# Bat Thing - Making it up as I go.



## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Last year I bought a bag of bones from Anatomical chart supply. I got some bones and tiny skull, I think he is called Mr. Sucky, cuz he is totally no realistic and he was like 14th grade (parts dont fit, big gaps, flash, and crappy seam work all over. Now It was just two days ago I was thinking of throwing this thing out while cleaning out my office closet.Then I thought MAYBE I could make a feegee mermaid or somethin out of it. I had been making some teeth out of sculpy (fimo too) the other night just to have around for whatever project. Tonight while the wife was out shopping I got to work on it.









So I got into it a bit before it occurred to me to take some pictures. So I have ground off the fake looking teeth off. I made some sculpy gums and stick them on in place of the teeth, and then I pushed the sculpy teeth I had already cooked into the gums.









Here I ground off the teeth, real rough like, so the sculpy gums will stick.









Then I made a tounge since his mouth will be open.









Then I did the top teeth and gums, and um, soft palette.

Then I started to add some celluclay (EDIT: Paperclay) to make a nose and lips.

Ahhh starting to come together. Skin is growing!









Just a quick wash to show the texture.

I'll post more pics as it comes along. Gonna give him some big bat ears, and some glowing red eyes. Thanks for looking.


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## scourge999 (May 4, 2008)

lookn' good. the texture on the skull looks killer.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

looks good DC
I like the skin look


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Nice start to this project
Keep us in the loop on your progress


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Looking good!!! Can't wait to see her finished!


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Those really are some freaky looking skulls unaltered....you are doing the haunt world a favor by re-doing it into something more pleasant. Looks good so far DC.

nice eyes in the background....where did you find them?


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Van **** supply company*



dave the dead said:


> Those really are some freaky looking skulls unaltered....you are doing the haunt world a favor by re-doing it into something more pleasant. Looks good so far DC.
> 
> nice eyes in the background....where did you find them?


 I got them from Van **** Supply Co. The fish eyes were like$3ish, and the wolf and bobcats were $7-9.

I like them alot and they look great.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Night two*

Wow I am surprised at how well this is going...

SO today I wired the skull for some light up eyes. I put two ultra bright red LEDs into the skull and secured them with hot glue.










Them I set some clear glass marbles into the eye sockets.










Then I sculpted around those to make eyelids. Again using celluclay (EDIT: Paperclay).










Then I got some super sculpy and made some ears. I drew a pattern onto some card stock and then traced it onto a flattened piece of sculpy. After baking I attached it to the skull with two-part epoxy. I filled the gaps with celluclay (EDIT: Paperclay), and mached some toilet paper onto the back of the ears and the head to add some wrinkled skin texture. When dries I'll blend it in to the skin texture on the front.










With the turned on.


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## cerinad (Jun 23, 2008)

That's a really good start.. Looking good!


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

That's AWESOME! I'm in total awe....


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## monstercloset (Aug 24, 2007)

The glowing eyes are a great touch.


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

awwe! i wuv him! how did you get the celluclay so smooth textured?


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Silent Requiem said:


> awwe! i wuv him! how did you get the celluclay so smooth textured?


I take i t back, it was Paperclay. I get them mixed up. Celluclay is the sticky oatmeal stuff I use for larger mache projects. Sorry for the confusion.

I'll go back and edit my post so it will be correct.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Update 3 - Building the body*

I made an armature out of steel wire I got at Home Depot in the Garden/fence dept. Its shiny armature wire, and it a little tougher to bend then the armature wire you'd use in art class, but its workable.










I made the spine from 5 lengths of wire that I braided together using a vise and cordless drill to twist together into one braid. I wanted it to be very strong, so the body wont flex since it will be made from sculpey. I roughed out the ribcage and pelvis in tightly packed aluminum foil. this give s rough surface foe the sculpey to stick and is much more sturdy that paper or cardboard. It also has a little give, so the steel wire spine can wiggle a little without cracking the sculpey (we'll if it works). The legs are just 3 lengths of wire wrapped together.










Now I have started sculpting over the armature with sculpey. Its pretty rough, but I wil be going over it with paperclay, so im just trying to get the main details in.










I have baked the sculpey to set the sculpting I did on the front. Now I have sculpeted a little box to hold the 9 volt battery that runs the eyes. I might try and make a snap on type cover, but we'll see if it worth the hassle.

This weekend I'll try to make the wings. The legs in case your wondering, I am going to do last, once I can assemble and hang this guy I'll know how I want the legs, bent, straight, etc.


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

Wow! That's really coming along nicely! You have my permission to forego anything else you may be working on until it is complete.

What do you anticipate for the entire length? I looks as though your torso is 6-7 inches long.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

lewlew said:


> What do you anticipate for the entire length? I looks as though your torso is 6-7 inches long.


