#IHaveNoIdeaWhatI'mDoing.

[Silerenth 22]

Uh, hello everyone! 

 

While I am not new to art, I am new to sculpting, and what a different animal this seems to be, so far. 

 

I've been quietly surfing these forums, gleaning lots of tips and ideas from the many skilled artisans here, and I'm ready to start sharing, at last. :)

 

I had some spare copper wire, so I practiced making a few armatures... 

 

Then I applied a chunk of greenstuff for a torso, to work off of later. (I feel like I may have done too much, but time will tell, I suppose?) 

(this first set of photos is from 12/11.. I put things down for a bit while waiting for some proper sculpting tools to arrive..)

 

 

 

[Silerenth 22]

Proper sculpting tools in hand, I decided to pick up my little skeletal friend again, today. Todays work, is what kinda prompted me to post. 

 

I'm wondering if I'm beefing this dude up too much, before clothes/detailing, and also if there is some sort of magic trick to getting a tail to be an even thickness all over. I'm still fiddling with it...

 

Thoughts?

(apologies for the poor lighting on some of these pictures)

 

[kristof65 26966]

Welcome!  My first recommendation is to read all of @TaleSpinner's threads in the Sculpting sub-forum.   He has sprinkled a ton of tips through out them for doing all sorts of things - especially the one the Boxer Rebellion Turtles: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/78554-boxer-rebellion-box-turtle-folk-wip/

[MiniDungeonMaster 1732]

7 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

Welcome!  My first recommendation is to read all of @TaleSpinner's threads in the Sculpting sub-forum.   He has sprinkled a ton of tips through out them for doing all sorts of things - especially the one the Boxer Rebellion Turtles: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/78554-boxer-rebellion-box-turtle-folk-wip/

 

I second this suggestion.

 

Looks like you're off to a great start! And welcome to the forums :)

[TaleSpinner 48110]

Welcome and thanks for posting this.

 

Your armatures are looking quite good.  However, you really need to attach them to something so you can sculpt the models without touching them.  This is typically done by leaving the armature wires long past the feet so you can sink them into a cork or secure them in a vice block.  I don't have any pictures of the extra long wires, since I usually just stick them into a cork about as soon as I make them, but in the following picture you can get an idea of this (each foot goes about a centimeter into the cork):

 

 

 

When doing Green Stuff (epoxy based) sculpting, you want to sculpt your under structures out to about 1 to 1.5 mm from the final surface of the mini.  Especially when you are new to it all, it can really help to sculpt the underlying anatomy (skeleton then muscles, etc...) and fuss over it all, instead of going right to the final details.  Then you add the detail over the top as a 1 to 2 mm thick sheet of GS. You can see what I mean best in the following sculpt progressions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(You can find the complete write-up on these guys here.)

 

Don't try to do too much at a time.  Start at the feet ad work your way up.  Also don't focus on sculpting the whole, or even a whole leg.  Instead focus on skeletal anatomy, then muscle groups and the like.  If you try to do too much at a time, you will harden up before you really get the shapes right.

 

I can't really answer if you did too much yet, since I don't know what your final result is intended to be yet, but I suspect that you over sculpted the neck and head.  For heads, especially non-human heads, I typically sculpt a pseudo-skull that I let harden.  Into this ,I put the eyes and such.  Then I add the skin and muscles and then sculpt the neck anatomy to bring it to the body.

 

Your wings are likely to give you problems as done now.  Large flat surfaces need to be made out of brass sheet or wire mesh, cut in the shape of the wing and formed. Onto this you add a layer of GS on each side.  You can see this process detailed out in the eagle I just sculpted in the Boxer Rebellion post.

 

As for the tail question, roll out a long tapered cone, slightly smaller in diameter than you want the finished tail to be, to account for the wire.  Flatten the cone on your flat surface.  Peel it off and then apply it to the tail wire.  Start by sealing one edge of the cone to the wire, then work your tool up and down the tails spiraling around it to progressively wrap the cone around the tail wire sealing it to the wire and itself. Work the final seem to blend it and use clay shapers to get the final smoothness.

 

You might also want to read through my Dragonkin thread, as they are likely quite similar to what you are doing, sans wings.  @kristof65 already pointed you to the Boxer Rebellion which will also help.

 

Oh, and one more thing: Don't Fear the Scalpel!  It has become a catch-phrase of mine, mostly because I spend a lot of time saying it to my students.  If something is not right, stop, cut it off, and re-sculpt it.  That's it.  Psychologically, it is hard to destroy something you already finished, but if it is not right, it is not finished.

 

I think I addressed your questions (and then some, probably ).  Let me know if you need any more or clarification.  Keep sculpting and posting!

 

[Morihalda 34609]

Welcome to the forums, fellow sculptor-in-training! Talespinner's threads were incredibly helpful for me when I just starting too. I hope you enjoy learning to sculpt.