Project Scrab

Here's yet another Oddworld project: the Scrab!

The scrab is one of my favorites creatures from the video game franchise. They're tasty too - if they don't eat you first!


Although paper-clay is used in the detailing, this is not a true paper mache project. It is my first venture into creature sculpting with EPS foam, commonly known as styrofoam.


First step: the creature concept.
Because of the size of this guy I decided to limit it to a wall-mounted head.



The head shape I wanted was drawn on to a sheet of EPS foam. I stacked nine of them to give me the desired thickness.

I'll have the short-stack - with bacon

Because this is to be a wall-mount, a PVC support is made and hot-glued into place.

There's a little 'ell in all of us.

Doing a little on-line research, I found out about a product call Glidden Gripper primer, and used this to glue the sheets together. It's inexpensive and you just paint it on.

Here the head shape has been roughed out with my nifty hot-wire tool. I bought mine, but there are lots of do-it-yourself hot-wire tool plans on the internet.

Here he is roughed-out:

Rough

A bit of sanding with a coarse grade worked great at removing material - almost too well. The nice thing about the hot-wire is that it fuses the surface; sanding, of course, makes a mess.

Smooth

Smoother

Here the early stages of paper-clay detailing is shown. The jaw was temporarily removed to make it easier to work on the mouth insides.

Open wide!

 More scrabbiness to come!