Project: Mr Sanderstone

"I don't know where it came from, but one day it was just there. According to the Skith creature, it was called Mr Sanderstone and apparently it was wanting to just 'hang around'. I have no idea why a rock would just choose to show up to this place, but stranger things have happened. 

At first I thought is was some kind of joke played on me, but even when no one else is around, I find it staring at me. A momentary distraction and when my focus returns to the rock, its changed places or looks different. It's not like I haven't encountered anthropomorphic rock creatures before, but never something like this. Why is it here and what is its purpose? I'll have to study this 'Mr Sanderstone' in more detail when the opportunity arises."

-Zargooran           

Designer Notes and Creation Stages:

So the original purpose for the character of Mr Sanderstone was a rock with a face, who's job was to appear in scenes and nothing much beyond that (vocally anyway). He would be involved in conversations in which he said nothing, but some characters (the puppet ones mostly) would act like he had said something. In some instances, he would even have items on him that would change in between camera shots, suggesting he was altering things like clothing when no one was looking.

The First Mr Sanderstone: 

The creation log of the various stages the first version of Mr Sanderstone model went through.

 A piece of dry floral foam was cut and sanded to give a more rock shape in appearance. This was more of the shaping stage to get the project off the ground.

The next step involved covering the entire thing in wood filler, mostly cause I had a bunch left over from the small bases I did for my Malifaux Wild Ones crew and I felt it could prove useful in helping shape the design, strengthening the structure and covering the holes. Having sanded it back and added some paint, my flat-mate said it looked like a loaf of bread. 

I tried to alter its shape somewhat, having to do the whole mixture and sanding process again in those spots. Painted over in a mix of black paint and modelling paste as a base coat to see how it looks. Have decided to stick to the look for the time being and will add some sand/river sand into a mix with grey colour to create a textured paint effect to give it a more rock-like texture. At this stage in the project I am looking at various stones to decide what colours to paint it.

Several coats of grey paint mixed with sand were added. Washes of grey mixed with brown paint were lightly added here and there before a few light dry brushing coats topped it all off. With that done, the two googly eyes were added before the focus moved to the accessories.

A bow was badly made using cloth and glue (will try a hot glue gun for the next one), the hat was made with craft foam (the top keeps having issues. This is actually the second hat made), glue and black paint. The mustache was from a collection pack from the costume section of a Spotlight store, the back taken off, painted black and then re-attached with a few snips here and there. The monocle was made with some jewellery chain, wire, a tack top, green stuff and cling wrap plastic glued on.

This version was cheaply made and the eyes are the only thing glued to the actual model, with everything else blu-tac on so it can be changed. I am thinking of using a more Velcro like add on for things like the mustache and hat. Overall, I admit it isn't impressive, but it wasn't too bad for my first attempt.

Now to work on his first video.