QUACK!

Long break, but I'm back with stuff to show!

A friend of mine loves rubber ducks. She collects them. So I thought a great present for her would be her own custom duck! Official Title: The Paula Duckie.
Sadly, he's not made out of rubber. He'll prob float in water, but I wouldn't recommend regular tub usage. I'm pretty sure my friend keeps hers as ornamental ducks anywho.

This little duck was originally an occupant of my bathroom. He lived near the shower, and when the hot water was put on, he was placed on the landing to remind us to switch it off when we were done. Being the larger of 3 ducks, he was rarely used for that so he's now gotten a full make over!

Made from cheap plastic I sanded down any flash that was being rather unsightly and I started to model up from the plastic. Now, normally I'm a Sculpey person, but Sculpey, followed by oven usage would melt this duck in to a little yellow puddle. Not good. So instead I decided to use Milliput. (For the non Modelmakers out there Milliput is a 2 part epoxy putty, when kneaded together it starts to cure, and you can sculpt with it, leave it, and it sets solid. It's also used for fixing leaks and can set under water. Pretty awesome stuff.) The guy in my local model shop tried to sell me Revells Plasto (filler paste) as a substitute cos he had none in stock. He looked at me like I had 30 heads when I said I wanted it to sculpt up, not fill in model holes.

Anywho, I chose some distinguishing features from my friend, he hair, the fact she wears hoodies, and her new tattoo (the benzene rings of Vit B2 - She's a food scientist)
Here's some pictures I took while waiting for her to set.

It took about 2 coats of white paint for a solid base, then I painted the basic colours. I think next time I do something like this I'll have finer sandpaper, primer (I ran out) and use my airbrush instead. Here's a picture of the basic colours anyway...

Then I added in the detailed bits, shading bits on the hoodie, eyes, texture to the hair, a t-shirt, and the tattoo. I like the eyes, and was really pleased with how the hoodie turned out. The hardest part was the tattoo, done with a 0000 cotman brush which has about 10 hairs in it.

 oh and forgive the quality cos these were originally taken with no flash

you can see the tattoo in this one!

 This last one will be a little confusing, it's the underside of the duck. RJR stands for Rocha, John Rocha. Which is a particular label of clothing Paula used to like, and I hope still does like! I like the pockets the the hem, painted on flat, all the 3D is on the topside.

So that's the Paula Duckie. Really happy with how it turned out, can't wait to give it to her! I don't think she reads this blog so it's prob still a surprise!