Speak_Centurion

It depends what you mean you say you're new to sculpting. If you're really a newbie, you might want to join Miniature Sculpting Noobs or The Hobby Hangout on Facebook, but I've also seen people who say "hey this is my first ever miniature" and immediately produce a photo of a sculpt that could only have come from an experienced artist. I would say, don't worry about blending, that's something you don't need to know how to do for a long time, it's more important just to get the size and shape of the body parts right. Blending is relatively simple and it can be a distraction from making a symmetrical and correctly proportioned figure.

For inspiration, you might want to look at images of Chinese dynasty art and sculpture of turtles.

That is a piece of wire in a cork. More Greenstuff. Get to work!

If the armature still looks wrong, it probably is wrong. I can't tell from the photo though. From my own experience, I can tell you that getting the wire skeleton right is important, and personally I consider making the wire skeleton to be part of the sculpture, not just a frame to hang the bits on. Use callipers (for 28mm I use a math compass) to check the lengths AND the proportions. You might want to bend the arms out of the way for sculpting or add them as separate to the main body.

1 year? This is me after 9 years:

I've noticed that "squeezing" with pliers is less damaging than trying to bend the armatures. The problem is that the more often you squeeze, the more the armature stretches out. You'd be surprised how far it will stretch btw, it's like rolling out dough with a rolling-pin. It's a shame there's not a smaller or female version; I can keep the standard armature to 32mm with lot of filing, but it's so much easier to squeeze it to shape.

Fixed, thankyou.

I've got some surplus soldered wire skeletons I made up in 32mm-ish scale - they're not precise, I was just practising and went a bit overboard. If you need any, send me a PM, I can post them in the UK for free. Wow. Photobucket sucks now. I've used it for years but I guess it's time to find an alternative. I'll attach the pics as files. Female 32mm: Male 32mm:

IMO: Metal, better for organic shapes. Plastic(polystyrene), better for synthetic shapes.

Darn it! Misleading title. Rabbits are good too though, and those armatures are looking nicely proportioned as usual.

I take it back, the Reaper armatures are fine, they just need a little bit of filing. I'm not sure why, but gently filing all over the dolly seems to prevent cracks from starting. Perhaps it's because it rounds-off the surfaces, or it might be something to do with mold-lines. Also, I compared the Reaper dollies with a couple of dollies I bought from Greenstuff World; the GsW dollies are made from a softer material but are actually more prone to breaking than the Reaper dollies.

Perhaps "quality" is the wrong word to use; the quality is fine I guess, it just seems like the wrong material to make dollies. I still like them, but there is a distinct sound of "click-click-crackity-click" as any pressure is applied, and the torso - the thickest part - seems to be the most fragile point so I file it down before I start bending it.

Does anyone know if the old version of the Reaper Advanced Armatures were made from a softer material? I bought four packs of the Mk2 ones, which I think are pewter, and they are very prone to cracking. I've got a fairly delicate touch, but I've broken two of them. In principle they're great, and I think it made sense to remove the hip bones (I don't have a pic at the moment - sorry) and the slightly more angular finish allows for better precision, but they are too brittle. IMO they would be the best pro-level armature available except for the problem of cracking. (edit - changed title)

Ignore everything I typed above. I'm going through a butt-sculpting crisis.

Good tip about the knee, thanks Mori. I had to think about that one, but it makes sense. I can give you a tip about sculpting butts: The secret of sculpting butts* is there is no butt. Do not sculpt the butt, just sculpt the backs of the thighs. The butt will just happen**. I figured that out about 10 minutes ago. (*probably) (** sort of)