Mori Learns Sculpting Part 2!

[Rainbow Sculptor]

I do like the idea of a smaller breed of griffin sort of bred for companionship and as a hunting ally. I mean it's hardly fair to compare a full grown grey wolf to a Pomeranian but they share ancestry.

My advice: Sculpt it sized well compositionally with your main figure and don't fret about how canonical it is with other figures out there. 

Griffin size aside, I love the flow and action you're getting even in these early stages. I love that you are tackling ethnic differences and it seems like you've found some key features to really communicate that well. I don't believe you for a second that you can't sculpt as small as you want (I've seen your tiniest figure).

Are you already considering basing/display elements? If so, have you worked out your overall composition yet? Will this be mainly used as a game piece or as a show piece or are you wanting to do both with it? Will she need a flying base to support the pose you've chosen?or are you considering building up elements on a standard base to support the pose?

 

Sorry for the 20 questions, she looks great and I'm excited to see it progress!

[Morihalda]

13 hours ago, Rainbow Sculptor said:

Sorry for the 20 questions, she looks great and I'm excited to see it progress!

 

No no, I love your 20 questions! I'm always up for sculpting critique. <3 

 

Okaaaay, we know I could sculpt that tiny, now that I've done it once already. But this will be my first time sculpting feathers; I don't want to go too wild.

 

I think your suggestion to sculpt to the composition is an excellent one. I'm happy with their general poses, though I've been tweaking Kiara a bit as I am underpinning. I haven't made the armature for Tierney yet since I haven't settled on his size.

 

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Quote

Are you already considering basing/display elements? If so, have you worked out your overall composition yet? Will this be mainly used as a game piece or as a show piece or are you wanting to do both with it? Will she need a flying base to support the pose you've chosen?or are you considering building up elements on a standard base to support the pose?

 

.. Aaaaahhh. See, this is one of the many reasons I appreciate you.  I just make stuff. 

 

- I haven't.

- Kind of...? I want them attacking in the same direction, but I wouldn't be opposed to them leaping away to different offscreen targets if it looked better.

- She's going to be my sculpting entry for ReaperCon so I can bug all the sculptors :D but she'll ultimately be my gaming piece.

- I was hoping that I could run a wire through Tierney's very fluffy and feathery tail to the ground as support, but if it looks better with him farther off the ground, I could build off and out from her arm or something.

 

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Green stuff is so weeeeird. I like that it doesn't crumble on me though. My polymer clays all crumble.

 

I've gotten a bit farther with underpinning - she has some vaguely shaped legs and hips now - but I made her hips too big again haha. Always with the pelvis and hips. I like sculpting them and I get carried away. She'll be leaning forward a bit more too, but I keep messing with those wires and I don't want to touch them anymore.

 

We're moving next weekend so progress will be slow!

[Rigel]

Oh, that's looking beautifully dynamic! 

[Morihalda]

I liiiive! We still have a ton to unpack, but I've got my sculpting corner all set up. I'll post again later once I've got it decorated!

 

Of course, Kai has immediately tried to use all sorts of tactics to get inside this cat-free room.

 

And this is my test sizing for Tierney. I shoved a bunch a little metal bits into a lump of clay to make his wings and legs but they kept falling off LOL. So here's a phone scribble. I think a little bit smaller? He might be okay. His body size seems to be fine but those wings!! So much space!

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Morihalda
photo sizing

[Rainbow Sculptor]

Love the new space!!! I think you're right, the figures seem to flow well together but the wing size is making it compete with the main figure. I think you should decide what you want your main focal point to be and build everything else to support that. Excited to see this coming together!!

[Morihalda]

My nice, neat sculpting corner has exploded. It's like an "I Spy" page.

 

I've been working really hard on my love's secret birthday present this past month so I haven't been able to post about it!

 

There's just so much to doooooo!

- Husband's present (probably my entry)

- Finish Kiara and Tierney (I'll enter them if I finish in time)

- Resculpt my antlers

 

I've been making sensible lists with appropriate amounts of work for each day so I don't mess up my hands too much. We'll see if i get it all done in time, but I'll be fine if his birthday present is my entry and I keep taking my time on Kiara. :)

 

The birthday WIP link is here.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Morihalda

[TaleSpinner]

Wasn't his birthday yesterday?

 

[GHarris]

A cat free room? What madness is this? 

 

But seriously I love your space!

[Morihalda]

2 hours ago, TaleSpinner said:

Wasn't his birthday yesterday?

 

yeeeEEESSS.... Yes. Yes, it was.

 

It was going to be a surprise reveal at ReaperCon. It's pretty iconic to him so he'd immediately find it in the display area, but finances/vacation time mean that it's just me going now.

 

He also worked from home for a week which was so much fun. BUT it meant I couldn't work on it for a whole week haha! Since there won't be a reveal at ReaperCon and I lost a week of time, I showed him my current progress on his birthday. He's pretty excited about it.

 

 

1 hour ago, GHarris said:

A cat free room? What madness is this? 

 

But seriously I love your space!

 

Mostly! I'm so excited to have my own art space. A dream into reality! So far I have let our inquisitive one, Kai, in once every two weeks. Once he realizes it's the exact same as before, he meows his approval at me and prances out.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Morihalda

[Morihalda]

Okay. Kiara and Tierney's progress! I ran out of words with my Murloc post, so have lots of photos and yelling!

