Nyrfherdr's Sculpting Tips (New 7/20- Sculpting the body)

[Valanthe the Sleepless]

Lovin' it, Nyrf.

Hey, for tools, would a clay sculpting tool set from a craft store (ala ACMoore or Michael's) fit the bill?

 

[nyrfherdr]

Valanthe,
The clay sculpting tools at Michael's and others are usually too big.
You have to think small.

Games workshop sells a sculting tool that is OK. It has what looks like a dull knife blade on one end and a flat spatula like thing on the other for burnishing. It is one of the tools I use.

I also bought a set of tools at HobbyTown USA (they look like Dental tools, but not all bent)
They work pretty well too.

Think about 3 of the four tools I use the most... They are all improvised:

An X-acto blade... It can do a lot. (always with care. It is SHARP of course)
A frisket blade held in a pin vise (basically the same shape as the X-acto blade but smaller (AND SHARP)).
A needle glued into the handle of a paintbrush.

In the book on Sculpting Miniature Military Figures by Kim Jones, he describes shaping the back end of paint brushes and then coating them with Glue or Varnish (to keep putty from sticking).

A sculptor I know in Portland almost universally uses the X-acto knife blade.

The main reason I use the GW tool is because the 'blade' end is dull (no chance of harm when I'm sculpting in the living room with my wife talking to me, my son showing me his latest Lego creation and the news running on the TV. I really don't want a sharp blade in my hand and because of the spatula/burnisher on the other end. I use that a lot.

I hope that helps.
Nyrf

 

[JimAde]

Very informative stuff. I'm trying to work up the ambition to do some minis modifications and I'm getting inspired!

 

[pogre]

I sometimes make pattern tools for scales and such. I usually make a negative impression of the pattern in some Sculpy and then cook it. I can then roll the pattern over the green stuff to pattern scales, chain mail, or whatever.

 

[nyrfherdr]

Inspiration? More like Planning

I bet you thought I was ready to start talking about sculpting!
Well... Not quite.

IN REVEIW: What do you need to start?
You need to be comfortable with human and animal anatomy and proportions, preferably with ready reference material.
You need something to sculpt (a medium)
You need tools
You need an armature material or a ready made armature.

NEXT: You need to decide what you want to sculpt
This is INSPIRATION! right. I decide I want to sculpt a knight in shining armor and I'm ready to go.

Well. A knight in shining armor is a fine idea for a sculpt. And I'll use it as my example for today (but probably not for later. I don't do armor very well right now.)

PLAN:
Now that I made my decision of what to sculpt, I need to plan my sculpture.

If the Knight is human, I can use one of my ready made armatures. CHECK.
I know the proportions of a human and with the armature to keep me in line, I'm good there. CHECK
I don't know the first thing about armor though. HMMM See below.
What about weapons? Am I going to use one from my bits box, or sculpt my own. HMMM See below.
Shield, cloak, face?


REFERENCE PHOTOS/SKETCHES
Before putting blade to putty, it's best to do a few sketches (if you are so inclined) to get a feel for the pose, the look of the face and hands, the clothing/armor, etc. Everything that will make up your mini.
If you don't like to sketch, you can use Photographs or Artwork of others.
(Please remember that you cannot use other's work without permission if you are going to sell or enter a contest.) If you are a hobby sculptor like me, feel free to use other's work at will. Send the artist who inspired you a photo of your completed work. They will likely be flattered. Show photos of it in action on your game table. That's always a hit.

For example: I have sculpted the Monster Hunter, A dwarf, a WoldWarden, all creations of Privateer Press and their inspirational Iron Kingdoms.

If you use Photos, make sure you have an idea of what your work would look like in 3D! Photos and artwork, however beautiful and inspirational are 2D. When using Photos, I always search for multiple pictures, multiple angles and hopefully a few close-ups.

I sculpted an Owl familiar at one point. I had a great photo of a spotted owl perched in a tree. Gave me a great feel for the face. It gave me no data on feet, legs, tail or what the wings would look like outspread (which my mini would be) I had to get those photos too.

Back to the example of the knight in shining armor.
I still need:
A face reference (I would normally sketch this myself, but photos and other art would work)
Armor reference (medieval armor photos, lots of them. Maybe some art.)
Weapon (I have some in my bits box, so I'll call that good)
Sheild (I have a shield in my bits box, so I'm good)
I'm planning a cloak, so I'll need some draping photos and maybe some artwork for ideas.

Once you have your photos, sketches, and/or artwork, then you can begin sculpting. Well not quite. There are a couple of more steps I'll cover next time in Planning your mini.

