Life size realistic portrait sculpture of Edward Norton as the neo-nazi Derek Vinyard from “American History X”.
Although the story is about Derek re-evaluating and changing his life for the better after receiving a prison sentence for murder, the most intense scenes are of him being chillingly cold and full of hate. This is what the character starts as, and needed to be encompassed into the sculpture. Loveable he isn’t.
As usual for a portrait sculpture, lots of photographs were gathered of Mr. Norton, not only his head but body too. Once the look was decided upon, a steel armature was made and the clay work began.
After several weeks that process was finished, and a mould made from fibreglass. A translucent silicone skinned copy of the clay original was then produced. This was then painted in many fine layers to create “skin”, and his tattoos added on top [his back ones not visible here]. Individual hairs were then implanted into his scalp and then shaved back. It’s a lot of effort, but the only way to get that skinhead look. His beard, eyebrows and lashes were similarly implanted with hairs. Finally, hand made acrylic eyes were fashioned and added to give him his glaring stare.
