Sofia - Bronze miniature
 

I know most of you have already seen this since there has been a demo of it going on in the WIP section for the past few months, but here it is now finished and posted in the public section. Thanks for all your interest and kind comments during the WIP. This was a fun little project. I am shipping it off to the workplace of the little girls father tomorrow so he can surprise his wife with it. So sweet!

Head dimensions 5"H x 3"W x 4" D

Congratulations Heidi, I loved to see how you made this beautiful work.
Thanks for sharing so much with us.

She is perfect!
 

What a delight! Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge. Reading the WIP was really an education. You are so very generous. :thumbsup:

Heidi, this amazes me. Since I am much better at carving a three-dimensional illusion out of a flat plane than creating a three-dimensional portrait from a flat illusion, I'm in awe of your skill. The parents of this girl should be so pleased!

Alex

Heidi, what a treasurer! I bet it was hard to give this one up. :cool:

Just beautiful Heidi!

It's like Heaven. It's just perfect. Perfect I tell you. I adore this.

Thanks so much Claudmir and Molly, and I'm glad you found the demo enlightening.

Elizabeth - I am always just glad to be able to ship one off and not have to find room to store it in my studio.

Alexandra - I know what you mean. I feel the same way about painting and am really in awe of how all of you can breathe such life and beauty into spots of flat color.

Terri and Lisa, I appreciate your comments. If you want to see real perfection, just take a look at what's on your own canvases!

That's great, you should consider making your own video. You're so talented that it would sell like hot cakes.

This is my first time seeing the finish, it's beautiful!!! The parents are going to enjoy this! Thanks for posting the progress.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Claudemir. I've had a lot of requests for a video and may consider that avenue some day. For now, my instruction book has been selling pretty well from my website and other online outlets.

Thanks Jimmie. The bronze patina is always scary since it is being done by the foundry and I don't have much control over how it turns out. I am taking a Ron Young patina workshop here in Phoenix next month to learn how to professionally patina my own bronzes.
Sofia's father got the statue the other day and voluntarily included this testimonial in his letter:

"The sculpture arrived yesterday, and we are so pleased. It turned out beautifully, and is an amazing likeness of my daughter. Thank you so much for creating such beautiful artwork that I know we'll treasure for years. You're an amazing artist. Thanks again, Heidi for a job well done. The sculpture way exceeded my expectations, and I couldn't be happier."

It's responses like that that make all those tedious hours worth while.

I need to spend some time later catching up on the forum but things are getting pretty busy I'm happy to report. The father wants two more sculptures - one of his other daughter and the other of himself. Got confirmation and a large deposit last week to begin 5 hyper-realistic life size busts for a private collection. The man is so happy with the first one so far, he recommended me to a studio he has ties with and they may have me make 15 more life size sculpture busts that they will make into latex super realistic figures and placed around a public auditorium. That would certainly be good practice and keep me out of trouble for the next couple of years at least.

"Busting Loose"
 

Wow, Heidi!

All that work coming in is fantastic news. You are so deserving of it, too.

I certainly hope you'll continue to post your work here. I so admire it. It is truly inspiring!

Thanks so much Molly!
These busts aren't exactly the type I envisioned making, but they are pretty fun.
I don't think I will be posting any of them on the forum because they are not traditional, but are FX portraits. I will post this example here of the first one I am working on - in progress is "Bela" as Dracula. I will mold it bald with no eyebrows and the FX studio will cast it in silicone, then add hair, paint, glass eyes, costume, etc. The type you see in the Tussaud museum. I can't wait to see it totally finished. What a kick.

Heidi-- How exciting! Congatulations!

Oh, but, please do. I don't think that any of us care that it's not "traditional" - this is completely fascinating, and I, for one, would like to see them all!

Watching Sofia come to live was a real treat. My hat (if I had one, that is) is off to you.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks Terri and Cindy!
I am becoming fascinated with this genre of sculpture myself. I just updated the photo above with a more recent shot. This type of clay is painstakingly slow to work with and the piece will be detailed down to the very last skin pore.

My to-do list of FX busts so far includes this Bela Lugosi, then Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Indiana Jones, Karloff as Frankenstein, and then Karloff as the Mummy. A far cry from pretty little Sofia! I'm pretty sure that Cynthia wouldn't appreciate my posting those characters on this forum, so feel free to visit my site from time to time if interested in seeing the progress/results.

Why not? It's portraiture, regardless of who it is. And, it show the process of a professional, doing her job. I can't imagine why it wouldn't be alright.

Cynthia?

So cool Heidi, you are taking the leap to our favorite place (Tussaud) eventually and those will be from life! I am so excited for you!

:) Beth

Heidi,
I so loved watching your WIP, I don't watch any TV so I was rushing home to see what you had done lately. Great to hear about all your new commissions. Good luck.

Janet

Wow! Congrats on all the work that is coming in! I will be watching on your site, and I am totally excited for you.

I will have to show this to my husband, he's a total movie nut and the only reason that I am familiar with the names above :-)

Just had to add... it is so "cool!" :cool:

Heidi, I just read this and I apologize for not congratulating you before. I didn't realize you had such exciting news. Wow! I'm so admiring of your ability and I am confident that you will do a super job on these commmisions. May they lead to even more!

