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.
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!
kpjothi
March 13th, 2010 4:34 amWOW!! superb!! creative is real god gift!!
Nuprata
March 13th, 2010 5:11 amFascinating! Very creative usage of Plasticine medium.
BBL
March 13th, 2010 5:34 amvery creative collection
Angie
March 13th, 2010 5:44 amI love this!!! Thanks so much for this!!
ardianzzz
March 13th, 2010 6:06 amWoW! awesome collection!
nice :)
Alessaandra
March 13th, 2010 6:38 ami love this!!
Marcos Xotoko
March 13th, 2010 7:29 amI think this is one of my favorite posts ever!
Ignazio
March 13th, 2010 8:17 amPRIMUS!
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.
Johan
March 13th, 2010 8:20 amThese are just amazing. I especially like the one with the chessboard.
Anne
March 13th, 2010 8:50 amReally great post – thanks for rounding all of these up!
WipeR
March 13th, 2010 8:58 amOMG! Very very nice! Great post. It’s improved my interest in this field of art. :)
Ceriak
March 13th, 2010 9:12 amOur 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
istavrak
March 13th, 2010 9:20 amAwesome collection!! Very creative!
I think you have forgotten Pingu!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTWv63RyLP8
Phil
March 13th, 2010 10:30 amWow, Aygul, that is a pretty huge collection! High five!
Ivar
March 13th, 2010 11:07 amReally 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 :)
howl
March 13th, 2010 11:11 amShortfilm by the Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBwXfg3Mr4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2IzPmKNiQs&feature=related
Tom - Airopia
March 13th, 2010 11:33 amWell 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!
Mike
March 13th, 2010 12:08 pmCheck out http://www.jessicafortner.com for a whole other level of sculpted illustration!
Scott
March 13th, 2010 1:22 pmNice article.
But for the love of god, please don’t let your next article be “Plasticine Social Media Icons”.
gr8pixel
March 14th, 2010 2:02 amThis brings out my childhood memories… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ-CQEF5Or4
ola
March 14th, 2010 2:35 amit’s really greatest work to make any plasticine character! Thank the authors for it!!!
Nikhil
March 14th, 2010 4:27 amReally Unique….
Great….
Bibigon
March 14th, 2010 5:45 amThis could be the start of a new trend. Stay tuned…
Chris
March 14th, 2010 3:31 pmAaah Primal Rage, memories flashing back, T’was one innovative game with good graphics, but the gameplay was bad tho.
Okibi
March 14th, 2010 3:55 pmSony Bravia makes me angry!
David Jonsson
March 14th, 2010 7:15 pmGreat 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.
ravi
March 14th, 2010 7:21 pmi love the song and video from keane’s bedshaped :)
nice post as always. something different :D
Rajesh Trilokhria
March 14th, 2010 8:32 pmWow very nice…..
Mrki
March 15th, 2010 1:34 amFantastic post!!!
As I always say, Smashing isn’t web researching and creative sharing, it is a way of living…
liebesich
March 15th, 2010 2:32 amLove it!!
Igor
March 15th, 2010 3:34 amNeverhood Rulezzzz :)
Nicola
March 15th, 2010 5:36 amI make jewellery out of fimo… love working with it!! Great Examples!
Frank
March 15th, 2010 5:41 amGreat collection, but you definitely missed one:
http://www.essknete.de/
Patricia
March 15th, 2010 8:24 amAnother site with a lovely character: Capelito
http://www.estudiorodolfopastor.com.es/
Nuno
March 15th, 2010 9:40 amSo many great artists!
I would like to suggest a visit to this website:
http://www.bolaneve.net/en/homepage.html
It’s all about handmade Figures!
Mark
March 15th, 2010 11:07 amI 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!
katcha
March 15th, 2010 6:56 pmincredible post, most educational comments. This will take a while to savor to its fullest.Thank you so much!
Joost
March 16th, 2010 3:54 amNice post.
I’m only missing design toys:
http://www.designtop100.com/blog/item/designer-toys-zijn-in-ook-zelfmaak
(dutch)
Amit
March 16th, 2010 10:36 pmNice Post.
Eddy
March 16th, 2010 10:42 pmwhy i can not image to do that when i have these materials? some are really simple!!! Cool…
Michael
March 17th, 2010 1:48 amAre 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…
pete lukas
March 17th, 2010 2:07 amGreat 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.
Stinkfoot
March 17th, 2010 2:13 amI’ve never been to Ecuador, but do cows there have six nipples?
Debby Roberts
March 17th, 2010 2:19 amThese 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.
Debby Roberts
March 17th, 2010 1:44 pmI 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.
Leonardo
March 18th, 2010 12:46 pmLook this! works from Renata Chabetai, an brazilian designer
http://www.designdenoticias.com.br/trabalhos.php?id=3&exibe=93&posY=1903
Khairunnisa Humairoh
March 19th, 2010 7:34 amwow. very cute!
Jose Carrilho
March 19th, 2010 1:22 pmHi,
This proves that art is not about the medium but about creativity.
José
Mahmudur Rahman
March 21st, 2010 3:58 amStunning creative arts. Very inspiring. Great collection. Thanks for sharing this awesome post. :)
A. Whiteside
March 23rd, 2010 5:09 pmWow! This work is great! I will use it one day for one of my sites. It is very cutting edge.
Consuelo Okdie
March 24th, 2010 7:47 amExcellent 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!
Saurabh
March 28th, 2010 8:37 amYou are genius!!!
Great!!
Suzanne
May 3rd, 2010 6:13 amAnother example of dimensional illustration using plasticine and polymer clay sculptures can be found at: suzannedelrizzo.blogspot.com
Prince Lity
May 30th, 2010 3:52 amWow !!
Very very very creative stuff !!
awesome
eatinqueens
July 1st, 2010 5:05 amNice post.enjoy it
EatinQueens.com
shmily
April 16th, 2011 2:25 amGreat 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.
Franco
May 7th, 2011 1:18 pmYou didn’t mention the possibility of creating cartoons with plasticine….if you wanna see some examples just visit my blog(francosfreax.blogspot.com).
faycal bouguir
August 15th, 2011 11:05 amAmazing collection of work! Also, check-out Creative Review recently published an article on some Plasticine Star Wars characters by Illustrator Elliott Quince.
Toby
August 31st, 2011 1:07 pmthis thread is missing PROMOETHEUS n BOB Tapes! Nikelodeon!
cayla
August 31st, 2011 5:01 pmall of them are so creative how did they ever came up with dat
huli
September 6th, 2011 3:47 pmraw and interesting.