Wheezy
I "fake-joined" the Darker Side of Disney Swap at Craftster, which simply means that, while you still have to follow the rules for said event, instead of actually exchanging the item(s) that you made with another member, you're creating it for yourself. The "Fake Swap Craftalong" at Craftster is intended for people that really want to participate in a particular challenge, but, for whatever reason, can't (lack of funds for shipping, having already reached their quota limit for active swaps, wanting to make a certain object/thing but their partner(s) aren't interested in the subject matter, etc.) In my case, I've just been so lazy about producing any kind of artwork lately that I figured having some deadlines hanging over my head would force me to get to work on something, anything, and, thus far, that motivational strategy is working. Or, at least it was, until I bought some new video games . . . my productivity took a steep nose dive after that!
The object of said swap was to make something that focused on the more villainous characters/themes found in Disney's various intellectual properties. For a while, I was waffling in between modeling a figure of a Mummy Duck enemy, from Capcom's 1989 Duck Tales Nintendo video game, or DeviantArt member jeftoon01's "Twisted Princess Ariel".
However, as I was skimming through the archives of Disney artwork and toy photos saved on my hard drive, searching for ideas/inspiration, I suddenly remembered how much I used to love the weasels from 1987's Who Framed Roger Rabbit film. Now, the Roger Rabbit folder on my PC contained nothing but images of Jessica Rabbit (and some rather graphic ones at that), so, I'm not sure what it says about me that, when staring at photos of buxom animated redheads, my thoughts immediately turn to homicidal weasels instead.
Like the rest of Judge Doom's infamous Toon Patrol (Smarty, Greasy, Psycho, and Stupid comprise the rest of the quintet) Wheezy is a complete scoundrel, so he certainly fits the swap's theme. On the surface, the Toon Patrol were the law enforcement of Toon Town, but, in actuality, its weasel members were much, much worse than any criminals that they were supposedly "protecting" the animated populace from. Aside from being an all-around rotten critter, Wheezy is also hopelessly addicted to cigarettes, constantly chain-smoking them (often several at once!) Wheezy is also unique in that he was the only weasel in the movie with a female voice actress, June Foray (although she performed him in a harsh, masculine manner, so, you'd never know it without watching the credits).
Here are the roughed-out papier-mâché shapes for the legs and body/head (which, minus the nose, looked an awful lot like a flamingo to me at this stage, and, in my mind, that automatically conjures up images of croquet in Wonderland).
And this is what the model looked like after the addition of arms and fleshing out the anatomy some more. I hadn't even made him any cigarettes yet and Wheezy was already starting to spontaneously turn yellow--that weasel must sweat nicotine! In all seriousness, said discoloration is probably a result of oil/perspiration from my hands.
Next, I, um, goofed off for eight days playing video games (if you want me to accomplish anything, you must keep me out of Gamestop at all costs). Usually, when I stop working on something for that long, there's very little chance that I'll finish whatever it was that I was crafting (I've got a plastic bag full of abandoned, incomplete papier-mâché figures), but, as this project was also a commitment, which I never take lightly, I had to see it through. Rainbow Dash scowling and shaking her hoof menacingly at me every time I walked by, to remind me that deadline was drawing near, and a painful beating from her was in my future if I failed to meet it, also helped motivate me.
Anyway, while I was making Wheezy's shirt, I came to the realization that I wasn't going to be able to do the sleeves the way I wanted to with the arms still attached to the body, so, I clipped them off and added pegs to the shoulders so that they could be reattached again later (which is what I should have done from the beginning).
Here's the finished product. I think I should have left the original, brighter paint job, seen above, alone, as applying a black paint wash over the blues made things look too muddy. Oh well, too late now.
Materials:
Newsprint, notebook paper, tissue paper, cardboard from a cereal box, white glue, acrylic paint, marker, ink, and graphite/colored pencils.
Dimensions:
7.5 cm (3.0") wide x 8.7 cm (3.4") tall.
Time:
Three days: June 21st, 30th, and July 1st, 2015.
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