BUILDING THE BEAR HEAD

CARDBOARD AND PAPIER MACHE HEAD

I started by making a head out of cardboard as I have more experience with cardboard then anything else. I videoed the whole thing in time-lapse to document the whole experience:

The first attempt of the bear head I made in my living room, and I soon ran out of space. I had also made the base of the head too big and too rounded.

I went on to remake the bear head in my parents garage, where I could make a mess (sorry parents) and there was plenty of space for me to build. To avoid making the head too bulbous again, I decided to copy my maquette that I made for pitch and plan and make a more pronounced snout for the bear. As I want to create a slightly ambiguous looking animal, I decided to just go ahead with a long snout shape.

After forming the base out of cardboard I made a bottom jaw for the bear snout- and added this on a hinge so that I could move the mouth when I'm inside the costume. I also started adding some roundness to the bears cheeks, as I realised that it might be starting to look like a horse again (like my maquette!). I thought if I made it fatter around the snout it would take the 'horsiness' away from the bear- because although I want it to be ambiguous I don't want people to look at it and say 'oh that's a horse'.

As I added more newspaper to the face I realised that it began to weigh down onto the neck, causing it to crumple. I put a bin underneath to support the head, and waited for the face to dry.

Once the one side of the head had dried I strengthened the neck with extra cardboard and papiermache- so when I added to the rest of the head it wouldn't buckle any further. At this time I decided that the nose was too big for the face, so I decided to cut it off completely and add it back on later.

Once the neck had dried I added the rest of the newspaper to the other cheek to fatten up the bear face. Soon it resembled a kind of space helmet, so I cover the front and again, allowed it to dry.

Once is was just a big sphere- shaped helmet, I tried to smooth it out a bit with more papiermache as it was looking a bit lumpy- but then I remembered that it was going to be covered in some kind of fabric/ texture so I tried not to worry to much about spending time smoothing the whole head over.

It was time to try and make the thing actually look like a bear, so I made a new, smaller snout out of cardboard and hot glued it to the centre of the head.

I then added ears and a nose to go on the end of the snout, as well as eyes. The eyes are the typical shape that I use in my illustrations, as I want the bear to be an extension of my drawings, as if it has come to life!

WIRE AND MODROCK HEAD

Looking at the shape of this bear head I decided to experiment making another one out of wire- not only to experiment with a different material, but to also explore creating a different shaped bear head. I was worried that the cardboard head was maybe TOO round, whereas the bears I draw are a little thinner and elongated. I basically needed to strike a balance between a longish bear head that doesn't look like a horse!

I started with the wire and made a simple base, more of a squashed sphere compared to the very round cardboard head that I originally made. I then made a kind of cone out of the wire and attached it to the head- bending the wire around each other to fasten it together. The nose was quite long, but I liked that it looked like one of my freaky illustrations or one of the old folk costumes that I have been researching.  I found using wire a lot more difficult that the cardboard, it was very sharp and hard to cut! The cardboard was a lot more malleable, however I did like that I could use large sheets of wire and bend it into shape, rather that taping a lot of pieces of cardboard together.

I then added mod rock over the top to create a hard surface as it dries faster than papier-mache. I also made a bottom jaw for the snout so it looked more like a nose/mouth.

I realised that the nose looked way too long, and I ended up with a skinny Moomin head! I decided to add years and see if it looked anymore like a bear:

But it kind of just looked even more like a Moomin! I then decided to provide yet another nose job for a bear, cutting it shorter so it had less overhang and also making it thinner. This is where I was glad I had made another head out of wire as it made it easier to adjust the shape as I went along.

My next step now that the structures are made is to look into how I am going to cover and paint them- what fabrics I will use and how I can make them look even more like my illustrations.