Serious Constructive Criticism Please

[Tulips]

I'm in my final year of studying Fine Art at Art College and since ponies have invaded pretty much every aspect of my life I figured I may as well make a pony for my final work before Graduation... who could I do but Ditzy Doo?

She's currently unfinished but is looking pretty cute even if the proportions aren't exactly how I planned (human error lol sculpting is hard but fun!), I think the 'larger than actually intended head' still works, she's about 90cm tall and 85cm long. She was sculpted by hand out of chicken wire and took me 24hours and 10minutes to make so far so, I plan on melting plastic bags over her to give her a disturbing plastic appearance but I'm not 100% on this yet... I've explored a few other materials I could coat her with but I may even leave her bare. One of her eyes is attached just temporarily as a demo of what I plan to do with them, they will be hanging out of the sockets (long story short, I wanted her to just be monumental in size but people have come to expect more macabre works from me so I've been encouraged to do something more with her, hence her controversial eyes hanging out of her head).

The concept behind her isn't exactly decided yet. She's meant to represent the Brony phenomena (being the controversial fan favourite) but she could also convey issues such as:

• Collector/Obsession
• Relationship between Individual, Community & Corporate
• Subcultural issues
• Perception of worth (as an object and a character)
• Contemporary Political Correctness
• Gender Stereotypes

BUT what I want to know is what you think of her? If you saw her properly displayed in a gallery setting what issues do you feel she addresses?

And finally pictures: Sorry for quality, it's hard to see details in photos in any case. Seriously, she's more a work you need to see in person but I'd love some feedback from people who actually understand MLP.
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And there she is with her likeness and Feathermay, who came to Uni with me for several weeks to act as a model 

I'm proud of her but as her creator I see EVERY ERROR!
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Anyways: constructive criticism, opinions, thoughts of concept, anything you'd like to contribute would be most appreciated! 
Thanks!

[Diamond]

She looks interesting.  The one thing that jumps out is her nose.  It looks like she has two.  The wings are a touch too small and the butt is too but overall it rocks.

[flowersinherhair]

I'm an art school graduate myself, so I figured I might as well help you out with a crit!

First off, I just want to say that your craftsmanship looks really good, and I can tell that you've put a lot of hours in! I've never actually sculpted with chicken wire, but I'm sure it's not easy. It seems like an unforgiving medium. From looking at your photos, the only major critique I have in regards to the physical form is that the pony's rump is a bit flat - I would expect to see it get rounded out again, rather than tapering right down to the tail. I understand it may be too late for you to change that, though! It also might not be as big a deal to an audience who is not as familiar with My Little Pony as you and I are; I know exactly what the toys look like from years of looking at them, but the average person only has a general idea.

Now, for the conceptual stuff! It seems like you've been thinking a lot about this and you've already listed some cool ideas. I think another topic you should be thinking about is consumer culture (unless that's what you meant by "relationship between Individual, Community & Corporate" anyway!) - that's what comes to mind for me when I see iconic, commercial characters in a gallery setting. Now is the time to make a decision about which of those messages you're trying to communicate, and to then really push your piece in that direction.

I would say that your sculpture does need some kind of treatment to transform it from fan art to fine art. The melted plastic bags sound interesting (and could tie in conceptually if you go for the consumerism slant!). If you go for gender stereotypes (or the Brony thing), perhaps attach something stereotypically masculine over your "girly" pony? I also keep thinking that melted wax would look cool, maybe sort of filling the sculpture and dripping out of it, though I don't know what that would mean conceptually! You know, I'm actually not sure that you even need the popping-out eyes, unless you can find a strong tie-in with the concept that you choose. Of course, it's your call - if you keep them, I'm sure you'll find a way to make them make sense to your audience! 

Well, I hope that was helpful! Good work so far, and I hope it continues to go well! 

[Tulips]

Thanks so much for the advice you two. The main sculpt will be too difficult to work on but I think you're right that the rump at least needs to be bumped up. The main problem is that the head became too big and the proportions got thrown off but it was so hard to make I went with the big head because that's how toys are today, just over exaggerating it. Things stick out too much or are too flat but some of it is just how the darn metal wanted to be

Consumerism, I forgot to put that on my list! Yes I was chatting with my mum about it this morning and I think that would be the strongest issue to address that the general public will connect with.

