Realistic Pikachu

This is the accumulation of 20 weeks of self directed work that took me from design work to a fully finished piece. I chose to take the well known Pokémon character, Pikachu, and create a piece that looked like a real animal in a natural history museum setting while still retaining the quintessential design elements that identify it as Pikachu. 

I wanted this project to showcase not only my design skill but also all of the fabrication knowledge I have aquired over the last four years of college. Pikachu was sculpted in plasteline and then molded using silicone, Smooth On - Plasti Paste, and fibreglass depending on the piece that was being molded. It was cast in Dragonskin using the Fuse-Fx tinting system and then fully hair punched with a comibnation of hand dyed horse hair and bought animal hair. 

Inside the core there are two independently controlled motors. I laser cut cam mechanisms out of acrylic to create a breathing movement and in order to make the nose snuffle. The button in the front panel does two different things. It simultaneously starts a 40 second recording with facts about Pikachu and the nose snuffing mechanism which is timed to run for the same time as the recording. This was in order to create and informational and interactive element to the piece and give it more a real world feeling. I haven't managed to get a video of the whole thing in action yet but here's the recording that plays.

The IADT Graduate exhibition opened last night and is open for a week (8th June-14th June) so you can check out Pikachu in person if you want but if not here's a peek of him insitu thanks to Fiachra Carroll.

                                   

Hit the jump for some design processes and informational posters that were part of Pikachu's display.

The quick maquette that helped in Pikachu's design process.

Finalised front and side drawings

Full colour 3/4 render.

Beginning of the sculpting process.

Silicone and fibreglass mold with a fibreglass cast of the core.

Almost all the molds used for Pikachu.

Tail in the process of being hairpunched.

Fully hair punched tail. 

The quick showcase of some the methods and materials used in the project.

An informational poster aimed at children.

Another fun poster.

Although the last 20 + weeks were extremely intense and took an immense amount of work it was a little fun things that stick in mind. Here's a taster of what makes a modelmakers day.

 

. Thanks for looking!