By the time the cat and mouse chase was over and the gladiators warmed up to do battle, the showdown would become the fight of the century. The level of choreography, fight psychology and drama set the bar so high that only a few? film fights have ever come close to reaching. What Tang Lung / Tong Loong and Colt succeeded in doing was taking its audience on a ride of transcendental quality--mesmerized by the contrasting styles, opposing colors and fluidity of motion. Add a psychedelic track with well timed camera zoom-ins and there my friend, you have a piece of inimitable film--virtually impossible to copy. We can bow down to the genius of Bruce Lee, who gave us this classic which was his very first motion picture he wrote, directed and produced besides starring and choreographing the action. Incomparable!
With my 3D Tang Lung model as reference, I began constructing the legs with aluminum wire coated with styrofoam blocks. The initial concept was to make the statue as a ball-jointed doll.
Establishing the legs with a strong foundation is vital in supporting the torso with splayed arms and tilting head. Balance is key. Once in the fixed position, the styrofoam blocks were glued down.
The styrofoam blocks were shaved down to get a general form. Modeling clay was used in the articulated areas to hold a temporary position while tweaking the pose.
With the entire body coated in styrofoam and shaved down. It was ready for the stone clay coating. Before that process, fine plastic was used to tightly wrap the two halves.
The first coat of Padico's Premier Stone Clay was applied to the body dusted with talcum powdered. I love this silky smooth clay and how it's ready to work right out of the package without much kneading.
I connectied the two halves by wetting down the ends and merging them together. The plastic wrapped inner styrofoam coating was easily removed due to the unsticking properties of the talcum powder.
Ball-jointed dolls are lightweight because they are hollow which became the goal even though I decided to make a statue instead. I continued to sculpt the torso and focus on the pants.
With the head in position, the body was split to extract the plastic wrapped styrofoam and aluminum coating. Hollowed out, the arms, feet and body were re-aligned and merged back together.
I had no plans to use fabric so continued to sculpt the drapery of the pants. All appendages were reattached.
Detailing the face and refining the pose. Smoothing the stone clay by wiping the desired area with a damp paper towel.
I can say this was my first ever sculpted statue. Little did I know, the head wasn't balanced with the body. My lack of sculpting experience would begin to haunt me. Sculpting the letters on the base was just the break I needed.
The base was constructed in light wood with a metal plate on the surface. Then it was coated in stone clay and bricks were sculpted all around the sides. The theme of the base is the Colosseum. The statue was ready for a first coat of primer.
Using Mr. Hobby's Mr. SURFACER 1200 spray, I primed the statue and base. A quick sanding gave them a silky smooth feel.
The skin base coat in acrylic paints went on and soon, the chatters in my head to redo the face and head started to grow persistently.
More coats of paint were applied. The notion and hope to fix the statue with paints all go out the window now.
Returned to the base, sanding and refining each brick to give it the natural nonuniform appearance of aged bricks.
When Tang Lung stood on the base, there was no hesitation to start revising.
The balance between head, body and base were so off that it left me disappointed and disgusted.
When I thought it was good enough, it just meant, it could be better. My mother's wise words would run through my mind: "There's always a taller mountain".
It would eat at me, provoking a challenge--to push my limited sculpting abilities further than I ever imagined. To become the proverbial 'taller mountain' my mother had instilled in me.
Bruce had that intense glare only he could do so how did I expect to pull it off.
It was a hypnotic glare that pierced into your soul by deconstructing your actions and sensing your thoughts.
Sharpening the Chinese characters of the movie title pronounced "MAHNG LOONG GWO GONG" in Cantonese, read from right to left.
Another failed attempt at the eyes. I somehow managed to make him appear sleepy and bored. Definitely not ready for the fight of the century.
One more failed attempt before I tried a drastic approach on the eyes--using beads. Followed by doll hair.
The results were actually pretty good. Both the eyes and hair gave it the lifelike quality I was after.
In retrospect, had I not given up on this version so soon, a more reserved yet calculated dragon could have made a wonderful piece as well.
Once the hair was all in place, it was clear yet again... to start over. Yep, persist, persist, persist... but this time with a chip on my shoulder.
Farewell hair. It was fun while it lasted. During the application of doll hair, the decision to use fabric over the sculpted pants was supposed to be a test, but worked out better than I expected.
After much contemplation, the miniscule beads in the eyes were removed and the whole face was revised. I kept the hair on the eyebrows but that would also be shortlived.
Finally, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Number eight was a charm!
Using doll hair on the eyebrows worked so well, I stuck with it. One at a time by tweezers and glue.
Chalk pastels added depth to the face. Balance in the statue piece was restored.
Bruising on the cheek and a bloody lip to finish off the painting portion of the statue.
The kung fu slippers were made from a black baseball cap and the soles wrapped in vinyl. The embedded magnets would allow Tang Lung to stand securely on the metal surface of the base.
I couldn't accept my statue standing upright with a support post stuck in the middle of the base. The illusion of the realistic statue is lost when there is an obstruction at the waist or crotch propping it up.
I wanted Tang Lung to be positioned freely.
My first statue piece completed and it only took eight months!
Although it took eight months and eight tries to bring the visual in my mind to the real world, I didn't lose hope and kept trusting in my ability.
Looking back on these photos now, there are areas I would like to revise, but I don't think I will. Being a sentimental person, this Tang Lung statue will always be my first and the springboard into becoming a statuemaker.
- If you're interested to see my other step by step how-to handmake statue articles, please check out: OOAK Alabama Worley and OOAK Danny Torrance.
Have a good one!