♠ Ace of Spades ♠
A playing card soldier that made his first appearance in Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland animated film, which was based upon the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass children's books penned by Lewis Carroll. Ace of Spades has the misfortune of serving the Queen of Hearts, which is a dangerous occupation, as the short-tempered matriarch is infamous for ordering her subjects to be decapitated for trivial, or even imagined, infractions on a daily basis.
Here's a brief look at the construction process of this miniature action figure. I worked from two reference sources, this shot of the four aces from the film:
And the interactive polygon game model found in the Journal of Square-Enix's 2002 Kingdom Hearts Playstation 2 video game (I absolutely adore in-game bestiaries that detail all its' characters and enemies). You may have noticed that said game's version of the Ace of Spades has a flesh-toned face, black nose, and is armed with an axe, rather than a lance, but I stuck with the film image design, as I felt that looked better. The main benefit of the polygon game model is that you can rotate it to get a good look at Ace of Spades from all angles, which is immensely helpful when you're trying to reproduce something 3-dimensionally.
Once I had all the measurements and visual details I needed from the reference material noted above, I proceeded to lay out the front and back of the card body on paper and then modeled the feet.
Next, I made the arms and the spade-tipped lance. If you look closely, you can see the end of a tiny sewing needle sticking out of the bottom of the lance's handle--that's what I wrapped the paper around to create the two halves of the long, hollow shaft of the weapon (said needle was then removed, once the two lance parts were dry, glued together, and could support their own weight).
Finally, here's the fully assembled, and partially painted, Ace of Spades figure. The squiggly lines you can see in the body are the embedded wires that provide the articulation. I probably should have hidden the bulges created by the wires better, but, given how thin his card-shaped body is, that's easier said than done.
The finished figure. Other than the previously mentioned wire bulges, I'm fairly happy with how he turned out.
Materials:
Lined white paper, newsprint, white glue, wire twist ties, cardboard, ink, and acrylic paint.
Dimensions*:
2.8 cm (1.1") x 4.5 cm (1.8") [widest point x highest point]
* The numbers given are for a neutral standing pose; the values will vary depending on how the figure's joints are positioned.
Articulation:
9 Points: Neck, shoulders x 2, elbows x 2, wrists x 2, and ankles x 2.
Time:
Several hours on July 13, 2014.
REFERENCES:
Disney Madness MIDI music file collection.
Kingdom Hearts Sony Playstation 2 video game.
Wikipedia Alice in Wonderland (1951 film) article.
« Return to my Miscellaneous Artwork Gallery Index Page
This is a nonprofit web site.
Any and all copyrighted imagery, terminology, etc., depicted on this page belongs to its respective holders/owners, namely Disney.
The repeating background graphic is a still from Disney's Alice in Wonderland film depicting Alice's meeting with the Caterpillar.
The midi music playing is the "March of the Cards" theme from Disney's Alice in Wonderland animated film.
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