I had never watched any of the Star Wars movies until we started creating this project. Shocking I know. I always imagined they were just some silly movie series and I never really understood what all the hype was about them. I just want to say that I am now a Star Wars nerd. I even got a Star Wars mug for Christmas!
I am in love with the movies and working on this project really helped me in finding a better understanding of them.

Yoda is the arguably the wisest character in the whole Star Wars franchise. I instantly was in awe when I first saw Yoda in the prequels so I decided to make him the focus of my project.

When I first created the idea of recreating Yoda as a mask form I thought it would be fairly easy. Little did I know that replicating something as intricate as Yoda is very challenging. Forming the base shape for his head was simple, but recreating the details of his face onto the head was a challenge for me. I was very discouraged when I first started making him because honestly, he looked quite ugly.

Then once I started painting him and added a few more features on he looked a bit possessed. I walked into my kitchen one morning where my Yoda head was sitting and I completely forgot he was there. Let’s just say I was wide awake after seeing Yoda. I thought some little alien was in my kitchen and it scared me way more then it should have.  

In my opinion painting the head was definitely the easiest part of it all. The final product I think came out much better then I expected.

 

My Process:
1. Started with a ballon and attached two pieces of paper to the sides to represent the ears

2. Layered the ballon twice with paper mache and let dry for a day

3. Glued on the nose, mouth, and forehead that we’re all made out of clay

4. Painted everything different shades of green

5. Created the eyes using clay, glued them on, and painted the outside of them

6. Attached clay around the outside of his ears to add depth to them and painted them again

7. Went back and added some more clay and drew lines on it to add a wrinkle effect then painted them

8. Painted the design of Yoda’s eyes

9. Added hair around his ears and the top of his head

10. Finally I placed him on a little stand where I made a coat out of cloth

 

When it comes to creating driving questions I always have a struggle. It doesn’t help that this is my least favourite part of the project. But it is necessary to have a good project. My driving question is, what is necessary for a mask maker to be successful in the movie making industry? After doing lots of research and creating a keynote which I presented at the exhibition night, I learned exactly a mask maker, makeup designer can be successful in the movie making industry. You can see my keynote here.

Ours exhibition night was a huge success I believe for everyone. Each section of the library, our classroom, and the hallway were decorated as a different planet form Star Wars. My personal favourite was Hoth because when you walked in you felt like you were walking into the Arctic. It was even cold in there.

My planet I presented in was Dagobah, which is quite fitting for my project considering that is where Yoda’s home is. Talking about my mask to others was actually quite easy. It think that the blue sky project exhibition night last year really prepared me and made me more comfortable with these kind of presenting situations. There were some very good questions asked and I tried my best to answer them. Most of them were about how I made him though, which those were quite easy to answer. Overall I’d say that visitors and presenters really enjoyed the exhibition night.

Throughout the creation of this project I learned that creating a mask is way more difficult then it seems. The process one has to go through in order to create a new character is unbelievably challenging. I expected that recreating a mask would be easier then creating my own, but after making Yoda I learned that you need to be extra careful with the details. 

Overall doing this project really helped me to further develop my art and creative skills. Also it showed me a bunch of really great movies that I am now a little obsessed with. Surprisingly I actually didn’t procrastinate this project this time!