Alex

Thank you all so much - but don't congratulate me too soon! Whether or not I get to do any more of the other 20 busts totally depends on how well I do with this first one.
So far, it has been a real challenge working from 70 year old grainy, washed out photos that span all different ages - trying to see extreme detail that doesn't exist in the photos. I have a dvd player set up in my studio and am playing his old movies and stopping the frame whenever they show a closeup. It is almost like having him there modeling for me, but even those photos have weird lighting and are grainy - plus he holds perfectly still and doesn't move his head around at all so I can see the forms. Well, wish me luck. It is a good opportunity so I hope I can pull it off.

Oh, I thought I would add one more note about this job and why I am not overly confident that there will be more to follow.

It turns out that I am the fourth sculptor that this man has hired for this particular project because he has not been happy with the likenesses from the other three (and one was from Tussaud studios!) All started with the Bela bust since he is probably the most difficult to do. That really puts pressure on me to nail the likeness.

On an encouraging note, however, this man is semi famous in his country and last week he had a TV interview. During the course of the interview, he was asked about his interests and hobbies and he told them he was a big fan of the classic horror movies and that he was having a life size collection of figures made. He then proceeded to mention me by name as the artist who is making the sculptures for him. He also told me that when it is finished, he wants a photo of me with the bust to give to his publicist as he intends to run a newspaper article about it. I have never had any sort of publicity at all, so this is all very exciting indeed!

When he saw the progress, his response was "I think you are the one that is going to make my dream come true". My response should have been "I think you are the one that is going to make MY dream come true!"

Hi Heidi,

This is a beautiful piece of art!
From the photos you posted so far, your Bella Lugosi looks quite accurate. And even if you don't do all 20, it sounds like just doing this one is garnering you some publicity so this has been a golden opportunity either way.

(If that man doesn't hire you to do all of them, he's blind!!!)

As far as him being dissatisfied with someone from Madame Tussaud's, Heidi, you're right up there with the very best. I hope you know that. It doesn't surprise me at all that he likes your work better than the Tussaud person's.

Such a precious little girl sculpture -- and I'm glad to hear things are really taking off for you!

Heidi, this is terrific news and you deserve every success with the incredible work that you do! (And I hope you get LOTS of publicity.)

Brenda, Michele, and Linda
Thanks so much for your hopeful wishes - and of course I wish the very same for you all as well. I've learned not to get too excited and to take one day at a time. Even if it is foreign publicity, publicity is publicity, so I'll take it for starters and see where things lead.

Let the good times roll!
 

Wow, it looks like this up until now break even at best hobby is about to become full time! Because of this Bela exposure in Mexico, I was asked to submit a quote last week and the clients today approved and confirmed that I will soon begin this new project for them.

It is for nine 120% life-size traditional bronze busts of their country's presidents to be installed at their Embassy in Mexico City. I plan to do an excellent job for them, as this is sure to make or break my career. Wish me luck! It feels great to be able to say that I now have 2-year waiting list. Woo hoo!

Omigosh Heidi-- that's tremendous! What exciting news -- Congrats!!

Fabulous, Heidi! Your work is truly exquisite and I'm delighted for you. Keep us posted on your progress, if you would.

HEIDI! HEIDI! that is so wonderful! !!!!!!

(with child like excitement, jumping up and down:). You have all the skill, talent and business savvy. Now advance full throttle and show them your very best! I will be telling my kid how I once actually got to meet this very influential sculptor in person (you).

Congratulations!

Garth

Great news!
 

Heidi, you certainly deserve it! Congratulations! Please post updates if you have time.

Thanks so much for the congrats and for your generous support. Garth, you crack me up!
Well, I will have to contain my excitement for just a bit - although the project has been approved, the funds for it won't be released until the first of January so I'll have to wait until then to get started. 2006 could indeed be the year for "bustin loose" as Molly pointed out. :)

She's a Doll
 

HEIDI !!!!

A big Congrats kiddo! You know I'm just the biggest admirer of you and your work. I still don't know how you do what you do. It literally stops me in my tracks everytime. I agree with Garth....you've got it all dear! :sunnysmil

All the best in your new opportunity!

~Gear

Thanks GearBear!
I know I should probably just keep my mouth shut until I have a signed contract and a fat check in my hot little hand, but I am just so excited about this one I could burst. In this business though, you never know what might happen - or not happen as is sometimes the case. Thanks for your support - it's a real confidence booster!

Bela update
 

I thought I would sneak in this update on the bela sculpture for those interested in seeing the process since I don

Last post for this topic. I think I'm finally done with this thing and tomorrow I'll shave off the hair and get it cleaned up for molding. I don't think I can share the photos of it after it has all the FX work done to it. My client is having me do the other 5, so that is good. I was so afraid it wasn't going to meet up to his high standards. Anyway, here is a detail. I updated the photoshop mock up with a more recent image above.
Thanks again for your support and encouragement everyone. You guys are the best!

Thank you, Heidi. Your work is amazing and you deserve every bit of recognition you've received!

Alex

Heidi!!!!

Wow - I am SO excited for you!

Congratulations! Big time!