Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Intelligent and articulate, Frankenstein was living alone in the woods. Finding that people were afraid of him because of his appearance led him to fear and hide from them. He learned to speak by listening to the family of farmers that lived nearby, and he taught himself to read after discovering a lost satchel of books in the woods. When he saw his reflection in a pool, he realized his physical appearance was hideous, and it terrified him as it terrifies normal humans. Nevertheless, he approached the family in hopes of becoming their friend. The family fled in terror leaving Frankenstein alone again.

Frankenstein stays by the pool in hopes of one day seeing a new reflection of himself, the one that would allow him to live with people. He built his life around the water. His muscles strong from swimming are “scarcely covered” with skin that developed scales and membranes from long life by the pool. Frankenstein learned to be a great fisherman using his four arms. His “lustrous black hair” hardened and turned into a Manta ray-like hood that helped him swim faster and also hide from people. “His watery eyes” didn’t form a horrid contrast to his complexion as he himself looked like an elegant water creature, a merman.

In my design, I wanted to reveal the human side of Frankenstein, show his tortured misunderstood soul and make him likable for the audience. To achieve that I decided to emphasize his human anatomy and create an elegant sophisticated silhouette. I wanted to portray his animalistic features like tail and claws as a defensive mechanism to the wild natural environment he was forced to live in.

I studied the anatomy of Ace Ruele, his physicality and locomotion when he acts in character. I wanted to convey his slender proportions and exaggerate the lengths of the limbs to create a silhouette similar to the one where Ace is wearing arm lengthening attachments. 

I did quick photobash studies of the designs for the head and the hood. I was trying to marry human features with the elements of the deep sea fish.

I decided to do a quick study in clay to get the pose right and make sure that I won't loose the gesture and the emotions of the sculpt.