I suppose the main mask is finished now. Here's how it's progressed since the last post:
I painted the mask white to remove the distraction of the news print. This is when I could really see all the bumps and lumps from the cardboard structure.
I rounded off the edge of the face with some scissors. I then added this piece of cardboard to help round off the bottom of the mask. (I also tried to do some of the crossword but I got bored of it.) I then covered this card in some papier mache and a little polyfilla. Now this is the step that I didn't document, but all I did was apply some polyfilla to the entire surface of the mask to intentionally make it bumpier. I decided that trying to smooth the whole thing out would take way too long, considering that I'm not even following a plan and I'm correcting mistakes I find as I go along (and I've spent long enough on this already :P) so I would just mask (pun intended) the bumps with some surface texture.
After a liberal application of polyfilla and some gesso. Getting ready to paint!
I added some cardboard rings to the eyes to make them less jagged. This also gave the eye pieces a ridge. I also fixed the beak tip with some card and polyfilla so that it's a bit more pointed. Without this the tip looked flat like the front of a ballerina's shoe.
A brighter day and the painting is done (acrylic paint, finished a couple of weeks ago). I experimented with a an earthy brown-yellow to to try and emulate leather or old cloth but it looked weird, less plague doctor and more Big Bird from Sesame Street. I then ended up sticking with white, but mixed in a tiny bit of black in places to break up the uniform whiteness of it.
Eyes were painted dark brown and black. Dry brushed on some grey/black around the eyes to make it look worn out and grubby. I found a really crappy pair of cheap sunglasses and cut out a couple of circles from the lenses to fit into the eyes. It took a little bodging with some scissors but I managed to get them to fit. Held in place with a dab of superglue on the reverse, and also friction (they were a very tight fit!)
I would have preferred them to be tinted brown rather than black, but seeing as the sunglasses were free I'm not really complaining.
I also dry brushed a dark line along the top, the sides and the bottom to give the impression of some kind of join or seam.
The side ones end up emphasising the whole beakyness of the mask.
I suppose I could call it done, the only problem with that is that there's no way to actually wear the damn thing. It's too heavy to use normal elastic like on the V mask I modelled this on, so I'll have to make some kind of tie, or a strap with adjustable buckle (I have a big ol' head). At least the creative part of the process is done.
There are probably much better instructions out there on the internet to make one of these masks quickly and easily. I just made this because I wanted to have a go. I had no idea what I was going to make it out of, and how I was going to make it. I experimented ON the mask rather than on scraps of card or paper. I made things on the fly, adjusted on the fly, readjusted on the fly. There were no exact measurements, just my eye and a lot of guesswork.
If you're thinking about making a mask like this, don't do what I did. It'll probably drive you bananas unless you have a lot of patience. Plan out what you want to do beforehand and get your materials ready in advance. Oh, and use a ruler! Otherwise you'll also end your last post 4 months from the first one. And note that I didn't spend 4 months entirely on this mask. I also left it well alone for long periods of time too ;)
I have a couple more mask-like things to post which I made a few days ago, but those can wait. I'm just glad that this mask is finally done*.
*or is it? I might update this post with the final head strap or whatever I end up putting on it, but since that's not really creative it might end up being sidelined.
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