 

I got to hang out with @Rainbow Sculptor's family for a few days earlier this month!

 

CUTE KITTEN.

She made me explain all my art choices for Kiara and it was really difficult! But it was awesome!

My baby is all grown up for the sake of design...  I used a wire to figure out the main curves and size of the griffin first before continuing.

 

I tried some of her super squishy clay. It photographs terribly but it was much easier on my hands to sculpt.

 

This was a BAD IDEA. Follow Andy's sword/feather advice instead of this mess.

 

Back at home: Okay, Tierney. If you wanted to have giant wings getting in the way of Kiara's face, fine. GET READY. FLY, MY CHILD.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Morihalda

[Morihalda]

Quick sidetrack: Antlers! I badly needed to remake my antlers last year but just couldn't get around to it.

I spent a few hours remaking them this week! Here's a quick overview on how I made them for the folks who like to ask, they're super cheap to make.

 

Supplies:

• Headband
• Wire 22ga/clothes hanger
• Spray foam
• Knife to cut foam
• Masking tape
• Newspaper + water + glue for paper mache
• Air dry clay if you want extra details
• Craft paint

 

1. Draw out horn shape. Use references if you'd like!
2. Bend wire into shape. I've also directly attached them to a headband here.
3. Twist the wire for strength and stability.
   
    
4. I wrapped the headband in a paper towel and masking tape to protect it from step 5....
5. Spray insulation! This used to be the big cosplay thing. I think most folks have moved on to worbla and then EVA foam, but this is cheap. :)
   
   
    
6. Let it sit overnight to cure. Be afraid of the monstrosity you have created.
7. Use a knife to start cutting down your large shapes. I have fallen in love with this kind of sculpting "into" things, rather than building up.
8. Finished shape! The best part about this is if you cut too far, you can always spray a bit more and repeat the last couple steps.
   
   
    
9. Cover the foam in masking tape for durability.
10. Cover that with paper mache for durability and a better painting surface (I used half glue, half water).
11. I used green stuff on the tips for extra durability because I tend to knock myself into things.
    
    
     
12. I forgot to smooth out the paper mache with smaller newspaper bits... So I covered everything in Apoxie Sculpt for smoothness and details (a more expensive but not necessary step if you're going for speed and low cost).
13. I used craft paint to brush dark brown at the base to pale yellow-white at the tips. I dry-brushed brown and beige over the base. Antlers!
    

Edited July 29, 2019 by Morihalda

[Morihalda]

I worked on Kiara today and yesterday. As usual, the red and green together are impossible to photograph.

 

Hands are something I've struggled with because I never found wire thin enough. Rainbow sculptor gave me some of her picture hanging wire, which I thought was brilliant. It's a bunch of little wires twirled together! I clipped some off, twisted 5 of them together very tightly.... and wasn't quite sure what to do next.

 

I ended up with this hilarious cyborg look.

I spoke to her later and she said that she clips 5 wires, sticks them in a blob of putty, and lets that cure before making the hands.

I am glad that it works for her, but that's way too many tiny bits for my fingers to get around. I think that next time, I will twirl 5 wires together for the entire length of both arms and the shoulders. Even though I clipped all but 1 wire to wrap around the upper arm, the upper arm is still too thick and I still had to fight with it.

 

 

I added a fabric "tail" because I thought it would be cute to match her gryphon!

Bottom left photo: I tried the cut on the right because I thought the diagonals would give me more freedom in twirling the tail around. It was too weak and stretched oddly.

I used the cut on the left and then used pliers to push the points in. This was much stronger because I had 2 solid lengths of wire all the way down.

 

The top right photo has a little blob of green stuff between the hand and sword. After this cures, I can finish the hands.

I decided not to make my own sword because a clear one would let me have super fun glowy effects!

[Morihalda]

It's been hard to get much done with life stuff going on, but we keep on truckin'.

 

Tierney!

 

I tried to practice fur in clay, but I was really struggling with it. Of course when I didn't want it to stick, it stuck. So I scrubbed off what I could, baked it, and added the fluffier bits with green stuff. I used the other leg for more practice. I was unsuccessful with that one too, but there's still more body to practice on!

 

I drew out the wing shape I wanted, cut it out of some wire mesh, and greenstuffed it onto the body. I ended up clipping the big wire. It just didn't feel right.

 

I decided to sculpt the tail feathers one layer at time instead of trying to put each one on individually.

You can barely see my previous attempt below the right wing. It wasn't great so I shaved most of it off.

Top left: Smoosh some clay on there and smooth it out.

Top right: Continue smoothing and create your feather edges by stairstepping your way down, pushing down further for each feather.

Bottom left: I made the shaft of the feather by pressing down around where I wanted it to be. It was much easier than trying to make little clay noodles to press on.

Bottom right: This is how I angled my tool for the flat edges, and laid it flat for the shafts.

 

More feathers! I tried a few different ways for the feather indentations. Most felt too "cut in" to me.

A friend suggested using a blunt tool, so I'm going to try that next!

After I baked a layer, I repeated the same steps to make the next layer of feathers, and then the next!

It gets hard to see really fast haha!

[Rainbow Sculptor]

Those tail feathers are looking super badass! Awesome work!