Life size bust of Ron Perlman as the wise cracking Hellboy
I wanted my Hellboy to capture the world weary, “yeah, what are you looking at” kind of expression he uses in the film.
I first collected as many photographs as I could find of him from the movie, and used screen captures of angles I couldn’t find. I first started by making a steel armature affixed to a wooden bade. Water based clay was then applied and roughed out to his shape. I then concentrated on the head sculpture for the next couple of weeks, before re-attaching that back to the torso and completing the body. When finished, skin detailing like pores and veins were added, then the clay was sealed and a fibreglass mould made of it. The clay was then cleaned out of the mould, and a red pigmented platinum silicone skin over a fibreglass under structure made. Once removed from the mould, it was cleaned and de-seamed then painted in subtle layers. It’s not obvious, but without them he would look flat red.
Next human hair was implanted, cut and dressed. Custom hand made acrylic eyes made to look like contact lenses cast and inserted in to the head, and finally his teeth were attached to finish.