TIP: Sculpting a single mini can be an excercise in frustration because of the CURE process. You MUST wait for each part to cure before starting another part or run the risk of ruining your hard work. I don't try to speed up the cure process, but other sculptors do (with a heat box or by putting the work under a lightbulb). I usually have several projects going at the same time. When I finish part of one, I then move to the next, and so on. If I finish up across all projects and curing is still not complete, I wait. PATIENCE IS REQUIRED HERE.

TIP: Look at your miniature collection and examine some of your favorites. What makes them your favorite. What would you want to include in your own work from those. Also look at your least favorites. What makes them less appealing? You'll want to avoid that in your own sculptures. Knowing what effect you are looking for and how it looks will help you when working on your own sculptures.

Next... Using your references to plan your project.
Stay Tuned... Photos probably this weekend (Woo Hoo)

 

[nyrfherdr]

Planning your Sculpt

Once you have done your research, you need to plan your miniature. This is where you decide what kind of armature, what proportion, decide on the pose and how you are going to do each stage to insure that everything will fit together. Using an owl as an example, you need to make sure your armature will be the right size for an owl familiar. Then whether the wings will be spread or not, will the owl be on your wizard’s arm or on a tree limb or whatever
These decisions made, you decide the steps to sculpt. Head first? Feet first? Etc. Remember that all of the mediums described here require that you build up or add on, not carve or remove. You will add some putty to the body, let it cure, add details and then form to the wings, add detail, then forms for the head. This is where planning will make your project easier.

TIP – Armature poses: Even if you are sculpting from a complete armature, leave the arms of the model out of the way. You can sculpt the body and chest, etc, then bend the arms into position and sculpt them. Otherwise, the arms will be in the way of detail you are looking to sculpt.

 

[nyrfherdr]

Sculpting: First steps

Here is where the rubber meets the road. This is the part that I will mostly just show and hopefully you will take some useful tips with you. I’m going to review some techniques that I have learned to going a bit easier. Otherwise, you’ll mostly need to practice on your own.

Starting with Faces:
When doing faces, I have found that it is easiest to sculpt the head/face separate from the miniature. While proportions can be challenging, having the face separate allows for multiple attempts and complete access to the features of the face. In Figure 11, I have 2 balls of green stuff as a form. These are in proportion to a human head at about 28-30mm scale. The easiest method is to make a ball smaller then the head of a mini in your collection.


FIGURE 11

Once you have your form cured, you then sculpt a face on. Use your reference books for keeping proper proportions and shape the face accordingly. Start with simple male and female archetypes until you have a good feel for the proportions otherwise your minis will look like caricatures instead of people. Figure 12 is a completed face. I’ve already added it to an armature and started adding form to the figure. You can see how the arms are out of the way. The facial expression is simple. I usually add the hair later because there might be a collar, a hood or something else to interfere with it if I sculpted it now. The tools I use to sculpt the face are the small frisket blade, the burnishing tool and the pin. Success comes with practice.


FIGURE 12

Figure 13 shows a face in progress where an attempt is made to show teeth and lips will be added later. I’m not sure whether or not the eyes will be redone yet or not. I’m still contemplating that. A humanoid nose of some kind needs to be added as well.



FIGURE 13

TIP – Sculpting faces: Using the technique of sculpting the face separately, if the face isn’t any good, cut off the part you don’t like and use the remaining bit as the form for your second attempt. Don’t be afraid to try it again.

TIP 2 - Scultping faces: Many sculptors feel that you need to do the whole face all in one shot. That is 'the only way' to make sure everything is even and in proportion. I feel that most of the face should be done in one go, but sometimes not. Like the gobber above. Do what works for you. Try it both ways.

 

[pogre]

I am so lovin' this thread. I really appreciate your efforts!

 

[Stormrunner]

AH, you've just cleared up a mystery for me! I'd come across a couple of packs of strange little humanoid figures, labeled "Dollies" and "Advanced Dollies". I figured they were supposed to be some sort of constructs or golems, but the sculpting wasn't very detailed so I never bothered to buy them. If they'd called them "armatures" on the box things would have been a lot clearer!

 

[pogre]

Nyrf,

Had an idea - dangerous thing that...

Are you familiar with VIP (visions in putty)?

It's a thing on the sculpt list where they come up with a concept and everyone shares the sculpt they made of the basic idea. I was thinking when you are close to winding this thread up (and we are all similarly enlightened) we might try doing something like that. Even if it was just a couple of us posting wips it would be pretty cool.

Just an idea...

pogre