Cute and Creepy and 3D

So, interestingly enough, the concept of cute and creepiness is not that far away from each other after all.

During the experiment we have in class, where we have to range the toys and dolls in the range from creepy to cute, many objects were shuffled and others were not as clearly defined, leaving some up to interpretation. Also, with the reading we had prior, cuteness or creepiness is a concept that is based on the viewer's culture and personal experience. Not so much with scientific prove, but a concept that exist entirely based on prior experience.

So when I come to tackle the project of doing a clay model of this frog with 4 legs and a big butt, my approach is to find something that already exist between that border of creepiness and cuteness, then adding more twists to it, enhancing both the already existed elements. By adding two more legs and stretching the frog's neck out, making the eyes smaller and further apart, I want the frog to look somewhat familiar yet alien at the same time, hoping for an uncanny effect that it might have on people. Then, I design the frog with a more rounded shape overall, giving him cuter overall silhouette, and finally, I add two giant butts to him, cuz who wouldn't smile seeing that?

Afterwards, it all just come down to spending time and shaping the clay into whichever shape I desire. Though, one mistake I made was to not leave the clay hollow, making the wait time for it to dry way longer than I thought.

Going forward to the 3D print part of this project is the real exciting part of this project I think. Learning and trying out 3D print has always been a check box on my list and getting to do it was just very exciting overall. The sculpting part was quite difficult, due to the program (Tinkercad) does not have the most intuitive features. Yet, with some shape modeling and a lot of layering, I somewhat got the result I want, though not as close as I had wished. The pink just further enhance that cuteness I need.

Thought one think I wish I could have done is to use another 3D software that further support smoother shape, which would probably help in creating a model much closer to the original in term of look.