I'd personally rather not do the eye's hanging out thing but everyone has come to expect it from me and if I don't deliver my critique will be full of people whining about how I didn't do something macabre. It's stupid but the eyes aren't too bad and would make it kind of cute I think but then it would be a more Brony statement for the lulz that would come off as random and not really helping the consumerism concept. I'm lost with what to do lol.

The plastic bags will give it an interesting powerful effect and are easiest for me to do at this point. During my review someone said they'd like to see it made out of perspex or fiberglass... I just stood there thinking 'how the heck am I meant to do that? Do you want me to spend hundreds getting a company to make it for me?'. I'm glad I'll be graduating in a few months, I've got a job and a careered lined up that don't directly involve art because I prefer to make it for myself rather than have to justify it to other people who don't understand.

Thanks again for the critiques!

Post Merge: September 30, 2012, 10:22:13 PM

I've fixed it's rump as much as I could but sometimes the material just dictates how it wants to form and you can't force the issue, I'm just glad it looks as decent as it does. I'm going to start coating it in plastic and will post WIP shots for more feedback if anyone wants to give it

[Frenzy]

I'm sorry I don't have more to offer in the way of a constructive criticism, but after attempting a chicken wire sculpture not long ago, I just wanted to comment how clean and symmetrical your sculpture looks! You really can't see any seams or areas where the honeycomb shape was distorted, which is just really amazing to me! I don't know if you are planning on leaving any wire exposed if you use the plastic bags, but I think you've done a really great job on the frame so you could if you wanted! I can't wait to see it finished!

[Tulips]

Thanks Frenzy
I love to work with wire and chicken wire sculptures are actually what got me into art college, long story short I was a winner of the Creative Generation Excellence Awards and had work displayed in the Gallery of Modern Art... and I'm still bleeding for my art lol (I work barehanded with duct tape on my cuts, lets me work the wire better)
I think the way the plastic bags melt onto the wire there will be unintentional but aesthetic holes that will display the wire work. I hope it turns out as good as I imagine and I will definitely post pictures once it's done. 

[ZennaBug]

The only work I've done with chicken wire was securing my patio to keep my dogs from escaping.  That was hard enough, you must have put so much work into the scuplting!  I'm impressed.  I'm not particularly a fan of the eye popping out, but the rest looks fantastic!  I like the idea of covering it with shopping bags for consumerism, it should look cool and also have a relevant meaning.  I look forward to seeing the final piece!

[flowersinherhair]

I'm sorry you feel pressured to deliver a certain kind of work for your classmates. Of course what you do is up to you, but I think it's important to stay true to your own vision, especially for your final piece! If you don't like the eyes, then I say ditch them! When you add the melted plastic bags to your sculpture, it's going to look strange and creepy, anyway, so I don't think you'd be disappointing anyone on that front.

Well, no matter what you choose to do, I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures!

[Tulips]

Thanks for the compliments and advice, you've helped motivate me to finish it 
I thought I'd update with pictures of the finished product (or as finished as she is at the moment, there's probably something more I could do but at the moment I'm tired... okay i just thought that I could add her cutie mark on maybe lol).
I spent a total of 8 hours and 55 minutes (over two days) coating her with melted recycled plastic bags (I didn't count how many but it was a lot). That brings the time I've worked on her to a total of 33 hours and 15 minutes (if my math is correct)...

Conceptually she's basically become a work about consumerism, particularly with children, collectors, and corporations... but I'm too tired right now to write a coherent artist statement

Pictures! 
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The hardest parts were the concave eye sockets (plastic doesn't melt and bond onto metal, only other plastic) and the hair... but the entire thing was pretty time consuming and had me swearing a few times. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, the different plastic patches and odd holes look really cute imo... and her eyes are only slightly derped, hanging out by red electrical wire, just a little shout out to Bronies while not being the main focus of the work. 
And I'd like to think that the strange proportions look slightly better now that she's solid (and I flattened her hair down a bit too).

Note: I used a brushable pony for dimensions, the wings are therefor based off of the small design and not the fashion style design wings. This was to further illustrate the unique character designs (several people couldn't help pointing out that with wings that size they'd never be able to fly, lol they're cartoon characters please!) and to come away from the SDCC collector pony and more alongside the toys in general.

[ZennaBug]

She turned out really cool!