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The masked warrior - in miniature version...
I also learned not to be afraid to ask for help! One of my first sculpts for Weta was the Legolas and Gimli on Arod statue. At that stage, I had to do a lot of research about horse anatomy to convey the realism in the piece and ask my colleagues for advice which really helped.
What techniques have you found helpful to employ while sculpting?
One thing I?ve learned is that you need to walk away from the piece once in a while and give your eyes a break. It can really give you a fresh perspective.
I think that lighting can be one of the most crucial elements when you're assessing how realistic your piece looks. If you can duplicate the natural lighting with the sculpture to the lighting on a photograph that you?re sculpting from, it really helps. This way you can try and duplicate the lighting with an overhead lamp and set it up to look just as the sun does in your reference photo, so you know if you're on the right track.
What is your favourite part of the Zorro on Tornado piece?
For me personally, I love the look of the spontaneity of the moment where Zorro is on Tornado, ready for action. It took me about 12 weeks to get that right!
Read the story behind the scenes on the making of the train for the film and here for the Collectible piece.
A memorable visual in The Legend of Zorro film is when Zorro triumphantly rears up on his horse, Tornado. Because of the affiliation with the film and the opportunity they were given to make the miniature train and environment for the film, Weta Collectibles decided to make a limited edition piece of Zorro on his horse for discerning collectors of this now cult classic character. The piece is titled Zorro on Tornado and is an exquisite piece of equestrian sculpture which was created by talented artist Eden Small.
This January, Zorro on Tornado is our featured Collectible of The Month and we talked to Eden to find out more about the making of the piece and the lessons he learnt along the way.
What were some of the challenges in sculpting the piece?
The amount of detail on the piece was a challenge on some parts as it was all sculpted by hand. There is also a lot of ornate work on the saddle [of the horse], so pretty much every thing required a high level of detail.
The face was a tough one because the expression that we wanted for [Zorro] needed to suit the pose. It took three different sculpts of his head to get the appropriate look and expression.
Another challenge was the subtleties of the piece that you don?t know will come up until you actually do the sculpt. For example, if you're doing something on a small scale like that, you?ve got to be aware that even being out by a small amount of 5 millimetres will make a difference to the overall look of the piece, and won?t look like the person you're trying to sculpt.
What were some of the highlights of working on the piece?
I?d have to say capturing the dynamic of that moment and the pose of the horse and seeing the way the horse compliments the pose of Zorro was a real thrill. Also, achieving that level of detail in a sculpture was great, too.
What lessons have you learnt while working with the Weta Collectibles range?
Sometimes you need to make mistakes to be able to learn the right way of sculpting! You need to see certain amounts of areas in different lights. For example, it's easier to see areas where you?ve over-sculpted rather than under-sculpted.
Another one I'd have to say was learning to work with deadlines. With the Zorro on Tornado piece, the deadline was looming and there was still a lot to do - I was stressing a little bit so I asked for a bit of a helping hand from my fellow sculptors.
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