The Wall Street Bailout... a 'how to' guide

This 3D Illustration I did for the Wall Street Journal was so much fun I thought I'd share a little of the process!
I began with a sketch which was approved by my favorite art directors and editors at The Journal (with a few tiny changes which were to be made in the sculpting phase).

Then I started the figures with a wire armature, packed tinfoil on top to build up mass and rendered their likenesses in Super Sculpey using clay shapers.

I constructed the sinking boat out of Insulation foam and used the same material for the base. I used blue reflective paper for the water rising in the boat and layered globs of joint compound outside the boat to make the choppy waves. Once dried I painted the waves with acrylics.


I baked the figures in a toaster oven for about 15 minutes and painted them with oil paint after they had cooled.

Once painted, I placed the figures back into the scene and photographed them digitally. I shot a few of them separately and then manipulated the final image in Photoshop.

Sculpted Illustration in today's Wall Street Journal!

Check out the sinking economy on page R-9, the special "Year-End Review of Markets & Finance" where I got to sculpt some of the major players in the year of bailouts: the Federal Reserve's Ben Bernanke, President Bush ceding the wheel to Barack Obama, Lehman's Richard Fuld overboard, Treasury's Henry Paulson, AIG's Hank Greenburg, Citigroup's Vikram Pandit and in the center, GM's Rick Wagoner. I created these sculptures around the clock during the holiday season madness for one of my favourite art directors. Thank you Matthew for another exciting assignment!