- HOW BABY FACE WAS BORN...
- 19. Averting Disaster
Dear PrillyCharmin,
A week later, Galoob contacted us and asked if they could commission me to make a dozen, or so, more Sculpy
heads, exploring additional expressions, that might serve to inspire the artist, who was sculpting the final heads! I
was flattered and surprised to hear from them, And I took it as a Good Sign, that things were moving along, and
imagined that the sculptor was progressing so well with the first three heads, that she would soon be starting on new
expressions.
Some time later we found out that this was, anything but, the case! Saul and
David had seen the same presentation, before we did. And they had tracked
more recent attempts to improve on it as well. Unlike me, who saw it
through the rose colored glasses of hope and wishful thinking, They HATED
It! They were wondering if there was really anything "there", worth
continuing! Whatever magic they thought they had seen in my dolls was
gone!
Saul was getting me involved, both to hedge his bets, And to see if Anyone,
including me, could sustain and continue the Spell that first, Enchanted
them! Or if it was all an Illusion!
But, I didn't know the project was in trouble, at the time, and I set to work,
happy and carefree. I again used the same plaster mold as before and
pressed out Sculpy heads, which I played with, until a fleeting expression
grabbed me.
After about six expressions, which came out of my head, I gathered some photos and began to refer to them, as I
worked. This was a good idea in some cases, (The doll that became "Cynthia" was inspired by a photo, for instance.)
But the influence of the "real" clashed with the abstract in others and produced some attempts that, seemed OK at
the moment, but "creepy" a short time later.
I learned, I would never be able use photos unless I transformed them. Things that look OK in life, such as spaces
between a child's teeth, don't add credibly realistic touches to a doll head, they only make it Scary! It didn't matter,
if every head wasn't successful, these were only "sketches".
And, I knew, by now, that I was sculpting them in the "wrong"size, anyway! And the "real" sculptor would have to
re-sculpt, enlarge, and could, hopefully, improve upon them.
This is Mel's Desk, where Baby Face was born.
My "contact" with Galoob, then, and throughout the project, was with Cathy Oi. She was, as far as I could figure
out, Saul's Assistant. And It looked to me, like If Anything needed "doing" at Galoob, It was Cathy who got it done.
No matter what might be going on at Galoob, Cathy remained, tactful efficient, reliable, and above the "fray". She
also was a hard taskmaster and wanted Everything "Yesterday"! I enjoyed working with her very much.
I finished the heads and sent them in. There was No response. More time passed, during which God knows what
happened, but It clearly, wasn't good! Now, months after the project had begun, Galoob contacted Kiscom, and
asked "Could Mel Enlarge the Heads?"
My immediate reaction was, "Oh my God! No Way!"
But once it was made Dramatically Clear, that, Galoob
had "Reached the End of their Rope", and Baby Faces
Life was "Hanging" on My Answer! I quickly agreed to
try!
But only, On One Condition! I felt, they had gone about
the process of enlarging the heads the wrong way, in the
first place! Starting from scratch is something, I never
would have attempted. I knew how elusive the look, I
had achieved, could be. For all I knew it was an
"accident", One that I might not be able to repeat!
So I insisted that they have the heads Pantographed!, A
process by which one mechanical arm traces an object
while another with an electric cutting tool on it carves
the object out of hard wax, in a different size. Computers have improved the process in the past ten years, but in
1989, it was still quite crude, requiring a lot of additional sculpting, but it would, at least, capture the general
proportions, and give me a "fighting chance"!
Thus, the Pantograph was to be the weapon, with which, I would battle the "Dragon", that had "bested" Judy's two
"Best" knights!
Next Page: 20. Learning Process
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