I think when its done it will be about 13" tall.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Nice work DC! This is going to be a very interesting creature. Keep the pix coming!


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

ooooooooooooo! This little guy is great!


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Very nice 
thanks for the progress pics


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Looking good DC...I like this guy


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

Totally original. I love it. Can't wait to see the finished product.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

Brother - you are in a league all your own... get it done(just so we can see!)


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## DeadSpider (Feb 3, 2006)

Cool. Looking forward to seeing this creature finished. It looks good!


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

this is gonna be so asome!what am i saying? every step so far has been awsome already!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Dont drink and post - results are irregular*

I meant to post some pics of what been keeping me from the bat thing (who is getting his wings tonight)and I tried to on sunday night, but antihistamines and beer no bueno - oops.

I have been at the haunted garage at my mom in laws working on a bunch of stuff. Just thought I'd share some pics here since they don't deserve their own thread.

Heres severed head I am working on:









((this is the lumpy celluclay-FYI))

Nothing like a bunch of skulls cooling on the window still (or drying in the sun on the hedge):










The Cauldron Stirrer is making good progress:










And getting some clothes:


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## Samhain (May 28, 2007)

Looking really good so far. I wish I could see your neighbours staring at the drying skulls!
The bat thing would look awesome in a huge jar of some noxious fluid with a nice creepy label. 
Hurry up and finish it!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Update #4 - Body Work*

Tonight I made the armature for the arms/wings and sculpted the upper torso and legs.










(quick disclaimer) I have never had a sculpture class or any training, my only experience is from making clay whales and dolphins when I was a kid and looking at hauntforum and the fxlab.

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words so far. It gets me off my arse to work on it.

oh yeah , pictures!










and just for scale.


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## cerinad (Jun 23, 2008)

Wow ! That thing is coming along.. Very nice I can't wait to see it finished. Excellant work My friend..


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## Lotus (Nov 12, 2004)

Make me one = )


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

I love it... Looks kinda' like a Yoda/Gremlin/Bat thing. Your talent is amazing!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Night Owl said:


> I love it... Looks kinda' like a Yoda/Gremlin/Bat thing. Your talent is amazing!


Yeah I thought it kinda looked Yoda like, and kinda evil bunny too, if you don't look at the ears.


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Nice work.
now if only I could get motivated....


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Update # 5 Wings and things*

Tonight I started on the wings. I got this idea from showing some family members how to make paper mache with the foil core like I used on this thing. Zac took it one step further stretched the foil over wire to make wings. The texture looked great with paint. I thought I'd try it out.

I added the forefinger of the wing (which is hand right?) I made 2 lengths of wire with the same curve and length. I marked the area that would be wrapped with blue sharpie so I could keep the lengths consistent.










I cut a cardboard template.










Then I covered it with glue.










I attached the foil and pushed it around to get more wrinkles near the area where the wings would meet the body.

Now rough in view of the overall prop.










The texture here will be a subtexture of sorts, I will be going over it with toilet paper mache to wrinkle it some more.

You'll see the cardboard texture came thru when the cardboard got wet with glue and dried too tightly. Try using spray adhesive is what I would suggest to avoid this.

Time to go get some 2 part epoxy to attached the wings. See ya'll soon.


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## buckaneerbabe (Jun 5, 2007)

He's awesome! Have you named him yet?


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## farmer (Aug 22, 2008)

looks killer!


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## Fangs (Jun 6, 2006)

SWEET! Lovin this little guy! Keep up the great work!!! Oh, and "WHAT"? seems like you've had classes on how to shape the body... GREAT work!!! I'm so jealous!


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## Fangs (Jun 6, 2006)

Must have one! :devil: heeheehee


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## YardHaunt ATOM (Oct 13, 2007)

Ok DC.......... That thing is Incredible!!! It’s hard to believe you have never taken a class. If that’s the case you have an awesome talent!!! KEEP IT UP!


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

the body is do defined! i love the musculature and the illusion of sinew and bone beneath skin.

just a thought tho, won't the wings be too rigid and flat if its cardboard? (please don't smite me^^; )


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Chicken wings*



Silent Requiem said:


> the body is do defined! i love the musculature and the illusion of sinew and bone beneath skin.
> 
> just a thought tho, won't the wings be too rigid and flat if its cardboard? (please don't smite me^^; )


I think that is true, but the pay off will be that it will keep its shape better, I have bent the cardboard around the wing root, so it is very soft. I am really counting on the card board to hold the shape. In think simulating a real wing with fingers and fabrics/skin strectched between them might yield irregular results. Meaning I don't think I can pull it off well (I'm chicken). And for something that's is going to hang in the dark mostly, I'll settle.

