Nightmare Before Christmas Figurine

Hi! Here is the finished version of the proposal sculpture I was working on. That’s right, it’s Jack and Sally from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. My first time making a sculpture involving two persons, it was an exciting challenge. I was thinking of how I would do Sally’s stitching on her body, since I really wanted it to pop out, like in the movie, instead of just painting it on. I ended up chopping up some thin wire and pressing it into the clay in a stitch pattern. It created just the effect I was going for!

I was most looking forward to making Jack’s bat-necktie and coat-tails, I just think Jack’s design from the movie is so brilliant. So simple and elegant.

Okay the ring. I was going through all the options: should it be a pumpkin? Bat? gnarled up root? But I thought it should be somewhat beautiful, because Sally is, and I know that Jack also appreciated a little beauty, and when I thought of that I immediately knew what it should be- the green butterfly that Sally made for him!

I was dreading painting all the different patterns from Sally’s dress, but the attention to detail was worth it because now I think that’s one of the best parts of the figurine! I don’t know why, but I was also super excited to make Sally’s eyelashes ( out if wire, again). Maybe because I knew that once her thick eyelashes were on she would really look like herself. All in all, a great project. Hey, it’s what I love to do.