Smashing Magazine
Plasticine Art Showcase: Shape Your Imagination
Do you remember?.. The first time you played with pieces of modeling clay, melting them in your hands and going deeper and deeper into the colourful plasticine world where your imagination was the only limit. Since the 19th century, when Franz Kolb and William Harbutt independently of each other invented plasticine (modeling clay), it has been used in almost all fields of art: illustration, web design, typography, claymation, installation design.
Plasticine artworks can be found just everywhere: advertisements, book/magazine as well as CD/DVD covers, movies / TV series, music videos, computer / console games, and even web design elements. Below you will find a collection of beautiful plasticine artworks that hopefully will inspire you and give you an idea about how this material can be used in your next design project.
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Plasticine + Photography / Illustration
Advertising
Nike Italy by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Faber Castell plasticine Advertisement by Unitas RNL Santiago (Chile)
Onida Washing Machines Advertisement by McCann Erickson Mumbai (India)
Freya Lingerie Advertising by Stuart Jackson
Becks Advertisement by Scholz+Friends Hamburg (Germany)
Forma Total Gym by Artplan (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Nicorette Advertisement by DRAFTFCB KOBZA (Austria)
Aniquem Advertisement by McCann Erickson Peru
Stamyl Advertisement by Maruri Grey (Ecuador)
Magazine Cover Design
Esquire (March 2009) – 30th birthday of plasticine character Morph
Poster Design
“The Summer Reading Club” Poster for The Toronto Public Library by Barbara Reid
“Young Audience” Poster for Theatre Direct by Barbara Reid
Flyer for The Ovnis by Pablo Alfieri
Book Illustrations
Artworks
Plasticine + Animation = Claymation
Clay animation, or claymation as it is popularly known, is one of the types of stop-motion animation which is extremely laborious. Each animated piece is sculpted in plasticine clay. Some of the best-known clay-animation artists and studios include Will Vinton, Aardman Animation, Art Clockey and many others.
Animatied Movies / TV Series
The Gumby Show (1957 – …)
Closed Mondays (1974)
Morph (1977 – …)
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
Wallace and Gromit (1989 – present)
Wallace and Gromit in “A Matter of Loaf and Death” (2008)
Creature Comforts (1989)
Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase (1992)
Loves Me… Loves Me Not (1992)
Purple and Brown (2006 – …)
Shaun The Sheep (2007 – …)
Chess Game “Poole – HAL 9000″ (from the “2001: A Space Odyssey” movie)
Pigeon Pilfer (2009)
Plasticine Crow (1981) [RU]
Last Year’s Snow Was Falling (1983) [RU]
From Iljitsch to Kuzmich (2000 – …) [RU]
Movie / TV Opening Title Sequences
Freaked
Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi! [RU]
Advertising
Levi’s
Sony Bravia: Play-doh
Chevron Cars
American Express: Modelling Clay by OgilvyOne London
Xbox 360
Music Videos
Frank Zappa – Baby Snakes (1979)
John Fogerty – Vanz Kant Danz (1987)
Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able (2009)
Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full Of Lead (2009)
Computer / Console Games
Claymates (1993)
ClayFighter (1993)
Primal Rage (1994)
The Neverhood (1996)
SkullMonkeys (1998)
Platypus (2002)
Gumby vs. the Astrobots (2005)
Cletus Clay (2006)
Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures (2008)
Shaun The Sheep
Plasticine + Web Design
Plasticine + Typography
Further Resources
- http://www.bombastudio.pl/index.php?/identity/plastelinowa-typografia-new/
- http://www.behance.net/Gallery/plasticine-typo/310776
Installation Design
James May’s “Plasticine Paradise” garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2009 on May 19-23, 2009 in London, England.
Plasticine Art Tutorials
- “Working With Plasticine” Tutorial by Barbara Reid
- “Making Plasticine Pictures Video” Tutorial by Barbara Reid
What do you think?
What is your opinion on plasticine art? In case any exceptional plasticine works haven’t been covered, please feel free to use the comments area to share your thoughts and suggest other beautiful works. We are looking forward to your feedback and your thoughts!
- 55 Comments
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March 13th, 2010 5:11 amFascinating! Very creative usage of Plasticine medium.
- 3March 13th, 2010 5:34 am
very creative collection
- 4March 13th, 2010 5:44 am
I love this!!! Thanks so much for this!!
- 5March 13th, 2010 6:06 am
WoW! awesome collection!
nice :) - 6March 13th, 2010 6:38 am
i love this!!
- 7March 13th, 2010 7:29 am
I think this is one of my favorite posts ever!
- 8March 13th, 2010 8:17 am
PRIMUS!
I can’t believe you forgot PRIMUS under the “Music Video” category.
Try looking for “Southbound Pachyderm”, “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver” or the cover for their album “Pork Soda”.
Otherwise very nice samples in this post. I can’t imagine how may hours it took to create these. - 9March 13th, 2010 8:20 am
These are just amazing. I especially like the one with the chessboard.
- 10March 13th, 2010 8:50 am
Really great post – thanks for rounding all of these up!
- 11March 13th, 2010 8:58 am
OMG! Very very nice! Great post. It’s improved my interest in this field of art. :)
- 12March 13th, 2010 9:12 am
Our logo of the Hungarian web development community journal Weblabor (http://weblabor.hu) is also made of plasticine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/weblabor/2917704771
http://www.flickr.com/photos/weblabor/2918580998 - 13March 13th, 2010 9:20 am
Awesome collection!! Very creative!
I think you have forgotten Pingu!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTWv63RyLP8 - 14March 13th, 2010 10:30 am
Wow, Aygul, that is a pretty huge collection! High five!