If I had the time, I'd just make the wings rigid out of sculpey. That's something I'll have to practice in the future.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*This Is Almost The End My Friend*

Another weekend in the haunted garage has gone by, and another week making props in the apt. has come to a close. This week I'm wrapping up the album art for a metal band, having friends from Rhode Island over, and then off to 
Photoshop World in Las Vegas. The prospect of two weeks without prop making is bummin me out, but I wanted to show you what I did on bat thing.

So I primed the sculpey with Kilz primer (haha killz me).

Then i painted him red with several washes, and then jumped to the next step without taking pictures, but you can get the jist, I covered that with latex.










Next I airbrushed him white, the layed down layers of sepia and give him a sausage texture.










And then...

I took an eraser and pulled the painted latex skin off of the painted muscle underneath.










Here's a mock up view.










You might notice I redid the jaw. The Sucky Skull jaw looked too ventriloquist puppet like. So 
I sculpted a new one from sculpey (man I love that stuff).

You can see that the old one was too large.










In two weeks I'll attach the wings and sculpt the hands and feet and that will be that.

Thanks for looking!


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## Monk (Aug 26, 2008)

It's looking really good, quite impressive.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Waaaaaaaaaayyy cool! Gonna hang that thang, or motorize it?


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

This is just a simple hanging static prop. Like I said in the thread title, I'm just making up as I go, and I am no good at improvising technical stuff.

Oh yeah. Last night I tore all of his skin off, and started to repaint him. I decided I wanted a more nosferatu/dracula/night creature color, I didn't like the brown after I looked at it for a couple of days. Now he is going to be pale white and blueish black. YAY!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*Change I can believe in.*

Feeling inspired tonight so I made some changes to bat thing. I decided I didn't like brown, it felt to earthy, to mortal, and too fright night. So I decided to go with a more undead vampire nosferatu look. Like this:










SO I ripped off the latex and wiped of the paint and started over.

Check it out and tell me what you think (becuz I am making it up as i go.)


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## slywaka1 (Aug 27, 2008)

I don't know what to say, except WOW, that is absolutely amazing!!!!! I've never tried anything like that at all but now I feel so inspired!!! Thank you for showing us!

Ana


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## schwanz9000 (Aug 29, 2008)

This guy looks great. I'm not sure which paint job I like better. I really like how you did the first paint job with exposed flesh, but the new one looks awesome too.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I can't wait so see the finished product.


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## KimilyTheStrange (Jul 20, 2008)

Looking awesome!! I prefer the grey to the black, but the black with muscle showing through was a kewl idea! 

Hurry up and get it done!! Can't wait!!


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*This is the End my friend*

He's done!! Only took 6 months. Sorry to be such a tease, but haunt props had to get finished for halloween, and then it was xmas and breaktime. Now its prop building time again! Woot!!!


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

OMG. Well worth the wait. Fantastic work. Maybe this will inspire me to start a new project.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Very nice job. I certainly enjoyed watching you bring it to life.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

I just seen this thread for the first time and having a fondness for things with bat wings I have totally enjoyed watching it come together. First, you have done a wonderful job with the photos. Well lite, clear and close. I liked the eyes. I have used vasaline glass marbels that flourece with UV lite giving a yellow green glow. But your red eyes look better then most with the glass marbel having an inner glow and not the bright spot of just an led. Using foil to add texture to the wing membrane was interesting and gave them a look of realism. I have tried latex on fabric and gotten passable results. I shall borrow your idea if you dont mind. Your willingness to tear off your work and re-do it tells me you care about your work too. Thank you for the inspiration.


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## Draik41895 (Oct 25, 2008)

THAT I SO FRICKIN AWESOME......if i do say so myself


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Turned out great..
good job


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

This rocks!


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## Don Givens (Dec 2, 2008)

Wow and to think that is what came out of something you were contemplating throwing away. I'm glad you changed your mind


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## RavenLunatic (Jan 3, 2006)

very cool. of course I have a fondness for winged creatures


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Awesome looking bat. You do great work. Keep it up.


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

very cool cant wait to see it when its done


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

The Bloodshed Brothers said:


> very cool cant wait to see it when its done


HEY!! What do you mean "When its done."  LOL.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

That's soo much cooler than any bat prop I've ever seen! Awesome job!


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## SpookySam (Mar 27, 2007)

I hope the viewers of this prop can take the time to appreciate the detail in it. It came out great!


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

That's wicked !


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

OUTSTANDING work DC!!!!....Love the sculpting and the eyes....I need to try the marble eyes....thanks for showing us your work...


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## hlmn (Aug 30, 2008)

very worth the wait great job


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## dubbax3 (Jan 22, 2008)

Wonderful job.


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