Making Models

In the early days of feature animation, maquettes were one of the small pieces of art that never found their way onto the screen or into the public consciousness. I used to marvel at the small sculptures produced for Fantasia and other Disney features.

But it's not a lost discipline, not by a long shot. Today there's a nice profile of model-maker Damon Bard in the L.A. Times

"I use different kinds of clay for different maquettes. If we are doing a fast sketch, I may make it out of a polymer clay, which can be baked and painted. It is semi-permanent -- it turns rigid. When we get a design we like and we want to evolve it ... I'll do it out of a clay that has to be molded because it's not permanent."