys are needed to enter the fortress of the main villain Soryth. The keys are a shamrock, an oak leaf, a rose leaf, and a sprig of mistletoe, and this is the first one.




The color of the ultra cheap acrylic paint used is actually called "Shamrock." The picture below shows the color better, but I can't get it to come out without a distracting flash reflection.

Hallucinogenic Edna

This is a hallucinogenic image of Edna Krabappel (not Crandall), Bart Simpson's perpetual fourth grade teacher. In the episode "El viaje misterioso de nuestro Jomer," Homer eats Guatemalan insanity peppers at a chili cook-off and goes on a psychedelic journey. When he looks at the already grotesque Springfieldians while tripping, they appear even more distorted. This is an interpretation of the image of Edna Krabappel in that episode. When she speaks, she sounds like one of the off-screen adults in the animated Charlie Brown films: "Wauh wauh wauh-wauh. Wauh wauhh. Wauhhhh."





As Robert "Sideshow Bob" Underdunk Terwilliger once said, "You only get one chance with Edna Krabappel." I have now had my chance.





An image of Edna from the episode. I thought she needed a sixth eye to make her symmetrical.

Silver and Gold Giraluna

This is the Giraluna, the Dream Queen of Leo Lionni's Parallel Botany. This particular giraluna is a replacement for the one destroyed by my cat. Parallel Botany illustrates a taxon of imaginary plants which can best be described as undead.

Satyr Bulges

These are satyrs for an upcoming D&D Encounters session. The head is from a Jesus action figure. The body is from a minotaur eraser. The eraser does not include an anatomically correct crotch, so I attempted to include a bulge for the sake of mythological correctness. The satyr to the right didn't get a bulge as he was probably out drinking wine when Pan was handing them out.




The crotch of a satyr:




Extra mudmen minions:

Mudmen

This week's session of Beyond the Crystal Cave involves an enchanted pool of mud and a battle with the mudmen that live in it.

There are two types of mudmen in the encounter. These are the worthier opponents - potentially deadly rather than merely annoying.




The other type is the mudman grasper, easily destroyed minions, the function of which is to get in the way, limit movement, and lengthen the encounter rather than pose any serious threat. They're cruder and less well-formed. I actually need 5 of them so I made a few extra, but they may not make it into the kiln before the game on Thursday. That would indeed be unfortunate.




The one in the middle has shiny buttocks.





The scenario immediately reminded me of this scene from Dragon's Lair, the 80s laser disc arcade game animated by Don Bluth.

Partially Finished Six-Pointed Giraluna

This is the Six-Pointed Giraluna to replace the one destroyed by Calvin. I still need to paint the round objects inside.

Evil Clown Outlines

Here are the outlines left on a wooden shelf in my yard from spraying acrylic sealer on Evil Clowns 5 and 4.




Evil Clowns 5 and 4:

Echo Spirit and Spirit Echoes

Session 2 of Beyond the Crystal Cave features an undead creature called the Echo Spirit. There is an illustration of an ethereal knight, but this is how I pictured the Echo Spirit, cupping its hands to make its howl echo throughout the cavern.




The Echo Spirit can summon a series of Spirit Echoes, easily destroyed but potentially annoying undead animates. Here they are, complete with shadows and beige sweatshirt texture.















This is was made from a mold of an object from my post-Halloween shopping spree. It's not meant to be a Spirit Echo.

Hamadryad Boobs

Beyond the Crystal Cave calls for a hamadryad and this is what I came up with. I was imagining her as a tree spirit, so she has a trunk for a body and branch-like arms. I also thought she should have breasts, but the only breast molds I had were for a larger doll. They would have looked small on the doll, but my hamadryad came out well-endowed rather than slender and willowy. Also, her head is from a resin Halloween statue of a witch and everyone knows that witches have fangs.

Evil Clown 5

This is the fifth and I think last of the series of 2011 Evil Clown flats. This one is also partially glazed and partially painted with acrylics. The beige blob on the hat is a circle of tiny skull molds. The face is shaped from a mold of the Misfits fiend/Crimson Ghost logo.




The beige blob of tiny skulls:

Evil Clown 4

This is #4 in the 2011 series of evil clown flats based on the clown bed from the Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word." By #4, it has mutated considerably from the original image. The inside of the mouth is glossy and reflective because it's Ragnar's Black glaze. The baby faces on the hat are also glazed. The rest is painted with acrylics.



Just to clarify, that was baby faces and not baby feces. I have my limits.

Hateful Eye Ranting

I noticed the two beholders I had on my shelf in the studio gallery were missing. I spent last night and this morning worrying if they had been stolen and what the appropriate course of action would be if they had. Would I be justified in removing all of my work from the gallery? Could I possibly convince the powers that be at the studio to compensate me with two months of free membership? Could I get them to forgive my current $40 clay debt? Would I be obligated to leave the studio entirely? I received a text that the two of them had sold for $30. I'm relieved they weren't stolen, but I'm disappointed that I asked that little for them.

While swimming laps and worrying about the missing beholders, I decided to make an image of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs with the words "Hate Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry."


Beholder 2




Beholder 8: The Hypno-Beholder

Identify Yourself, Pastry Genius

I found an image of a cupcake in the shape of Jabba the Hutt and decided to make a clay version. I think it came out more like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, which is very unfortunate. Hopefully once it's painted, it will more obviously resemble a Hutt. It also looks more like a muffin than a cupcake, bringing new meaning to the Aerosmith lyric "You ain't seen nothin' till you're down on the muffin."





I would credit the artist who created the original cupcake if I knew who he or she was. Identify yourself, pastry genius.

Do You Feel Confused Yet?

The clay output for this weekend has all been D&D related.

I've been wanting to make an umber hulk figure for a while, but rather than fight gravity I made this umber hulk flat. Those bulbous features with the circles on them are meant to be compound eyes. The combination of the compound and simple eyes (not to mention the cruel eyebrows and nasty mouthparts) is meant to have the effect of confusing the umber hulk's victims. Do you feel confused yet?




This is meant to be a wererat. Yes, it's traced, but not from the image to right. I think the finished product looks more like a werebunny than a wererat so far.




This season of Encounters requires a leprechaun. This is my attempt at rendering a leprechaun miniature in clay. I originally wanted him to be smoking a pipe, but I couldn't figure out where to put it. It didn't look right in his mouth. A breast pocket seemed out of place. If it put it in his (crudely rendered) hand, it looked too phallic. I'm firing the pipe anyway, but it's very small and likely to get lost. I made two leprechauns because it has the power to summon a False Presence, but upon reading the description more carefully, it can only summon the False Presence when it's invisible. So I probably only need one. Let the Lucky Charms references begin!

Evil Clown 3

If you should die before you wake...

Myconid Visitor

Apparently it's been damp enough to warrant a visit from the Myconid peoples that live under my yard.

Leftover Eyeballs

These are leftover eyeballs from making the Ustilagor.




Here they are on several random selections from my library.

Brown Lemurs

I made two new clay objects modeled on the brown lemur.




This is the flat lemur object I made in 2009.




This is the image I used as a model. It's from Wild Animals by Jane Burton

Spooky Sepulchral Girl Coin

I bought two resin statues from Michael's this year as part of my Halloween splurge. This coin is a test of the girl statue.





Here are the two Spooky Sepulchral resin statues from Michael's.