My 'Over the Garden Wall' steamboat FMP in its final stage before being painted

1st Model

Vehicles & Transport Exhibition & Display Stop Motion

A stop-motion concept model of the iconic steamboat from 'Over The Garden Wall', combining the cartoon's bold, illustrative style with historical design details

Steamboat from 'Over The Garden Wall', side view

Back view

Front view

Interactive steamboat built at 1:60 scale. The boat's hull was CAD modelled using historical riverboat profiles, using the shape of the original boat design as inspiration, & 3D printed in PLA. The tops of the funnels and the lanterns and door hinges were CAD modelled and SLA printed. Other details have been fabricated out of card, styrene and acrylic, using my CAD model as a reference. All of the surface details are made from sand-sealed and cellulose sprayed card. The model has mostly been sprayed with cellulose colour and a few smaller details hand-painted with acrylics. I coded the interactive element using an Arduino Uno, with two worm gear motors, two ultrasonic humidifiers and two relay switches.

2nd Model

Animals & Creatures Exhibition & Display

A visual joke playing on a food replica advertising model - 'Campbell's Primordial Soup', complete with prehistoric sea creatures and a 'sea lily' garnish.

'Campbell's Primordial Soup'

'Primordial Soup', top view

'Primordial Soup', side view

The trilobites and blue plants were sculpted in plastilin and then moulded and cast using silicone. I used both polyurethane and glasscast resins with intrinsic colour and then painted/drybrushed extra detail onto them. The sea lily was fabricated from styrene, heat-bent and then sprayed with cellulose paint. The nautilus was sculpted using polymer clay and milliput and then hand-painted with acrylic. I made the soup label in photoshop. The elements of the soup were arranged and then had sea-coloured glasscast resin poured around them to form the soup.

3rd Model

Architecture & Structure Animals & Creatures

A model to illustrate this New Scientist article - 'Rats on the Rise' - reimagining the classic scene of King Kong climbing the Empire State Building.

'New Scientist' editorial magazine cover, using my 'Rat King Kong' model to illustrate the cover story

'Rat King Kong', top view

'Rat King Kong', side view

I sculpted the rat in polymer clay and then flocked him with a mixture of brown and grey fibres to create variation and depth. For the tail, to get the slightly translucent depth of colour and create a long thin tail which wouldn't break, I grit-blasted a piece of armature wire and then dipped it into pigmented platinum-cure silicone multiple times over. I used the same silicone and a plaster mould to create the ears. The plane is SLA printed and hand-painted, and I CAD-modelled the Empire State Building to be printed in PLA, filled, sanded and painted with cellulose paint. I created the final magazine cover image in photoshop.

Gallery

'Le Cirque Cabaret' themed entranceway for EPH Creative

'Over The Garden Wall' needle-felted stop-motion puppets

1920s Staircase illustrated card model

Production Still for AUB Animation Grad Film 'LAS', including flooring, trees, ribbon tree and cast puppet elements I made

Architectural concept model of cathedral, 'Circumstantes'

My 'Over the Garden Wall' steamboat FMP in its final stage before being painted

Leila Griffin

Arts University Bournemouth

BA (Hons) Modelmaking

Stand: 28
Graduation: 2026

I love worldbuilding and creating detailed models with character and humour. I work with a range of processes, from metalworking and CAD/CAM to sculpting and textile work. I'm particularly interested in jobs making sets, props and costumes for stop-motion animation - I learned a lot working on a stop-motion feature film at 3 Mills Studios earlier this year and would love to do more of this kind of work.

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My 'Over the Garden Wall' steamboat FMP in its final stage before being painted

Steamboat from 'Over The Garden Wall', side view

Back view

Front view

'Campbell's Primordial Soup'

'Primordial Soup', top view

'Primordial Soup', side view

'New Scientist' editorial magazine cover, using my 'Rat King Kong' model to illustrate the cover story

'Rat King Kong', top view

'Rat King Kong', side view

'Le Cirque Cabaret' themed entranceway for EPH Creative

'Over The Garden Wall' needle-felted stop-motion puppets

1920s Staircase illustrated card model

Production Still for AUB Animation Grad Film 'LAS', including flooring, trees, ribbon tree and cast puppet elements I made

Architectural concept model of cathedral, 'Circumstantes'

Links

Instagram @griffin_models LinkedIn leila-griffin-a33b9a341

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