- 15March 13th, 2010 11:07 am
Really nice post, I do remember and recommend those Russian cartoons [Last Year’s Snow Was Falling (1983)] I used to watch when I was 10y and you know they are funniest I ever saw :D:D
On the other hand It is very hard to work with this material, but nowadays you could use just 3D modeling software to do it.
Will try this technique in my next design :) - 16March 13th, 2010 11:11 am
Shortfilm by the Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBwXfg3Mr4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2IzPmKNiQs&feature=related - 17March 13th, 2010 11:33 am
Well done! I’m a big fan of Claymation and stop motion video. (VERY tedious).
I even did this post recently http://airopia.org/12-incredible-stop-motion-videos. The first video is an amazing Claymation piece!
- 18March 13th, 2010 12:08 pm
Check out http://www.jessicafortner.com for a whole other level of sculpted illustration!
- 19March 13th, 2010 1:22 pm
Nice article.
But for the love of god, please don’t let your next article be “Plasticine Social Media Icons”.
- 20March 14th, 2010 2:02 am
This brings out my childhood memories… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ-CQEF5Or4
- 21March 14th, 2010 2:35 am
it’s really greatest work to make any plasticine character! Thank the authors for it!!!
- 22March 14th, 2010 4:27 am
Really Unique….
Great…. - 23March 14th, 2010 5:45 am
This could be the start of a new trend. Stay tuned…
- 24March 14th, 2010 3:31 pm
Aaah Primal Rage, memories flashing back, T’was one innovative game with good graphics, but the gameplay was bad tho.
- 25March 14th, 2010 3:55 pm
Sony Bravia makes me angry!
- 26March 14th, 2010 7:15 pm
Great collection and very different, really enjoyed the post. I love all the different styles and personalities.
Ahhhh and Skull Monkeys, that was my favourite game growing up, anyone else ever played it? Fun game with some good humour.
- 27March 14th, 2010 7:21 pm
i love the song and video from keane’s bedshaped :)
nice post as always. something different :D - 28March 14th, 2010 8:32 pm
Wow very nice…..
- 29March 15th, 2010 1:34 am
Fantastic post!!!
As I always say, Smashing isn’t web researching and creative sharing, it is a way of living… - 30March 15th, 2010 2:32 am
Love it!!
- 31March 15th, 2010 3:34 am
Neverhood Rulezzzz :)
- 32March 15th, 2010 5:36 am
I make jewellery out of fimo… love working with it!! Great Examples!
- 33
- 34March 15th, 2010 8:24 am
Another site with a lovely character: Capelito
- 35March 15th, 2010 9:40 am
So many great artists!
I would like to suggest a visit to this website:
http://www.bolaneve.net/en/homepage.htmlIt’s all about handmade Figures!
- 36March 15th, 2010 11:07 am
I think one of the best claymation and watched in the USA on Cartoon Network is Moral Orel. Funny and a bit off beat, you should Google for the series, it’s darn funny.
Thanks for the round up! Love it!
- 37March 15th, 2010 6:56 pm
incredible post, most educational comments. This will take a while to savor to its fullest.Thank you so much!
- 38March 16th, 2010 3:54 am
Nice post.
I’m only missing design toys:
http://www.designtop100.com/blog/item/designer-toys-zijn-in-ook-zelfmaak
(dutch) - 39March 16th, 2010 10:36 pm
Nice Post.
- 40March 16th, 2010 10:42 pm
why i can not image to do that when i have these materials? some are really simple!!! Cool…
- 41March 17th, 2010 1:48 am
Are there any applications available that allows you to create these plasticine effects? I’d love to be able to mould a shpe just by pushing a “lump” around on my monitor…
- 42March 17th, 2010 2:07 am
Great stuff here!
Maybe I missed it in the list but I don’t think I saw any by the great Jan Svankmajer , who is probably the inspiration for a lot of those on show.
- 43March 17th, 2010 2:13 am
I’ve never been to Ecuador, but do cows there have six nipples?
- 44March 17th, 2010 2:19 am
These are absolutely the greatest ads I have ever seen. The colors are amazing and the details are fantastic. I can’t say enough about how good I feel just looking at them. My favorite is the sliding cow. The lingerie ads are the best. Much better than bland background ads.
- 45March 17th, 2010 1:44 pm
I have to thank Mark for guiding me to Moral Orel. My favorite was Toy Story 2 Final Destination. I got a lot of laughs watching those clay creations.
- 46March 18th, 2010 12:46 pm
Look this! works from Renata Chabetai, an brazilian designer
http://www.designdenoticias.com.br/trabalhos.php?id=3&exibe=93&posY=1903 - 47March 19th, 2010 7:34 am
wow. very cute!
- 48March 19th, 2010 1:22 pm
Hi,
This proves that art is not about the medium but about creativity.
José
- 49March 21st, 2010 3:58 am
Stunning creative arts. Very inspiring. Great collection. Thanks for sharing this awesome post. :)
- 50March 23rd, 2010 5:09 pm
Wow! This work is great! I will use it one day for one of my sites. It is very cutting edge.
- 51March 24th, 2010 7:47 am
Excellent representation of this very modern art medium. Would have loved to have known about this so I could have submitted some of my paintings done w/polymer. Amazing pieces – thanks for sharing!
- 52March 28th, 2010 8:37 am
You are genius!!!
Great!!
- 53May 3rd, 2010 6:13 am
Another example of dimensional illustration using plasticine and polymer clay sculptures can be found at: suzannedelrizzo.blogspot.com
- 54May 30th, 2010 3:52 am
Wow !!
Very very very creative stuff !!
awesome - 55
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WOW!! superb!! creative is real god gift!!