2023 Project: Lifesize Haunted Mansion Hitchhiking Ghosts
Finally got all the stuff packed up for the season, which of course means it's now time to start adding to it and build things for next year.. my first 2023 project (it came to me in a dream, don't ask) will be building life size replicas of the 3 Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion. The first one I opted to try is what I think will be the most difficult, that being Ezra the skeleton (the tallest of the three). Today I started with the head, and i decided the best way to get the right look would be to sculpt it, since Ezra's head isn't just a skull, it has skin and ears and eyes and has cartoony proportions.. I used a skull from one of those sunstar Skeleton groundbreakers as the base piece to mold around. It's not quite life sized, but it's big enough, and I figured that once it gets an extra pound of modeling clay put onto it as well as the hair it'll look bigger than it actually is. This was actually my first time sculpting something this large, and i have to say.. the end product wasn't half as bad as I was expecting it to be. I think I achieved the details like Ezra's exaggerated cheekbones and pronounced jawline pretty well. Looking into it before I started the project, apparently Ezra uses the same head mold as a couple other characters on the Haunted Mansion ride such as the hatbox ghost, and the specific head mold itself is called the "leering head", so there was plenty of reference material and different image angles (I'll provide a couple) to use. The toughest part was getting the teeth and mouth right.. the jaw on the skull i used has a tendency to hang down a little bit, so i had to tape it in place (I'll glue it later), and in addition to that, the upper teeth ended up being too small so I had to mold larger teeth around them. The bottom teeth were already appropriately sized so i left them alone. Now I'll just give it a couple days to dry thoroughly and I'll paint it, add the hair and waterproof it, and I think it'll look a lot better then..
![Bone Jaw Skull Art Close-up]()
![Jaw Sculpture Bone Art Creative arts]()
![Jaw Bone Sculpture Art Creative arts]()
I'll post updates as I go along
I'll post updates as I go along
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Crayola model magic.. it was the last sculpting material they had at the local walmart and I didn't feel like going around all over God's green earth looking for more, at least it's soft and very easy to mold
Looked at other reference images I found and wasn't satisfied so I added a little bit more detail.. added eyelids, better lower teeth and made the jaw a little bigger
![Human body Jaw Gesture Creative arts Bone]()
![Jaw Bone Creative arts Wood Skull]()
![Head Jaw Bone Creative arts Wood]()
Painting process..
![Jaw Art Clay Electric blue Bone]()
![Mouth Azure Jaw Art Bone]()
![Jaw Art Sculpture Headgear Bone]()
![Jaw Art Electric blue Sculpture Paint]()
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That looks great!
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