Karma Sculpture Project

Hey folks,

Been awhile since I posted last. I really am going to try and do that more frequently as I do projects, regardless of how I perceive their quality. So with that in mind, today I am going to show some in-progress shots of a sculpture I've made.

First, a little background on the project.

Next April, Karma Incarnate is going to FanX in Salt Lake City. It's going to be our first booth and we needed something of a draw -a centerpiece sort of thing. From that, I came up with this. The idea was sort of a shrine-structure, something that represented how long the idea of karma had existed. Since we primarily use Japanese -and especially Buddhist- imagery I started there, researching mostly shrines found in Japan. I found some pretty interesting ones, but it wasn't until I stumbled upon a specific pagan shrine that I found what I was looking for in terms of design.

Sample Sheet 1

Through the concept phase you can see where I toyed with the Japanese style shrines for awhile. They tend to have vertical stones set into a flat base (the original idea came from one that a co-worker took while in Japan). But the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. Mostly because though it would be easy to construct, they looked very similar to one another.

Sample 2

As you can see from the other samples, there was a lot I considered, even before I found the shrine shape I liked, there was a lot of mess about the base. While I like the ideas behind many of these, none of them really worked for me. In addition to being incredibly difficult to fabricate at full-size, they all look...wrong.

I did also begin toying with the idea of something besides stone. I worked with the idea of a cracked boulder...which I still really like, but never really worked out as well as I hoped it would. It was also here where I settled on the basic shape for the main stone as well as the overgrown look. I wanted to push that a little further...but I just wasn't sure the payoff would be worth it.

Final sketches

When I finally had the shape I wanted and found the shrine type I wanted to use, I began making a few final concept sketches for what I was looking for. I used reference again for the vines, and I liked the extras, I think it looks more natural that way, but they began to interfere with the base...again, making final fabrication too difficult considering my experience. I didn't want to go too overboard.

Final Turnaround

At this point, the design was finalized. I was happy with the overall look of it, smooth on the front, deliberately showing off the logo, rough cut on the back with a bit of an arc to keep the silhouette interesting. The vines were still a bit sparse, but I think I reached a good balance, and if I want to add more foliage later, I can do that in other ways.

That's all for now. Next (related) post I'll have pictures showing off some of the construction process for the sculpture (the model version) and then as we get closer to FanX, I'll show pictures of the full-sized one under construction.

Until next time!

"My dad just passed away- I stuck his head in the DEEP FRYER!"